snowstorm. dog lovers caught him and returned him to his owner. he is super happy to be returned to his family. >> bill: 17 days is too long. >> dana: 17 minutes with my dog. complete and total panic attack. at least there is a good outcome there. >> bill: have a good weekend. >> dana: happy weekend to you. my mom is here. harris faulkner is up next. here she is. >> harris: breaking news that we'll cover as soon as alex murdaugh's defense team steps to the microphones is what we begin with. he was just given back-to-back prison sentences, life in prison. 30 years back-to-back for one of south carolina's most prominent attorneys alex murdaugh. now he is wearing a prison jumpsuit found guilty on all counts for murdering his wife, maggie and their youngest son, paul, in june of 2021. i'm hair use faulkner and you are in the faulkner focus. the trial took more than six

weeks. the verdict took three hours to announce. according to one juror who already spoke to the media they decided his fate in 45 minutes. the nation came to know alex murdaugh when he spent hours across a couple of days testifying in his own defense. and then we saw him this morning convicted murderer appearing emotionally frozen as the judge declared his prison sentence. two consecutive life without the possibility of parole. murdaugh said today he is innocent. >> i'm innocent. i would never hurt my wife, maggie, and i would never hurt my son, pawpaw. >> you've engaged in such duplicitous conduct. when will it end?

when will it end? and it's ended already for the jury because they've concluded that you continued to lie and lie. >> harris: charles watson is in south carolina where the blockbuster trial took place. charles, i noted this was the first time we heard him say he didn't hurt them. we previously hurt him say he didn't intentionally hurt them. there is a difference. >> he was a lot more definitive this morning during the sentencing hearing. as we expected, the state requested that the court sentence alex murdaugh to life in prison without the possibility of parole. the judge presiding over this case abided by the state's request but was noticeable and interesting during the sentencing hearing this morning was the fact that alex murdaugh didn't try to take accountability for any of his

actions and judge newman said he was surprised murdaugh didn't take the opportunity to make an appeal to the state before his sentence was handed down. listen to what murdaugh had to say in court this morning. >> i respect this court but i'm innocent and i would never under any circumstances hurt my wife, maggie, and i would never under any circumstances hurt my son, pawpaw. >> judge newman was frank in talking about murdaugh's conduct throughout the trial and the investigation. he said it was one of the most troubling cases he has ever had to preside over. he said it was particularly troubling and heartbreaking for him to see murdaugh go from a grieving father who lost his life and son who a man who was charged and now convicted for their murders. that his behavior has been deceitful during the entire

inhaves gags and trial and asked what will it be enough? >> tangled -- oh what tangled web we weave. what did you mean by that? >> i meant when i lied i continued to lie. >> and the question is when will it end? >> that is something the jury probably was wondering late thursday evening. they convicted the disgraced south carolina attorney of two counts of murder and two counts of possessing a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. that verdict coming over -- after weeks of testimony including alex' testimony forced that he lied for almost two years for not being at the

murders. according to abc news interview with one of the jurors it with as the kennel video and the lies surrounding it that made their decision overwhelmingly clear and that was clear yesterday evening, harris, after three hours. less than three hours of deliberation they came back with a unanimous verdict. >> harris: you were just talking about the juror who was on this morning speaking to the media for the first time that we know of any jurors to do that yet saying that the three hours, though, it was like prep time for getting everybody together. they decided in the first 45 minutes what the decision would be against him. remarkably fast. great job, charles, thank you very much. ted williams now former d.c. homicide detective, defense attorney and fox news contributor is with me along the way for this. your top line thoughts today, ted. >> harris, my top line thoughts

are the jury got it right. as you said, you and i have been on for the last several days here pondering this case. and one of the things that came out very clear with judge newman that resonated with me today is when the judge said paul and maggie must visit alex in his jail cell every night. and i think what the judge was also saying in making that statement is that for the rest of your natural life, your son and daughter -- your son and wife will be in that jail cell haunting you for what you did. you are a cold-blooded killer. and you killed them and you lied and even today, harris, in that courtroom, the last words out of

alex murdaugh's mouth, i didn't do it. i didn't kill them was another lie. lie, lie, lie. everything has been a lie with this man. >> harris: what's interesting in those moments, and i just talked with charles about this, he didn't say that during the trial. he said he would never intentionally hurt his wife or son mags or pawpaw as he called them. was it a set up for an appeal to have him today in a more declarative way say i didn't do this? >> absolutely. alex murdaugh, unfortunately under the circumstances, could not come clean if he wanted to appeal this case and he does and will appeal this case. i can tell you there are issues, i believe. i've said before to you, harris, and i believe still, that the

judge let too much of the financial information in this trial and that certainly could very well be an appellate issue. he could not speak if he wanted to speak here today. >> harris: just real quickly. we are going to bring the defense legal team to air as soon as they walk up to those microphones. i am curious when you talk about an appeal, though, because the judge went on today to talk about maybe the monster in you did it with drugs. how does that all work? by the way he said he will be presiding over most of those 99 other charges against him. >> well, the appeal will have to be based upon what evidence was presented at the trial. the judge talked about the drugs there and really, you know, when the judge started talking about the drugs and the possibility of

the drugs having some effect here, it resonated again with me because i was on recently with your colleague neil cavuto and i represented that this guy could very well have been so high on drugs that he doesn't know what the hell he did. and so that will be part and parcel of the case but -- not under the circumstances of this case because they didn't put it on as a defense meaning the defendants. >> harris: all right, ted williams i know i'll see you again as the process goes forward. always appreciate you and your expertise, thank you. >> my pleasure. >> harris: lawmakers are demanding the classified information on the origins of covid pandemic be put in their hands. why the f.b.i. and the energy department both say the pandemic likely started in that wuhan,

china laboratory. the white house is still holding back on that, though. our nation's finances are a mess. >> you can't basically just tax your way out of debt. you can't borrow your way out of debt and you can't cut your way out of debt. >> harris: president joe biden, however, says there is nothing to worry about. he is even set to brand himself as a deficit hawk after smashing america's piggy bank to bits with all his spending. republican senator ron johnson in "focus" next. this is going to be great. taking the shawl off. ok i did it. is he looking at my hairline? is plaque psoriasis making you rethink your everyday choices? otezla is a pill, not a cream or injection that can help people with plaque psoriasis achieve clearer skin. and no routine blood tests required. don't use otezla if you're allergic to it.

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>> we know that china is not going to be a good actor in this

process. they are our biggest adversary. they lied about covid and we have to hold them accountable. and we have the media and democrats acting like defense attorneys for the chinese instead of helping get to the bottom of what actually happened. >> harris: right here in focus arkansas governor sarah sanders. that was yesterday calling out the biden administration and legacy media. the white house for its part is not confirming anything when it comes to how the killer coronavirus crept its way all over the world from china. national security spokesman john kirby has said they'll keep all the classified information under wraps. peter doocy is pressing for answer. >> a bill required the dni to declassify passed the senate. if it passes the house, too, would president biden sign it? >> he swiftly and unilaterally put information out there. that's one. two. the intelligence community continues to assess the origins of covid.

i know i've seen press reporting about preliminary findings of a classified nature but still no consensus. that's why the president has directed the team to stay at work. >> the f.b.i. director saying most likely a potential lab incident in wuhan. if a foreign country came to the united states and killed 1.1 million americans with guns would the president just let that fly? >> nobody is letting anything slide. >> harris: congress certainly isn't going to let it slide. in addition to pushing legislation to declassify covid intelligence the subcommittee on the pandemic will hold a hearing in the matter of days on the origins of virus beginning next week. we need answers. we can't accept more years of stonewalling, end of quote there. republican senator ron johnson of the great state of wisconsin, member of the senate homeland security committee is in "focus"

right now. when you hear admiral kirby who represents the white house now say that the president immediately put information out, what do we have that solves the issue here? >> well, harris, nothing that i'm aware of. >> harris: right. >> i've expressed my skepticism that there is really new intelligence. apparently there is. that ought to be shared with members of congress. if they are concerned about how they gather the information i can see where it might remain classified but we have security clearances and we ought to see these. from my standpoint it has been obvious for quite some time this was probably a manmade virus. probably leaked out of the lab in wuhan. look at the fact the chinese government shut down travel from wuhan to the rest of china but allowed it to travel throughout the world so that the pandemic would spread. they are culpable and covering

up. anthony fauci has been covering up. cover-ups have to end. the american public deserves the truth and so does the world on this. >> harris: a quick question about the actual substance of the virus and anything like it on this planet, how big a push do you as a senator think that you can put forth to stop this process of gain of function? >> i think we need to put an enormous push. senator rand paul is now the ranking member of homeland security committee and we're looking at this and talking to senator peters and blumenthal. we want a bipartisan, nonpartisan investigation into this. this could happen again? i understand what you have technology and gain of function is possible the united states government we need to understand what could happen with it. we need to be prepared to defend ourselves against it. we certainly shouldn't be funding research shared with

anybody in china. this has to be completely tightly controlled. it wasn't. it was very sloppy. people like anthony fauci are cull able and need to be held accountable. >> harris: senator joe manchin, democrat obviously, popped off at his democratic colleagues over the debt ceiling and demanded they negotiate on spending cuts to have a deal to raise the debt limit. some house democrats also looking to curb massive spending. 59 of them joined the g.o.p. in backing a new bill forcing a budgetary review of any executive orders which could have a substantial inflationary impact. that would have been nice to start months ago. what is your take on this? >> first of all let's just listen to a couple numbers. prior to the pandemic the federal government spent less than 4.5 trillion. last year we raised 4.9 trillion in revenue.

had we just grown spending by population growth and inflation we would have .5.1. we're that close to balancing the budget. but the pandemic blew a hole in the federal budget. we spent well over $6 trillion and the baseline spending is somewhere around $6 trillion. a trillion half more than we spent prior to the pandemic. there ought to be all kinds of cuts. we ought to return to that baseline and we ought to pass a budget. if we can't balance it, if we have to increase the debt ceiling, use the debt ceiling as it was intended to be used, attached to it fiscal controls. things like preventing government shutdown act. the full faith in credit and no default act. the number one component of a solution for all these problems is economic growth. the biden administration is snuffing out economic growth. >> harris: that seems so simple to hear you put it like that, we

could do this. if only. if only everybody could agree. it sounds so doable. i want to get to this. two new articles on this. here is a quote from each. king of debt joe biden absurdly labels himself a deficit hawk and this one. biden's new deficit hawk persona has some progressives feeling debt deja vu. biden enacted massive domestic programs to remake the united states economy. as he prepares a run for re-election biden is trying out a new economic persona, deficit hawk. does it stick to him or do we continue to see the truth? >> better not. you have a corrupt and complicit media that will help him have that term stuck to him. again, the problem is we never talk about total government spending. prior to the omnibus i was asking reporters and my colleagues do you know how much we spent last year?

nobody knew because we never talk about it. >> harris: what? hard to believe. >> a little over a trillion. they know about discretionary spending. that's all we budget for and appropriate for. 70% of the budget that's mandatory spending that we never look at. we need to look at total government spending. and we need to start prioritizing. we need to unify everything. we have to look at things and prioritize spending. until we do that we're whistling by the graveyard collectively. >> harris: if we ran our households that way they would arrest us. we would owe everybody and go bankrupt. if you don't know what your bottom line is how can you control what you spend? i guess they can do that with other people's money. you have a fight on your hands. last quick thought. >> you need to know the top line. family budget is okay. we have ex number of dollars to spend and that's all you can spend. federal government no one cares

how much to spend. we'll print the money. it is causing inflation and be a calamity for this country. >> harris: senator johnson. thank you. that was a lot of the vegetables. no dessert and we needed to hear it. >> have a good day. >> harris: critics lighting up the "washington post" editorial board. it wrote that president biden's student loan hand-out plan is illegal. but says the u.s. supreme court should let it go. just let it happen. what? plus you've seen him here many times. senator kennedy. not willing to hold back on anything. just not who he is. >> so i say this gently. the biden administration sucks. [cheers and applause] [lau [laughter] >> harris: that's c pac and it continues today. many voters agree with what he said. one grim forecast says biden is

loading up on losses. i know that's not spelled right. i see it, too, i'm sorry. steve hilton in "focus" next.

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he is not leaning far enough left in one points. democrats are angry with him for siding with republicans against washington, d.c. new soft on crime law. also his inflation crisis and the possible failure of his student loan bail-out before the u.s. supreme court right now. here is an ex apt. biden is getting older and staying unpopular. his presidently is blunder after blunder. even congress is forcing him to either veto legislation or to surrender. and a brutal snubbing by lawmakers in his own party. more than a dozen house democrats skipped the president's speech to the caucus. instead they went to a joni mitchell concert. republican senator john kennedy of louisiana unloaded on the president. and was test driving the gop2024 message. watch? >> americans do not deserve to be governed by deeply weird,

nauseously woke people who hate george washington, thomas jefferson, dr. seuss and mr. potato head. who hyperventilate on their yoga mats if you use the wrong pro noun. the truth is, i do not hate anyone. so i say this gently. the biden administration sucks. if you put president biden in charge of the sahara desert he would run out of sand. >> harris: wow. steve hilton host of the next revolution was having a verbal revolution right there. you know what? it's going to be tough for biden according to these polls but it is early still. >> look, harris, we love senator kennedy. he is very entertaining.

he is right on all of that. but the problem is, these defects that we see, that everyone can see with biden as a leader himself barely appropriate to use the word leader. he is not a leader. he is following the activists who run his party and donors. he is a machine politician and weak and feeble and not leading anything. his personal defects are there for all to see. the policy defects are there for all to see. failure after failure after failure. every issue pretty much they make it -- create a problem. they deny it and then they come up too late with a solution and the solution makes it worse. you see it on the border, everything. all of that was true before the mid-terms last year. instead of the massive republican victory that everyone expected, it was very disappointing. so i think it is not enough just to point out how biden has failed. it is really important for republicans to lay out for

people in very simple, practical common sense terms how they would do better. how your life would be better. here is our plan to make the cost of living affordable for you and your family. here is our plan to help states and local governments cut crime. etc. our plan to fix the border. a lot of republican politicians will say we have those plans and introduce bills and do everything. okay. people haven't heard them clearly enough. you have to have that part of the message, too. >> harris: i plan to ask every presidential candidate that i interview the same thing because inflation is not going to end by the time the primaries end. it is not looking like it. we are riding hot as ever with high inflation and the prices aren't coming down any time soon. along with the plan can we get a timeline? why do your ideas work better than anybody else's and what's the timeline? i think it's reasonable. we have been stuck in the same

place for quite a while now. >> there is another thing that i this i is really important to understand how politics works and how elections work. i've been involved in various sides of it for a long time. i have been running campaigns, being in government and running my own businesses and so on. the thing that is really true there is a lot of skepticism about politics and politicians. folks hear the plans and we'll see if it happens. a lot of times the plans are talked about but then disappointing in practice. what they really look at are the characters with character. they evaluate the person and say does this person come across to me as someone who has the energy and determination and experience to actually deal with the problems that will come up? so it is not just the specifics of the plan. it is the way these candidates talk. if all they're doing is attacking biden the whole time i don't think they will be

persuasive especially in the voters in the middle who aren't partisans on either side. they are looking for someone to help make their life better. >> harris: when you speak the word energy i think of donald trump and barack obama. it was something that they both displayed and talked about especially former president trump. >> and strength. >> harris: and strength. those are really interesting points that people look at those things and then you see them and n past presidents having used them and then found ways to show us that energy, to show us that light if you will. we are about to see the medal of honor presentation at the white house so i want to tell everybody if that pops up while you and i are talking we'll go there immediately. i will get to this now. a new 2024 virginia presidential election poll shows governor glenn youngkin would beat president biden 55 to 39% in a hypothetical. biden won virginia in 2020 by ten points. what happened? >> i think it's clear how the

democrats have gone way to the extreme far left particularly on the issue of education and what's going on in schools has been a focus. youngkin focused on that and channeling parents' frustration and came across as we were discussing earlier as a reasonable person with the experience and commitment to actually get things done. he had the whole package. whether it translates on the national stage i don't know. too early to say. i would say he is not that well-known outside virginia. these polls i would take with a pinch of salt at this point. >> harris: you have a number of republican governors, though, of course ron desantis is florida, but others who have done things in their states and they make national news for doing them and people start to see them. is there enough time between now and when people would make a decision in and out of primaries about some of these republican governors should they want to run? >> there is time and the focus

as well. the spotlight will be on them in the debates. the first debate will be in august this year. that will be an opportunity for people to tune in and take a look at these republican voters particularly and look at the candidates and get a sense of them. really when they are up against each other and testing their arguments and that's why the process is important. it's early but there are a lot of people who think they have what it takes. also people -- we don't talk about vivek ramaswamy. larry elder we should get ready for. he was on my show the other week and looks like he will be jumping in the race. >> harris: you mentioned ramaswamy interject all sorts of things into the bloodstream of politics. they are coming from different places and that's a great thing. now we'll have to see if democrats will debate because you saw a lot of the other races governor and down where they didn't want to show up.

katie hobs didn't want to show up against kari lake in arizona. they don't have a choice. if you run for the white house you can't skip out. >> what they're doing is trying to stifle debate. this is why biden is delaying the announcement. the longer he delays it the harder there will be alternatives to get going and that's the strategy. it is cynical. one thing i would add on larry elder to your point injecting issues. why he was doing this and what he brings that's different he focused on an issue that's so important. family breakdown. absent father particularly in certain communities in america. such an important issues. a lot of traditional politicians have trouble talking about because they think they might be criticized. the candidates bring something different and that's really important for the whole of our political conversation. >> harris: i have my eye on this

medal of honor ceremony for a vietnam vet, a colonel whose paperwork sat for some time since 1965 he was supposed to be recognized. today is the day. they are about to start that. i want to thank steve hilton so much for being in "focus" today and getting to such great topics with him. i appreciate it. now we'll watch as the president of the united states is expected momentarily to preside over this. i mentioned it before just who this gentleman is. he is colonel davis. he was one of the first black officers in green beret and nominated for the medal of honor in 1965. the army says it lost his paperwork for some time. fox news interviewed him at one point and talked with his daughter and friend and fellow shoulder ron deiss who he served with. he commanded american special

forces and south vietnam company. the president of the united states is getting ready to look at his leadership to allow south vietnam -- he rescued two men. injured himself. colonel davis directed the helicopter extraction of the wounded but refused it himself and continued to fight the enemy until his entire company made it out safely. you want to talk about a hero. we always have time to recognize our military heroes and those in law enforcement as well. today the honor is put upon colonel davis. president biden will have that ceremony and then colonel davis, who is already highly decorated for the reasons i laid out for you. he received the silver star, the

bronze star medal the v-device. that's specificity. purple heart with one bronze oak leaf cluster and the air medal with v-device as well and giving his bio right now. let's watch and listen together. >> willing to sacrifice his own life to save others. the men under him looked to him for leadership and he delivered. as colonel davis rightly receives our nation's highest military award for valor in action, for distinguishing himself by acts of gallantry above and beyond the call of duty i ask his legacy not be defined by the receiving of this medal but the legacy of this medal and the rich history it bears be further evidenced and enriched by the character, selflessness and herroism of colonel davis. marked by a sacred commitment to

all freedom loving people admire search as a beacon of inspiration and learn of his courageous actions under fire. may the ceremony serve as a testament of hope for the world's oppressed and tear theible warning to the oppressor. our nation still has men and women like colonel davis in your ranks to step into the breach. we thank you for this reality in your most holy name i pray, amen. >> president biden: please be seated. i have to say at the outset i have had the great honor. we have other medal of honor recipients here and that i've been able to give one of those medals and we have five here but

this may be the most consequential day since i've been president. he is an incredible man. 158 years ago today in this white house president lincoln was putting the final touches on his second inaugural address and he wrote let us strive to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds and care for him who shall have borne the battle. today 58 years after he bore the battle we honor a true hero of our nation, colonel paris davis. i have had a chance to get to talk to him a little bit. we talked on the phone and he doesn't know it we'll talk a lot more. [laughter] incredible guy. the medal of honor created during lincoln's presidency is our country's highest military award recognizing gallantry above and beyond the call of

duty. that word gallantry is not much used these days. gallantry. but i can think of no better word to describe paris, to describe you. i really can't. gallantry. everyone here feels exactly the same way, that includes secretary austin and many others. representative buyer thank you for pushing this a little bit. appreciate it. for joining us today. now as many of you know, paris will be the first to tell you that he hates the word i. that it was his team who served, his team who sacrificed. so today i'm trulyly honored to welcome one of those teammates. ron deiss. where is ron? [applause]

he was the airborne spotter for that team and only a few days ago, right? i also want to thank previous medal of honor recipients who joined us to recognize their brother in arms. stand up, please. [applause] you are looking at courage in the flesh and finally, reagan and stephanie paris you already know this but your dad isn't a hero. he didn't have to win this medal for you to know that. you knew it all along. you knew growing up and like

you, i wish your brother christopher was still with us to see your dad finally recognized. it's a story that didn't just begin in the vietnamese village 58 years ago. picture paris in 1956, the son of a midwestern foundry worker starting his first year at southern university in the heart of louisiana. a college football team quickly noticed that paris had the grit and guts they needed on the team. before long paris not only joined the team but named all american for it. he is a very slow learner, this guy. [laughter] i tell you what, off the field paris saw reminders of to many he was less than an american. that in the eyes of the law he was less than a person. signs on bars that read whites only, seats on buses were off limits for african-americans

schools, streets, shops divided. he joined the rotc unit voll tearing to serve a country that in many places still refused to serve people who looked like him. it was clear paris was a born warrior. he became an army ranger, then jumped at the chance to join the green beret. one of the nation's first black special forces officers. he liked the green beret, they were elite. it wasn't just as paris once said joe here or joe there. it didn't offend me. that didn't bother me. but the green berets, like our country then, weren't free from discrimination, either. people pulled paris aside to warn him are you sure you want to join? there aren't a lot of people who look like you in this outfit. remember, this was only 14 years after president truman

desegregated our military. only 14 years later. paris didn't listen to them and thank god he didn't. paris helped write the history of our nation. this year we celebrate the 75th anniversary of our first fully integrated armed forces and named paris davis will stand along the nation's pioneering heroes. in your early hours of june 18th, 1965, and his then captain davis and his team with three other green berets were wrapping up a job well done and together they just finished a 10-mile march through the night to support a company of south vietnam east soldiers on their first combat mission. a raid against the viet cong thick in the jungle. the raid was a success. as the sun began to rise the men heard the sound ring out a bugle, a bugle. a sure sign of a counter attack.

within minutes, the jungle lit up with enemy fire. hundreds of viet cong swarmed them and his team. he rallied his team to fight back getting so close to the enemy he was battling them hand-to-hand. hours, this is the part that stuns me. hours into that fight, captain suddenly heard a sound worse than the bugle. his teammate crying out for help. his team sergeant had been shot badly in his foot and leg trapping him in the middle of the paddy. it got worse. on the far side of the field, his weapons specialist was stuck in a cess pit after being knocked out by shrapnel and the medic who was shot in the head. captain davis realized he was

the last american standing. without hesitation he yelled i'm coming for you. i'm coming for you. he called in friendly fire and gave cover to run out and rescue his team. on his first attempt to get to the team sergeant captain davis was shot in the arm and had to turn back. captain davis waited for another window and sprinted back out again. but his team sergeant was stuck. captain davis couldn't break him free before he had to return to cover. he didn't give up, though. that's not the green beret way. for his third time as enemy fire rained down he ran out. he freed his team agent, threw him over his shoulder and starting carrying him up the hill to safety. he got halfway up the hill before a bullet pierced his leg and in front of him another green beret sergeant who just arrived to the battle to

reinforce the team was shot in the chest and now needed to be rescued as well. captain davis limped up the hill with his team sergeant on his shoulder. he was fighting for around ten hours. captain davis didn't hesitate. he went back down the hill to retrieve the reinforcement who was just shot in the chest. all 240 pounds of him. next he ran to his weapons specialist who was struck in that cess pit. fighters continued to spread gunfire across the field at captain davis pulled him out and hauled him up the hill as well. this time the rescue helicopter by this time had landed. captain davis commander gave him a direct order get on board. davis response was just as direct. sir, he said, i'm just not going to leave. i still have an american out there. unsure if he was still aleve he began to plan how to get his

medic. the day before the medic found out he was a new father. his wife had given birth to their first child. captain davis was going to give him a chance to see his baby boy. he pinpointed the medic's position and began crawling toward him with gunfire and grenades exploding around him. when he got there, the medic was still alive asked him am i going to die? am i going to die? captain davis said not before me. still fending off viet cong assailants he hauled his medic up the hill and nearly 20 hours -- nearly 20 hours later, after that bugle first rang, captain davis had saved each one of his fellow americans. every single one. just as the story of paris davis

did not begin june 18th, 1965, it does not end there, either. captain davis went on to become colonel davis serving 25 years in the military and earning a ph.d. and received many medals. he continued to serve the community founding the metro herald. newspaper the focuses on his local community and civil rights issues. wish i could say this story of paris's sacrifice on that day in 1965 was fully recognized and rewarded immediately. but sadly we know they weren't. at the time captain davis returned from war the country was still battling segregation. return from vietnam to experience some of his fellow soldiers crossing the other side of the street when they saw him in america. all of the men with him on that june day immediately nominated him to receive the medal of honor.

somehow, the paperwork was never processed. not just once, but twice. but you know what captain davis said after learning he would finally receive the honor? quote, america was behind me. america was behind me. he never lost faith, which i find astounding. i never stopped believing in the founding vision of our nation, the vision that lincoln kept alive 158 years ago. a vision paris fought to defend 58 years ago. this vision for a more perfect union, one where all women and men are created equal. we're the most unique nation in the world. we're the only nation founded on an idea. every other nation founded was based on philosophy, ethnicity, vision, whatever, idea.

we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men and women are created equal. life, liberty. we've never fully lived up to it but we've never walked away from it. this is evidence we're still not going to walk away from it. look, folks, he never look, you are everything our generation aspired to be. you are everything our nation is at our best. brave and big hearted. determined and devoted. selfless and steadfast, america, america. now, at long last is my great honor to ask colonel rowe to

read this citation. >> the president of the united states of america, authorized by act of congress, march 3th, 1863 has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to captain paris, d. davis, united states army for conspicuous gallantry of above and beyond of the call of duty. captain paris d. davis, special forces group, airborne, first special forces distinguished himself by acts of gallantry, above and beyond of the call of duty while serving as an adviser to the 883 regional force company, army of the republic of vietnam, during

combat operations against an armed enemy, republic of vietnam on june 17th, 1965. captain davis and three other u.s. special forces advisers accompanied the vietnamese on its first combat mission, a daring raid against the viet ccong ccong force. while returning m the success raid, the regional force company was ambushed and sustained several casualties. captain davis consistently exposed himself to the hostile arms and rally the in experienced and disorganized company. he expertly directed both artillery and small arms fire enabling elements of the company to reach his position.

although wounded in the leg, he aided inside the gevacuation of other men and wounded. then with complete disregard for his own life, he braved intense enemy fire to cross an open field to rescue his team sergeant. while carrying the sergeant up the hill to safety, captain davis was wounded by enemy fire. captain davis refused medical evacuation, remained with the troops, fought bravely and provided pivotal leadership and inspiration to the regional force company as it repealed several viet cong assaults for several hours. captain davis refused medical evacuation until he recovered a u.s. adviser under his command who was

wounded under his ambush while resumed dead. he found him severely wounded but clinging onto life. captain davis directed the helicopter, not leaving the battlefield himself until after all friendly forces recovered or medically evacuated. captain davis, above and beyond the call of duty at the risk of his own life, keeping the highest traditions of military service, reflecting great service of himself, his unit and the united states army. [ applause ]