Trump speech: JD Vance laments US president's lengthy Congress speech in hot mic moment | WATCH

US Vice President JD Vance was on Tuesday night (Mar 4) caught on a hot mic, lamenting the lengthy speech by President Donald Trump to Congress, which was expected to last around 90 minutes.

Just hours before Trump's address, Vance was heard saying, "I think the speech is going to be great, but I don't know how you do this for 90 minutes".

House Speaker Mike Johnson responded to Vance's remark by sharing his own experience of enduring a lengthy speech by President Biden, describing it as a "stupid campaign speech".

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“The hardest thing was doing it during Biden, when his speech was a stupid campaign speech,” he said as he pushed down the microphone.

Upon realising the microphone was still on, Johnson discreetly pushed it away and continued to chat with Vance.

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Johnson was in attendance at former US President Joe Biden's address to lawmakers in 2024. Biden's speech was largely viewed as a campaign-oriented address, coming ahead of the US presidential elections later that year.

Trump's speech to US Congress

Trump, on Tuesday (March 4), used his inaugural address to a joint session of the US Congress to tout his administration's achievements since taking office.

In his address, he also mentioned India, stating that the United States has been "ripped off for decades" by "nearly every country on Earth" and "we will not let that happen any longer".

While talking about tariffs, Trump said that the US is set to see some "disturbance", but he touted levies as a tool that would help domestic industries boom.

"Tariffs are not just about protecting American jobs. They're about protecting the soul of our country," Trump said.

"There'll be a little disturbance, but we're okay with that. It won't be much," he said, adding that the tariffs will take in trillions and trillions of dollars and create jobs "like we have never seen before".

He further took a shot at the European Union and countries including Canada, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Korea, slamming "unfair" practices and said that "this is happening by friend and foe. This system is not fair to the United States, and never was".

Trump highlighted India's 100 per cent tariff on imported American automobiles, which is a contentious issue between the two nations.

He added that reciprocal tariffs tailored to US trading partners would "kick in" on April 2 to remedy the situation.

"Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades and now it is our turn to start using them against those other countries. On average, the European Union, China, Brazil, India...and countless other nations charge us tremendously higher tariffs than we charge them, it is very unfair," the US president said.

"India charges us tariffs 100%. The system is not fair to the US, it never was...on April 2, reciprocal tariffs kick in and whatever they tariff us, other countries, we will tariff them...whatever they tax us, we will tax them. If they do non-monetary tariffs to keep us out of their market, then we will do non-monetary barriers to keep them out of our market," he added.

(With inputs from agencies)