In long-awaited annual speech, Trump condemned Maduro's brutal regime

Trump emphasized his support for the "search for freedom", denouncing the "brutality of the regime" of Nicolás Maduro and reiterating its support for "new interim president" Juan Guaidó.

"We condemn the brutality of the Maduro regime, whose socialist policy has made this country, which has become the richest country in South America, a state of extreme poverty and despair", he said.

"We are with the Venezuelan people in their noble quest for freedom", said at the ceremony where the Guaidó envoy to Washington, Carlos Vecchio, was one of the special guests.

Trump used the traditional annual speech on the state of the Union, televised on prime-time in front of a large audience, to ask for unity while continuing to spark what he considered to be investigations "ridiculous" and "Partisans", referring to the investigation into alleged collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia, which overshadows his mandate.

Two years after taking office and re-election in 2020, Trump faces everything except unity: Democrats control the House of Representatives and Republicans the Senate, but his fiery rhetoric even resonates in his own ranks.

"We must reject the policy of revenge, resistance and retaliation and embrace the unlimited potential for cooperation, commitment and common good", said Trump, in a speech often interrupted by the applause of his supporters.

"We can overcome old divisions, heal old wounds, form new coalitions, find new solutions (…) The decision is ours", he said, in front of more than 500 legislators, including many democrats dressed in white for the centenary of the suffrage movement.

At 10 days from the deadline set by Congress to finance his wall and avoid a new fiscal conflict like the one that caused the recent 35-day government closure, the president announced that he would complete his historic project. . illegal immigration, which the democratic opposition squarely rejects.

"I'm going to build it", he promised. "The walls work and the walls save lives, so let's work together, find a compromise and make an agreement that really secures the United States", he said.

He did not say "national emergency" with which he had threatened, something that would give him extraordinary powers to make decisions without congressional approval, but that the Democrats have already announced that they would contest.

"It's the immigrants, not the walls, that make the United States stronger"he replied just after his speech Stacey Abrams, who almost became Georgia's first black governor in November and was tasked with giving the answer to the president on behalf of the Democrats.

In his speech, Trump criticized the investigation of the special prosecutor Robert Mueller about Russian interference, which is usually labeled as "witch hunt".

"An economic miracle is about to happen in the United States, and the only thing that can stop this is silly wars, politics or ridiculous and partisan investigations," he said, prompting a gesture of dissatisfaction on the part of the influential Speaker of the House of Representatives. , the democrat Nancy Pelosi.

Trump has also defended his foreign policy. "Great nations do not fight wars without end"he said after the setback he suffered in the Senate on Monday with the approval of a large majority of an amendment criticizing his decision to withdraw US troops from Syria and from Afghanistan.

In addition, he said that peace talks with the Taliban are advancing "constructive", showing with cautious hope the possibility of ending the longest war in the United States, launched soon after the attacks of 11 September 2001.

As expected, the president announced that he would hold his second summit with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, end of February in Vietnam, to continue negotiations on nuclear disarmament of North Korea.

And regarding the difficult trade talks between Washington and Beijing, he said they would end the so-called "theft" of US jobs and wealth.

Trump also called for a bipartisan push to eradicate the AIDS epidemic in the United States in a decade.

He finished his message a little over 80 minutes with the same unifying tone with which he had started it: "We must choose if we define ourselves by our differences or if we have the audacity to transcend them".