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Starting with Rep. Al Green, Democrats protest against Trump's speech to Congress

Rep. Al Greene, D-Texas, disrupts President Trump's address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington on March 4.
J. Scott Applewhite
/
AP
Rep. Al Greene, D-Texas, disrupts President Trump's address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington on March 4.

NPR is bringing you the latest from . For more updates, get our  or listen to .

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, was removed from the House chamber after heckling President Trump during his first address to a joint session of Congress of his second term.

Though lawmakers in the opposition party have from during past presidential addresses, Green's removal from the chamber marked a stark break from tradition.

Green stood up and began yelling at Trump after the president referenced his 2024 election win and claimed he had been given a mandate from the American people. Green first received a warning from House Speaker Mike Johnson, and when he did not stop was escorted out by the sergeant-at-arms.

The Texas Democrat repeatedly shouted that the president did not have a mandate.

"It's worth it to let people know that there are some people who are going to stand up [to Trump]," Green said to reporters outside the chamber.

Other lawmakers led quieter protests. A group of Democratic women wearing T-shirts reading "Resist" walked out of the president's speech, as did other Democrats as the speech went on. Others waved black signs saying "False."

Rep. Maxwell Frost was one of several members who left the chamber during Trump's address. He wore a shirt that read "No kings live here."

"In the spirit of student protestors from the Civil Rights Movement, I'm proud to have protested and walked out with many of my colleagues," Frost said in . "This is NOT a normal time."

Democrats are the minority party in the Senate and the House of Representatives. Many lawmakers have appeared at demonstrations in response to the Trump administration's drastic changes to the federal government.

Copyright 2025 NPR

Corrected: March 5, 2025 at 9:36 AM EST
A previous version of the photo caption misspelled Rep. Al Green's last name as Greene.
Elena Moore is a production assistant for the NPR Politics Podcast. She also fills in as a reporter for the NewsDesk. Moore previously worked as a production assistant for Morning Edition. During the 2020 presidential campaign, she worked for the Washington Desk as an editorial assistant, doing both research and reporting. Before coming to NPR, Moore worked at NBC News. She is a graduate of The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and is originally and proudly from Brooklyn, N.Y.
Deirdre Walsh is the congress editor for NPR's Washington Desk.

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