management, 10 sees. competencies. when i look today at who leads those departments or agencies or branches of the military that oversee intelligence, by my count, and there are some acting as in here, we have 12 white males, two white females, one african-american male, one indian-american male, and one asian american male, accounting for essentially 70% of the intelligence community is overseen by white men. 12% by white women. 5% by african-american men. andy an indian-american man 5% by an asian american man. would you agree that is out of balance with the workforce that

we -- just out of balance with the diversity we have in america and your workforce? >> we are going to break away from this recorded program and get you live right now to the pentagon, where rolling thunder will be holding their final motorcycle procession today, known as the ride for freedom. they are writing for the pentagon to the lincoln memorial. the organizational hold a rally with remarks by veteran affairs secretary. .ou can see some of the riders that is a shot for the pentagon. a hot day today here in washington, d.c. they expect highs in the 90's with thundershowers this afternoon. we will bring you as much live coverage as we can. again, a picture from outside the pentagon. making motorcycle riders their way. we have cameras on the memorial bridge into arlington. you will see all of that as we

bring you live coverage here on c-span.

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>> that's behind. present the colors.

[indiscernible] forward, march. ok.

just be patient. >> halt. >> sir. [indiscernible] please join my son and i with the pledge of allegiance. >> present. halt. to theedge allegiance flag of the united states of america and to the republic for ,hich it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [applause]

say can you see by the dawn's early light what to proudly we hailed at the last gleaming? whose broad stripes and bright fightthrough the perilous watched ramparts we were so gallantly streaming. d glare rockets' re airbombs bursting in gave proof through the night that our flag was still there ay does that star-spangled banner yet wave

freethe land of the brave? ♪ome of the [cheers and applause] >> ted? ted? isies and gentlemen, this rolling thunder national's chairman of the board with our mission statement. [applause] rolling thunder incorporated mission statement. publicize thes to pow issue, to educate the public that many americans were left

behind. we are committed to helping disabled veterans from all wars. rolling thunder is a nonprofits organization. donates his or her time because they believe in the issue at hand. colors!e the >> [indiscernible]

>> [indiscernible] you did awesome. you did awesome. >> good job. thank you, colonel. seen --please be seated or relax.

we are going to take a moment here. ournt to set the tone for next speaker in this is what i am going to ask you to do. as a lookout in the audience, many of you have a little gray in the facial appearance and that's ok. i am right there with you. i question to you is where were you in 1987? 1987? where were you? there there's a few out that were not born out -- or no. that's ok. the rest of us. 1987. i was in the united states army. i was a medic. i was in the middle of central america. i was talking with a vietnam veteran sitting in somerville, new jersey, talking to one of his good friends, also a veteran

, and they were discussing the prisoners of war, missing in action issues. it was little personal. it was personal because they were there. it was personal because it was their friends, their bodies, their brothers in arms, and they knew for a fact they were prisoners of war left behind. there were mia's unaccounted ,or, and as you can imagine things got heated in the conversations, commiserating. it happened to this individuals. i am sure there were a few explicit discussions, but instead, most evil would continue to commiserate and continue to complain. this individual, he did not. , rallyded to take action the troops. and in 1988, he took a group of

people on their harley s don't constitution avenue in washington, d.c. and remind uncleas to sam that, hello, you are accountable. you left my brothers behind, my friends behind. they were not coming home. i know. i was there. i am here to remind you. and from that day forward, every year for the last 32 years, incorporated has been advocating and educating americanc about prisoners of war missing in action. it is my pleasure to bring forward the founder of rolling thunder, sergeant mueller.

[cheers and applause] .> thank you welcome to rolling thunder 32! [applause] they think we don't count no more, but i think we have a million veterans and supporters here today if you look at the roads, parking lots, and here. thank you for being here. welcome home to all of our veterans out here, men and women. a special welcome home to my vietnam brothers and i would iraqto say welcome home to and afghanistan veterans. welcome home, brothers and sisters. we have been coming here for 32 out a and to straighten few things. when we first came down here,

some bikes came down. some of us marched. some of us rode bikes. within a few years, we dropped the march and we decided where going to -- we were going to do bikes does it was a week point and it showed more power to let the government know we were here, to wake them up. , we havehe years gotten a lot of legislation passed, and some of the legislation because of all of you being here all the time, riding and calling and faxing your senators, we brought home that first's from gulf war. we got them home alive from legislation you helped us pass. russia, as ago, in

doctor was examining some asylum, in an insane and there was one particular man in there. he had been in there for over 50 years. he was on gary and. they were russian. -- he was hungarian. they were russian. he did not understand them and they did not understand him. they thought he was crazy. he was classified pow. said, this man is not crazy. he is hung gary and and no one understands him. after 50y went home years and that insane asylum. that is not a pretty picture after you fight for your country. there are a lot of countries that supported the united states of america.

look at the korean memorial on the left side. there is a wall and it tells all the countries that were fighting with us in korea. that man's life was pretty much over, but you know what? , thank god, he went home. and that is the way it should be for everybody. i don't care if they are fromcan, japanese, hungary, poland, wherever else. if they fought in the war, people should ante up. we have a few in our country. let them go home. of liveto this issue left behind. our government knows they left

behind live american pow's in the korean war. they know they left them behind of world war ii. they know they left them behind in vietnam. when are they going to wake up. children, their mothers, their fathers left .pow's in the pw -- i would like to see nancy pelosi stop bse hypocrites on -- that and work man in the white house is working for us. that is our house. what the politicians do not like is he has money and they can't by him. he is not a politician so they way. screw him over that

he walked out of a meeting with nancy pelosi not because he had a hissy fit but he is tired of putting up with herbals should. ship. somebody told me her family background. they are all a bunch of damn thieves. let's investigate nancy pelosi. the president will see what we want to do for next year. we will have a meeting and we will let you know in the future. meanwhile, be safe. remember what our country is about. god and country and that's the number one thing. if you believe that, and our flag, the world hates us because we live free. we enjoy it. and they hate us for it.

the hell with them. america. they might kill some of us. they will never take our freedom away. god bless the united states of america. god bless the president of the united states. and god bless all of you. [cheers and applause] thank you, already. thank you for fighting for 32 years. continuing theor fight as well. next up, we have the rolling thunder national incorporated president joe been.

>> it is hard to come up or after he gets wound up, but that's all right. we wind him up a lot. we started as a 501(c)(3) 10 pays ago to help veterans for bills if they are having a hard time. they send paperwork into the office. artie goes through the paperwork and we decide to run board whether we can help them out, paying the mortgage, give their kids a christmas party, whatever it takes. last year, from may of last year helpedof this year, we 192 veterans and troops and their families. spent $65,000 doing that. that being said, we can't do it all ourselves and we have a lot of supporters.

is the harley corporation down there? [indiscernible] we have major supporters and they help us out a lot. god bless everybody here and says, i can't wait to get into trump's office. [applause] >> good afternoon. i am the director of sales for harley davidson motor company in the midwest. it's my pleasure and honor to be with you today alongside my colleagues with harley davidson motor company, members of the rolling thunder organization and

the many men, women, and families who have gave the ultimate sacrifice. so we coulded one of freedom. i would also like to honor the gold star mothers. these are an incredibly strong group of women who put a lot of time into their communities and this nation. ,e thank you for your efforts not just today, but all year long. thank you, ladies. andy, we are deeply honored humbled to ride with you on this special event. roots go backn's to 1916 and our support of the u.s. military and since then we have never wavered in supporting our u.s. military and first

responders. across the world, we ride. from veteranss and those who have bravely served us so we can have the thedom that is fueled by love and passion of motorcycling. these are common threads among all of us. at we share a passion and bond of personal freedom. and feel it.t in our partnership with the rolling thunder organization we have had the opportunity to evolve.is grow and in that time, we have served veterans in need and honored the pow mia soldiers, all while raising awareness and educating important on this

event. i would like to recognize artie and the members of the rolling thunder organization across the country, and especially the board members. let's give them around applause. artie? an have an as you had incredible vision 32 years ago and it has come a long way sense , but one thing has not changed. and that is the mission. i would like to take a moment and acknowledge this special group of people. all of you have worked hard to knowledge the people and the passion and the purpose at the forefront. what is most impressive is we look back to the first ride. that buildingnotlet us not fort awareness and support for our veterans is work that will never be done. this is why we want to help and continue to support the rolling

thunder organization. thank you for the opportunity to be here today. thank you for being riders and thank you for being part of this amazing brand and rolling thunder. thank you. [applause] >> it gives me great pleasure to introduce the 10th secretary of veterans affairs, the honorable robert wilkie. [applause] before coming to the v.a., mr. wilkie was undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, principal advisor to the secretary and deputy secretary of defense on total force management. as undersecretary of defense, mr. wilkie served james mattis.

secretary he serves robert gates and donald rumsfeld. before that mr. wilkie was special assistant to the president for national security affairs and senior director of the national security council. officer ine is an the united states air force reserve and previously served in the navy reserve with the joint forces intelligence command, ,aval special warfare group 2 and the office of naval intelligence. v.a. secretary mr. robert wilkie. [applause] sec. wilkie: thank you, thank you to rolling thunder and to the gold star mothers. you have probably made more than one sacrifice to this country. i was privileged to address the

taps organization last night and quoted and australian prime minister who said 40 years ago, what would it be like for the fate of the world if there were not this country called the united states of america? this giant country repaired to make so many sacrifices for peace and freedom across the globe. that is what i think of when i think of gold star mothers. i want to first talk you about vietnam and it seemed through the eyes of a child. seen through the eyes of a child. he went off for his second tour. before he was seven, he got word his father had been wounded, so bad he spent an entire year in an army hospital in hawaii. when he came back home he weighed about half of what he did when he went.

he tried toars recover from those wounds and did it in such a way that he returned to the all-american division, the 82nd airborne division. as a senior officer. but as a senior officer in the 1970's he was not allowed to wear his uniform off post. 1wt month i visited panel line 21 of the vietnam wall. on that wall was the name of master sergeant danny cicero johnson, united states air force. he was 36. he was a father, a husband and an air forced -- and force medic. he was from north carolina. on april 4, 1975, he was looking

after hundreds of orphans from saigon. the president of the united states, gerald ford, had ordered the air force to rescue 2000 orphans before the north vietnamese approached the capital of the republic of vietnam. while master sergeant johnson caringrying for them, -- for them, his c5 crashed. day,ildren perished that 50 members of the united states air force perished with them. a father and a friend was lost, but his life was a testament to the spirit of america we see here today. i was honored to visit that wall 44 years after the event with

sergeant johnson's daughter. when america was asleep in the 1970's, something stirred in the thousands of people here. the shameful treatment of our warriors went against everything that was taught by the man who is looking down on us today. in his second inaugural address when he prayed to end the scourge of war, he said with malice toward none and charity for all, let us strive to finish the work we are in, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and orphan. describeddes that i in the 1970's began to change about a decade later, but most veterans still thought not enough attention was being paid to the sacrifices but they had

made. so 32 years ago, thousands of you roared through the nation's capitals remind america of the charge given by our 16th president. the very name rolling thunder conjured up memories of courage and sacrifice during the vietnam war, but it soon became synonymous with healing a nation . by drawing our attention to p.o.w.'s, mia's, those who came back unappreciated, you helped make a divided nation and this whole. i can say your legacy was transferred to generations after. .e are still a nation at war even when the war ends, not every soldier, sailor, airman

and marine will come home. .ver 82,000 are still missing 1589 from vietnam, 125 in the cold war. on behalf of say the president of the united states that he is here with you in spirit and as he said yesterday, if he has anything to do with it, this will not be the last ride of rolling thunder. [applause] so why -- i want to finish with a bit of a prayer and a story. we are about to celebrate and ofor the 75th anniversary america's assault on hitler's fortress in europe. on the evening before, a great

general, a man who commanded the 82nd airborne division in battle in north african sicily and who had planned the invasion with general eisenhower, was tossing restlessly on his cot, just as the screaming eagles were about to launch their midnight assault . he pulled down the old testament , and he moved to the book of joshua in the old testament and started reading about the greatest battle the hebrew people had ever fought. for the charge joshua had given -- had gotten from god that night. i will not fail thee and i will not for sick the. -- forsake thee. this is what he said when he got the presidential medal of freedom. heroes come when they are needed and great men step forward with

courage it seems in short supply. messagel end with that to the men and women of rolling thunder. you have not forsaken and you have not failed the thousands and thousands of your fellow citizens whose sacrifices and the people of this nation sleep soundly at night, so on behalf of president trump, on behalf of your department of veterans affairs, god bless you on this memorial day and thank you on behalf of of a grateful nation. god bless you. [applause]

[no audio] ♪ johnr the last 30 years mchenry from oxford, mississippi gets on his motorcycle weeks before rolling thunder, and he rides to the furthest rolling thunder chapter in the nation that wants to have the flame of freedom come through.

he does it for free and he shine thatember, to eternal flame until every p.o.w. and every mia is accounted for. it is called the flame of freedom. ♪ ships tossed around on stormy waters. clinging to a single strand of hope feeling like lambs to the slaughter holding to the one thing that

they know burning e still and it shines on us tonight us of the burning and ones left behind they called it the flame forever will pass it on who sees it one

can make it home the flame still burning and it shines on us tonight burning us of the behind t ♪ how about a hand for john mchenry and the flame of freedom ? like a mother that leaves a porch light on for her son, this flame will always shine. it will always shine to guide the way home until every single one is accounted for. shine on. flame's still burning tonight ghts on us hurtingd us of the

ones left behind shine on shine on shine on onne ♪

♪ >> i love you, man. joe, patty, brendan. mrs. joe being. for you. you.one is for all of

♪ well you can't feel them coming across the nation steel on wheels say what needs saying from every walk of life we come to right a wrong leather and lace one million motors on like pilgrims dressed in leather they get together tattoo rendezvous woodstock with an attitude light up, roll back thunder sing it with us thunder rolling thunder oll on

they were willing to give their life turn their backs left behind oceans between here and hanoi we can take these bikes and do what's right go and get our boys like pilgrims dressed in leather they will get together tattoo rendezvous, woodstock with an attitude fight on, fight on roll back thunder thunder rolling thunder roll on

♪ ♪ when all the dust is settled and the roar of the engines aid, i think about those that suffered and stow the past away. loss the account for their till they do right by every single name that's on that wall roll on roll on roll on

roll on roll on roll on like pilgrims dressed in leather they will get together tattoo rendezvous woodstock with an attitude fight on thunder thunder rolling thunder role on ♪ thunder, god bless all of you. i love you.

>> rocky, thank you very much. hand for rocky lynn, please. [applause] our next speaker from the national alliance of families, please welcome nicolette rose. [applause] >> so this might be the last

time i get to do this, a second. [applause and cheers] the 32nd ride for freedom and yesterday was the national alliance of families 30th annual meeting. both of our fights for our p.o.w. mia's started decades ago. the alliance was founded by p.o.w. mia family members from a variety of wars who were dissatisfied with the information they were not receiving from their government. we were founded with three goals. one, the return of any live p.o.w.. two, the truthful and accurate accounting of our missing, and three the recovery and scientific identification of remains or reasonable explanation as to why the return

, recovery or full accounting is impossible. these goals are not just ours. of founderse goals and our membership expects our government to have. mia issue is not history. it is about our present and our future. war continues and the personnel still get captured. many people don't believe the vietnam war included our presence in laos, but 600 americans were lost in that country. many of them are what we call last known alive. because of the secrecy of that government ofnist laos were not at the paris peace agreement meeting as a consequence the last known p.o.w.'s held in laos were not part of any of the negotiations. i stand before you today not only to represent the alliance

but also the families who are still waiting for their loved ones. i stand here today for my also -- shot down over north vietnam. i stand here for my great cousin , lost on the uss oklahoma. i speak the names of warrant sergeantilliam, tech -- all lost in laos. i speak the names of lewis williams, captain harry moore and major sam logan, all lost and on accounted for from the korean war. poem.oing to close with a remember the names i just spoke and the words i'm am about to speak. i am alive i am still here, still captive, still waiting

i am not a siding i am not another american audit report i breathe, i hope, i ache i long and i hunger for my freedom i am still here i am still captive, still waiting. i am not just yet remains, not fragments, not dental records i am whole and i cling to the memories of you i is still here, still captured, still waiting my voice cannot be heard my pain is my pain alone. hear me, feel my agony, see me in your children's faces i am still here, still captive, still waiting the guard has not the key you do only you can free me now, or death your voices raise together can sing me home

for in your silence i am not here i am still captive and if i am forgotten, i am not even a memory. thank you all for being here, thank you for keeping the promise to never forget and hopefully we will see you sometime next year. thank you, god bless. [applause] >> thank you, nicolette rose area we love you. >> he beat me up here. you heard him sing earlier. i am very honored to introduce my great friend gordon paneer. >> thank you, nikki.

♪ >> ♪ if tomorrow all the things were gone i worked for all my life and i had to start again ist my children and my wife thank my lucky stars to be living here today the flag still stands for freedom and they can't take that away proud to be an american where at least i know i'm free and i won't forget the men who

died who gave that right to me and i'd gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today 'cause there ain't no doubt i love this land god bless the u.s.a. from the lakes of minnesota to the hills of tennessee across the plains of texas from sea to shining sea from detroit down to houston and new york to l.a. where's pride in every american heart and it's time we stand and say that i'm proud to be an american

where at least i know i'm free and i won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me and i'd gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today 'cause there ain't no doubt i love this land god bless the u.s.a. and i'm proud to be an american where at least i know i'm free and i won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me and i'd gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today 'cause there ain't no doubt i love this land

god bless the usa ♪ [applause] thank you. >> thank you. ladies and gentlemen while we are added, that was gordon paynter. a round of applause. [applause] i would also like a round of applause for lynn. ben mason. where are you, ben? thank you very much p are our musical performers. we greatly appreciate their participation and support.

our next speaker, this gentleman, is in his third term. he is representing 700,000 citizens including 30,000 veterans. he is the senator from washington, d.c., ladies and gentlemen, welcome senator brown. [applause] sen. brown: thanks, everybody. thank you to the great people who sat through the rain. it is a great honor to be here to be here with. people like goldstar moms who have sacrificed so much for our nation. forgod bless lee greenwood writing that great song. what a great song. -- rode in today with aarti miller. and some of the other veterans. it was a great honor.

because i have been coming to rolling thunder for 15 years now. and i am here to say two things. the first thing i am here to say is thank you for your service, because we all enjoy the freedom that we have because of the sacrifices you have made. we often say that freedom isn't free, but we should never forget to thank the people that paid for it. thank you so much. the second thing i am here to say is that we cannot let this and. we can't let this end. after 32 years. because the mission has yet to be completed. and i don't mean just that we still have thousands that are unaccounted for. i mean that there are other things that veterans, that are important to veterans and america that we need to address. for example, one out of every three homeless people is a veteran. what is that?

there should be no such thing as a homeless veteran. 125,000 homeless veterans. [applause] sen. brown: we have ptsd on the rise, and we have veterans waiting months, sometimes even years, to get treatment in the v.a. hospitals. that needs to be reformed. example, we have an veteransent rate for witches 1.5 times the national average -- which is 1.5 times the national average. until these things are complete, we need to continue to ride. the biggest issue for me is we have 30,000 veterans in the district of columbia who have fought for america, who have put their lives on the line, and have no voting representation in either house of commerce. i'm elected like every other

united states senator, but then i'm not allowed to serve the people who elected me? this has to start -- stop. come back, please, for the 30,000 of your fellow veterans who do not have a voice because veterans voices matter. d -- we had the highest per capita for any jurisdiction in the district of columbia we have 35 congressional medal of honor recipients. the man that wrote the national named was a d.c. soldier lieutenant francis scott king, the man that wrote taps was a congressional medal of honor recipient named general butterfield during the civil war. i don't take anything away from the way this organization started. of honor to make

sure that we have an answer for every mia and every p.o.w., and we can't rest until that happens. not only to bring closure to their families, but so that we say to everybody that wears a uniform, we will never leave you in a jail cell, we will never leave you in an unmarked grave, no matter what it takes, we will be there to make sure that you come back to the country that you stood up for. it is time for us to stand up for them. mother jones, the great labor organizer said "pray for the dead, but fight like hell for the living." there are a couple of guys back here that have patches on that say "no one left behind." not over there, and not over here. and it is time that we make sure the veterans in america are not left behind. you know, there is a thing, i don't know if you have heard of this history flight, you guys

are having an impact. history flight is an organization that has already found 350 remains of american soldiers, 100 of them have been identified, 100 of them have been brought back home, and there has been closure for those families. one, fred freight, who was missing for 75 years, they just found him and they returned him home a couple of weeks ago. if you think about what has been accomplished here, 32 years of hundreds of thousands of bikers coming in, there should be a monument on this mall to rolling thunder. [applause] sen. brown: we should have a monument on this -- god bless you. god bless you. let's bring them all home. and let's make that monument.

what aarti mueller has continued the tradition that he has continued for -- from the guys that started this movement has just been amazing. when i rode in with him today, i saw thousands of people on constitution and independence avenue, standing up for america, standing up for our veterans. and we need to keep this going and we can do it. i went to the blessing of the bikes on friday night, because when you are my age and you still ride a harley davidson, you need god on your side. i went there and some brilliant veteran, i think he was from iowa, rode all the way from iowa, said to me, if these guys lost $200,000 last year and everybody that comes kicked in $.50, that would be 250 thousand dollars. you have enough to pay for everything. that is one thing we have to do. we have to step up to the plate. and we also have to sit down and

talk to a few people. the pentagon is charging you $52,000 to park your motorcycles, and use the bathroom? called thething defense project -- defense budget project. we found out that the pentagon was paying $800 for toilet seats. if they can pay $800 for toilet seats, you should be able to pee for free. don't you think? you can drive your bike over to arlington and park in the mcdonald's parking lot and use their bathroom and they will not charge you anything. we need to sit down and talk to them. if permits are a problem, i have an office in city hall, i will help with the permits. donald trump, the president of the united states said yesterday that if you can't get the permits, he will get them for you. and that is something the president can do. standingave a democrat in front of you, agreeing with

the republican, maybe this is a start of something new, right? that we can stop acting like petulant children and start getting together and standing up for america instead of standing up for ourselves. please go back. please continue to do this. we need you. we need you to stand up for the veterans and the district of columbia, the 30,000 that have no vote because veterans voices matter. i just talked to somebody a few minutes ago about an article i read where there are 47 states that are asking the secretary of education to forgive student loans for disabled veterans. and they are now fighting about that. why are they fighting about that? it should be a no-brainer. you went over there, you sacrifice yourself for america, and now we want you to pay back your student loan? it's crazy.

i'm proud to be here today because we must never forget, we must continue to ride, we must continue to stand up for america and its values and that means standing up for its veterans. let's keep rolling. can we say that? let's keep rolling. let's keep rolling. thunderto keep rolling alive and well because the only thing those guys respond to his pressure. and you know what? i'm a politician, and i am proud to be here, but i wonder where the other politicians are. you have the cabinet secretary here, and that was great. but every person in that building up there should be here to say thank you. every one of them. and until they are, we need to keep writing -- riding. keep on rolling. god bless everyone of you that has stood up for my country, stood up for me on my family.

i love each and everyone of you. and let's keep rolling. god bless you. and god bless america. [applause] >> thank you, senator. our next speaker is lieutenant general tom mcinerney, united states air force retired. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, just around of applause for our wounded warriors, please. [applause]

>> thank you, chairman. god bless the wounded warriors. thanks for being here. i'm going to talk about how we never leave anybody behind. it is a special honor for me to be here today. the 31st rolling thunder on this memorial day as we honor those that have fallen in combat and to thank the members of rolling thunder and the goldstar family members for their courageous leadership, and i mean it has been courageous leadership, for this group being tomed by you and your people seek full accountability for our prisoners of war and missing in action. to include world war ii, korea, and vietnam. when i was listening to you, already, i thought you took my speech. you did.

the fact is, already said it all, but i'm going to add a few more facts to what he said. rolling thunder has been instrumental in passing legislation, the missing service act that says a servicemember cannot be listed as killed in action without substantial evidence. the reason this is important is because the government has been saying moving from mia to killed in action without that evidence, which really wipes away the problem. that has now been changed because of what rolling thunder has done. they have kept hope alive for the families that have mia's. and while the government attempts to answer -- give us answers, but frankly, the government has not been doing their job. whenirst rolling thunder they chairman asked where were

you in 1987, i was in europe about to move to alaska. and i remember being over in germany and reading about rolling thunder and what it started. and that was an inspiration to us all into the world. rtie, you all have done an incredible job in carrying out these 32 years for those p.o.w. and mia families. and of course, there are those that have come home through your efforts that are buried back up here, many at arlington national cemetery, for their final resting place. now, we did leave people behind out.tie pointed we left them behind in world war ii, 23,500 americans were taken, seized from german pow camps by the russians, and they put them in slave labor camps.

the roosevelt and truman administration did not do anything about it. had espionage agents in the u.s. government i the and of harry hopkins, course there were others. we wanted to have good relationships with the russians, and we let 23,500 americans parish in slave camps. it is too late for them now. the deep state existed then as it does today. after the korean war, we left 8000 to 10,000 americans in north korea, chinese, and russian slave labor camps. again, they deep state was trying to be -- to create a different environment and they sacrificed our men. in the american public never knew these two facts. as we get closer to korea and talk about what we left there,

operation homecoming which we all remember so well from february 1973 to april 1973, they returned pows. many of us know many of them today. that was only 12% of the remaining pows in north vietnam. now there are 5000 that we still have on the roles as mia. divided between north vietnam and laos. there are a lot of commissions that went on from 1973 until 1993, trying to resolve the issue. when rolling thunder in 1988 started vigorously, then they started to get a little bit more interested in the problem. many of they, sightings we saw in which we tried to set up rescue missions stopped were leaked and

because the deep state leaked that they were about to happen. so they had to terminate them. again, a problem within the administration. president nixon, before he left office, signed an agreement that we would give $5 billion in 1973 to the north koreans for reconstruction. of course, when he resigned, that fell through and the north koreans continued to hold koreas of 5000 in north -- north vietnam and laos. london the day denying file. welcoming the house majority leader tip o'neil to london on behalf of ambassador elliot richardson. all he said when i showed him the headlines of the london times was "we cannot be the world's policeman."

without a doubt, the democratic party leadership was controlled in both houses was in a cut and run mindset, was further complicated the mia issue being resolved. president ford did not have any power, and when he was replaced by president carter, he only played lipservice. until president reagan in 1986, the cia director, bill casey under him, made a statement that said look, the nation knows there are pows are there. you guys have written to the president advising him that they are there. you are always talking about it. the former director of intelligence agency, director and retired lieutenant u.s. army is always talking about it. but there is no groundswell of support for getting the men out, he continued. certainly you are not considering that we pay for them. well, i was. surely you are not saying we

should do something like that with no public support? he concluded by saying look, we screwed up in 1973, we screw up all the time. my job is to make sure that we don't screw up again. what do you want, another iranian hostage crisis? so you can see what the problem was and why it was so critical in 1988 that rolling thunder be activated and formed under the brilliant leadership that you have had. they had a select committee after that under senator john kerry and senator bob smith, with senator john mccain. they were to look into the p.o.w., mia issue. was in the say, i pentagon as a number three man in the air force. i could not understand why senator kerry and mccain successfully deep-sixed this

effort and it became quite public. when the president clinton was elected, that was the last state on resolving the fate of these 5000 mias. now, let's get something that is a little fresher, benghazi. everyone here remembers benghazi, which was a coordinated attack against two of our government facilities in benghazi. four americans died, ambassador chris stevens, information's officer sean smith, into former navy seals glenn darty and glenn ty woods. their deaths were likely preventable, but hillary clinton's state department and the department of defense never mounted a rescue effort to save our patriots. not one mission was flown that night to repel the attackers. when just a high-speed pass by two f-16s going supersonic would have disrupted the attack. we still do not know what

president obama did that night, except get ready to go to a political rally in las vegas the next day. we lost four americans, but they were not the only ones left behind. in the aftermath of the terrorist attack in benghazi, there was a concerted effort to deflect responsibility of these deaths. from future presidential hopeful hillary clinton. wayne simmons, a former cia contractor for over 27 years, and an outspoken member of the citizens commission on benghazi, knew there were lies being advanced by hillary clinton's team. simmons appeared dozens of times on the fox news channel, on radio, to defend our american heroes. he helped to provide evidence to the citizens commission on benghazi, proving the direct links to hillary clinton that led to their deaths. for his efforts to show the

direct links of the benghazi weapons to hillary clinton, simmons was sent to jail a federal prison for 25 months for crimes he did not commit. he was mercilessly attacked and discredited by the corrupt u.s. attorney's office in the eastern district of virginia under the former attorney. additionally, simmons was attacked by the corrupt offices of the fbi, where we have already heard about that, for collusion between the fbi and the doj that has now been documented. simmons has now acquired documents and a tape approving the collusion's to destroy him reached all the way to the judge in simmons case. the same you judge in the general paul manafort cases. these documents prove the depths of collusion between the defense attorney, he was forced to accept by judge alice. william cummings and the u.s. attorney's office of d's -- of eastern district of virginia. attorney general barr should

look into this simmons case as he starts looking into the russian collusion case because they use the same tactics and procedures that they did against -- that they are using against president trump and the russian collusion. collect therants to data out of carter page and george papadopoulos which means you get the whole teams network. and the done to simmons whole team to try to protect the clinton election campaign, and i know because they did it to my computer. i was part of that. was ane russian hoax effort to impeach president trump, the soft coup d'etat as he has said. there is no question about it. it is blowing up in the obama administration's face as we speak. but it is important that we point out that we watched it

throughout many years that we left behind our mias, by both the democratic and republican administrations. as a matter of fact, every president since roosevelt until obama has used the deep state to thwart our efforts to return the mias from world war ii, korea, and vietnam. president trump has been hampered to do anything for mias because he has been fighting for his life, deliberately led by the obama administration. it is extremely important what the mueller report said, no russian collusion or obstruction. and of quote. these shameful acts by the house that are being committed today, this week, to subpoena attorney general barr and former white house attorney mcgann, plus other staffers, is a clear violation of the separation of power. the president's direction did

not classify all of the intelligence community and documents concerning the obama administration's politicizing intelligence and processes and fabricating a false narrative against the trump campaign and the new administration is spot on. we must support president trump and those efforts -- in those efforts because it must never happen again. these are the same violators -- [applause] lt. gen. mcinerney: these are the same violators that prevented our pows and mias being accounted for and returned to america for three wars. we must closely watch this. finally, we have seen a new threat to our democracy. and that is democratic socialism, you have all heard that term. which is fundamentally communism. the green new deal would eliminate airplanes and force americans to rebuild every building in america. that is not socialism.

it is nothing but pure communism. let's call it what it is, communism. rolling thunder's hugely patriotic efforts in the last 31 years has exposed the deep state. and it's misuse of the intelligence community to hide facts from america. we did leave americans behind in our last three major wars. thank you. artie, and the entire membership for what you have done to fight against the deep state. unaccountable is unacceptable. i say that again. unaccountable is unacceptable. god bless rolling thunder and the national league of p.o.w. families. who represent those families have never gotten the answers they deserve. you that thed five administration traded taliban four-star general equivalents to get one private

trailer --s a brick a betrayer to the american people. he was a deserter. rolling thunder, you have done this nation a great service, we are forever grateful the president is extremely interested because you are the most important event that happens in washington, d.c. each year. god bless you. keep doing what you are doing. thank you very much. [applause]

>> i want president trump to think about one thing. i thought about sitting down over here years ago, i started a movie about the presidency. should send a message to hillary clinton and nancy pelosi "i am the president of the united states! -- united states!" thank you. [applause]

have been bringing you this event. we will have highlights on c-span at 6:35 eastern time. tomorrow, it is the annual memorial day celebration or the tomb of the unknowns. we will have live coverage beginning at 10:40 a.m. on c-span, online, and you can listen live on the free c-span radio app. q&a, yell tonight on university historian joann freeman on her book "the field of blood, violence in congress and the road to civil war." just in a mass ball, so in

and of itself, it is dramatic. guys are throwing punches, it is a massive encounter. what was really interesting to me was people at the time look at it and what they saw was a group of northerners and a group of southerners, lots of them armed, running at each other in the house of representatives and several said, this does not look like a normal congressional fight. this looks like north against south this looks like a battle. and that is really striking. indeed, it did look like a battle and it is not that long before the civil war. announcer: tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. announcer: watch speeches on c-span. starting monday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, speakers include patrick shanahan at the u.s. naval academy, elijah cummings at morgan state university, eric

holcomb at anderson university, michigan governor at the university ann arbor, and we , at back to may 1993 president ronald reagan's remarks at the citadel. watch graduation speeches monday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. ,atch online any at c-span.org and listen on the free c-span radio app. next, a look at the dangers facing drivers this summer and whether new technology could reduce vehicle-related death.

ms. schakowsky: the chair recognizes herself for five minutes. for an opening statement. good morning and thank you so much for being with us today. today's hearing is about promoting auto safety and raising awareness about the threats families face on our nation's roads and off the roads as well, as we enter summer driving season. one of those threats is child vehicular heat stroke, which occurs when a child is left in an overheating car. i would like to recognize two families who have endured such tragedies and turn their pain