President Joe Biden has wrapped up a lengthy speech addressing the State of the Union (which he says is strong!), sparring with heckling Republicans and bringing both parties together at different parts of the night. It was a pleasant enough speech, which did the job it was supposed to do.

What’s more, it was definitely a lot less intimidating than his last attempt at a major, nation-unifying speech, which took place in front of Independence Hall in Pennsylvania, which was an optical mess and completely missed the boat on its supposed plan to unite us against the evil election deniers.

I mean, this image really doesn’t scream “Come together,” does it?

The optics were so bad, CNN was caught trying to lighten the video up.

One of the issues with the speech was that Biden was clearly making a political speech, but used real U.S. Marines in the backdrop, which made the imagery even weirder and was also wholly inappropriate. The White House tried to explain that one away, but it more or less fell flat.

But Judicial Watch, which has been seeking answers on the use of those marines, took it a step further today, hours before Biden’s State of the Union address, by filing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Biden administration.

Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Defense for records about the use of U.S. Marines for President Joe Biden’s controversial September 1, 2022, campaign speech in Philadelphia (Judicial Watch vs. U.S. Department of Defense (No. 1:23-cv-00213)).

Biden was widely criticized for using the Marines as props during a political speech in which he called “MAGA Republicans” a threat to democracy.

[…]

“Biden’s infamous ‘Red Speech,’ which included the abuse of our Marines in its totalitarian imagery, painted a target on Trump and tens of millions of Americans for political suppression and worse,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “And, to make matters worse, the Pentagon is violating federal law by hiding records about Biden’s misuse of our military in his attempt to intimidate Americans.”

The depiction of those marines in a speech that clearly targeted a political opponent and that opponent’s supporters is a stain on the branch, and Biden should have known better. Hopefully, Judicial Watch will be able to get the answers they seek from the lawsuit.