Women will surround Trump at State of the Union address

AP  |  Washington 

behind and above. Female immigrants, gazing down from the balcony. A black woman who ran a close race for of Georgia, rebutting.

Nancy will sit just over his shoulder on the dais, on-camera, looking out at the assembled lawmakers, Cabinet members, justices and diplomats.

Seated in front of Trump will be a record number of women members, most Democrats and some dressed in easy-to-spot white.

And in the gallery overhead? Two former employees of Trump's golf club, women and immigrants, who have spoken out about its hiring practices.

Afterward, will become the first black woman to deliver the Democratic rebuttal.

"I hope she does a good job. I respect her," Trump said Thursday of Abrams, who narrowly lost the race for to the president's ally,

The pledged to deliver a speech rooted in a theme of "unity," even as he renewed his demand for a border wall as a condition of keeping the government open past February 15.

Before he spoke in the Oval Office Thursday, again rebuffed the demand and belittled him on national security matters.

Trump will give his speech Tuesday before a joint session of at a sensitive time in talks to prevent agencies from shuttering after the longest government shutdown in history.

Members of are inviting federal workers who went without pay for 35 days and are worried about a repeat.

But the striking visual is shaping up to be the new lawmakers who will be arrayed around the and elected in the wake of Trump's about women, immigrants, Muslims and more.

Two female immigrants will be among the lawmakers' guests and seated in the gallery above the House chamber.

One is Victorina Morales, who worked for one of Trump's clubs in for years even though she was born in and lived in the US. illegally.

Morales, a guest of Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, said in an interview that she feels respectful toward the president.

But she does have a message for him after years of hearing Trump describe immigrants as a scourge that takes jobs from Americans.

"Forget about the wall, stop separating families and focus on immigration reform," she said in an interview with The Associated Press, conducted in Spanish.

Another woman who cleaned the president's clothes and made his bed at his Bedminster, NJ, club is attending the address, too.

Sandra Diaz, 46, a native of who worked at from 2010 to 2013, will be attending as a guest of Democratic Rep of California, according to the for both women,

Diaz told the AP last month that she was also hired without legal papers and supervisors at the club knew it.

She is now a legal permanent US resident.

Diaz said she decided to speak out because she is angry about the president describing immigrants as violent.

Abrams speaks both before and after Trump.

The Democrat, heavily courted by Democrats to run for a seat in 2020, lost her bid to be the nation's first African-American woman after a protracted fight.

On Sunday, the 45-year-old Democrat will take her push for voting rights to the airwaves in her home state during

Abrams' group, Fight, has bought airtime on affiliates broadcasting the game so the Atlanta Democrat can push for

Abrams said she'll speak about inclusion "at a moment when our nation needs to hear from leaders who can unite for a common purpose.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Fri, February 01 2019. 12:50 IST