Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday he believes Rep. Tony Gonzales’ primary election, now six days away, will be a referendum on the serious sexual harassment allegations plaguing the Texas Republican.

“I’ve said to him publicly and privately, he’s got to address that directly and head on with his constituents,” Johnson told reporters. “There’s a primary there in less than a week, these things will play out.”

Gonzales has been accused of having an affair with a staffer and pressuring her for sexually explicit photos. That staffer later died by suicide.

While Johnson and fellow House GOP leaders have not pulled their endorsement of Gonzales, several rank-and-file Republicans have called for their colleague’s resignation and many are unsure Gonzales can prevail against his challenger at this point.

Gonzales told reporters Tuesday he was “not resigning” from Congress.

On Wednesday morning, Johnson again called the allegations against Gonzales “alarming and detestable” and deflected when asked by reporters why he had not yet come down harder on the lawmaker.

“How do you know I haven’t?” Johnson said.

He added, “I don’t usually go into detail on private conversations I’ve had with members, but I’ll tell you that what I’ve said publicly is these are very serious allegations. He’s denied much of it. We have to allow the due process here to play out, as always.”

President Donald Trump littered his record-breaking, nearly two-hour-long State of the Union address Tuesday night with dramatic tributes to American heroes, caustic attacks on congressional Democrats and a preview of his party’s midterm campaign pitch.

But he also sprinkled in a handful of legislative demands that have uneven prospects at best on Capitol Hill. Here’s what caught our ears:

— Targeting noncitizens: Trump repeatedly railed against illegal immigration and pushed lawmakers to pass the SAVE America Act, the GOP bill that would tighten proof-of-citizenship standards for voting.

“Why would anyone not want voter ID?” Trump said at one point. “One reason — they want to cheat.”

But the bigger news might be what Trump didn’t mention: A hard-right push to use a “talking filibuster” to get the House-passed bill past Senate Democrats. In what was likely a big relief for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the president didn’t mention the filibuster at all.

Trump also called for passage of “Dalilah’s Law,” which would bar states from granting driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants.

— Health care: The president pressed Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson to take the most-favored-nation drug-pricing deals he’s recently struck with pharmaceutical companies and enact them into law.

“I’m not sure it matters, because it’s going to be very hard for somebody that comes along after me to say, ‘Let’s raise drug prices by 700 or 800 percent,’” Trump said. “But John and Mike, if you don’t mind, codify it anyway.”

But the provision faces big opposition from the prescription drug industry and its allies inside the GOP.

Completely unmentioned? The expired Obamacare subsidies, which now seem like ancient history in Washington. Trump only briefly mentioned his “Great Health Care Plan” that would give money “directly to the people.”

— Stock trading: Trump drew bipartisan applause after endorsing a ban on stock trading by members of Congress. But getting a bill on Trump’s desk will be tough.

Johnson’s leadership-blessed legislation to crack down on the practice is in limbo, without enough GOP support to put it up for a vote. Democrats are pushing for a more expansive stock trading bill, which would also apply to the president and vice president.

Even if the House can pass something, the Senate is seen as even more unlikely to act.

— Crime: The president included a demand for lawmakers to pass “tough legislation to ensure violent repeat offenders are put behind bars and, more importantly, that they stay there.”

That called back to Trump’s multiple comments last summer about pursuing a sweeping crime bill, which never materialized into legislation. Rekindling the effort in an election year would be iffy at best.

— Housing: Trump renewed his request for Congress to limit large investors from purchasing single-family homes as the GOP tries to address a growing housing affordability crisis — an idea that has bipartisan support.

It comes as the House and Senate are working to reconcile competing legislative packages, and the White House push could help convince skeptical Republicans to include it in a final product.

“We want homes for people, not for corporations,” Trump said.

— Left unmentioned: There’s one area where the president conspicuously said lawmakers are free to sit on their hands: “Congressional action will not be necessary,” Trump said, to impose new global tariffs to replace the levies struck down by the Supreme Court last week in what he called a “very unfortunate” ruling.

And while Trump did discuss an expansion of a retirement savings program launched under former President Joe Biden, he did not call for new tax cuts or party-line economic measures to address rising prices — which he continued to blame on Democrats.

“Their policies created the high prices,” he said. “Our policies are rapidly ending them. We are doing really well.”

What else we’re watching: 

Lawmakers are set to grill two Trump nominees Wednesday morning who have come under fire for their records and financial ties.

— Steve Pearce for BLM: Steve Pearce’s appearance in front of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will be the former House Republican’s first opportunity to publicly push back against accusations from Democrats and conservation groups that he’s unfit to lead the Bureau of Land Management.

The committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, and Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) will almost certainly zero in on Pearce’s voting record. When Pearce was in Congress, he opposed BLM efforts to tighten rules on the oil and gas industry and supported selling some BLM and Forest Service lands.

Pearce also reported that he earned as much as $1 million last year from a business often associated with oil and gas development.

— Casey Means for ‘America’s top doctor’: Over at the Senate HELP panel, all eyes will be on how hard Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) presses Casey Means, Trump’s pick to be U.S. surgeon general, over her stance on vaccines. Cassidy has repeatedly criticized Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine policy changes, and Means has previously condemned giving the hepatitis B shot to infants.

There’s also bipartisan criticism over Means’ credentials. The wellness influencer and health-tech entrepreneur’s medical license is currently listed online as inactive, and she has promoted contested health practices such as consuming raw milk.

Scott Streater, Nico Portuondo and Amanda Friedman contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump is set to descend on Capitol Hill for his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday, as his administration faces growing outcry over its nationwide immigration crackdown and declining support for several of his key policies.

Trump’s high-stakes speech comes just days after the Supreme Court dealt a crushing blow to the centerpiece of his economic and foreign policy agenda, ruling his sweeping tariffs illegal. The president is also staring down brewing conflict abroad, with an immense military buildup in the Middle East amid threats toward Iran, and an ongoing partial government shutdown impacting the Department of Homeland Security.

Amid a stark backdrop — and just months before kicking off festivities for America’s 250th anniversary — Trump will be tasked with highlighting his administration’s biggest wins in his first year back in office and shoring up support with key voter blocs ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Here’s what you need to know before Trump delivers his highly anticipated address to Congress — and the nation:

How can I watch the speech?
Trump’s State of the Union speech is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday. The address will be broadcast on major television networks and available to stream online, including on Blue Light News’s website. You can follow our live coverage of the address here.

What will Trump talk about?
Trump said Monday that his address is “going to be a long speech because we have so much to talk about,” hinting that his remarks will likely touch on the state of the economy. The White House has attempted to keep Trump on message about affordability ahead of this fall’s midterm elections, with the president offering a preview of his possible remarks during a Thursday rally in Georgia.

“They would say affordability, everybody would say, ‘Oh, Trump caused–,’ no, they cause– they caused the affordability problem,” Trump said at the rally. “And we’ve solved it. And we’re going still lower, but we’ve solved it.”

Several Republicans told Blue Light News they hope Trump will focus on highlighting economic issues, American energy dominance and the tax cuts passed in last year’s GOP megabill during his address.

The president’s job approval has slid in recent months, with numerous polls revealing widespread disapproval of his handling of immigration and the economy — two issues that helped propel Trump back to a second term in the White House.

Who is attending?
Lawmakers from both chambers of Congress, members of Trump’s family and several administration officials, including Cabinet secretaries and Vice President JD Vance, are expected to attend. Several personal guests of the president will also be at the Capitol, including Turning Point CEO Erika Kirk, widow of the late conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.

Supreme Court justices are also invited to the State of the Union, although Trump sniped at several of the justices who voted to strike down his tariffs last week, telling reporters Friday: “I couldn’t care less if they come.”

Members of Congress are each permitted to invite a guest to the address, and lawmakers frequently use the invite to draw attention to high-profile issues. Some Democrats — including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — have announced that they’ll bring survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as their guests. Many Republicans are bringing guests who benefited from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last year.

Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed Tuesday the U.S. men’s hockey team will attend Trump’s address, although the women’s team said it would not participate due to scheduling issues.

Who won’t be there?
More than a dozen Democratic lawmakers have announced that they won’t attend Trump’s State of the Union, with several choosing to attend a counterprogramming rally on the National Mall instead.

The event, dubbed the “People’s State of the Union,” will feature lawmakers who also skipped Trump’s inaugurations, including Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Reps. Greg Casar (D-Texas) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.).

Jeffries advised Democrats during a private leadership meeting earlier this month that members of his caucus should either attend alternative programming or sit in “silent defiance” of Trump’s speech, hoping to avoid the image of Democratic hecklers during last year’s address.

Lawmakers from both parties are also facing weather-related delays in traveling back to Washington after a winter storm led the House to cancel Monday votes.

Who is giving the Democratic response?
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger is set to deliver the official Democratic rebuttal to Trump’s address Tuesday night.

Spanberger, a former CIA officer who served in the House from 2019-2025, defeated GOP nominee Winsome Earle-Sears to flip the Virginia governor’s mansion blue in November. Democrats widely lauded her campaign for its focus on affordability.

Spanberger hinted last week that her response will likely center on those issues, writing in a statement that “Virginians and Americans across the country are contending with rising costs, chaos in their communities, and a real fear of what each day might bring.”

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) — California’s first Latino senator and the son of Mexican immigrants — will deliver the Democratic response in Spanish.