Barred from entering the u. S. This version of the travel ban, this third attempt, is much narrower but one of the key issues for the justices to decide, whether or not trumps initial calls for a quote unquote muslim ban was really at the heart of this led legislation. Back to december 2015. Donald j. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the United States until our countrys representatives can figure out what the hell is going on. You have no choice. We have no choice. Lets go straight to our chief white house correspondent, jim acosta. Jim, this decision, of course, comes just as the white house and congress are working on immigration policy regarding our southern border. Right. How might this affect the president . Well, hes feeling vindicated, brooke, on the travel ban so that obviously is making him feel embolden about taking the hardline stance on immigration, despite what the Supreme Court justices said while the chief justice said that this proclamation from the president is squarely within his scope and his president ial authority, i think we have to heed the words from Sonia Sotomayor who wrote the minority opinion for those justices who dissented. She essentially said that the majority set aside the president s charged statements about muslims and those are the statements you played there a few moments ago when he made the comments during the campaign. They were widely viewed across the country, across much of the world as being antimuslim and what the Supreme Court did today is sort of in that 54 decision put aside the president s past statements and so the president is not only feeling vindicated in terms of this travel ban, he is receiving somewhat of an excuse from the high court when it comes to his past antimuslim comments. Keep in mind, brooke, last year the president tweeted that the Justice Department should have stuck with the original ban, his original ban, youll recall during the briefings you and i, i was in the briefing room, you were watching the briefings unfold from where you were sitting, sean spicer would try to come out and say no, this is not a travel ban and then the president would go out and tweet this is a travel ban. This is a travel ban and to some extent it is a vindication and a confirmation of what he originally conceded during the campaign in wanting a muslim ban. This is a ban that affects mostly majority muslim countries. It is a vindication for his policies. Now talking about immigration he talked about this during that spread in the cabinet room this afternoon with a group of lawmakers sitting around him, he sort of moved from that subject into the subject of whats happening down at the border and he repeated this falsehood about how because of the influx of migrants coming across the border theyre going to need 5,000 judges on the border. We should point out because we keep playing that comment on television, played last night during the rally and today during the Cabinet Meeting with the lawmakers in the cabinet room, he keeps saying they want 5,000 judges on the border. We should point out that is false. Nobody in washington is talking about asking the president for 5,000 judges on the border. He keeps making this false statement to excuse and to justify the further detention of these children and these migrants coming across the border. Well see if they have any more to say about it. Theyre not having a briefing to justify what the president was saying this afternoon, but its important to point out, brooke, the lawmakers who were sitting with the president as he was uttering the falsehoods did not butt in to say no, mr. President , that comment is not right. Which is noteworthy. Jim acosta, thank you very much. Stay on all of jims points about the decision from the Supreme Court. With me now cnn chief legal cn legal analyst, a former federal prosecutor at the department of justice. So hello to both of you. Good afternoon. And okay, on acostas point about this decision and reading the majority opinion from the chief justice, talking about trumps statements, his words, is the takeaway that in the end trumps words didnt matter . Yes. Thats and in fact, the chief justice says that explicitly. He says, you know, you can tell hes uncomfortable with those words. He draws a contrast between what the president , what President Trump said, and the more sympathetic words that president bush had about muslims after 9 11. Yeah. He said look, this executive order, this travel ban, does not address muslims specifically on it face, it doesnt say anything about muslims and it is at the core, he says, of what president s are allowed to do when it comes to immigration. Controlling the borders, deciding which countries have access to the United States, thats what we give president s power to do, and thats what thats what this order does. So but he called it he had called it, you know, this muslim ban and tweeted that the Justice Department watered down the muslim ban to get it through the Supreme Court. I mean were talking this is the third iteration of this whole thing. Is this a watered down version of that . So it is definitely a narrower version. Theres no question the first two versions were broader. It is greatly restricted and there are exceptions for some people. It is far narrower than it was. That is conceitedly true. I think, you know, it has moved significantly in the past. This is now the third iteration. To jeffreys point, i do think theres a fascinating line in there where chief Justice Roberts says its not to decide on this president , its to decide on any president. Right. Hes really this is why is that significant . This is really theyre making the decision the president has the authority to do this and Broad Authority under the immigration and nationality act and it is a sweeping declarations of president ial power and what theyre almost trying to do is i think plug their ears to the comments by the president and say, you know, lets not Pay Attention to that which yeah. I think theres a lot to that. The in both chief Justice Roberts opinion and Justice Kennedys conquering opinion, theyre uncomfortable with the way trump expressed himself and they tried to sort of chide him in a small way, but he won. Yeah. And i think thats the most important part of this case and Sonia Sotomayor and the dissenters are saying, look, you guys are pretending that this is not a muslim ban, but it is a muslim ban. This violates our constitution and our principles. Its a scathing, scathing opinion justice Sonia Sotomayor, but its only for four justices. To your point about really the president ial power versus individual and you see this whole situation where weve been in the last week and a half with the southern border is it possible with the president ial power he could add a country . He could. I mean he could more immigration from mexico. But, you know, we have thousands of people who cross the border from mexico every day. You know, you can as a legal matter, i think its clear he could do that. But as a practical matter, anyone who has ever been on the border and seen these enormous traffic jams every day and the complers that goes back and forth, it would be impractical. Im not saying stop immigration, but have a check. But also the way tt this proclamation, this one specifically drafted, it does go towards countries that there are questions about what information theyre providing about their citizens and their nationals and the u. S. Is saying theyre not giving us enough information. Mexico has not been put in that category. Again could he do another proclamation the answer is probably yes, but on this specific one i dont think, you know, he would have to fall within the sort of boundaries theyve set. Theres nothing in todays opinion that says anything about whether children can be separated from their parents. Thats a whole other issue. So this does not address in any way the crisis that weve all been so preoccupied with. I want to get to neil gorsuch factor in this thing. A huge win early on in his presidency to be able to have this conservative justice. Im wondering, though, if you think its not only, you know, this huge win for this administration, but also a win for the majority leader and the senate, Mitch Mcconnell. Because he was able all under the obama era to keep Merrick Garland, they never even heard from him that entire time. Antonin scalia died february 13th, 2016, with a more than 11 months to go in Barack Obamas presidency. Mitch mcconnell, within hours, i was sitting at this table, we were it was a saturday, poppy harlow was in here and, you know, most people were sort of paying tribute and Mitch Mcconnell said, there will be no vote on a successor. And he kept his word. He kept his word. Now thats unprecedented in American History to keep a seat that to keep a seat vacant for that long, but the consequences of the Merrick Garland not being on the court and neil gorsuch and you said there was another case today involving abortion also 54, the same vote, a series of 54 votes people voted for trump knowing that, you know, there would be this elections have huge consequences and i think this would have been a different decision if there was a different court, and so we dont know that for sure, but theres no question i think, you know, theres a fair argument that elections have consequences and this is one of those consequences. In 2012 the American People elected barack obama to a fouryear term and most people thought four years meant four years. Mitch mcconnell turned that into a threeyear term when it came to the Supreme Court. I also think one of the things thats problematic is this is making the Supreme Court political. There have been challenges with the court forever but it does set the law of the land. We now follow trump versus hawaii and it is critically important when you think about people playing politics with it and deeply disturbing. Dangerous territory. Ann and jeffrey, thank you very much for on that. Coming up next, President Trump goes on the attack against harleydavidson as he defending his trade policy and thats not the only group hes going after, slinging personal insults from everyone from jimmy fallon to Justin Trudeau to john mccain as white house officials call for civility. Ahead protesters gathering where attorney general Jeff Sessions is about to speak. We are expecting him to weigh in on todays Supreme Court decision to uphold that travel ban. Well take you there coming up next. Billions of mouths. Billions of problems. Morning breath . Garlic breath . Stinky breath . Theres a therabreath for you. 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So how do i make the efforts of 8 employees. Feel like 50 . How can i share new plans virtually . How can i download an efile . Virtual tours . Zipfile . Really big files . In seconds, not minutes. Just like that. Like everything. The answer is simple. Ill do what ive always done. Dream more, dream faster, and above all. Now, ill dream gig. Now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. Comcast, building americas largest gigspeed network. The wte hou is calling for civility, but it appears possibly President Trump didnt get the memo, at least last night he was at that rally speaking at that rally in south carolina, he unloaded o one issue after another from late night hosts to mosquitos. Heres the president. She blamed everybody for losing the election except for one person, herself. Everybody used to say, my hair is phony, its not my hair. The one thing, they never say that anymore. Jimmy fallon calls me up, and hes like a nice guy. Hes lost. Looks like a lost soul. The guy on cbs, is what a low life. I mean, honestly are these people funny . Jimmy kimmel, no talent, we had a great success, north korea. Jimmy kimmel. Were not looking up in the air, any rockets up there . The olympics would have been a massive failure. People did not want to be nuked in a stadium as they watched the opening ceremonies. Theres david, enjoy it because his career in hollywood is officially over. You know what you are . The super elites. Im changing titles. I made a fortune for nbc and the apprentice and they treat me horribly. Arnold schwarzenegger took my place, it bombed in about two shows. Its over. My wife had an operation a few weeks ago. They said she got a face lift. No. I would let you know. Weve never had higher polls than we have now. You know, polls are fake news also. What they do its called suppression. Theyre saying i have good political instincts. Some people have said i have the greatest political instinct in 50 years. The democrats want open borders and they dont mind crime. Mosquitos, cost many, many lives. Canada, you know canada, nice guy, nice guy, prime minister, justin, i said justin, whats your problem, justin . By the way, i have these stupid teleprompters. You dont mind that i havent used them all night. Were going to create a space force and its going to be great. Get your asses out tomorrow and vote. Lets start there. Cnn special correspondent jamie gangel with me, david french is back with us, a writer for the national review, so thats the mash up from last night. David french, im starting with you, just looking at so many incidents, you know, that weve all been talking about over the course of the last week, looking at the twitter and what you were saying, youre saying there was a larger problem, weve seen examples of direct personal confrontations that will continue even in a posttrump era. Explain. Well, i say theyre going to continue in a posttrump era because they existed in a pretrump era. Donald trump didnt have anything to do with the violence at middlebury or at other campus speakers before and during the Trump Presidency and theres no question, that trump has been has been more than guilty of his own direct and vicious personal attacks and you know what, a lot of people on the right are looking at what trump is doing and its worked for him electorally and this what is you do now. Weve seen the rise of the sort of online tough guy right that thinks youre not really fighting unless getting vicious and personal and aggressive, so i think youve been a victim of that, its been personal with you . Absolutely. Got vicious and personal directed at me, directed at my wife, at my youngest daughter who when it first started was 7 years old. So this is something, this is part of the altright that attached itself to the Trump Campaign and fueled in part by steve bannon, his own, you know, one of his own chief strategists. This is something that were now reaching in many ways like the iran iraq phase of the civility wars. Each side can look at one or the other and say look at what you did and its going to justify the next bad act. I fear, i fear it has a momentum all its own right now. So listening to you and then you have, you know, someone like democratic congresswoman Maxine Waters who has publicly shamed and called on people to get out, you know, in front of some of these trump folks and now its the Speaker Paul Ryan is calling on her to apologize, but heres the but, jamie gangel, speaker ryan doesnt always call out the president whenever he lights a match in something he says. As not just speaker ryan, its so many members of the republican party. You have a lot of republican sources. Sure. How do they explain that . Some of it is one word, fear, some of it is two words, look at someone like mark sanford, the congressman from south carolina, who just lost his primary. Look, many people have decided not to run because of trump, but the reality is, and i would be stronger about whos responsible for this, i think it is donald trump. He has been doing business since day one with attack as his default position. He punches, he keeps punching, and then he punches some more. And as david said, he believes thats how he won in business, how he defeated his republican opponents, how he defeated hillary clinton. He takes on his own cabinet, right. I just asked Jeff Sessions what its like. But i think the reality is when you talk to republicans about this, they say if we want to keep serving, if we want to try to have a role, we are going to keep our heads down. That may not be good, you might want them to be more brave, but its their reality. But how do we, as americans, then function in this reality where you have protests outside of, you know, some of the buildings of Trump Officials and, you know, so much then on the left, liberal praise, to a restaurant in virginia for kicking out, you know, the press secretary . I mean its it goes both ways, david french. What do we do moving forward . You know, look, im going to be pessimistic in the short run. I think its going to get wor before it gets better. What you have right now is a situation where both sides are firmly convinced and can point to incident after incident after incident on both sides where they feel like they are acting in selfdefense and they have no other choice but to get vicious and aggressive and if they dont get vicious and aggressive they will lose. What i fear is that it will go from arguments about incivility into arguments about who started the violence first and thats where i fear were headed. And thats why i think its critically important for people to make the case, very clearly, you can fight for your convictions without resorting to the tactics. Theres nothing wrong with limiting your public activism to matching and tweeting and voting and funding candidates an suing in some instances. Youve seen the power of litigation time and time again. There are many ways to express your views and to make yourself heard. We dont need to get vicious and personal and the more we do the more inevitable violence becomes. Youre the second person to say that two days in a row in the nicest way possible, i hope youre wrong, but i think a lot of people are saying that. Stay with you david, on name calling and rhetoric aside, the economy, this is trumps bread and butter and the tariff war and harleydavidson and shipping production overseas and one day its harleydavidson, the next day another company and another company, do you think that this tariff war could be the president s achilles heel . You know, hes very fortunate right now that hes launching this tariff war at a time of broad economic growth. Hes launching it in a time where theres some margin for error. Why would you imperil the cornerstone of your argument for reelection. You know, it goes back to i think this is one of the few areas where donald trump has been consistent most of his taults life, one of the few areas to say i think he really believes in tariffs but congress feeds to reconsider the fact that it has given such Sweeping Authority to the president. There is actual bipartisan at this trade war but goes back to what was said earlier, there is still fear. David and jamie, thank you both. Thank you. Breaking just moments ago, 18 states now suing President Trump over his separations at the border. This as emotional parents are speaking out about being separated from their children. Hear their stories next. Also, the president awards the medal of honor at the white house. We will take it live, moments away. Let someone else do the heavy lifting. Tripadvisor compares prices from over 200 booking sites to find the right hotel for you at the lowest price. So you barely have to lift a finger. Or a wing. Tripadvisor. Its these new freshfx car air fresheners from armor all. Each scent can create a different mood in my car. Like tranquil skies. Armor all, its easy to smell good. You might or joints. Hing for your heart. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brainhealth supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Breaking news. 18 states suing the Trump Administration over the separation of migrant families at the border as more than 2,000 children are waiting to be reuniteded with their parents. One Advocacy Group in el paso is working with 32 parents who have had the cril charges dpped against them but only three have been able to speak with their kids since they were taken away. Some of them sharing their heartbreaking stories in a News Conference and want to share a few of those with you now. Mario, who says he was shocked to learn he had been arrested when he arrived from honduras and says he has been calling the number provided by the government to contact his daughter but no one is answering. [ speaking Foreign Language ] one of the few parents who has spoken with her child, her 4yearold son is at a shelter in new york while she waits for immigration proceedings in texas. She says she didnt have a chance to explain what was happening because she was still asleep when they took her son at dawn. [ speaking Foreign Language ] christians 5yearold daughter taken to chicago. He says she tried to comfort him when she talked saying she wouldnt be mad at him and also told him as long as they could be together she would be happy. [ speaking Foreign Language ] iris, like christian, came from honduras and said it was a 15 day journey and when she arrived on her sons sixth birthday she was told she would be arrested. She says when she asked if they could be deported together she was told no. Now her son is in arizona but doesnt know exactly where he is and she has not spoken with him. [ speaking Foreign Language ] again, these are all parents who have had criminal charges against them dropped, released with ankle monitors while they wait for their immigration proceedings. We should mention weve learned that Vice President , mike pence, will meet with the president of el salvador, guatemala and honduras to address this immigration crisis. Kristjen nielsen will join him. Any moment were expecting attorney general Jeff Sessions to speak out about the Supreme Court decision to uphold the administrations travel ban after 25 protesters were arrested outside of his event. Also ahead, were going to take you to the white house where President Trump will award posthumously the medal of honor to a world war ii hero. His friends and family spent more than 20 years lobbying for this moment. So well watch as his widow accepts the honor. Hear that sizzle . [children crying] tom steyer terrible things happen when you leave a lawless president in power. Donald trump is unfit for his office. Call congress now. If they wont stand up to him, theyre just as responsible as he is. If they wont stand up to him, almost 800 when we switched our auto and home insurance. With liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. Hey oh, thats my robe. Is it . When you switch to liberty mutual, you could save 782 on auto and home insurance. And still get great coverage for you and your family. Call for a free quote today. You could save 782 when liberty stands with you. Liberty mutual insurance. Looking for a hotel that fits. Whoooo. Your budget . Tripadvisor now searches over. 200 sites to find you the. Hotel you want at the lowest price. Grazi, gino find a price that fits. Tripadvisor. Lets come back in on live pictures at the white house. People are seated, waiting for this big moment here any minute now. The president will be honoring the medal of honor to the widow of one of the most decorated soldiers who served in world war ii, the posthumous award is for garland meryl conner took part in ten military campaigns during the war and wounded seven times receiving three purple hearts an credited with fighting off a wave of 600 german soldiers and six tanks during a bat until france. He passed away 20 years ago and his widow will accept the medal of honor for him today. So lets go to our pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr with more on this. I know this is something that his friends have been waiting a number of years for. They have, indeed. Theres been a very significant effort to get this medal for him for his widow who is accepting it today. This is for a battle in 1945 against the germans in france when he was serving in the army. They were facing being overrun by german formations and lieutenant garland conner basically rammed through exploding trees and shrapnel, dove into a ditch in advance of his own lines, to confront the germans, unrolling telephone wire the whole way as trees are exploding around him, to communicate back to headquarters and direct allied artillery fire against the germans at one point, german formations, german troops came within five yards of where he was trying to hide in a shallow ditch. Credited as you say with stopping the german advance, stopping more than 600 german soldiers, saving countless american lives in this one crucial battle in world war ii in france. Its on a day like this when its so important to pause and remember that these troops who have fought in world war ii had none of the, you know, essential tools and weapons, so Many Americans take for granted our military has today. Thats our signal. Lets watch. The president of the United States. Thank you. Let us pray. Almighty god, in this moment and in the company of those gathered here, we seek your presence in grace, as a nation, today we lift up, we honor, we give thanks for your strength and power reflected in the heroic acts of lieutenant conner. Let this mans heroic actions give our nation, our world courage and hope to always act in the face of danger and overwhelming forces that seek to destroy. Lord, help us, recall the gallant actions of this man, fill all who hear and remember with gratitude and resolve, to protect and continue the mission no matter the cost or dissent. We ask all this in your holy name, amen. Thank you very much. Thank you. And thank you, chaplin hurley. Were honored to be joined today by members of congress, military leaders, distinguished guests. I want to recognize deputy secretary of defense patrick shanahan, where is patrick . Please, stand up, patrick. Youre doing a great job. [ applause ] i have a fourstar in here, john kelly, a special guy. Wheres john . Special man. [ applause ] secretary of the army, mark es per. Army chief of staff. Thank you. Thank you, mark. A very good negotiator. The general mark, i could see in his eyes when i talk about the cost of those bombs. [ applause ] hes good at throwing them but also good at pricing them. I see it. Sergeant major of the army, daniel daily, thank you very much. Thank you, daniel. Also want to thank congress and we have some members here, buddy carter, buddy, thank you, buddy. [ applause ] martha mcsally. [ applause ] great, martha. James comber. Thank you very much. [ applause ] thank you for being here. Thank you very much. Special day. Though he could not be here this afternoon, i want to thank majority leader Mitch Mcconnell for his years of work to make this day very special. He worked hard and hes working hard right now on a lot of other things. I will say he worked very hard. We thank mitch. Thank you. And to all of the guests who traveled from two of my favorite states and places, kentucky and tennessee, they like me in kentucky and tennessee. [ applause ] welcome to the white house. Its great. Today we tell the story of an incredible hero who defended our nation in world war ii, First Lieutenant garland meryl conner. Although he died 20 years ago today, he takes his rightful place in the eternal chronicle of american valor and that as you know is what this is. This is great, great men and women, american valor. Were thrilled to be joined by his amazing wife, paul lien paul lien. Dont get up. Save it for later. [ applause ] i got to know her a little bit ago in the oval office and shes a very special woman with a special family. Shes 89 years old today and shes going strong. I have to say. Going strong. Keep it going. She hoped and prayed she would live to see this day. Pauline is truly a wonderful and incredible person and its my privilege to be with you today as we award your late husband our nations highest military honor. For todays congressional medal of honor presentation, were also joined by pauline and meryls son paul, thank you, paul, their grandchildren, rachel, cara, kaylin and brett, who serves in the navy, stand up, please. Submariner. Hes a submariner. [ applause ] subamericaner. Sun mariner. Their grandchildren, ethan, idan, ana bell and bela rose. Thank you for being here. Its great. Great genes. Lieutenant conner must be looking down from heaven, proud of this incredible honor, but even prouder of the legacy that lives on in each of you. So true. Finally, to the two previous medal of honor recipients who have joined us today, we salute your service and we thank you on behalf of one very large, very powerful, and very grateful nation. Thank you. Where are you sitting or standing . Please, thank you very much. [ applause ] thank you very much for being here. Its a great honor. The American Hero we honor today came from a farm near albany, kentucky. Meryl was one of 11 children. He gre up during the Great Depression and dropped out of school after the eighth grade to help provide for his family, a wonderful family, but they werent rolling in cash, right. But they were wonderful. In march of 1941, meryl enlisted in the army and joined the third Infantry Division. For 28 months straight he fought on the front lines in ten campaigns. He was wounded seven times. But he couldnt stop. He loved it and loved our country. On the shores of sicily, the beaches of anzio and the snow covered mountains of france he fought with everything he had to defeat the nazi menace. In january of 1945, as the final days of the battle of the bulge, wellknown fight, general, that was a tough one, right, was that a tough one . They i know you werent there, but that was that was a i hope you werent there. Otherwise he says kelly was there. But that was a rough one. They study that one. The u. S. Third Infantry Division was engaged in a fierce battle with the nazis in northern france. At the time lieutenant conner was in a Field Hospital being treated for a painful hip wound. One of many. And was scheduled to be sent back home. He was wounded so often, so much, but he didnt want to go home. He snuck out of the hospital and he made his way back to his unit. His doctors, his nurses, were not happy. Lieutenant conner wasnt done fighting yet. In fact, it wasnt even close. Soon after he arrived, he saw that it was impossible to tell the strength and position of the german. He volunteered to go to the front line and observe the enemy and to help direct fire. In order to communicate with the command post, he took a telephone and hundreds of yards of telephone wire, that was a long time ago before we had what we have today, called a cell phone. He ran 400 yards dodging shrapnel, bullets, shells everywhere, artillery, trying to hit him, they saw him, couldnt get him, he was going every different way, looked like an nfl star, all the while laying telephone wire wherever he went. When he reached the edge of the forest he raced 30 yards in front of the american line. Merle laid in a shadow he laid down in this hole, this shallow ditch where they could still see him. There was only one foot deep. In front of the lone american soldier were six german tanks and hundreds of german soldiers. As bullets flew around him, lieutenant conner directed artillery fire and each time successfully decimating the enemy. They knew he was there and they couldnt get him. At one point a german soldier came within five yards of lieutenant conner before being shot and killed. For three hours the bloody battle raged on. In the last attacks, swarms of german soldiers rushed forward. When they were nearly on top of lieutenant conner, he ordered fire on his own position, exactly where he was, courageously choosing to face death in order to save his battalion and achieve victory for freedom and those people that were with him, many of them now gone, said it was the single bravest act theyve ever seen. He had shellsropped right on him. Aim at me, he said. Aim at me. Well, they missed him by feet. But he kept calling in more rounds, more rounds until the blanket of fire broke the german advance and the enemy retreated, saving so Many American lives. Lieutenant conners courageous actions killed roughly 50 german soldiers, injured 100 more and saved so Many American lives. They dont even have the count. Somehow lieutenant conner survived the attack. Less than four months later the nazis sur surrendered and that was a big day. Soon after murl came home, his down organized a parade to lebrate his heroic deeds. One of the speakers was the legendary world war i hero sergeant york. You know all about sergeant york . All of my generals know about sergeant york, right. It was at this time that pauline first caught a glimpse of her future husband, right pauline . I dont think you were impressed either, were you, pauline . She said no, i wasnt. As she put it, i was expecting a giant of a man. Because he was a big hero already. And she hadnt met him. But they were giving a parade. I was asking her about it. And she expected this big powerful guy. But when she saw murl, he was 56 tops, 120 pounds and she told her mother, that little guy could not have done all of the things that they said hes done. It couldnt be possible, right. She soon saw for herself the extraordinary courage and devotion that burned like a righteous fire in his soul. It is all about the soul. Murl embodied the pure patriotic love that builds and sustains a nation. Just a few months later murl and pauline were husband and wife. Together they lived, loved and thrived through 53 years of an incredibly great marriage. Was it good or great, pauline . Huh . It was great. Thats good. Oh, boy, im glad she said that. We might have had to cancel the rest. That would have been terrible. She said it was great. Today we pay tribute to this Kentucky Farm boy who stared down evil with the strength of a warrior and the heart of a true hero. Lloyd ramsey, murls Commanding Officer described him this way ive never seen a man with as much courage and ability as he had. I usually dont brag on my officers, but this is one officer nobody could brag enough about and do him justice. He was a real soldier, that is some quote from his commander. Lieutenant Garlin Murl Conner was indeed a giant in his daring and devotion and his duty, he was larger than life. And in that he was. He will never, ever be forgotten. We will never forget his story. And we will always be grateful to god for giving us heroes like murl and you two gentlemen. We didnt forget you. Two great gentlemen. And by the way, all of these great soldiers and truly brave warriors that do such an incredible job protecting the people of this country, and we mean that 100 . So everybody in uniform here today, we thank you. I would like to now ask pauline to come and accept the congressional medal of honor for her husband and for the military aid to read the citation. Thank you. Thank you very much. [ applause ] [ inaudible ] voted for trump the president of the United States of america, authorized by act of Congress March 3rd, 1863 has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to First Lieutenant Garlin Murl Conner for galant at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty and he distinguished him sfrl by acts of galantry and and served on the morning of january 24th, 1945. Near the town of housen, france, German Forces ferociously counter attacked the front left flank with 600 troops. Six marks and six tanks and tank destroyers. Lieutenant conner having recently returned to his unit after recovering from a wound in an earlier battle was working as the Intelligence Officer in the third battalion command post at the time of the attack. Understanding the devastating effect that the advancing enemy armor could have on the battalion, lieutenant conner volunteered to run straight into the heart of the enemy assault to get to a position from which he could direct friendly artillery on the advancing enemy forces. With complete disregard for his own safety, lieutenant conner maneuvered 400 yards through the enemy artillery fire that destroyed trees in his path and rains shrappel around him and unlling telephone wire needed to communicate with the command post. Upon reaching the front line, he continued to move forward under the enemy assault to a position 30 yards in front of the defending United States forces. Where he plunged into a shallow ditch that provided minimal protection from the advancing enemy heavy machine gun and small arm fire and with rounds around him, he calmly directed multiple fire munitions from his prone position until the enemy was forced to halt the advance and seek cover behind a nearby dike. For three hours lieutenant connor remained in his compromised position and during the repeated onslaught of german infantly which at one point advanced to within five yards of his position. As german infantry regrouped and began to mass in an overwhelming assault, lieutenant conner ordered friendly artillery to concentrate on his own position. Having resolved to die if necessary to destroy the enemy advance. Ignoring the friendly artillery shells blanketing his position and exploding mere feet from him, he continued to direct artillery fire on the enemy assault swarming around him until the german attack was finally broken. By his heroism and disregard for his own life, he stopped the enemy advance and the artillery he directed killed approximately 50 german soldiers and wounded an estimated 100 more and prevented what would have been heavy friendly casualties. His actions are in keeping with the highest tradition of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the third infantry and the United States army. [ applause ] let us pray. Almighty god, i ask that these moments here together and the heroic acts of lieutenant of this lieutenant Garlin Conner become for us a lifetime of strength. We ask you always for your continued presence for all of our American Heroes serving home and abroad in military service, continue to pour your wisdom on our leaders and fill pauline conner, her family and our entire nation with your peace, today and always. Amen. Amen. Good afternoon, welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. Youve been watching President Trump honoring the medal of
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