March 4 (UPI) -- The White House on Tuesday released its list of guests expected to be seen at President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress.
About 15 individuals will sit with first lady Melania Trump as invited guests as the president will address members from both houses of Congress, U.S. Supreme Court justices and members of Trump's Cabinet, as well as Elon Musk, who is working with the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency., according to the White House.
In the Capitol building Tuesday night will be the family of Corey Comperatore, the firefighter killed by a gunman who attempted to assassinate Trump last July at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa. In addition to the mother and sister of Laken Riley, who was the Athens, Ga., college student killed about a year ago by a Venezuelan migrant and namesake of the Laken Riley Act.
Fifteen-year-old Elliston Berry, a victim of computer-generated deepfake bullying, will join former foster child Haley Ferguson.
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Jeff Denard, a steel plant worker from Decatur, Ala., will sit near Stephanie Diller, the widow of New York Police Department officer Jonathan Diller, killed during a March 2024 traffic stop.
Recently freed Russian prisoner Marc Fogel, an American history teacher from Pennsylvania, will be a guest along with his 95-year-old mother, Malphine Fogel.
Mother and advocate January Littlejohn and former high school athlete Payton McNabb likewise are expected to join Alexis Nungaray, the mother of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, allegedly murdered by two migrants weeks before her birthday.
The Trump White House also invited U.S. Border Patrol agent Roberto Ortiz via Weslaco, Texas.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said he and Democratic leaders will attend "to make clear to the nation that there is a strong opposition party ready, willing and able to serve as a check and balance on the excesses of the administration."
"Democrats should not attend Trump's joint address to Congress tomorrow. No way," ex-GOP congressman and presidential candidate Joe Walsh said Monday on Bluesky. He said Democrats "must make a statement that none of this is acceptable" as he criticized Trump for "siding with Putin" and "siding against the free world."
Freshman Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., a former CIA officer, is slated to deliver the Democratic response following Trump's speech, and a Spanish language response will be given by Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y.
The speech begins at 9 p.m. EST, and while not referred to as a State of the Union speech, which is the presidential address given during subsequent years in office, Trump will outline his perceived accomplishments roughly six weeks into his second term and will also touch on immigration.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., invited Trump to speak before Congress in a letter delivered shortly after his inauguration.
The joint address comes one day after Trump ordered a "pause" in military aid to Ukraine following a contentious exchange Friday in the Oval Office with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
It also arrived as proposed 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada went into effect, with a possible price increase in U.S. consumer goods as a result as Canada and Mexican officials retaliated in what appears to be an escalating global trade war.
