Coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. Potential payment to Kathleen Mcdougal before it took place. So that is obviously at odds with the president saying that he learned about it later. Still lots of questions here, lots of unresolved issues, and the white house, a stressful day at the lectern for sarah sanders, i think, given the number of questions which she really did not have anything that she could go to beyond the prepared statement of he has done nothing wrong, there are no charges against him. Kelly, thanks very much for that. Kelly odonnell at the white house. Michael cohens guilty plea sheds light on the timeline of Hush Money Payments made to women who President Trump is accused of having affairs with before the campaign. This Isnt The Salacious Gossip it once was, this is part of a pattern of trump. According to the new yorker, Playboy ModelKaren Mcdougal signed a Nondisclosure Agreement with American Media incorporated, the parent company
of the national enquirer. She received 150,000 owned by trump friend david pecker to keep quiet about her alleged affair with trump. Two months later, october 7th, americans heard the access Hollywood Tape in which mr. Trump brags about assaulting women. Later that month on the 27th, Michael Cohen paid adult film star Stormy Daniels 130,000 to keep her affair with the president ial candidate quiet. The next day daniels siengned a Nda Covering The Affair and the payment. 11 days after that donald trump was elected president of the United States. He created fake invoices, the same day the president asked james comey to let the flynn matter go. On april 5th of this year the president told reporters he didnt know about the Payments Cohen arranged. A month later on may 3rd, he finally acknowledged he did know
about the payments, which cohen said were meant to affect the outcome of the election. To get into this, joining me now is attorney liz holtzman, the former new york congresswoman who voted to impeach president nixon. Her new book The Case For Impeaching Trump is wildly relevant and out this october. Also with us is Barbara Mcquade. Before i get into the crux of where we stand right now, barbara, i have to address one matter we just heard President Trump talk about in his interview. This allegation that he makes that President Obama did this, they are completely separate matters. The 375,000 fine that was paid by the Obama Administration were about Campaign Filing irregularities. This is about a conspiracy, a Felony Conspiracy to keep something of Public Interest out of the way of the American People to influence the election. The idea that the president is conflating those is ridiculous. Yeah, this is just another
reason. In this instance this was an effort to cover up information that could be damaging to the campaign. This is criminal in nature. It involves criminal intent, which is not present in those civil infractions you just mentioned. Liz, its debatable whether or not the president , a sitting president can be indicted, but lets just go to 50,000 feet here. You and i have been talking about this from the beginning. I feel that something changed last night in terms of the legitimacy of this presidency. Thats a thing that gets under Donald Trumps skin, but its true. His presidency lost a great deal of legitimacy on the legal front last night. Right. And i think the key is his involvement and the people around him. Now we see the walls coming tumbling down. You have Paul Manafort, his campaign manager, convicted in a trial by a jury of his peers. Jury of his peers. The judge was a reagan appointee. No question that the judge was very tough on the prosecutors
and here we have donald trump attacking that conviction and also saying that manafort, strong, brave, hasnt given in. Didnt break. Thats the wrong signal. What hes doing is saying dont cooperate to manafort. This is a kind of obstruction of justice and its horrifying. The other thing thats happened is that his campaign, his personal lawyer has been involved in pleading guilty to a Campaign Violation felony, a crime. The difference between this and obama is not only what Barbara Mcquade just said, but the president was personally involved. You know that obama wasnt involved in filling out the forms that were filed for Campaign Finance stuff. But thats what the issue is here. The president was personally involved. And Michael Cohen has a lot more to say about the president. Not only that he was personally involved in this apparent criminal activity, but there could be other things. He knows about the russia influence, he knows about
whether trump knew beforehand, there are intimations that trump new beforehand about the trump tower meeting. Thats vital because that could be another kind of criminal conspiracy and were getting very close to the issue of treason there. If youre cooperating with a Foreign Government to undermine our elections, this is very serious stuff. Which is why, barbara, a lot of people think the russia stuff is still going to be more interesting than payoffs to the two women. The issue here, though, is that he is sending, the president is sending a message to manafort. Manafort rolled the dice on the first trial. The second trial a lot of experts say doesnt stand the likelihood for going as well for Paul Manafort but the president does seem to be sending a message, hold the line and dont give up anything. Which leads people to believe theres something to give up. I think were at a critical moment in the manafort case. I can understand he might have thought Lets Roll The Dice in the first trial and see what happens because i get a second bite at the apple. If i were his lawyer today, i would be advising Paul Manafort to consider going to the Special Counsel and offering to cooperate in exchange for a global resolution of his cases. A dismissal of the washington, d. C. , case and motion for reduction in his sentence in the virginia case in cooperation. I think Robert Mueller would go for that. Even if Paul Manafort doesnt have anything Thattin Crimin Ic the president directly, Robert Muellers mission is to get to the truth. What happened with russian interference in to your election. Paul manafort was involved at a very crucial time. He was present at that june 2016 meeting in trump tower. He was there during the time emails were hacked and distributed. Did he know anything about that, was there any coordination . I think there would be great value talking to Paul Manafort about that. This is the moment where he has the goods to deliver. I can understand why President Trump is very nervous and trying to send those messages at this time. A lot of americans are looking to congress to help out here. You were a member of congress during watergate and you remember the moments in which
republican Members Of Congress started to fall against Richard Nixon. Were just not seeing that. Well, were going to see that, i think, as time goes by here. I mean its shocking if you stop to think that somebody has now made an allegation, sworn in court to the fact that he committed a crime and that the president was personally involved in that. That a president of the United States is now being accused of committing a criminal act is very, very serious. We dont want to be there. Nobody, whether youre a democrat or republican or green party or purple party, whatever it is, nobody wants to see that. Republicans came over when the facts were just overwhelming. I think the facts are going to be overwhelming here too. The difference, though, back then is Richard Nixon was starting to affect their chances, because he was becoming wildly unpopular with the American People. Weve got a problem here in that many of these republican Members Of Congress are less popular than the president. Yes, but also the American People are the ones who vote. Remember, Richard Nixon won in 1972 with one of the biggest landslides in american history. A year and a half later, those people who had voted for him and said, you know, i made a mistake. Here are the facts. Whats more important is the rule of law and our country, and not a single president and not a single party. The American People will see that. Will everybody . No. But by the end, sure, nixon had a quarter of the American People, but threequarters of the American People said no president is above the law. I think the American People will say that here too. Liz holtzman, thank you very much. Barbara mcquade. Liz voted to impeach Richard Nixon. Barbara is a former attorney for the Eastern District of michigan. In the wake of Michael Cohens guilty plea, Many Senate Democrats are calling on republicans to suspend the nomination of the Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. Ill ask alabamas senator doug jones if he joins the ranks of his colleagues in that. Youre watching msnbc. Before you and your rheumatologist
move to another treatment, ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. Xeljanz xr is a oncedaily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well enough it can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. Xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. Dont start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. Tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts, and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. Your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. Tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. Dont let another morning go by without talking to your rheumatologist about xeljanz xr. Fully vet a Lifetime Appointment to the Supreme Court. The possibility of criminal withdrawn doing by the president , combined with existing doubts that Brett Kavanaugh believes a president can be investigated, demand further review of this situation. Brett kavanaughs hearing should be delayed. But heres what republicans who support moving ahead with the Nomination Process have to say. Is it fair for kavanaugh to be confirmed under this cloud considering that the president s been named a conspirator in the cohen case . I dont see the connection. I dont think it has anything to do with judge kavanaugh. Should the senate delay kavanaughs hearings . No. Because of the cloud that hes under now . No. Why not . What cloud are you talking about . That has gotten zero you want to remove the president from office based on the guilty plea. It doesnt work that way. Im joined by the democratic senator from alabama, doug
jones. Thank you for being with us. My pleasure. So youve Got Feinstein calling for a delay of the hearings. Youve Got Feinstein, schumer, shaheen and hirono cancelling their meetings with kavanaugh. You dont have a meeting scheduled yet but you had said you were going to meet with Brett Kavanaugh. Are you still going to go ahead with that meeting . If the schedule holds, then yes, im Going Forward with it. Im not going to cancel that. Ive had a process that i want to try to meet with him as soon after the hearing as possible. We hope to try to continue to do that. Im like everybody else around here on the democratic side of the aisle. I think he need to push a pause button and let this play out just a little bit. Couple that with the fact we havent got the full set of documents. I think it only makes sense. This is a very serious nomination. Every Supreme Court nomination is. We need as much information as we can for a Lifetime Appointment. So id hit that pause button for a little bit and let this play out some. Let me just parse that a little bit. When you say hit the pause button, that would mean at the moment weve got scheduled hearings starting on September 4th which Chuck Grassley has said will go on. When youre talking about pause, youre talking about pause on that, dont start those Hearings On September 4th . Thats exactly what im saying. Senator grassley asked for documents from the white house and the National Archives said it would take until october to get the records that he requested, that the republicans requested. Lets at least pause and get all of those documents in there. Those are the ones that the republicans have asked for. Lets get those. Its still not complete record, but i think thats only fair. It will give some of this other stuff time to play out a little bit. Let the dust settle and see where things go before we move ahead. I thought it was interesting what Lindsey Graham said, he said what cloud are you talking about. The cloud obviously comes down to whether or not this president is in greater legal jeopardy than he was 24 hours ago. I think while theres a lot of debate as to whether you can indict a sitting president , there isnt a lot of debate that the president seems to be in
greater legal jeopardy after Michael Cohen named him as a coconspirator in the election matter. So what Brett Kavanaugh has to say about how you deal with president s who are under a cloud of suspicion i think is more important than senator graham gave it credit for being. Well, i think thats true. Certainly he is the president is under a cloud. Everything that happened today were real bombshells. And it is certainly undermining the presidency at this point. We need to see how this goes. You cant ever determine where this will end up. But i do think it raises the stakes a good bit on that portion of the kavanaugh record. People need to examine all aspects of it. People have been focused on it to begin with, but now i think the stakes are raised. Senator doug jones, thank you for joining us, sir. My pleasure, thank you. Lets have a quick look at the East Room Of The White House where in just a few minutes john a. Chapman will receive the
posthumous medal of valor. I know some of you tweet me youre frustrated when we go to the white house for events. I will beg your indulgence when it comes to Medal Of Honor recipients. These are american heroes who do deserve your time. Lester holt joins me next to talk about his interview with chapmans wife. Youre watchings in nbc. Hi im joan lunden. This just in, investigators in New York State have subpoenaed Michael Cohen as they look into possible crimes committed by the trump foundation. This is according to the Associated Press which cites a spokesperson for the governors tax department. Nbc news is working to confirm this subpoena. As the a. P. Reports, cohen could be a significant source of information for State Investigators who are looking into President Trump or his charity broke state law or lied about their tax liability. An Important Note here, anyone charged with a state crime cannot be pardoned by the president. Any minute now, President Trump is expected to presenting the Medal Of Honor, our nations highest military award, to a man who was left behind by his unit in afghanistan because they thought he was dead. Only later did they learn he was still alive and continued to fight alone for more than an hour. Before air force Tech Sergeant john chapman died of his injuries, he killed two al qaeda fighters, including one in
handtohand combat. This was in march of 2002. The investigation into what happened took more than two and a half years and involved videos like this one from air force from the air force from drones that were flying overhead. Sergeant chapman was embedded with s. E. A. L. Team 6, the same unit that killed osama bin laden. Today Sergeant Chapmans mother and his widow will receive the honor on the sergeants behalf. Nbc nightly news anchor lester holt joins me now. Lester spoke with the sergeants widow to talk about what this ceremony means to their family. Lester, sometimes our viewers dont like to stick around when we go to hear the president speak, but the exception must be made for Medal Of Honor recipients. Yeah, this is a story that has been in the making since 2002. They know that he was killed on that mountain top and only later by taking Old Technology and overlaying new technology, enhancing those predator drone videos. You saw in that video they were able to highlight chapman, see his movements and realize at one
point he was shot down and appeared not to be moving but as the rest of his team is driven off this mountain under withering enemy fire, he gets back up and goes back at it, even defending another helicopter coming in with reinforcements. So they have watched this unfold, knowing he was a hero, but only realizing in the last few years the extent of that heroism. I spoke with valerie, his wife, who youll be seeing shortly here receiving this. We talked about this day and this moment. Have you thought about what its going to be like to formally accept the Medal Of Honor on johns behalf . Its going to be surreal, humbling, exciting. Theres just a plethora of emotions that i think will run through my head when im actually handed that medal. I mean obviously i wish to god hed be here getting it in person. But its going to be a very proud moment for our Special Task Community and the nation. Talk about that special community. As you accept it, do you want people to keep in mind folks like john who are still doing that job . Yes. People need to realize that our men and women are still defending us in every corner of the globe right now. Just because we dont have lots of casualties and big battles going on anymore, they are still out there fighting every day. And weve forgotten about it. Im so glad she said that because we do lose sight of the fact there are thousands, just in afghanistan alone and in other places in the world. This is a big deal for a number of reasons. This will be the first Medal Of Honor recipient from the u. S. Air force in about 50 years. And he actually got the air force cross, which is second to the Medal Of Honor, but the former air force secretary, deborah james, recommended he be upgrade on the strength of that video, the fact that they saw what more happened that they didnt even know. This was a joint Special Operations team. I think at the heart of it was s. E. A. L. Team 6 but theyll go in with an air force air controller. And that circle by the way is chapman. They believe thats him. They did this not only from the Drone Imagery but the reports of those on the ground, the radio calls. They could begin to piece together where he was so thats this is, again, technology only the last couple of years that allowed them to do this. His job in these cases had things gone as they expected, if they need air cover here or a bomb planted over here, he gets on the horn and they bring in the air cover. So although they are not s. E. A. L. S, they are among the elite of the u. S. Air force along with the rangers and other special ops communities often would Work Together on missions like this. What a remarkable story. Thanks for being with us for this. Of course. You can see much more of lesters interview tonight on nightly news with lester holt here on nbc. Sergeant john chapman joins a group of about 3,400 people, an
elite group who have received americas highest Military Honor since the award was created in 1861. Joining me now is, as lester said, another member of that elite group, msnbc military analyst, retired colonel jack jacobs. Jack, youre with me for every one of these and you never fail to feel the honor that is bestowed upon not just them but really the military at large. People who are in our services at large who dont get these roi recognitions. Its almost like each one of these is about everybody who fights in silence. Thats what every recipient will tell you, he doesnt wear it for himself, he wears it for all those who cant. Heres a story that was told to me by bob carey, Medal Of Honor recipient, used to be governor of nebraska, lost his leg in vietnam, navy s. E. A. L. Somebody once asked him what does it take to get a Medal Of Honor . Well, you have to do something, people have to see it, they have
to be able to write and they cant hate you. So think about all the people who fought Val Yaniantly and no saw it, there was nobody to witness it or the paperwork got lost accidentally or on purpose and you realize that all the recipients recognize the fact that they represent all those who cant wear it. So for each one of these 3,000 plus people, there are so many more who did these things, who die in silence sometimes, who fight in silence. So it is important, and this is sort of what i was sharing with my viewers, its important that we pause and we listen to these stories very fully. This man, john chapman, he is he was a Combat Controller. He served with the 24th special tactics squadron, Pope Air Force at the time of his death. The stories have a similarity to them. Theres a selflessness and a fearlessness in the face of the ultimate danger that often would result in death. Well, if youre in a very
difficult situation and there are lots of people who are ardently trying to kill you and your comrades, and youre in a situation where you can do something, you do it. What goes through your mind is a lot of things, but one of them is if i were in a similar situation, they would do the same for me. Were all in it together. Like Benjamin Franklin once opined, we either hang together or we will surely hang separately. Youre in a difficult situation. We do fight for the country. We do fight to accomplish the mission. Most of all in different circumstances, we fight for each other. And that is the remarkable part, that these stories when you hear about them, theyre always somebody who goes back in when sometimes theres another option. In many of these cases they might have been able to do Something Else to end up alive or to not be injured, but they take that extra risk. An its not something that we i fear that we stop appreciating this over time, that there are still people fighting with an
american flag on their sleeve in places that we cant name and in many places cant find on a map. Lester mentioned it. We have thousands of people just in afghanistan alone, still. 17 years. 17 years. Dont forget that this action tack place, what, 16 years ago. We have people all across the globe doing all kinds of things to make sure that we stay free, that we are a bullwart against intrusions. We have people in subsaharan africa, in asia, all trying to keep people free to take care of themselves so we wont have to go there in large numbers. Were going to be frankly at it for a lot longer. Colonel, stay with me. Were minutes away from the start of the ceremony. We will take you there as soon
as it begins. Well be right back. Its so simple, i dont even have to think about it. So i think about mouthfeel. I dont think about the ink card. I think about nitrogen ice cream in supermarkets all over the world. I think about the details. Fine, i obsess over the details. Think about every part of your business except the one part that works without a thought your ink card. Introducing Chase Ink Business unlimited with unlimited 1. 5 cash back on every purchase. Chase for business. Make more of whats yours. If your moderate to severeor crohns symptoms are holding you back, and your Current Treatment hasnt worked well enough it may be time for a change. Ask your doctor about entyvio®, the only biologic developed and approved
just for uc and crohns. Entyvio® works at the site of inflammation in the gi tract, and is clinically proven to help many patients achieve both Symptom Relief and remission. Infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. Entyvio® may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. Pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal Brain Infection caused by a virus may be possible. Tell your doctor if you have an Infection Experience frequent infections or have flulike symptoms, or sores. Liver problems can occur with entyvio®. If your uc or crohns treatment isnt working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio®. Entyvio®. Relief and remission within reach. Lets go to the white house where the president has just been introduced. He will address the crowd in the Medal Of Honor ceremony in just a moment. For those who desire, may you join me now in prayer. Holy father, we thank you for this day, for this National Recognition and for technical Sergeant John chapman. Lord, we enter this esteemed ceremony with hearts filled with grief and pride. Our grief stems from the pain of johns sacrifice along with six other courageous americans that lost their lives in Noble Service to our nation in the cause of Human Freedom and dignity. Our pride stems on this day focused upon the man you created, gifted, and empowered with an unconventional resolve to operate selflessly in protecting his family, his teammates, and the world from the evil of terrorism. We thank you, lord, for the
opportunity to honor john chapman with americas highest decoration for his heroic valor, to honor the enduring sacrifice his family carries deeply within their hearts, and to honor the legacy, inspiration that john has infused into the mission, the leadership and the operations of Air Force Special Tactics. Lord, your just intent of overcoming evil with good in this world through human agency found fearless expression in john, even in the face of death so others may live. We thank you for john. We thank you for his family. We thank you for his unforgettable life and love shaped by your very spirit. Father, as we move forward this day, may your presence be tangibly known to johns precious family. As we move forward, may johns sacrifice motivate selfless duty to you, to country, and to humanity. And as we move forward, may we
give thanks for our great nation, our great military and our great liberties that rest upon the bravery and blood of selfless patriots like technical Sergeant John chapman. To this end we pray, amen. Thank you very much. Please be seated, thank you. Thank you, chaplain, very well done. Beautiful. Were honored to be joined by Members Of Congress, military leaders, distinguished guests from all across our nation. I want to recognize secretary of the air force, heather wilson. Thank you, heather. Thank you. Air force Chief Of Staff david goldfein. David, thank you. Its been 19 years, right, for the air force to get the congressional Medal Of Honor, so congratulations. Its a long time. Very deserving. Air force undersecretary matthew
donovan, air force vice Chief Of StaffSteven Wilson and chief Master Sergeant of the air force, kathleen wright. I also want to thank va secretary Robert Wilkie for joining us. You are doing a great job. The vets are very happy. Theres been a lot of great reports, thank you very much. Along with senators john bozeman, richard blumenthal, bob casey, chris murphy and pat toomey and representative matt gaetz and john larson. Thank you all for being here very much. Thank you all very much, appreciate it. Were gathered together this afternoon to pay tribute to a fallen warrior, a great warrior. Technical Sergeant John chapman, and to award him our nations highest and most revered Military Honor. Would you all please join me in
welcoming a wonderful family that i just met in the oval office, the chapman family. Thank you. Please stand up. [ applause ] and to his beautiful wife, valerie, who agrees that he was a very brave man right from the beginning. Right . You knew that. I know this day has truly brought special meaning. Exactly 26 years ago, you married john. Today is our great honor to share his incredible story with the world, so thank you very much, valerie, appreciate it. And your daughters, madison and
brianna, we award your dad the congressional Medal Of Honor. I know hes looking down on you right now from heaven, proud of this day, but even more proud of the incredible young women that you have both become. Its great to know you. Great to have met you, thank you. Were also grateful to be joined by johns wonderful mom, terry, his sister, lori, his brother, kevin, and valeries parents, rita and jim novak. Thank you all for being here. A very great honor. [ applause ] although she could not be here today, somebody that john loved very much, his sister, tammy. So please give our regards. Thank you. I also want to recognize jack
souza, johns friend and combat control teammate, who is still recovering from a recent severe injury. Jack, thank you for your Noble Service. Thank you very much, we appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, jack. Appreciate it. It looks like youre doing well. Doing well . Good. Thank you, jack. Finally, we salute the five congressional Medal Of Honor recipients who join us. Woody williams, harvey barnham, edward byers, Brian Thacker and britt slabinski. Please stand. Please. Brave people. Three months ago i awarded the Medal Of Honor to britt for his
heroic actions in the same battle we are remembering today. John chapman grew up in windsor locks, connecticut. From a very young age john was determined to protect those in need. In kindergarten, john noticed that his classmate, bill brooks, was being bullied. As bill says, john stepped in and saved me. In his high school yearbook, john quoted these words. Give yourself before taking of someone else. Thats very farsighted. John lived by that motto every single day. Everybody that knew him said thats the way he lived. Two years after he graduated high school, john enlisted in the United States air force. He was among the elite few to complete Air Force Special Tactics training, one of the most rigorous Training Programs in all of the military. John became an expert in
deploying undetected onto the battlefield to set up airfields and direct fire support. Now john will become the First SpecialTactics Airman to receive the congressional Medal Of Honor. John met valerie in winber, pennsylvania, while training with the army. That was a big day. Good day, right . They married in 1992 and soon their love grew into a beautiful family. Whenever john was home, he immediately took on dad duty, reading to the girls, playing with them and even building an amazing swing set. Do you remember that . Thats a long time ago, swing set. Soon after the Terror Attacks of september 11th, john volunteered to deploy to afghanistan. He walked into his superiors office and said i need to go. In one of the most harrowing engagements of Operation Enduring freedom, john was part of a highly trained team on a Combat Mission to establish a secure position on the peak of a mountain. In the Early Morning of march 4th, 2002, john and his teammates were preparing to land onto the mountain when their helicopter was struck by Heavy Machine Gunfire and a rocketpropelled grenade. They were under serious attack. As the helicopter lurched away, Petty Officer First Class neil roberts was flung out of the aircraft and onto the top of the mountain. As the Helicopter Crash landed into the valley below. It was a horrific crash. The team survived the crash and without hesitation, they volunteered to return to the mountain. They want it to get neil. They landed into a deep snow and Heavy Machine Gunfire coming from three different directions. Couldnt even see, so many bullets. At over 10,000 feet, they fought the enemy at the highest altitude of any battle in the history of the american military. John chapman was the first to charge up the mountain toward the enemy. He killed two terrorists and cleared out the first bunker. John left the safety of the first bunker to fire a second enemy grenade at another bunker. As john fired on the second bunker, he was shot and fell to the ground and lost consciousness. Even though he was mortally wounded, john regained consciousness and continued to fight on, and he really fought. We have proof of that fight. He really fought. Good genes. You have good genes. He immediately began firing at the enemy, who was bombarding
him with Machine Gunfire and rocketpropelled grenades. Despite facing overwhelming force, John Brave Low and fiercely battled on for an hour another American Quick Reaction force helicopter approached. John engaged the enemy and provided covering fire in an attempt to prevent the enemy from shooting down our soldiers, our airmen, and that helicopter. In this final act of supreme courage, john gave his life for his fellow warriors. Through his extraordinary sacrifice, john helped save more than 20 American Service members, some of whom are here today. And id like to introduce them. Sergeant major matthew la frenz. Please stand up. Thank you, sir. Sergeant major raymond de pauli. Thank you, raymond. Special tactics major gabriel brown. Thank you. Along with his team leader master chief brit slobinski. Thank you. Thank you all. And we also remember the six others who, along with john, gave their lives on that snowy, really, really cold afghan night. Petty officer first class neil roberts, specialist mark anderson, Sergeant Bradley crose, senior air man jason cunningham, Technical Sergeant philip svitak, and Corporal Matthew commons. Our nation is rich with blessings, but our greatest
blessings of all are the patriots like john and all of you that just stood and frankly many of the people in this room. I exclude myself and a few of the politicians. Who like john carry our freedom on their shoulders, march into the face of evil, and fight to their very last breath so that we can live in freedom and safety and peace. Now it is my privilege to ask valerie to join me on stage to accept the congressional Medal Of Honor on behalf of the hero she loved and the hero our nation will forever remember, technical Sergeant John chapman. Thank you. Please. Please, valerie. Thank you. Would the military aide please
come forward and read the citation . Thank you. The president of the United States of america has awarded In The Name Of Congress the Medal Of Honor posthumously to technical Sergeant John h. Chapman for risk of life above the call of duty. Technical Sergeant John a. Chapman distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism as an Air Force Special TacticsCombat Controller attached to i a navy, sea, air and land seal team, conducting Reconnaissance Operations in afghanistan in 2002. The helicopter was ambushed causing a teammate to fall into an entrenched group of combat ants below. The team voluntary reasserted onto the snow capped mountain into the heart of a known enemy
strong hold to rescue one of their own. Without regard for his own safety, sergeant dhap man immediately engaged moving in the direction of the closest Enemy Position despite coming under heavy fire from multiple directions. He fearlessly charged an enemy bunker up a Steep Incline in thighdeep snow and into hostile fire directly engaging the enemy. Upon reaching the bunker, Sergeant Chapman assaulted and cleared the position killing all enemy occupants. With complete disregard for his own life, Sergeant Chapman deliberately moved from cover only 12 meters from the enemy and exposed himself once again to attack a second bunker from which an Implaced Machine Gun was firing on his team. In the line of intense fire, Sergeant Chapman was struck and injured by enemy fire. Despite severe mortal wounds, he continued to fight relentlessly, sustaining a violent engagement with multiple Enemy Personnel before making the ultimate sacrifice. By his heroic actions and extraordinary valor, Sack Fightsing his life for the life of his teammates, Technical Sergeant chapman upheld the highest traditions of Military Service and reflected great credit upon himself and the United States air force. [ cheers and applause ]
skills so others may live. As we conclude, may johns family be covered with your lavish love and peace. May the uniformed Sons And Daughters of america know your empowerment and protection. And may you hasten the day, oh, lord, where war will be no more. For your glory we pray, amen. Thank you. Actually did. And theres always a story of someone who did something extra. Maybe they could have stayed hidden. Maybe they could have gotten away, but they dont. What motivates people is theyre with their comrades. A brief story. A friend of mine enlisted in the marine corps, lied about his age. He was 16 years old. Wound up north of the by the dmz, pace on during the tet offensive, very bad place to be. One of eight marines in a squad. Theyre outside the wire. Squad lead is a 20yearold marine with responsibility for the other seven guys. They get into a fire fight. Some of the marines are wounded. One of them badly, turns out mortally wounded outside the wire. Rushes through a hail of fire to collect his wounded marine. Brings him back to safety and dying marines last words to his 20yearold squad leader were, i knew youd come for me. Its that kind of devotion, not