How to watch and what to know about Trump’s Tuesday address to a Joint Session of Congress

The forum is not officially a State of the Union address, which traditionally comes during the second, third and fourth year of a presidency.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., invited Trump earlier this month to address Congress on Tuesday.

“Thanks to your strong leadership and bold action in the first days of your presidency, the United States is already experiencing a resurgence of patriotism, unity, and hope for the future,” Johnson wrote in a letter to Trump first obtained by Fox News Digital

Your administration and the 119th Congress working together have the chance to make these next four years some of the most consequential in our nation’s history,” the speaker wrote.

“To that end, it is my distinct honor and great privilege to invite you to address a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, in the Chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives, to share your America First vision for our legislative future. I eagerly await your response.”

Fox News Channel, Fox News Digital and Fox News Go will have live coverage of the event Tuesday evening.

Fox News Channel will also preview the speech during its primetime and afternoon programming.

Will Cain will have the latest on the “Will Cain Show” at 4 p.m. ET.

Following him, join Dana Perino, Greg Gutfeld, Judge Jeanine Pirro and the hosts of “The Five” for more coverage leading up to the event.

Chief political anchor Bret Baier continues the coverage at 6 p.m. ET on “Special Report,” followed by “The Ingraham Angle” with Laura Ingraham at 7 p.m. ET; before Jesse Watters offers a curtain-raiser just before the address at 8 p.m. ET on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

While it is officially an address to a joint session, historically, these speeches tend to follow the same customs as the official State of the Union forums.

The latter are required by the Constitution under Article II Sec. 3 – which stipulates that a president must provide Congress with information about the state of the Union and offer legislative recommendations.

Before the audiovisual and digital ages, the addresses tended to come in print form.

Former President Woodrow Wilson delivered the first address in-person since former President John Adams.

The title itself, “State of the Union,” was standardized by former President Harry S. Truman in the 1940s. Truman also offered the first televised State of the Union, as radio gave way to TV.

Former President Lyndon Baines Johnson began the tradition of a primetime address.

During such addresses, when all three branches of government are typically present, one member of the president’s cabinet is named “designated survivor” – and stays home from the address in case terrorism or another catastrophe leads to the deaths of all assembled in the chamber.

The U.S. Senate keeps records of each designated survivor going back to 1984, when former HUD Secretary Samuel Pierce Jr. was designated the potential leader of the nation if former President Ronald Reagan and everyone else in attendance perished.

Notable designated survivors have included then-future New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo during former President Bill Clinton’s 1999 address, former Commerce Secretary Bill Daley – son of the famed Chicago Democratic Party boss – in 1998, and then-Attorney General Eric Holder in 2009.