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CNN Live Event/Special
President Donald Trump Delivers State Of The Union Address. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired February 24, 2026 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Doctors said Dalilah would never be able to walk or talk, have a good life. She wouldn't even be able to eat again. But, against all odds, she is now in the first grade learning to walk. And she's here this evening with her dad, Marcus, a fantastic man.
Dalilah, please. You are a great inspiration. Please stand up.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: Thank you, Dalilah.
Many, if not most illegal aliens do not speak English and cannot read even the most basic road signs as to direction, speed, danger, or location. That's why, tonight, I'm calling on Congress to pass what we will call the Dalilah Law, barring any state from granting commercial driver's licenses to illegal aliens.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And, yesterday, as you probably saw at the White House, I hosted a ceremony with Americans who lost their treasured loved ones to the scourge of illegal immigration.
People came into our country, how we allowed this to happen, with our open borders. These are the Angel Moms and Families that for decades our government betrayed and our media totally ignored, totally. It was terrible. Hard to believe, actually.
In 2023, a 16-year-old high school cheerleader named Lizbeth Medina was supposed to perform in her town's Christmas parade, but she never arrived. Her mother, Jacqueline, went home to look for her, and she found her lying dead in a bathtub, bleeding profusely after being stabbed 25 times.
Lizbeth's killer was a previously arrested illegal alien who had broken in and brutally, really just brutally extinguished the brightest light in her family's life, violently and viciously. Her heartbroken mother is in the gallery to remind everyone in this
chamber exactly why we are deporting illegal alien criminals from our country at record numbers, and we're getting them the hell out of here fast. We don't want them.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Thank you very much, Jacqueline. Thank you.
We can never forget that many in this room not only allowed the border invasion to happen before I got involved, but, indeed, they would do it all over again if they ever had the chance. If they ever got elected, they would open up those borders to some of the worst criminals anywhere in the world.
The only thing standing between Americans and a wide-open border right now is President Donald J. Trump and our great Republican patriots in Congress. Thank you. Thank you.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: As we speak, Democrats in this chamber have cut off all funding for the Department of Homeland Security. It's all cut off. It's all cut off.
(BOOING)
TRUMP: They have instituted another Democrat shutdown, the first one costing us two points on GDP, two points we lost on GDP, which probably made them quite happy, actually.
Now they have closed the agency responsible for protecting Americans from terrorists and murders. Tonight, I'm demanding the full and immediate restoration of all funding for the border security, homeland security of the United States, and also for helping people clean up their snow.
We have no money because of the Democrats, and it would be nice. We'd love to give you a hand at cleaning it up, but you gave no money. Nobody's getting paid. It's a shame. So you have to think about it. We have, in case you didn't know, a pretty large snowstorm out there.
[22:05:00]
One of the great things about the State of the Union is how it gives Americans the chance to see clearly what their representatives really believe.
So tonight, I'm inviting every legislator to join with my administration and reaffirming a fundamental principle. If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support.
The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Isn't that a shame? You should be ashamed of yourself not standing up. You should be ashamed of yourself.
(REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN) YELLING)
TRUMP: That is why I'm also asking you to end deadly sanctuary cities that protect the criminals and enact serious penalties for public officials who block the removal of criminal aliens, in many cases, drug lords, murderers all over our country.
They are blocking the removal of these people out of our country, and you should be ashamed of yourself.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
(CHANTING "USA!")
TRUMP: And perhaps most importantly, I'm asking you to approve the Save America Act.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Please stop illegal aliens and others who are unpermitted persons from voting in our sacred American elections. That cheating is rampant in our elections. It's rampant.
It's very simple. All voters must show voter ID.
(APPLAUSE)
(BOOING)
(APLAUSE)
TRUMP: All voters must show proof of citizenship in order to vote.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And no more crooked mail in ballots except for illness, disability, military or travel. None.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And this should be an easy one, and by the way, it's polling at 89 percent, including Democrats, 89 percent.
(APPLAUSE) TRUMP: And even the new communist mayor of New York City -- I think he's a nice guy, actually, speak to him a lot. Bad policy, but nice guy -- just said they want people to shovel snow.
[22:10:03]
They got hit hard -- wants them to shovel snow. But if you applied for that job, you need to show two original forms of ID and a Social Security card.
(APPLAUSE)
Yet they don't want identification for the greatest privilege (sic) of them all, voting in America. No, it's no good, no good.
Both Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly agree on the policy that we just enunciated. And Congress should unite and enact this common- sense country-saving legislation right now. And it should be before anything else happens.
(APPLAUSE)
And the reason they don't want to do it, why would anybody not want voter ID? One reason, because they want to cheat. There's only one reason. They make up all excuses. They say it's racist. They come up with things, you almost say, what imagination they have. They want to cheat. They have cheated. And their policy is so bad that the only way they can get elected is to cheat. And we're going to stop it. We have to stop it, John.
(APPLAUSE)
And here is one more opportunity to show common sense in government. In the gallery tonight are Sage Blair and her mother Michele. In 2021, Sage was 14 when school officials in Virginia sought to socially transition her to a new gender, treating her as a boy and hiding it from her parents. Hard to believe, isn't it? Before long, a confused Sage ran away from home. After she was found in a horrific situation in Maryland, a left-wing judge refused to return Sage to her parents because they did not immediately state that their daughter was their son.
Sage was thrown into an all-boys state home and suffered terribly for a long time. But today all of that is behind them because Sage is a proud and wonderful young woman with a full ride scholarship to Liberty University. Sage and Michele, please stand up.
(APPLAUSE)
And thank you for your great bravery. And who can believe that we're even speaking about things like this? Fifteen years ago, if somebody was up here and said that, they'd say, what's wrong with him? But now we have to say it because it's going on all over, numerous states, without even telling the parents.
But surely we can all agree no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents' arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents' will who would believe that we're even talking about this?
(APPLAUSE)
We must ban it and we must ban it immediately.
(APPLAUSE)
Look, nobody stands up. These people are crazy, I'm telling you, they're crazy.
(APPLAUSE)
Crazy, (inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED: ... Epstein files!
TRUMP: Boy, oh, boy. We're -- we're lucky we have a country. With people like this, Democrats are destroying our country, but we've stopped it just in the nick of time, didn't we?
(APPLAUSE)
No one cares more about protecting America's youth than our wonderful first lady, now a movie star. She's a movie star. Can you believe it?
(APPLAUSE)
Who would have believed that? Over the past year, she has had an incredible impact, championing AI legislation, advancing a landmark executive order on foster care, and helping secure $30 million to launch the Melania Trump Foster Youth to Independence Initiative.
[22:15:01]
It's a tremendous -- really a tremendous thing that happened and had a lot of bipartisan support. She gets much better bipartisan support than I do. I get none. She gets a lot.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: Someday you're going to have to tell me how you did that. And students and educators in every state have joined the First Lady's efforts in the presidential A.I. challenge, keeping America's next- generation position to succeed and strongly succeed in the future.
Tonight, we welcome two young people whose lives reflect the First Lady's impact, Sierra Burns and Everest Nevraumont. Thank you both. And, Melania, thank you. I know how hard you worked on her. Thank you very much.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I'm very proud to say that during my time in office, both the first four years and, in particular, this last year, there has been a tremendous renewal in religion, faith, Christianity, and belief in God.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Tremendous renewal.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: This is especially true among young people. And a big part of that had to do with my great friend, Charlie Kirk, a great guy, great man.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: So, last year, Charlie was violently murdered by an assassin and martyred. Really martyred for his beliefs. His wonderful wife, Erika, is with us tonight. Erika, please stand.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHANTING)
TRUMP: Thank you, Erica. Been through a lot. In Charlie's memory, we must all come together to reaffirm that America is one nation under God, and we must totally reject political violence of any kind.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We love religion, and we love bringing it back. And it's coming back at levels that nobody actually thought possible. It's really a beautiful thing to see. Above all, unleashing America's promise requires keeping our community safe. We have made incredible strides, yet dangerous repeat offenders continue to be released by pro-crime Democrat politicians again and again.
We are honored to be joined tonight by a woman who's been through hell, Anya Zarutska. In 2022, she and her beautiful daughter, so beautiful, what a beautiful young woman. Iryna fled war-torn Ukraine to live with relatives near Charlotte, North Carolina. And, by the way, what's going on with Charlotte? Last summer, 23-year-old Iryna was riding home on the train when a deranged monster, who had been arrested over a dozen times and was released through no-cash bail, stood up and viciously slashed a knife through her neck and body.
No one will ever forget -- there were people on that train. No one will ever forget the expression of terror on Iryna's face as she looked up at her attacker in the last seconds of her life. She died instantly. She had escaped a brutal war only to be slain by a hardened criminal, set free to kill in America, came in through open borders.
Mrs. Zarutska, tonight I promise you we will ensure justice for your magnificent daughter, Iryna.
(APPLAUSE)
[22:20:07]
TRUMP: How do you not stand? How do you not stand? I'm asking this Congress to pass tough legislation to ensure that violent and dangerous repeat offenders are put behind bars, and importantly that they stay there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Starting last summer I deployed our National Guard and federal law enforcement to restore law in order to our most dangerous cities, including Memphis, Tennessee. Big success. New Orleans, Louisiana, big success and our nation's capital itself, Washington, D.C. where we have almost no crime anymore in Washington, D.C. How did that happen?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: In fact, crime in Washington is now at the lowest level ever recorded and murders in D.C. this January, were down close to 100 percent from a year ago.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: They don't like to hear that one of the sick people, one of the grave service members who helped achieve this studying turnaround was 20-year-old West Virginia Army National Guard specialist Sarah Beckstrom. After a four-month deployment, she voluntarily extended her service and her rank was going to be lifted. She was doing so well. They were so proud of her, but the very next day she was on patrol near the White House when she was ambushed and shot in the head by a terrorist monster from Afghanistan, shouldn't have been in our country and all because she wore the uniform of our nation. She was shot. He traveled here because he didn't like people wearing our uniform. He was sick and deranged. Shouldn't have been in our country.
Sarah Beckstrom died in order to defend our capital. And we are honored to be joined by her wonderful parents, Gary (ph) and Evilly (ph). Your daughter was a true American patriot and she will be greatly missed. She was a great person. I saw reports on her. They've never seen anything like it.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: So sorry. Thank you very much. A great young lady. I saw reports that were like perfect. She's perfect.
Serving alongside Sarah that day was Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe. The terrorist shot Andrew in the head and no one thought he could possibly make it. The two of them, Sarah and Andrew both shot violently in the head. Neither was expected to make it. They weren't even given a chance, except his wonderful mother named Melody, who I spoke to the same night, and she was so positive. The doctors thought that Andrew was gone, but his mother said, no, no, Mr. President, Andrew will be fine. He's going to make it. I've never seen anything like it. I mean. He was given almost no chance.
She said, I have no doubt, sir. He's going to be OK. This was a conversation that I had with her that night with his son (INAUDIBLE) helplessly in bed, blood all over. Everybody is praying. She said, sir, he will be OK. The doctors didn't understand what she was saying, and after looking at the results of the damage done, neither did I. She was so strong and conclusive that even Andrew's great father felt she didn't really understand the gravity of the situation.
But she turned out to be right. Right, Melody? She turned out to be right.
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
[22:25:22]
TRUMP: Amazing, actually. I said, where does this woman come from? She's the most positive person I've ever met. With God's help, Andrew has battled back from the edge of death, and we're talking about the edge of death. On his way to a miraculous recovery. He's got a little work to do, but he's doing great. Nice to see you. He's a good looking guy. Nice to see you. Thanks, Andrew. Thank you very much.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: So, Andrew, while you're up, now I'm going to ask a highly respected General James Seward to present Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe and the great family of Sarah Beckstrom with the award created by our late, great President George Washington himself. It's called the Purple Heart.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We love you all. Love you. We're proudly restoring safety for Americans at home, and we are also restoring security for Americans abroad. Our country has never been stronger. My first 10 months, I ended eight wars, including Cambodia. Isn't it funny?
(UNKNOWN): That's a lie.
TRUMP: Sick people.
(UNKNOWN): That's a lie.
TRUMP: Cambodia and Thailand, Pakistan and India, would have been a nuclear war. 35 million people said the Prime Minister of Pakistan would have died if it were not for my involvement. Kosovo and Serbia, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Congo and Rwanda, and of course, the war in Gaza, which proceeds at a very low level. It's just about there. I want to thank Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for your help. Thank you, Steve. Thank you, Jared.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And I also want to thank the man they report to, Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Thank you, Marco.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: People like you. You know, Marco got 100% of the votes when he was in confirm (ph). I think our next one was about 54%.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: And some of the Democrats are now saying, I can't believe we approved that guy.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: And he said, it's an honor that they feel that way. Right, Marco? You have done a great job. Great Secretary of State. I think he'll go down as the best ever.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Under the ceasefire I negotiated, every single hostage, both living and dead, has been returned home. Can you believe it (ph)?
(APPLAUSE)
[22:30:00]
TRUMP: Nobody thought it was possible. Nobody thought that was possible, both living and dead.
And those parents who had a dead son, their boy -- they would always told me their boy -- they wanted him as much as though he were living. That was an amazing period of time. And they came back. And when we got all of the living hostages back, and many, many before them, but I always said those last 20 are going to be very tough.
But we got many, many more, hundreds. But I said those last 20 are going to be tough. We got them back. But we only got back 14 or 15 of the dead of the 28. And believe it or not, Hamas worked along with Israel, and they dug, and they dug, and they dug. It's a tough -- it's a tough thing to do, going through bodies all over, passing up 100 bodies sometimes for each one that they found.
Tough job. And they finally got it back to 27. And then Steve and Jared, they got it back to 28. They found all 28. Nobody thought that was possible. But we did it.
And I remember the family of the 28th. They were so grieved, but they were so happy, as happy as it's possible to be. They had their boy back. The mother said: "Sir, we have our boy back."
What a period of time that was, but we got them all back. So, thank you both very much. Great job.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And we're working very hard to end the ninth war, the killing and slaughter between Russia and Ukraine, where 25,000 soldiers are dying each and every month. Think of that; 25,000 soldiers are dying a month, a war which would have never happened if I were president. It would have never happened.
As president, I will make peace wherever I can, but I will never hesitate to confront threats to America wherever we must. That's why, in a breakthrough operation last June, the United States military obliterated Iran's nuclear weapons program with an attack on Iranian soil known as Operation Midnight Hammer.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: For decades, it had been the policy of the United States never to allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, many decades. Since they seized control of that proud nation 47 years ago, the regime and its murderous proxies have spread nothing but terrorism and death and hate.
They have killed and maimed thousands of American service members and hundreds of thousands and even millions of people with what's called roadside bombs. They were the kings of the roadside bomb. And we took out Soleimani. I did that during my first term, had a huge impact.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: He was the father of the roadside bomb.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And just over the last couple of months, with the protests, they have killed at least, it looks like, 32,000 protesters, 32,000 protesters in their own country. They shot them and hung them.
We stopped them from hanging a lot of them with the threat of serious violence. But this is some terrible people. They have already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they're working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.
After Midnight Hammer, they were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program, in particular, nuclear weapons. Yet they continue. They're starting it all over. We wiped it out, and they want to start all over again and are at this moment again pursuing their sinister ambitions.
We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven't heard those secret words: We will never have a nuclear weapon.
My preference...
(APPLAUSE)
[22:35:01] TRUMP: My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world's number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon. Can't let that happen.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And no nation should ever doubt America's resolve. We have the most powerful military on earth. I rebuilt the military in my first term. We're going to continue to do so.
Also, just approved $1 trillion budget. We have no choice. We have to be strong because hopefully, we will seldom have to use this great power that we built together. It's really called "peace through strength", and it's been very, very effective.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: So, thanks to Republican in Congress, we're investing that record number of dollars, have no choice, in the United States Armed Forces.
Also creating a lot of jobs but we're not even doing it for that reason because as I said, we have more jobs, more people working today than ever before in the history of our country.
And NATO countries are friends and allies -- they are. They're our friends, and they're our allies -- have just agreed at my very strong request to pay 5 percent of GDP for military defense rather than the 2 percent which they weren't paying. We were paying for almost all of them.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Now, they're paying five as opposed to not paying for it.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And getting that 5 percent was something which everyone said would never be done, could not happen. We got it really easily, one meeting.
And a big difference between 2 percent that's not paid. We were paying the freight (ph) of many of them. Very few were paid up.
Now, 5 percent, then they're paid. And everything we send over to Ukraine is sent through NATO and they pay us in full. They pay us totally in full.
Every branch of our Armed Forces is setting records for recruitment. This is so exciting. And every service member recently --
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And every service member recently received a warrior dividend of $1,776. (APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: You know, they put it on my desk. We got the money from tariffs and other things. A lot of money we have, we have much more money than people understand. Have to rebuild that program a little bit, but it won't take long.
But we got the money and it was $1,775, and I -- and they wanted my approval, and I said, "What's the number, $1,775?" I said, "Wait a minute, for one more dollar, we can have 1776."
It's going to -- I said, we're going to figure that -- I never asked anybody if we could afford it. One more dollar. I said, 1776. And I said, that's good.
And I'll tell you what? Our military -- that was four months ago. Our military -- I never see a person in the military that doesn't thank me for it.
So, we're honored to do it. They deserve it and said -- we call it 1776. It was great.
And we love our military. We love our law enforcement. We love our firemen.
You know, the firemen don't get mentioned enough. We love our firemen.
We're also --
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: We're also restoring American security and dominance in the western hemisphere, acting to secure our national interests and defend our country from violence, drugs, terrorism and foreign interference.
For years, large swaths of territory in our region, including large parts of Mexico, really large parts of Mexico, have been controlled by murderous drug cartels. That's why I designated these cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. And I declared illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.
(APPLAUSE)
[22:40:06]
TRUMP: And with our new military campaign, we have stopped record amounts of drugs coming into our country, and virtually stopped it completely coming in by water or sea. You probably noticed that. You very seriously damaged their fishing industry also.
(LAUGHTER)
Nobody wants -- nobody wants to go fishing anymore.
We've also taken down one of the most sinister cartel kingpins of all. You saw that yesterday. In January...
(APPLAUSE)
In January, elite American warriors carried out one of the most complex, spectacular feats of military competence and power in world history. No one's seen anything like it. Foreign leaders, I won't tell you who, called me and they said, very impressive, very good.
(LAUGHTER)
They couldn't believe -- they all watched. They saw what happened. This is a different fighting force than we had years ago when we fought to tie. No, it's a great fighting force. I'm so proud of it.
Look at Space Force. Space Force is my baby because we did that. My baby, it's becoming so important.
(APPLAUSE)
And America's armed forces overwhelmed all defenses and utterly defeated a enemy, good fighters, to end the reign of outlaw dictator Nicolas Maduro and bring him to face American justice.
(APPLAUSE)
And this was an absolutely colossal victory for the security of the United States. And it also opens up a bright new beginning for the people of Venezuela. We're working closely with the new president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, to unleash extraordinary economic gains for both of our countries and to bring new hope to those who have suffered so terribly. They really did suffer.
With us tonight is Alejandro Gonzalez (ph). She grew up in a tight- knit Venezuelan family and was especially close to her beloved uncle, Enrique (ph). But after Enrique (ph) ran for office and opposed Maduro, he was kidnapped by Maduro's security forces and thrown into the regime's really infamous prison in Caracas. Alejandro (ph) feared she would never see her uncle again. She feared for her own life also.
But since the raid, we have worked with the new leadership and they have ordered the closure of that vile prison and released hundreds of political prisoners already with more to come. Alejandro (ph), I'm pleased to inform you that not only has your uncle been released, but he's here tonight. We brought him over to celebrate his freedom with you in person. Enrique (ph), please come down.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you, Enrique (ph), have a good time.
(LAUGHTER)
Nice to have you back, Enrique (ph). There were many heroes on that January raid to capture Maduro, really
great heroes. It was very dangerous. They knew we were coming. They were all set. But the deeds of one warrior that night will live forever in the eternal chronicles of military valor, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover, planned the mission and was the flight lead in the cockpit of the first helicopter, a big, beautiful, powerful helicopter. It was a massive Chinook carrying, as you can imagine, many, many American war fighters wearing their dog tags his wife Amy, had blessed with holy water before he left.
[22:45:07]
She knew it was going to be a rough one. Eric steered the chinook under the cover of night and descended swiftly upon Maduro's heavily protected military fortress. This was a major military installation. Protected by thousands of soldiers and guarded by Russian and Chinese military technology. How did that work out? Not too good.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: While preparing to land, enemy machine guns fired from every angle. And Eric was hit very badly in the leg and hip, one bullet after another. He absorbed four agonizing shots, shredding his leg into numerous pieces. And yet, despite the fact that the use of his legs was vital to successful helicopter flight, like I said, the most important part of flying a helicopter to deliver the many commandos who would capture and detain Maduro was the only thing Eric was thinking about.
Then even as he was gushing blood, which was flowing back down the aisle, the helicopter lands at a steep angle, the machine gun stood right in front of them. They were right in front of them, two machine gunners who escaped the wrath of the previous planes. Eric maneuvered his helicopter with all of those lives and souls to face the enemy and let his gunners eliminate the threat. Turned the helicopter around so the gunners could take care of business, saving the lives of his fellow warriors from what could have been a catastrophic crash deep in enemy territory.
Only after safely landing the helicopter with all the warriors aboard in the exact right spot, which was vital to the mission, it probably wouldn't have happened. Maybe canceled the mission if that didn't happen. Eric told his co-pilot, also wounded, but not as gravely, to take over, I'm about ready to pass out.
The success of the entire mission and the lives of his fellow warrior's hinge and Eric's ability to take the searing pain. It was unbelievable what's happened to his legs. Of the bullets and keep on flying and landing, and people knew what was happening. Everybody in the back of the helicopter knew because they saw the blood pouring down the aisle. Chief Warrant Officer Slover is still recovering from his serious wounds, but I'm thrilled to say that he is here tonight with his wife, Amy. Eric and Amy, come on in.
(APPLAUSE)
CROWD: USA. USA. USA.
(CHANTING)
TRUMP: So, we have a surprise for Eric and Amy. In recognition of Eric's actions above and beyond the call of duty I would now like to ask General Jonathan Braga to present Chief Warrant Officer Slover with our nation's highest military award, the Congressional Medal of Honor.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
[22:50:19]
TRUMP: Well, thank you very much, Eric and Amy. Great to get to know you. I met with them and with a lot of their fellow warriors at Fort Bragg recently. You notice the name Fort Bragg? We have it back. We brought it back. We won the First World War with it, the Second World War with it. And then they decided to change the name.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: So we changed it back. Everybody wanted to change back, too. And ten of Eric's fellow warriors from that incredible night of victory will also be receiving medals at a private ceremony that will soon be held at the White House. And Eric will be there.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Thank you, Eric. That's a big one.
Tonight we've celebrated many truly extraordinary American patriots. But there is one last living legend to honor before we go. He is one more heroic American aviator. Navy fighter pilot Royce Williams served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, flying more than 220 missions. In the skies over Korea, in 1952, Royce was in the dogfight of a lifetime. Legendary dogfight.
Flying through blizzard conditions, his squadron was ambushed by seven Soviet fighter planes. It was his first aerial combat of the war. And despite being massively outnumbered and outgunned, Royce led the takedown of four enemy jets and almost destroyed the others. Vanquishing his adversaries while taking 263 bullets to his own plane and being seriously hurt.
His story was secret for over 50 years. He didn't even want to tell his wife. But the legend grew and grew. But tonight at 100 years old, this brave Navy captain is finally getting the recognition he deserves. He was a legend long before this evening. Royce, please stand up. And I will ask the First Lady of the United States to present Captain Royce Williams with his Congressional Medal of Honor.
(CHEERING)
[22:55:00] (CHEERING)
TRUMP: Thank you, Royce. And thank you, Eric.
I have always wanted the Congressional Medal of Honor, but I was informed I'm not allowed to give it to myself, and I wouldn't know why I'd be taking it.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: But if they ever open up that law, I will be there with you someday.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: But you know that's our highest honor, Congressional Medal of Honor, and that's a big thing. And it's an honor to be in the same room with you.
Thank you both very much. Eric, thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Thank you.
Two hundred and fifty years is a long time in the life of a nation, but, in another sense, it's really a mere moment in the eye of history. Two of the gentlemen we met in the gallery this evening took their first breaths one century ago; 100 years before that, on July 4, 1826, the author of the Declaration of Independence, brilliant, Thomas Jefferson, drew his last breath.
Just a single long human lifespan separates the giants who declared and won our independence from the heroes who stand among us tonight. Everything our nation has done, everything we have achieved has been the work of those few great lifetimes.
In those brief chapters, Americans built this nation from 13 humble colonies into the pinnacle of human civilization and human freedom, the strongest, wealthiest, most powerful, most successful nation in all of history. Americans ventured out across the daunting and dangerous continent.
We carved paths through an unforgiving wilderness, settled a boundless frontier, and tamed the beautiful, but very, very dangerous Wild West. From empty marshes and wide open plains, we raised up the world's greatest cities.
Together, we mastered the world's mightiest industries and shattered histories, monstrous tyrannies, and we liberated millions from the chains of fascism, communism, oppression, and terror. Americans lifted humanity into the skies on the wings of aluminum and steel.
And then we launched mankind into the stars on rockets powered by sheer American will and unyielding American pride. We wired the globe with our ingenuity. We captivated the planet with American culture. And now we are pioneering the next great American breakthroughs that will change the entire world.
All of this and so much more is the enduring legacy, unmatched glory of the hardworking patriots who built and defended this country and who still carry the hopes and freedoms on all of humanity's backs.
For years, they were forgotten, betrayed, and cast aside. But that great betrayal is over, and they will never be forgotten again, because, when the world needs courage, daring vision, and inspiration, it is still turning to America. And when God needs a nation to work his miracles, he knows exactly who to ask.
There is no challenge Americans cannot overcome, no frontier too vast for us to conquer, no dream too bold for us to chase, no horizon too distant for us to claim, for our destiny is written by the hand of providence, and these first 250 years were just the beginning.
From the rugged border towns of Texas to the heartland villages of Michigan, from the sun-kissed shores of Florida to the endless fields of the Dakotas, and from the historic streets of Philadelphia to right here in our nation's capital, Washington, D.C., the golden age of America is upon us.
The revolution that began in 1776 has not ended. It still continues, because the flame of liberty and independence still burns in the heart of every American patriot. And our future will be bigger, better, brighter, bolder and more glorious than ever before.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
