that commercial like melissa mccarthy in that commercial with the lumber? >> tomatoes, potatoes, nightshade vegetables, tom brady's diet is suspect. >> we will see you online and talk about that, foxnews.com/outnumbered, click on the overtime tab, now "happening now." >> jenna: we start with a fox news earlier, president trump making his first visit to u.s. central command headquarters in florida. >> jon: any minute now he will address the military. we are covering all of the news "happening now" ." >> we don't expect our district courts to conduct foreign policy or make decisions about our national security. >> jon: the showdown over the travel ban now and the courts. >> the president is not a dictator. he's the chief executive of our country. >> jon: the people affected rush to find to the country before the court's decision comes down. we will take a closer look at the looming legal showdown. plus, filling out the president's cabinet. congress still has a lot to do,

but are some opponents deliberately slowing down the process? and ellipse history at the super bowl. >> i am so proud to be a part of this team that took a miraculous effort. >> jon: it is now "happening now" ." ♪ >> jon: we begin with the showdown between the white house in a federal appeals court, the chump administration facing a legal deadline about five hours ago with legal threats to the president's executive order, welcome to the second hour of "happening now," i'm jon scott. >> jenna: i am jenna lee. welcome and reducing the president will address senior commanders at command center in tampa, major hub of the fight against terror, that is where we find our correspondent kevin. >> you are right, the president as you pointed out, vexed to say the least about some of the

polling that has been put out there as people talk about his so-called travel ban, just want to share a couple tweets before we talk about why he is here today. his tweets were making it very clear he does not believe some of the major pulling out there. "i call my own shots, largely based on an accumulation of data, and everyone knows it. some fake news media, in order to marginalize, lies!" he goes on to tweet once more: "any negative polls are fake news, just like the cnn, abc, nbc polls in the election. sorry, people want border security and extreme vetting." of course, the president is here to meet with central command leaders to talk about the ongoing battle against isis and other threats throughout the entire mideast region. he was also asked in his super bowl interview with bill o'reilly about working with vladimir putin to defeat isis. here is what he told our bill o'reilly. >> i respect a lot of people, that does not mean i'm getting along with them. he is a leader of his country. i say it is better to get along

with russia than not, and of russia helps us in the fight against isis which is a major fight and islamic terrorism all over the world. >> all over the world indeed. of course, the battle against isis and evolving one which is part of the reason he is here today, he wants to hear it straight from the leaders, should there be changes in the existing strategy? here is what mad dog mattis had to say about a possible change not just in the battle against isis but in the fight against, say, enemies like iran. >> i don't see any need to increase the number of forces we have in the middle east at this time. that is not in the cards right now. we always have the capability to do so, but right now, i don't think it is necessary. >> not necessary right now and the battle against isis, but given the instability in the region, you never know what might happen at a more granular level in the briefings that the president gets later today.

i should also point out he has a meet and greet with some service personnel and we will have life coverage of his remarks to them a little bit later, but for now, back to you. >> jenna: thank you very much. "o'reilly factor" has an extensive interview with president trump, here's a preview. >> you know what it is fascinating? to watch you at the inauguration with barack obama. you gave a speech, but your speech excoriated him. you basically took his administration apart, and he is sitting 5 feet away from you. >> see i am an honest person. the country has very deep-seated problems. we have to do something about it. if you noticed, when i finished my speech, i turned around, shook his hand -- >> absolutely. >> he was very gracious and smiling. >> i don't know if he was happy with the speech. >> seemed to be. >> jenna: be sure to watch tonight and tomorrow on "o'reilly factor." >> jon: that's going to be

great. a lot of activity on capitol hill again today but now word of a slowdown, chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel live on capitol hill with that breaking news. >> good afternoon, senate democrats say they will hold the senate floor for 24 hours to protest the nomination of betsy devos to be our next extrication secretary. combine that with two republicans being against her, it's going to be interesting. devos' nomination to be education secretary has been controversial from the very beginning with teachers unions and much of the education establishment against her, many republicans praise her for offering parents and students school choice over leaving them and underperforming schools. the two republicans opposing devos are lisa murkowski from alaska and susan collins of maine, so it is shaping up to be a 50/50 vote in the united states senate. on fox news sunday, vice president mike pence blamed democrats for obstruction and said devos will be confirmed. >> we are very confident

betsy devos is going to be the next secretary of education. it will be my high honor to cast the deciding tie-breaking vote on the floor of the senate next week. >> also this afternoon, judge neil gorsuch's will be back on capitol hill continuing his outreach to senators who vote on his supreme court nomination. yesterday, a g.o.p. senator called him a rock star and today come he's meeting with two democrats, senator john tester of montana wants to know gorsuch's views on end-of-life issues. in a meeting with california senator dianne feinstein, who is the top democrat on the judiciary committee, she talked about this nomination on fox news sunday. >> the minority party challenge to do a full and fair hearing, and to have that time to garner the facts, to really understand the history of this nominee. >> republicans have been praising the gorsuch nomination, this afternoon the outreach to

democrats begins. >> jon: if things slow down a bit on capitol hill, does your workload slow down as well? >> we will be here, whatever you need. >> jon: we will count on you, thank you. >> jenna: the betsy devos nomination as a prime example of the tough time the president is having getting his cabinet confirmed, a publication writing this. "it was not supposed to be like this, total control of the g.o.p. of washington should mean he gets whatever he wants but senate democrats the last line of democratic defense are slow bucking the installation of trump's cabinet to a historic degree. so much so that republicans have not even started yet on trump's legislative agenda. republicans will eventually win back all of these confirmation battles, but it will be time-consuming and ugly." joining us now, amy associate columnist and editor, and an editor at "the boston globe." are we in the ugly stage yet? if time is money, what are we

wasting? >> i think the democrats are wasting their political capital with their own base, and especially with independence it will need to turn out in 2018 or 2020. with all of the stalling tactics overprocessed, they are not going to stop any of these nominees peer they are not going to stop neil gorsuch. they may get the filibuster removed, but really in the end, they are not going to be remembered, i don't think an given credit in the next election cycles for a few days of stalling. there is plenty to criticize president trump about. there is plenty to do in terms of trying to put their party back together in mobilizing, but i don't know all of this stalling is really getting them anywhere. >> jenna: the democrats do represent a certain group of constituents so they could argue they are doing their constituents work by slowing down some of these appointments. the question becomes is this government functioning in the way it is supposed to be functioning or is it just a slow down as ab points out for a

political points? >> you could argue the united states senate has not been functioning in the way it supposed to be functioning for a long time. if it is anything, it's a slow body of government, so they are slowing it down even further. you raise a good point about the democratic party base. if you're hearing about all of these calls go into swing state republican offices, they are jamming the phone lines in pennsylvania and nevada, chuck schumer is taking notice of that to say wow, our base is really angry about this. democrats more so need a win. they lost the election, seats in the house, they don't have the majority in the senate, they need a win, so to be one vote away from this on this one nomination when they were originally going to target eight of trump's nominees, has to feel so close that it is within their grasp even if that math does not bear out. interesting point that picture she is painting, is that what this is about for the democrats, if they were able to stop devos, would it be worth the political capital they would gain in their local politics?

>> i think if they could take her down, it would be worth it. they are not going to take down neil gorsuch, so it is true, they did this what i call flood the zone strategy and diluted their efforts entirely, and they finally realize because they had to senators on the republican side willing to support devos, could be a part to eat my bipartisan effort but i don't think they will get the last one vote. it is close and painful, but i don't think they will take her down. if it comes to it, mike pence is going to break the tie in the senate and get her through. they need a win, but when you don't have the numbers come you fold and go home and fight another front peer republicans in the house folded when ted cruz pushed a big shutdown of the government on obamacare. they never had the votes to repeal obamacare, shut down the government then got blamed for it. they did not get anywhere. when you don't have the votes, pack up and go home and do something where you can find a win. >> jenna: i think we need a little perspective in all of this, ab brings up an interesting comparison to the past, but we are talking about

cabinet nominations, not talking about the big issues facing the country like the debt ceiling that's coming up in a few months or even funding our government. we are going to have to talk about that at the end of april. we are not even there yet. what about what is ahead for this governing body? >> this fight over the cabinet nominees and delays in changing of the rules, everything happening right now does not bode well for the future relations between senate democrats and senate republicans or the senate itself and the white house. trump wants to get this through, he would like mcconnell to hurry up and get his nominees through. that does not speak well for their relationship either going forward. i think it's going to be a tumultuous a few years in the heart of the battle will be the united states senate which by the way has a lot of leeway to rewrite its own rules which can only lead to a nastier fight down the line. >> jenna: everything has changed yet nothing has changed at the same time. i feel that we will be reporting this for weeks and months to come, thank you both so much.

>> jon: the commander-in-chief about to speak to senior military officers who help keep us safe. there is the podium at central command. we are awaiting president trump's remarks to members of the military there. keep it right here, we will have that for you life when the commander-in-chief steps to the microphone. in the meantime, a heartwarming commercial during the super bowl. did you catch this? letting service members overseas watch the game with their families in a fashion. we will talk with the director who pulled off this amazing feat with cutting edge technology, leaving on a dry eye in the house. the most shocking result was that i'm 26% native american. i had no idea. just to know this is what i'm made of, this is where my ancestors came from. and i absolutely want to know more about my native american heritage. it's opened up a whole new world for me.

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>> jenna: president trump getting ready to speak to members of the military just a few minutes from now comes as the military was at the center of one of last nights super bowl commercials, one of the most memorable ones out there, take a look.

>> will they be able to give pressure inside the maneuvers in the pocket as well as anybody. out of breath as a runner. >> i've got my wife emily, 4-year-old daughter hadley. the hardest thing about this appointment, can't really explain it to well just daddy has to go to work again. >> i have my fiance in my 2-year-old son, just the world to me. tough for him to understand because he's used to be just being there. >> i am a corporal. i've been out about four years now, being away is pretty rough, just my son growing up, missing daily things he does. ♪ >> oh, my god!

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> jenna: pretty cool, right? award-winning director peter berg directed the ad and joins us now with the story behind it. where did this idea come from? >> thank you for having me on, and thank you for showing the spot. i think probably the origins of the idea was just i've got to give a lot of credit to hyundai, i think they are a really good company, and they care. they have a very good ad agency involved, they came to us to say they wanted to do something for the troops. we all sat around and came up

with this crazy idea to go live, use virtual reality and to film simultaneously during the first quarter of these incredible soldiers and poland, and we brought their families to houston for the super bowl. we thought, let's see if we can pull it all off and film it live and have -- create this reunion. >> jenna: pointing out to our viewers, this was filmed live while the super bowl was happening. you were filming it and edited it then plated which is incredible. what was that experience like? >> it was really an emotional experience. for us, the adrenaline was palpable, and there were a million different things that could go wrong, but at the end of the day, when we saw the faces of these young soldiers and those virtual-reality

chambers, once the video came up, there is the young mother staring at her husband and her baby, you saw her just burst into tears. i was sitting in a production truck with some pretty jaded movie guys who have done this a long time, and i looked over, this big old guy was crying like a baby next to me. i said to myself, all of the technical aspects and anxiety of getting it really were worth it. it was just a great way for us to remember that we send these men and women away from their homes. there are so many hard parts of it. it is dangerous, and that is real, but it is also tough to miss your family that much. we all felt that. >> jenna: absolutely. i have a quick final question for you because i know you have dedicated so much of your time and talent to military stories and families. what can you tell us about the soldiers that were able to have this experience with their

families, how were they chosen, and where they able to actually talk to their families during the game? how long did the experience last for them? >> we went and interviewed about 60 different soldiers at that base and poland. i am telling you, every one of those soldiers had a great story, the hardest part was picking three, three were representative of so many who had families that they were missing, but we picked these three soldiers, two men and a woman, and we brought them into the pods. they were able to talk to their families, in their families were able to talk to them, so we brought their families into a box, one of those boxes right they could have some privacy to watch the game. they were able to come indicate with them and watch the game with them for the first half, then at the end of the half, ths party that we had thrown for them and poland where they could watch the game, in the families

stayed in the box and got to watch what turned out to be a really great football game. it was a wonderful evening for everyone. one of those things. >> jenna: it was a great reminder to all of us where we were sitting watching the game about where the other people out there are sitting watching the game as well, including the military families and those that are active duty. great to have you back on the program, always like to have you join us, thank you for the back story. really an incredible work, it would look forward to having you back again. thank you so much. >> have a great day. >> jon: big surprise for those soldiers last night, and a big surprise for some enlisted personnel at the air force base who are having lunch with the president today. let's listen into the videotape that just came into the fox news room. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. [applauding]

>> we've got an array of experience, career, background, can probably answer any question you have on duty or life in the military, likewise we can be your sounding board for any ideas. >> sounds good, they give everybody. this is very nice. i will be speaking in a wild, but i will ask you some questions, how do you like it? everyone loves doing it, the great spirit, great military spirit. this guy, strong guy. this guy could lift as much as you, i don't think so.

[laughs] how did you like the game last night, good? tom brady cemented his place, right? he did a great job. >> most of the troops here are young enough that they came in after 9/11, they volunteered knowing they were coming into conflict, they are all smart kids, they have options in life, but they chose to serve. >> are you going to make a career out of this? >> deciding right now. >> come on, you have to stay. we like it better if you stay, you will stay. what about you? >> i came right out of high school. i've already got 11 years in. >> that is great. what are you thinking about? a career? you're going to make it a career? that is fantastic. good.

okay. realistic. good job for you. some of my friends, some of the most successful people, they have tremendous respect for the military. that gentleman right there. [inaudible] >> jon: president trump sitting down with some enlisted troops at macdill air force base in the tampa bay area of florida although it isn't air force base, we understand the president's meeting with enlisted members of the armed services from four branches at least, air force, army, navy, and marine corps, all of them joining him for a little chat over lunch, when you like to be a fly on the wall for that meeting?

joining us to talk more about the president's foreign policy, and we should be hearing more on that, i should mention, when he does speak at macdill air force base in just a couple of minutes. joining us now, executive director of the new york state democratic party and former senior aide to hillary clinton, also with us on the right of your screen john caldwell, republican strategist for caldwell strategic consulting and former director of the african-american outreach for the dupage county republican party. what do you expect to hear from the president regarding foreign policy? is there a wholesale change underway in the way the u.s. deals with the rest of the world? >> i think so. i will tell you our enemies and allies have been put on notice that there is a global change happening. that is a stance of uncompromising strength and america first criticism that we have not seen the last eight years because we have been tiptoeing relations with

certain foreign relations because we did not want to disrupt diplomacy. i think it is unfair to the many americans who put their lives on the line, and i think what you will see from president trump here is he's going to say we respect you, we honor the work and your sacrifice to the country along with their families, and we are making sure you will be protected and put our country first again. >> jon: one of the things we have already seen is when michael flynn, the national security director walked up to the microphones in the brady briefing room and said, iran is here by put on notice. that had to make some people sit up in tehran and take notice. >> sure, it does, but to answer your first question as well as part of this one, the changes that you see are largely rhetorical, and i do think that particularly when you combine some of the rhetoric with the actions like the executive order, like the statement you just referenced with respect to iran, i think what you are going to see is

whether or not that rhetoric can actually be implemented a, by the bureaucrats, and b, bureaucrats in multiple departments, whether or not members of congress, particularly republican members of congress will have the ability to promote and continue the language that donald trump, president trump uses and turn that into actual policy. you are already starting to see some light between the executive branch and legislative branch, so the question is when are both congress and the president going to actually be able to see i to i on some of these issues of diplomacy? >> jon: there are critics of the president who say that moment with his national security advisor michael flynn saying iran is on notice, that it was tantamount to what a president obama said regarding the redline in syria, that it

sort of unenforceable and meaningless and only invites more misbehavior on the part of the iranians, what do you say? >> i'm going to respond to basil here, especially when he says, the comment that it is unenforceable. what we saw is sanctions go up on iran, in that tells you it is not just rhetoric. he's putting forth some actions right here, and i think he's going to make them think differently when they do things like a long-range test that shows they have some military force. we have seen this time and time again especially when you mention president obama where there are long-range missile test, there is no response to that kind of thing. we are a war superpower, but i think a lot of the world forgot that we are a super party. we are the hedge of men of the world. at this particular point, i think it is more than just rhetoric. i think donald trump was very serious when he ran the campaign to say that we are going to attack isis, just what we saw

with michael flynn with the 31 bombs dropped in the first week that he took over an office her here, -- >> jon: i am sorry, we are about to get to a commercial break, basil. i will owe you the last answer next time. >> i will hold you to it. >> president trump: thank you both. >> jenna: we are awaiting the president to address this group at u.s. central command, and this visit is coming amid growing tensions with iran. today, israel's prime minister looking for action against tehran, asking british prime minister theresa may to impose new sanctions after last week's missile test. details on the 2 liters face-to-face meeting ahead, plus a deadline for the justice department to defend the president's travel restriction coming up, all of that and next.

>> jon: fox news alert, we may learn a little bit more about what our new president thinks about the world when he addresses some of the troops add centcom in tampa, florida. we just showed you video of him having lunch with some of the forces who are there. he will be making a speech to the centcom folks in just a minute. when he steps up to the microphone, we will have it for you live. >> jenna: 's became national affairs, israel is urging great britain to take action against iran come earlier today, benjamin netanyahu sat down with the british prime ministers

theresa may for their first face-to-face meeting. he was asking for support to impose new sanctions on iran after a recent missile test, for more, let's head to fox news national correspondent rich edson who is life in the state department. >> good afternoon, two prime ministers met at ten downing street in london, official residence of uk per mr. theresa may. the message from benjamin netanyahu and what iran seeks to annihilate israel, it sets so openly and it conquer the middle east to threaten europe, the west and the world. it offers provocation after provocation peer that is why i welcome president trump's insistence on new sanctions against iran. i think other nations should follow soon, certainly responsible nations." as you recall, last week the president's admeasure ration sanctioned more than two dozen iranians and individuals, that was in response to their ballistic missile test and what the immunization called iran to stay's destabilizing activity

and promoting of terrorism. officials say they are preparing additional sanctions if iran's behavior continues. british prime minister theresa may reportedly said that she was willing to discuss the subject, but was unclear if the united kingdom would follow suit on the sanctions. the uk, like the united states, was part of the iran nuclear agreement back in 2015, though the u.s., according to these latest sanctions and according to officials, the sanctions that were put in place last week are entirely separate from that iran nuclear deal. on the increased u.s. sanctions, iran, according to the news agency, said they are prepared to destroy the u.s. this week in bahrain if the enemy makes a mistake and also notes iranian missiles are within a seven minute launch from israel. all of this as prime minister agyeman netanyahu continues to travel the world. he is due here in the united states and will have his first face-to-face meeting with president trump, that is scheduled for next wednesday.

back to you. >> jenna: that will be a big meeting, thank you. >> jon: the clock is ticking for the trump administration to defend the president's travel restrictions. the deadline is just hours away now. the ninth circuit court of appeals in san francisco san francisco is awaiting a response, this after it denied the justice department's request to immediately reinstate the president's executive order, which a federal judge had blocked. are you keeping up with all of this? here to explain all of the legal maneuvering, fox news anchor and attorney gregg jarrett. so the ninth circuit said that you cannot, mr. president, enforce this travel ban. >> right, there is a joke among lawyers, used to practice in california that if you lose in front of the ninth circuit, you must be absolutely correct on the law because the ninth circuit is the most liberal in the nation, way out of the mainstream, they tend to get it wrong all the time. they are overturned all the time.

i think if this is fully litigated, and it were to go to the supreme court, the supreme court would say wait a minute, we've spent more than 100 years of saying the president and congress have plenary power, complete power to regulate immigration, congress passed a law in 1952 that says if the president views a country or a class of aliens as a threat, he can ban them completely. he has unfettered discretion to do it, in the high court has even said judicial courts don't even have the right to review that. >> jon: wasn't it a judge in seattle who said he essentially mr. president, you don't have the authority to do what you just did? speak i think he cut it completely wrong in his analysis which was five or six pages, completely devoid of legal analysis. he said the state of washington had standing in the suit, no, they don't because no one in washington has been harmed by this so far. second of all, he did not even

consider the very power of the president, and finally, he never seemed to entertain the notion that washington's stated argument, this is a violation of the first and fifth amendment, sorry, the vast majority of the people affected by president trump's order do not enjoy american constitutional rights because they are not on our soil. >> jon: i know you have a more in-depth piece on this on foxnews.com, and people who want to get your take on it should go there to read it, but in essence, you think eventually the president may have lost these initial battles, but he is going to win the war. >> absolutely. all of these judicial temporary restraining orders by various federal judges are ex parte which means the plaintiffs go and say put a halt to this so we can litigate it later on. the government, the trump administration department of justice has not even set foot

inside of these courtrooms to argue their side of the case. that is going to take time. eventually, they will. if they lose, they will appeal it. i think eventually, cooler heads will prevail. they will look at the law, a bunch of presidents, fdr, truman, carter, obama have all issued similar orders, they were all constitutionally challenged, and the executive orders were upheld as constitutional. >> jon: in the meantime, we understand the tsa hasn't stopped enforcing the travel restrictions. >> that is the wise thing to do. the other thing to remember is all of this may simply go away and be moot because the executive order is only 90 days and 120 days paired by the time all of this is litigated, the order will have expired and the cases likely would be dismissed. >> jon: as i mentioned earlier, more on this in your piece on foxnews.com, gregg jarrett anchor and attorney, thank you.

>> jenna: we are awaiting the president's comments at macdill air force base, we will bring them to you life when they begin. plus police arrest a suspect six months after the brutal murder of a new york city jogger. we talked a lot about this story, but what we are now learning about the investigatioe death does speak at macdill air force of karina vetrano and how officers were able to track down her accused killer.

>> jon: fox news alert, president trump is at centcom, central command in the tampa bay area of florida. we expect he will be arriving at the podium momentarily to speak to the centcom staff who is assembled there. we also expect we will hear more about how the president views the situation in the mid east, the war on terror, and some other facets of his worldview when he steps to that microphone, we will have it for you live. >> jenna: big break in the case, police arrest a suspect in the brutal murder of eight

new york city jogger last summer that got national attention. chanel lewis now charged with assaulting and killing 30-year-old karina vetrano while she went for a run near her home in queens. her body was found by her father near a running path on august 2nd. seven days later, officials collected male dna evidence, but no matches were found in any database, essentially the case was very cold. on december 8th, the d.a. requested the state run a familiar search which would look for male relatives of the killer, and yesterday, here's the turn, 20-year-old chanel lewis rumbled and was arrested, police say his dna sample matched the one found on vetrano, and that is where we are now. forensic pathologist joins us now that has been part of so many different famous cases, but we mention familial dna collection, they did not even need to use it. in the end, it was old-fashioned police work that broke the case wide open. how do you see it? >> i agree with what you said.

the police have hundreds of tips, one of the tips spoke about a person who was in that area. the police checked all of the summons given on cars, and they found chanel lewis had been in that area where because of the car being ticketed, they then went to him, he agreed to let them swap his mouth for dna, and it was a perfect match with the dna under her fingernails. >> jenna: talk to us about that because of your expertise in forensics. he willingly gave up his dna, but the exact match means what in court? >> it is like 99% that he had contact with the decedent, by many ways, but one of them is he had scratches on his body when he came home that night. she had his skin under her fingernails, and that is also very important police work.

the familial dna that the father requested in the dna was going to look into if they could not find him otherwise is still controversial and a law has been in the legislature to make it illegal in new york state. it is legal and eight or ten states, but the fbi and other states do not use it because it gives rise to two many innocent persons who have false positives. >> jenna: the parents were so vocal about wanting to make sure no stone was unturned, they really fought for it. really quick because we have to run to tampa come how important was the fight by the victim here to making sure that her killer was found? >> it was very important because if all else fails, if he were eight condom, they could not get dna on the autopsy, normally in

a rape kit but she fought back and scratched them to get his skin under her fingernails, so that solved the case. >> jenna: finally the break that the family so desperately wanted. we can understand that for sure. doctor, great to have you on the program as always, john? >> jon: we expect president trump will be taking to the microphones momentarily at centcom. let's listen in as the president receives his introduction. >> he why one of his very first trips to be here at macdill air force base to visit the command and spent some time with our men and women in uniform. i cannot overstate this. this is a very big deal, and it is a real testament to how important you are to him. he holds our military and the highest regard, and we are enormously grateful for the president and the first lady and indeed the entire first families strong support for our troops, serving around the world and their families.

ladies and gentlemen, please join me in a very loud and warm reception for the 45th president of the united states, and our commander-in-chief, president donald j trump. [cheering and applauding] >> president trump: thank you very much. thank you, everybody. thank you very much. thank you very much. that is so nice. a lot of spirit. great spirit for this country, thank you all. we have tremendous spirit, and i want to thank you. we had a wonderful election, didn't we? and i saw those numbers, and you

liked me, and i like you, that is the way it works. i am honored to be here today amongst so many of our really and truly great heroes. i want to begin by thinking the general and general thomas for their distinguished leadership and service on behalf of our country. very, very outstanding people. i would also like to thank general dunford, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. that is big stuff when you have the chairman, where is he? stand up for a second. this is one of the great people. [applauding] >> president trump: thank you. also, commander vogel and everyone serving at macdill air force base, quite a place. we are going to be loading it up with beautiful new planes and beautiful new equipment. you've been lacking a little

equipment, we are going to load it up. you're going to get a lot of equipment, believe me. [applauding] >> president trump: so important also, let me think all of the coalition partners and their representatives assembled here today. we proudly, very proudly stand with you, and we will be fighting for your security. they are fighting for our security and freedom. let me recognize our great governor, very good friend of mine, somebody who endorsed me, that makes him a better friend of mine. if they don't endorse, believe me, you are ever in this position, it is never quite the same, okay? you can talk, but it never means the same. but this man is a great, great governor and has done a fantastic job, rick scott, governor, stand up please. [applauding] >> president trump: thank you, rick. finally, on behalf of the entire nation, let me express our gratitude to all members, and i

mean all members of our military serving in the united states central command and the united states special operations command. we salute the army, marine corps, navy, air force, and coast guard, along with our civilian defense personnel who are so important to this success of what we're doing. let me also recognize the military families and espouses who bravely shoulder the burdens of war. i want every military family in this country to know that our administration is at your service. we stand with you 100%. we will protect those who protect us, and we will never, ever let you down. as your president, i have no higher duty than to protect the american people. highest duty we have. i said at the other night. great, great supreme court nominee, you all saw that.

i said to myself, perhaps the only thing more important to me definitely is the defense of our nation. the supreme court is so important, but we have to defend our nation. and we will do that, believe me. [applauding] >> president trump: we will do that. and each and every one of you is central to that mission. the men and women serving in centcom have poured out their hearts and souls to this countr country. they have really experienced things that very few people get to experience. you have shed your blood across the continent and the oceans. you have engaged the enemy on distant battlefields, toiled in the burning heat and bitter cold and sacrificed everything so that we can remain safe and strong and free. our administration will always

honor our sacred bond to those who serve, and we will never, ever forget you, believe me. we will never, ever forget you. we will ensure that the men and women of our military have the tools, equipment, resources, training, and supplies you need to get the job done. you have seen me say we have been depleted. our navy is at a point almost as low as world war i, that's a long time ago. it is a long time ago. it is not going to happen anymore, folks. it's not going to happen anymore. not with me. but we will ensure no taxpayer dollars are wasted. i've already saved more than $700 million when i got involved in the negotiation on the f35, you know about that. i want to say thank you to lockheed martin and boeing and all of the companies that have

really opened up, and when i say opened up, rick scott understands this very well, opened up and cut their prices, okay? that is what they did. we've got that program that's going to be back and really great shape from being really very troubled. we are going to be taking care of our great veterans. we will make a historic financial investment in the armed forces of the united states and show the entire world that america stands with those who stand in defense of freedom. we have your back every hour, every day now and always. that also means getting our allies to pay their fair share. it's been a very unfair to us. we strongly support nato. we only ask that all of the nato members make their full and proper financial contributions to the nato alliance which many of them have not been doing.

many of them have not been even close. they have to do that. central command and central operations command are at the very center of our fight against radical islamic terrorism. america stands in awe of your courage. those serving at centcom have bravely fought across the theater of war in the middle east and bravely battled a vicious enemy that has no respect for human life. today, we express our gratitude to everyone serving overseas, including all of our military personnel in afghanistan. they have dispatched their legendary warriors to the most secret, sensitive, endearing missions in in defense of the united states of america. no enemy stands a chance against

our special forces, not even a chance. they don't have a chance. that is the way we are going to keep it. you are going to be better off because you are going to have the finest equipment known to man. you are going to be better off. the proof that our nation has been blessed by god, look no further than the men and women of the united states military. they are the greatest fighters and greatest force of justice on the face of the earth and that the world has ever known. the challenges facing our nation, nevertheless, are very large, very, very large. we are up against an enemy that celebrates death and totally worships destruction. you have seen that. isis is on a campaign of genocide, committing atrocities across the world.

radical islamic terrorists are determined to strike our homeland as they did on 9/11, as they did from boston to orlando to san bernardino and all across europe. we have seen what happened in paris, nice, all over europe, it is happening. it has gotten to a point where it is not even being reported. and in many cases, the very, very dishonest press does not want to report it. they have their reasons, and you understand that. so today, we deliver a message and one very uniform unified voice to these forces of death and destruction: america and its allies will defeat you. we will defeat them. we will defeat radical islamic terrorism, and we will not allow it to take root in our country. we are not going to allow it. we've been seeing what has been

going on over the last few days. we need strong programs so that people that loved us and want to love our country and will end up loving our country are allowed in, not people that want to destroy us and destroy our country. [cheering and applauding] >> president trump: thank you. freedom, security, and justice will prevail. in his first state of the union message, president george washington wrote that "to be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace." almost 200 years later, as a general was also speaking about

ronald reagan, he said that wisdom comes in three very, very strong words: peace through strength. i have said it many times during the campaign, speaking in front of tens of thousands of people at one sitting, and i would always mention "america first," a phrase you probably never heard. make america great again, has anyone ever heard that? [applauding] and "peace through strength." the men and women of the united states military provide the strength to bring peace to our troubled, troubled times. we stand behind you, we support your mission. we love our country. we are loyal to our people. we respect our flag. we celebrate our traditions. we honor our heroes. you are our heroes.

and we are prepared to fight, and we pray for peace. thank you, god bless you, and god bless america, thank you very much. [cheering and applauding] >> president trump: thank you very [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you, general. >> the president of the united states, donald trump, making his first visit to central command head quarters in tampa, florida. that, of course, a major hub in the fight against terror. hello everyone. listening to what the president said there, the bottom line. he's saying we support our