Joint session 2017: Who are Trump's special guests?
The White House has announced six special guests who will sit with First Lady Melania Trump at President Donald Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress tonight, including the widow of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
The six guests are indicative of the policy priorities Mr. Trump has had since taking office, and the themes he is likely to hit during his speech. Included among the six, for example, are three people whose family members were killed by undocumented immigrants -- an issue Mr. Trump highlighted on the 2016 campaign trail
Additionally, Scalia’s wife helps highlight the fact that Mr. Trump has nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court as Scalia’s replacement. And a woman who depended on school vouchers to attend a private school raises the education issues for which Mr. Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, has been a longtime advocate.
Here are the special guests at Tuesday night’s speech:
- Maureen McCarthy Scalia, the widow of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
- Megan Crowley, a 20-year-old woman and Notre Dame sophomore diagnosed with Pompe Disease as a baby. Her father founded a company called Novazyme Pharmaceuticals to help search for a cure to her disease.
- Jessica Davis & Susan Oliver, the widows of Detective Michael Davis and Deputy Sheriff Danny Oliver, two California police officers killed by an undocumented immigrant in 2014.
- Denisha Merriweather, a first-generation high school and college graduate who used the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program to attend a Florida private school, Esprit de Corps Center for Learning.
- Jamiel Shaw Sr., the father of a young man shot and killed by an undocumented immigrant in 2008.