Congressman Al Green was removed from Donald Trump’s joint address of Congress after heckling the president that he ‘has no mandate’.
Before US president Donald Trump embarked on his record-breakingly long speech, Vice President JD Vance and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson had a little outfit check and joke, however, the drama really kicked off when the 47th president ended up getting heckled by lawmaker Al Green.
Trump began his speech by stating ‘America is back’, reflecting on his electoral win six weeks prior when he stood underneath the Capitol’s dome and ‘proclaimed the dawn of the golden age of America’.
Al Green interrupted Trump’s speech (WIN MCNAMEE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump continued by boasting of ‘accomplishing more in 43 days than most administrations accomplish in four years or eight years’ given its ‘swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country’
“I return to this chamber tonight to report that America’s momentum is back. Our spirit is back. Our pride is back. Our confidence is back. And the American dream is surging – bigger and better than ever before,” he continued.
“The American dream is unstoppable, and our country is on the verge of a comeback the likes of which the world has never witnessed, and perhaps will never witness again. Never been anything like it.”
While some of the chamber’s crowd chanted ‘USA’ in response to Trump’s opening of the speech, not long after while the president delved into reflecting on his ‘astonishing record’ winning the vote, Democrat Green stood up, pointed his cane and shouted: “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid.”
Green’s comment follows Trump revoking predecessor Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14009 within days of being sworn in as the 47th president of the US.
Biden’s order sought to protect and strengthen Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to ensure everyone in the US had access to affordable and high-quality healthcare.
Upon hearing Green’s interruption, House Speaker Mike Johnson then jumped in, stating: “Members are directed to uphold and maintain decorum in the house, and to cease any further disruptions. That’s your warning. Members are engaging in willful and continuing breach of decorum, and the chair is prepared to direct the sergeant-at-arms to restore order to the joint session.”
Johnson ordered Green to take his seat, however, when the Democrat didn’t comply – ‘finding that members continue to engage in wilful and concerted disruption of proper decorum’ – Johnson directed the ‘sergeant-at-arms to restore order’ by ‘removing’ Green ‘from the chamber’
Johnson emphasized: “Members are directed to uphold and maintain decorum in the house. Mr. President, you continue.”
Trump thanked Johnson before continuing with his speech – for a record-breaking total of almost 100 minutes.
While Johnson reflected the ‘spectacle’ of Green’s interruption was ‘not necessary’ and argued he ‘made history in a terrible way,’ Green argued he was ‘following the wishes of conscience’.
Al Green was removed from Congress (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
After being escorted out of the chamber, he told reporters: “I’ll accept the punishment. But it’s worth it to let people know that there’s some of us who are going to stand up to against this president’s desire to cut Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.”
Green resolved to ABC News: “There are times when it’s better to stand alone than not stand at all.”
Sabrina Carpenter fans have found a way to snap up the last few presale tickets for her new tour dates.
After her Short n’ Sweet tour sold out instantly, the pop sensation added extra dates to the final leg of her North America tour in fall, but thousands of fans were left empty-handed when presale opened earlier this week.
But there is a way to secure last-minute presale tickets before general sale kicks off on Friday, March 7, for the upcoming Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, Toronto, and Pittsburgh shows.
From US tour dates and prices to where to buy last-minute presale tickets now, find out everything you need to know about the Short n’ Sweet Tour below.
Getty/Kevin Mazur
Where to buy last few Sabrina Carpenter presale tickets now
If you’re desperate to get hold of presale tickets, then listen up. Two days ahead of general sale (Friday, March 7), a huge number of tickets are now available to purchase via resale sites: Viagogo and StubHub. Tickets for Carpenter’s Pittsburgh show on Thursday, October 23 start from $270 on Viagogo and $304 on StubHub.
As for the New York performance on Wednesday, October 29, you’re looking at around $235 on Viagogo and $249 on StubHub. Pittsburgh? Expect to pay from $270 for the gig on Thursday, October 23 via Viagogo and $354 on StubHub.
Just beware of fraudsters when purchasing tickets on reselling sites.
Want the best chance of securing tickets? One fan gave some good advice on a recent Reddit thread. “I find that the weekend days like Friday, Saturday, maybe even Thursday, are more popular, so maybe try for some weekday dates,” they wrote.
“If you’re looking at New York, the Halloween show is definitely going to be in high demand, so maybe we try a show that’s either before or after that.”
What are Sabrina Carpenter’s new North America tour dates?
The songstress will return to major US states for the final leg of her tour this fall, with stops in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, Toronto, and Pittsburgh.
Sharing the news on Instagram, Carpenter wrote: “You asked and we listened!!! So excited to announce an additional leg of the Short n’ Sweet Tour – coming back to a few select cities this fall! Can’t wait to see you all for one last short n’ sweet hurrah and Europe, see you in just a few days.”
You can find a full list of Sabrina Carpenter’s new US tour dates below:
- 23 October: Pittsburgh, PPG Paints Arena
- 24 October: Pittsburgh, PPG Paints Arena
- 29 October: New York, Madison Square Garden
- 31 October: New York, Madison Square Garden
- 1 November: New York, Madison Square Garden
- 4 November: Nashville, Bridgestone Arena
- 5 November: Nashville, Bridgestone Arena
- 10 November: Toronto, Scotiabank Arena
- 11 November: Toronto, Scotiabank Arena
- 20 November: Los Angeles, Crypto.com Arena
- 22 November: Los Angeles, Crypto.com Arena
- 23 November: Los Angeles, Crypto.com Arena
Donald Trump’s immigration officers have been under pressure to increase their arrest numbers to ensure the President keeps his promise he made to the public.
Ahead of becoming US President for a second time, Donald Trump told his supporters that he would be tough on immigration.
Since taking office, he has seemingly been on job to ensure he keeps this promise, as immigration officers have so far made a staggering number of arrests.
Kush Desai, spokesman for the White House, praised the administration’s quick movement on immigration, and said: “After four years of the Biden administration’s outright incompetence and negligence, the Trump administration has re-established a no-nonsense enforcement of and respect for the immigration laws of the United States.”
ICE officers have made a staggering number of arrests (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other law enforcement partners have conducted raids and arrests of undocumented immigrants across the country since January 20.
This has resulted in a very high number of individuals being detained by authorities. So much so that, under Trump, officers could more than double the 113,000 arrests the agency made in Fiscal Year 2024 under Biden.
The spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Tricia McLaughlin, said that in just one month the DHS has arrested more than 20,000 people who have a criminal background.
She added that of those arrested, 22 were known suspected terrorists and 640 were suspected gang members.
ICE initially broke down their daily arrest numbers by highlighting how many people had committed crimes, however, they have since stopped doing this.
On the highest day for arrests that ICE has disclosed, roughly half of those picked up by immigration officers had a criminal background.
Donald Trump is reportedly still not happy with the speed of deportations (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Desai also said: “Hundreds of violent, predatory, and gang-affiliated criminal illegal aliens have already been rounded up and deported by ICE since President Trump took office — and the Trump administration is aligned on securing our borders and ensuring that mass deportations are conducted quickly and effectively to put Americans and America First.”
But despite this seemingly unprecedent pace, Trump isn’t exactly happy about the speed of deportations.
A source says Trump is ‘angry’ with the progress being made to deport people, NBC News reports.
So much so, Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting Director Caleb Vitello has since been transferred to a different role, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Politico, with an unannounced replacement set to take the reigns and double down further.
A Congressman has faced a bit of a backlash online after revealing his plans to have a Donald Trump dollar bill.
With Donald Trump back in the White House, many Republicans in politics have been singing his praises.
The controversial president has certainly won over South Carolina representative Joe Wilson.
On February 25, Wilson took to Twitter to reveal an image of what a $250 bill with Trump’s face on it could look like and said he was taking steps to see that it became a reality.
The bill is the usual green, with the image of Trump in full color.
He wrote: “Grateful to announce that I am drafting legislation to direct the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to design a $250 bill featuring Donald J. Trump.
Representative Joe Wilson revealed his latest bill on Twitter (Joe Wilson)
“Bidenflation has destroyed the economy forcing American families to carry more cash. Most valuable bill for most valuable President!”
While Wilson was likely expecting support from his followers, many were critical of this move and questioned whether this should be high up on his agenda.
One user wrote: “Really? I voted for Trump, but isn’t there more pressing issues at hand?”
The Trump-themed $250 bill (X/@RepJoeWilson)
Another referenced Elon Musk’s ultimatum calling for federal employees to reveal five tasks they got done this week and commented: “Did you fill out the 5 things you did last week? If this is on your agenda, it would seem you are expendable.”
With a third adding: “Starting to think this is a parody account. You think we carry $250 around? You are out of touch Joe.”
And a less-than-impressed user commented: “Great idea! Now we have a large enough bill to pay for a single carton of eggs.
Wilson’s bill wasn’t well received on social media (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“Way things are going, in a month you will have to make a $470 bill.”
And another simply put: “How does this fix any of America’s problems? Now get to work on actual important stuff Joe!”
In a follow-up post, Wilson appeared undeterred and shared a page of the bill, adding: “Grateful to introduce the DONALD J. TRUMP $250 BILL ACT. This big beautiful bill will honor the 250th birthday of America and our most valuable President Donald J. Trump!
“Thank you to cosponsors @RepHarshbarger @RepRalphNorman @repdarrellissa. GOD BLESS AMERICA.”
And despite his enthusiasm more critical comments followed this post. Let’s just see if this bill get any legs, couldn’t hurt to have some Trumps in your back pocket.
Donald Trump has certainly made some waves since return to the White House and one of his latest new executive orders could shift things significantly in the healthcare industry.
Donald Trump signed the new executive order in hopes it would increase transparency for patients when it comes to costs.
Healthcare providers and insurers must publicly disclose their prices so that patients can now weigh up the costs of receiving treatment in one place over another.
Currently, healthcare prices have traditionally been had behind close doors between doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and insurers.
Trump has garnered some support from this move and it marks a more aggressive approach to boost compliance with regulations that Trump introduced in 2019 that Biden threw out.
Donald Trump defended the executive order when speaking to the press (White House)
Donald Trump defended the new executive order as he signed it in front of reporters earlier this week.
He said: “It is one of the biggest things that can happen to reducing cost and healthcare.
“It takes a little while to kick in but Biden ended it immediately upon coming in which was a terrible travesty in my opinion.
“We are going to start up and we have even made it stronger by a couple of major factors.
He continued: “It allows people to go out and negotiate with price, you are not even allowed to talk about it when you go to a hospital and see a doctor.
“This allows you to go out and talk about it and it is actually one of the biggest… there are a couple of people that go back a long way that feel that there are real pros of this, this is the biggest thing you can do for cutting prices.”
Trump did admit that this move has proven unpopular in some circles but ultimately argued it would be better for patients.
Trump is confident this move will benefit US patients(Win McNamee/Getty Images)
He added: “It is not so good for the pharmaceuticals, the companies that make the drugs, I guess you could say it isn’t great for hospitals but they say if you have a great hospital that really knows what it is doing, it is actually great for the hospital because everyone wants to go there.”
Despite Trump’s claims this would ultimately lower prices, insurance industry groups have argued the opposite is true. They have said that regulations on costs would actually raise premiums.
