Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

The president’s motorcade departed the White House at 20:30pm sharp.

The procession took a roundabout route to the Capitol, snaking around the Washington Monument, near the Martin Luther King Memorial, along the Tidal Basin across from the Jefferson Memorial and up past Independence Avenue’s rows of museums.

The police had cordoned off all the cross streets, and only a smattering of bystanders watched the limousines and vans go by. As the motorcade approached its destination, National Guardsman lined the fencing that encircle the Capitol. Some of the soldiers were still holding salutes as the media vans passed by.

Jessica Murphy
BBC News, Toronto

Image source, Getty Images

In February Joe Biden brought back a modern convention: that a US president's first foreign trip is to Canada. Well, sort of.

In the time of Covid, the bilateral meeting between Biden and Canada's Justin Trudeau took place virtually, and inevitably came with the slight awkwardness of any Zoom meeting.

Former President Donald Trump had skipped that tradition - his first trip was to the Mideast - and Biden's decision to meet with Trudeau was one of the ways he signalled the 'back-to-normal' presidency that was part of his pitch to American voters.

Biden and his team do have an understanding of Canada and US relations. Vice-President Kamala Harris spent a few years in Montreal as a teenager. When he was vice-president, Biden made a friendly official visit north of the border, praising the country as a strong ally.

His senior staff also have an understanding of the country, says Monique Smith, with Global Public Affairs, a consultancy company.

Among others, the new US Trade Representative Katherine Tai worked on the recent North America trade agreement renegotiations. Jen O’Malley Dillon - Biden's deputy chief of staff - was a paid adviser to Trudeau's Liberal Party of Canada in 2015.

That doesn't mean there won't be hurdles.

Biden shut down the US-Canada Keystone XL oil pipeline project as one of his first moves. Biden's 'Buy America' plan could be an irritant. The softwood lumber trade dispute is a perennial issue.

And the two countries - significant trading partners - still need to sort out a framework to reopen their shared border, which was closed last year due to the pandemic.

Image source, re

As we mentioned earlier, tonight's joint address will beam a historic visual into your living rooms: two women on either side of the president.

When Joe Biden takes centre stage shortly, he will be flanked by Vice-President Kamala Harris over his left shoulder and House speaker Nancy Pelosi - who is right now addressing the chamber on tonight's procedure - over his right.

For her part, Harris says the moment is pretty "normal".

Or at least that's what she told an NBC News reporter on her way to the dais.

One thing Biden has in common with his predecessor is that neither he nor Trump took any foreign trips during their first 100 days in office.

Bill Clinton had only visited one country - Canada, which is often the first foreign destination for a new US president (due to Covid-19, Biden instead held a virtual meeting with his Canadian counterpart).

George W Bush had visited both Canada and Mexico in his first 100 days.

But none of them can match the air miles of Barack Obama, who had already travelled to nine countries at this point in his presidency.

Obama’s chosen countries included Canada, the UK, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Iraq, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago.

A man who was found lying down inside the security perimeter around the US Capitol has been carried away by officers after refusing to leave.

According to ABC reporter Faith Abubéy, who filmed the incident, the man was just feet away from where a car rammed into two Capitol Police officers, killing one, on 2 April.

No further details were immediately available about the individual taken into custody.

With less than half an hour to go, we've got word that President Biden has left the White House in his presidential motorcade for the Capitol, says our White House reporter Anthony Zurcher.

Shayan Sardarizadeh
Disinformation specialist

Image source, Getty Images

A Republican-backed recount of 2.1m ballots in Maricopa, Arizona’s largest county, has re-energised some of the communities which were instrumental in spreading falsehoods about the results of last year’s presidential election.

Arizona’s Republican senators say the non-binding recount is being done to ensure the state’s election procedures are sound, adding that it will not be used to overturn the state’s results, which President Biden won by a mere 10,457 votes.

But followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory and some on the fringe far-right believe the recount will prove Trump was the actual winner in Arizona and kick-start a series of recounts in other swing states which will eventually result in Trump’s return to power.

On the Telegram messaging app, thousands of QAnon supporters tune into nine live cameras at the recount for hours every day to spot and report “irregularities”.

Some have also claimed without evidence that members of Black Lives Matter or Antifa are planning to go to Arizona from other states to disrupt the recount.

The audit is being run by Florida-based firm Cyber Ninjas, whose CEO had previously made unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.

The county had already run an independent audit of the ballots and voting machines in the aftermath of the election, which found no evidence of fraud.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

Image source, Getty Images

In his speech tonight, Joe Biden is predicted to tout a new spending package that includes universal pre-school, free two-year college education, childcare funding and paid family leave.

Although he will target expanding financial support for Obamacare, it appears he will avoid pushing for big-ticket healthcare spending, such as a publicly run medical insurance option for all Americans or lower drug prices.

The past two Democratic presidents made healthcare reform their top priorities after passing an economic package.

Barack Obama was successful; Bill Clinton was not.

Both, however, faced political consequences as a result of their efforts.

Joe Biden, perhaps wary of his predecessor’s challenges, is opting to go in a different direction.

The White House will be delivering "supplies worth more than $100m in the coming days to provide urgent relief" to India, which is grappling with a worsening Covid crisis.

"Just as India sent assistance to the United States when our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, the United States is determined to help India in its time of need," the White House said in a statement.

Here's a look at some of what's being sent:

• 1,100 oxygen cylinders
• 1,700 oxygen concentrators
• 15m N-95 masks
• 1m rapid diagnostic tests
• 20,000 treatment courses of the drug remdesivir
• All its doses of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine have been redirected to India

Image source, Getty Images

Joe Biden was an upstart Delaware senator in his 30s when Jimmy Carter became president in 1977.

On Thursday, Biden's 100th day in office, he will fly to the state of Georgia to meet with the oldest-living president in US history and his wife Rosalynn.

The Carters, who will celebrate 75 years of marriage this summer, have been riding out the pandemic at home in the city of Plains.

Separately, the Biden administration is widely expected to announce a ban on menthol or mint-flavoured cigarettes.

Approximately 20 million Americans smoke menthols, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.

The move is prompted by a court order that requires the FDA to respond - by Thursday - to a 2013 citizen petition advocating the ban, according to CBS News.

The president will be promoting two massive packages tonight. We discussed the families plan earlier, so let's take a look now at Biden's other bumper bill.

The White House unveiled Biden's $2.3tn American Jobs Plan last month.

Billed as an infrastructure package, it seeks to invest in public transit, rail, airports, water pipes, high-speed broadband, roads and bridges, veterans' hospitals, childcare centres, electric cars, clean energy and combating racial disparities.

Both the families and jobs plans, says the White House, would be paid for by hiking taxes on corporations and wealthier Americans.

Together with the $1.9tn American Rescue Plan - a Covid stimulus that Biden signed last month - these three plans cost about $6tn.

Last week Biden also unveiled a $1.5tn federal budget that would significantly expand spending on domestic programmes.

Image source, BuildBackBetter.Gov

One hour to go until Biden's speech and Vinay Reddy, the president's director of speechwriting, is likely to be across any last-minute edits.

A first-generation Indian American who grew up in Ohio, Reddy previously served as Biden's main writer during his second term as vice-president.

Reddy built his bona fides as a speechwriter for Ohio's Democratic senator Sherrod Brown and at two federal agencies.

In recent years, he has also served as vice-president of strategic communications for the National Basketball Association.

The father of two is "fluent in Bidenese", according to White House communications director Kate Bedingfield, who told Politico that Reddy is adept at following Biden's directives to be tight and plainspoken but never condescending.

Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau, a celebrity in his own right, took to Twitter shortly after Reddy's hire last year to describe him as "a brilliant writer" who is "incredibly kind and decent".

Biden is addressing Congress, yes. He'll be in the House of Representatives with the vice-president and the chamber's speaker over his shoulder.

But this is not, technically, a State of the Union address.

State of the Union addresses are mandated by the Constitution and traditionally happen in January or February.

For newly sworn-in presidents, however, this marks their first address to lawmakers and the nation - and may not happen in that time frame, as is the case tonight.

So, instead, we're calling this a "speech before a joint session of Congress". A bit of a mouthful, but there is precedent. According to the Congressional Research Office, every new president since Ronald Reagan has opted for these "speeches" as opposed to formal State of the Unions.

Below, check out a roundup of the first lines from State of the Unions past - and see when they didn't happen - compiled by a Military Times newspaper editor.

Image source, Getty Images

In a pre-pandemic world, a first lady would invite guests to the US Capitol to sit in her viewing box as her husband delivers his joint address to Congress.

With Covid limitations in place, First Lady Jill Biden will host her guests virtually.

Biden's five guests will "personify some of the issues or policies that will be addressed by the President in his speech", according to a White House statement.

They are:

• Javier Quiroz Castro, an immigrant and nurse from Texas
• Stella Keating, the first transgender teenager to testify before the US Senate
• Tatiana Washington, a gun violence prevention advocate
• Maria-Isabel Ballivian, an early childhood education advocate
• Theron Rutyna, a vocal proponent of rural broadband access

Biden will be touting his American Families Plan tonight - which includes funding pre-school education, free community college and paid family leave.

The president faces an uphill battle in selling his $1.8tn package to Republicans - and even a fellow Democrat.

Moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia said the proposal was "a lot of money". "That makes you very uncomfortable," he told Bloomberg, external.

Manchin's vote is key, as Democrats hold the slimmest of majorities in the chamber (50-50, and Vice-President Kamala Harris can cast a tiebreaker vote).

"States need to pull their own weight," Manchin added, when asked about his thoughts on some of Biden's proposals. "We’re relying on Uncle Sam to do everything it seems."

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

When former president Donald Trump spoke or tweeted, fact checkers everywhere paid close attention.

Trump told more than 500 lies in his first 100 days in office, according to the Washington Post Fact Checker database, external.

By comparison, President Joe Biden has made 67 false or misleading claims in his term so far.

Two of his falsehoods have earned the newspaper's "Four Pinocchios", a rating reserved for the biggest lies.

The catch? Biden has spoken and tweeted a lot less than his predecessor.

His sparse public remarks are prepared and vetted by staff, and carefully read off a teleprompter, with the sound bites then posted on to the president's official Twitter account.

The BBC's Reality Check put a few of Biden's claims under the microscope:

Biden's first 100 days as president fact-checked

But who was the biggest presidential fibber? Check this out:

Who truly was the most dishonest president?

Don't expect to see talk of a designated survivor tonight.

Because of Covid precautions allowing for just 200 lawmakers inside Congress, there's no need for Biden to anoint a top official in preparedness for a worst-case scenario.

Typically, this person sits out the proceedings in a secure location, just in case something happens to the hundreds of lawmakers and leaders inside the Capitol.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters: "There does not need to be a designated survivor because the Cabinet will be watching from their offices or home, but they will not be joining him for the speech."

Barbara Plett Usher
BBC News, Minneapolis

In the midst of a cacophony of honking horns on the day a former Minneapolis police officer was convicted of murdering George Floyd, I heard a raucous roar of joy from a white man near the court. "It’s been a long time coming," he told me.

"We did it!" shouted a black woman.

One official who won praise for overseeing the prosecution was Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a black Democrat. Civil rights figure Al Sharpton gave him repeated "shout-outs" for his role.

But President Joe Biden’s attorney general also took action, opening an investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department.

Social justice activists will have been bolstered to hear Biden echo their views.

Biden said the verdict was too rare and called it a step forward in the fight against systemic racism. He also urged Congress to pass police reform legislation named after George Floyd, while paying tribute to officers who "serve honorably".

We can expect similar remarks today, including efforts to humanise black victims of police violence.

Image source, Getty Images

According to the Washington Post, external, Bill Clinton reached the largest audience ever recorded with an address to Congress, at nearly 67 million viewers.

Over Obama’s eight congressional addresses he averaged about 40 million views per speech.

Trump averaged about 44 million viewers over his four speeches.

Media analysts don't expect viewership to rebound as long as Americans keep dumping their cable subscriptions, instead snacking on news via smartphones.

Still, Biden can surely beat the Oscars' miserable slump on Sunday to an all-time low of barely 10 million viewers.

The 100-day marker is an opportunity for the new administration to receive its report card.

Members of our BBC Ask America panel shared their thoughts on President Biden's performance so far.

A fiscal conservative who did not vote for Joe Biden, Jim is glad there's less drama in this White House but fears his concerns of a liberal overreach are coming true.

What he's done well is Covid vaccine administration. It has gone fairly smoothly and 200 million doses is in line with his promises.

The spending is a big concern. He's pushed through trillions of dollars in Covid relief and infrastructure spending which makes me fearful for the economy.

In the short term, there's a lot of money out there, but that's going to change over time. I am concerned about the kind of country we're going to leave behind for my kids and grandkids. It's big government on steroids.

Read more.