heard from chuck schumer moments ago come out in favor of it. we expect to hear from mitch mcconnell any moment now. this hour, we will get insight from a man who knows congress better than most, former senate majority leader tom daschle will join me. we start now with the criminal investigation into the trump organization. it's a major escalation by new york attorney general james. she's been looking into the former president's organization since 2019. she had been looking into it as a civil appropriate. in a statement late last night her office confirmed it is no longer purely civil in nature. we are now actively investigating the trump organization in a criminal capacity. once again, senior white house correspondent hallie jackson is back. also with us is nbc's chief legal correspondent ari melba.

what do we know about this? >> it's significant. at least from a perspective of the optics as well as the legalities, given that we knew that there was this manhattan district attorney investigation that had been happening. that involves the former president and his business empire and the finance. really, the most we are going to learn was probably from this manhattan d.a. investigation. you had the civil investigation that was going on by the new york attorney general. now what is so significant is that the attorney general's office in new york is saying, we have moved from civil to criminal territory at this point. we don't know why that is necessarily. we can't tell you right now the specifics of what her office may have found that is triggering this. one of the reporting threads we are working on. obviously, this is something

that's -- listen, in layman's terms here and from talking with legal experts, it doesn't seem to be good news for the former president. we don't have a response from him yet or formally from the trump organization. i can tell you in the past, the former president has derided the new york attorney general's office as a political bludgeoning tool working on behalf of the new york governor, for example. has described the investigations as politically motivated. i would anticipate that's going to be similar to what we will hear, if anything, from the former president today. in addition to the legal component, craig, there's the political component to this as well. remember, this is somebody who no longer enjoys the protections that he had from a criminal perspective while he was in office. somebody who has been hinting about maybe getting back into the political arena, despite skepticism about whether he actually will. all of it shining a light on donald trump right as the republican party is seeming to coalesce under him, whether it relates to last week with the

ousting of liz cheney, whether them falling in line with his opposition to the january 6th bipartisan commission today. there are pieces to this puzzle. we should note, it's not the only potential legal challenge that the former president faces right now. >> sure. to hallie's point, we know the manhattan d.a. investigating the trump organization. now you have two separate investigations. now they are working together on a criminal investigation. how much worse did the legal problems just get? >> much, much worse. while no one is diminishing a civil probe, it can be costly, onerous, get into your private life, depositions under oath. with a criminal probe, people can wind up in jail. we don't know who the probe would target. we don't know if it will end

with a finding that there isn't enough to charge or they charge one or more people. the fact that jail would be on the table changes everything for anyone involved, for anyone worried they have exposure. this is triggered by the fact that people who are under this kind of review do have rights. the investigation reached a point where, as reported, they are informing those involved. that would be presumably here donald trump, the head of the organization, but others involved. they need to know this is a criminal probe and could reach potentially the kind of charges that carry jail time. i think anyone who wasn't awake at the trump organization yesterday is fully awake now. >> the manhattan d.a. has eight years of the president's tax returns. what does that mean for the investigation? >> you make a great point. people can have fatigue of keeping track of the threads. it's not normal or routine that

controversial presidents leave office under this level of review. you have these two plus georgia. it's not normal that presidents fight this hard to hide things. the president -- then-president trump had this right. what's in the tax returns? if he was hiding for them reasons not legal, that he felt private, he didn't think it was their business, then find. maybe they will review it and not find anything that amounts to a crime. it's possible that he was hiding them for the reason that many people hide things from investigators. they think or are worried the investigators will think there's a criminal act there. they will go through those taxes carefully for any violations of potential new york law. that's not federal in the case of the two investigations. it would be, do they find something that they didn't know about in those returns that violates new york law?

>> hallie, thank you. and ari, good to see you. thanks for coming on. hallie every morning 10:00 a.m. there is ari. a big thanks to both of you. right now, we are watching and listening closely. the floor of the u.s. senate, this is ahead of the vote showdown in the house. this is senate minority leader mitch mcconnell speaking now. we heard senator chuck schumer a few moments ago talking about the bipartisan commission to investigate the january 6th insurrection there at the capitol. so far, senator mcconnell has not talked about that. republican leaders in the house are urging their members to vote against a bill to green light that commission.

our capitol hill correspondent garrett haake following where things stand. we are joined by someone who knows that building better than most, former senate majority leader tom daschle, democrat from south carolina. senator daschle, honored to have you. garrett, before kevin mccarthy announcing that opposition before the vote in the house, we are getting a sense where things stand in the senate. hearing from senator schumer a few moments ago. he is in favor of this. what more can you tell us about where things stand right now? >> reporter: we have been watching the last 24 hours or so as republican leadership has really shifted against this commission. first with kevin mccarthy coming out opposing it, then the house republican leadership officially whipping against it, then we heard from former president trump. i suspect any minute, we will hear from mitch mcconnell coming down on the side of opposing this commission. democrats are really saying they

are unwilling to take this seriously, accusing the republicans of whitewashing what happened on january 6th. here was chuck schumer a few minutes ago doing th >> once again, they are caving to donald trump and proving that the republican party is still drunk off the big lie. >> reporter: we talked about this in the context last week of the liz cheney and elise stefanik shuffle. by and large, elected republicans, house republicans who have to run next year, do not want to keep talking about january 6th. they see it as a political imperative to move on at least from that part of the trump legacy. this commission makes that much more difficult. i suspect that's a big part of the reason we are seeing this shift towards opposition. i expect we will hear from mitch mcconnell on this any second now. >> when he starts to talk about it, we will take folksthere.

garrett, in negotiations, as we understand it, republicans got some of the things that they wanted, 10-person panel evenly split between theparties, commissions have veto power over subpoenas. what are the issues that are holding this up right now? >> reporter: it's interesting. up until now, mccarthy and mcconnell have pointed to different things they had problems with. mccarthy talked about the scope of the commission. it needs to be broader. to include other forms of political related violence, whether that's riots after protests over the course of the last year, or maybe even going back to including that shooting at the congressional baseball practice from 2017. he says that's the kind of thing that should be included. mcconnell wants to make sure the staff hiring is truly 50/50. those are fixable things if republicans want to get into the weeds of tweaking how this will work. it seems now they are finding

their way towards opposition regardless of what democrats give them, which as you laid out, they did hit a number of the things that republicans had asked for over the course of negotiations in the last couple of months. >> senator daschle, the january 6th commission would be modelled after the bipartisan 9/11 commission. you were involved in the push to create that group. you faced opposition then. what do you make of the opposition that we are seeing now from republicans? >> i think it's unfortunate. i would rather focus on the support among many republicans in both the house and senate. support expressed by members in the committees themselves who have indicated that they think the compromises that have been worked out are acceptable. they are recognizing the importance of a commission, the ability to really dive deeply into the circumstances to ensure, first, we have the facts

and to ensure, second, that this never happens again. a commission is capable of doing that as we saw with the 9/11 commission 20 years ago. >> senator daschle, to garrett's point that republicans are arguing it should include the involvement of black lives matter, antifa and last summer's protest against police brutality, even the 2017 shooting at a congressional baseball practice, are those things that -- does it make sense to include those things in an effort to compromise with republicans to get a commission created? >> i think that's an effort to hide the real issue. the real issue is the insurrection. we have never seen anything like this. an insurrection in the capitol itself. i know that building almost like the back of my hand.

i've been there for over 30 years. i know those rooms. i know the desecration that occurred. i'm just so saddened by what happened and the tragic nature of those circumstances. we have to focus. that focus really ought to bring us to a better understanding of how it happened, why it happened and how can we ensure it never happens again. >> senator, while i have you, i want to ask about something i know you are focused on right now. biodefense, you are on the commission on biodefense. famously, the recipient of an anthrax letter years ago. we see the fallout from that cyberattack on the colonial pipeline. do you think that was a wake-up call on how vulnerable we could be to attacks like a bioattack? >> it certainly is. there's a connection between cybersecurity and biosecurity. we are not prepared for either. we have to do more to ensure that our country is better

prepared and really far more organized and coordinated. we're not in any way close to where we need to be in that regard. we need coordination. we need oversight. we need resources. we need real prioritizing in public policy. none of that exists today. >> senator daschle, stand by. i want to go to the floor of the senate. your former colleague, senator mcconnell, explaining why he is opposed to the creation of the january 6th commission. >> hundreds of those people have been charged. law enforcement investigations are ongoing. federal authorities say they expect to arrest at least 100 or so more. bipartisan investigations are also underway and have been for months at the committee level here in the senate. so there is, has been and there will continue to be no

shortage -- no shortage of robust investigations by two separate branchs of the federal government. it's not at all clear what new facts or additional investigation yet another commission could actually lay on top of existing efforts by law enforcement and congress. the facts have come out. they will continue to come out. what is clear is that house democrats have handled this proposal in partisan bad faith going right back to the beginning. from initially offering a laughably partisan starting point to continuing to insist on various other features under the hood that are designed to centralize control over the commission's process and its conclusions in democratic hands.

i have been an outspoken critic about all of the episodes of political violence that our nation has seen over the past year. i support the strong existing investigations. and justice for any american, any american who has broken the law. >> there you have it. the senate minority leader, mitch mcconnell, explaining why he is opposed to that bipartisan commission to investigate the deadly insurrection that happened there at the capitol on january 6th. our capitol hill correspondent garrett haake is back with me. conveniently, so is senator tom daschle. garrett, start with you. is that what we were expecting?

did we not have any expectations? >> reporter: well, look, yesterday mitch mcconnell told reporters he was on the fence about this but that he had his concerns. it seems at some point over the last 24 hours, either his concerns became more magnified or the politics of this shifted under his feet. it might take more reporting to find out which. he talked about the idea that this commission is somehow slanted or that democrats engaged in bad faith in getting to this agreement they're putting on the floor on house side. this is something that was negotiated with the ranking member of the homeland security committee on the house side. this is not a purely democratic proposal that's going forward here. i think the other thing that bears noting as you hear the minority leader lay out opposition, talking about the other investigations. the piece that's not being investigated, in which the commission is uniquely suited to investigate, would have been the former president's role essentially after the riot and

insurrection got started. remember going back to the impeachment trial, there's a lot we don't know about what then president trump did between the moment he walked off the stage and when he started taping the videos gently asking his supporters who were in the capitol to go home. the criminal investigations, the committee efforts thus far have not engaged on that point. that happens to be the kind of thing that particularly those house republicans up for re-election next year don't want to focus on. they might have been, some of them, perhaps mccarthy, were talking to the former president during that time. that sweet spot is what is missing if we don't have this commission. whether mcconnell's opposition affects the vote total in the senate is interesting to watch. you had seven senate republicans vote in favor of the conviction of donald trump in the impeachment trial. if you start with those seven, you need three more to get to 60. mike rounds, who wasn't one of

the seven said he was supportive of this commission. finding two more republicans, even without the minority leader's support is not impossible. it will be challenging. >> former senator tom daschle back with me. senator daschle, tell minutes ago when we started out conversation, we did not know where mitch mcconnell stood on this. now we do. are you at all surprised by the senator from kentucky's position on the bipartisan commission? >> what strikes me is i can recall the debate around the 9/11 commission. many of those same arguments were raised at the time. congress can do it. with what the commission can bring is focus, attention, real concentration on the issue and the subject at hand.

they don't have the other issues. a focus by the commission on this particular issue i think would really do service to all of the outstanding questions. i think there are a number of republicans who share that view. >> garrett haake, thank you, former senate majority leader tom daschle, thanks to you as well. breaking news. overseas, growing pressure from across the world for a cease-fire after yet another night of violence in gaza. in the last hour, we learned prime minister benjamin netanyahu and president biden spoke just this morning. the clear message that the white house says president biden conveyed during that conversation. also, no masks inside. crowded bars and restaurants, how millions of americans are getting back to normal as more states lift some of the toughest covid restrictions.

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prime minister that he expected a significant deescalation today on the path to a cease-fire. that phone call comes after another night of clashes. israeli warplanes launching more than 100 missiles in the gaza strip. hamas has fired more than 50 rockets toward israel. martin fletcher on the ground in tel aviv. mike memoli joins me with more details on the president's push for an end to the violence. mr. fletcher, this is a part of the world you know very well. you covered it for decades. mr. memoli, let me start with you. we know more about that call and how significant theguage in that statement is from the president, that he expects a deescalation. what more can you tell us? >> reporter: watchwords fwor for this white house have been intensive and quiet diplomacy. there's been a significant

amount of pleasure from our international partners but also from biden's fellow democrats to take a stronger line with regard to israel, calling for a cease-fire. the language they have used up to this point has been openness to a cease-fire but unwillingness to specifically call for one. that's why it's significant as the white house deputy press secretary reiterated that 60 calls have been made between administration officials and foreign counterparts as part of the diplomatic efforts. we know four of them have been directly between the president and the prime minister. each one, the language, as we have gotten the readouts, have been stronger and stronger to the point where, as you mentioned, we are seeing a call from the president for a deescalation of the violence by today. it's hard not to look at this statement in light of the reporting we have about the last call between them on monday in which we are told there was a much more urgent tone to the conversations.

"the new york times" also reporting that the president made clear to netanyahu about the domestic politics here. he is obviously a president who has been throughout his career seen as a strong ally of israel. within his own party, that unequivocal support is certainly beginning to balance out with concern about the humanitarian toll we are seeing with regard to the palestinians. that's why what we saw from the president yesterday in michigan was also so interesting. meeting on the tarmac with the congresswoman. later, singling her out for her concern for her advocacy. they are putting pressure on the u.s. to support the call. the president making it clear himself to the prime minister that he wants to see that deescalation. >> this is video from that conversation on the tarmac that you just referenced there, mike. this video from that visit

tuesday. mr. fletcher, we are now in day ten of this crisis. not just the white house, diplomatic pressure building internationally now for a cease-fire. what do we know about where things stand? >> reporter: well, craig, yes, the pressure becoming intense on israel to move towards a cease-fire and quickly, too. that language that president biden was using, expecting israel, as mike says, that's a significant ramping up of pressure on israel, which depends on american support. calls from europe, the u.n., even from vladimir putin don't register much on the scale here in israel. but american ramping up the pressure is significant. we had heard that there was going to be a meeting of the israeli security cabinet this evening. that's the cabinet that decides all matters to do with the war. that's now off.

instead, the prime minister will meet with what they call security officials for an assessment of the situation on the ground and in the air. on the basis of that, they will decide what to do. we heard that the possibility was strong of a cease-fire at 6:00 in the morning israel time. we don't know how serious that is. clearly, it's moving in that direction. one of the issues is not only the humanitarian issues concerning gaza, which the world is very much concerns about, it's the fear of the conflict spreading. there were four rockets fired from lebanon. it's the third time rockets have been fired from lebanon. israel responded with artillery fire to the source of the firing. the question is, who fired the rockets? was it palestinians in gaza or god-forbid, hezbollah, which would mean a widening of the conflict? it appears to be the palestinians. it appears they couldn't fire without the approval of

hezbollah. a mess there. the urgency of the cease-fire is more pronounced because of the possibility of the conflict escalating. there's real pressure in israel feeling pressure from the united states and movement, if anything, is towards a cease-fire within a day or two, i would guess. >> mike memoli here and martin fletcher there for us in tel aviv. thanks to both of you. mr. fletcher, so good to see you. it's been a while. thank you for joining us this morning. crowded bars, live music, lots of visitors. nashville, tennessee, looking a lot more like it used to after mask mandates and other covid rules were lifted. what does it mean for businesses that are trying to keep some of those restrictions in place? we will take you there in a moment. a little bit later, in prison for years for a crime he did not commit. up ahead, my conversation with one of the exonerated members of

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this is a big day for new york, really the tri-state area. this time last year, all eyes were on new york, new jersey, connecticut as covid cases climbed here. now more than 70% of adults have

gotten their first vaccine dose in both connecticut and new jersey. that tops president biden's 4th of july goal. new york, not far behind. chris jansing outside a brewery following what this means for small businesses there. chris, what have you heard from businesses about how they are navigating these lifted restrictions? >> reporter: you know, navigate is absolutely the word, as it has been throughout this pandemic. look behind me. you have a barista and doughnuts. you think it's a coffee shop. come over here. what this started out as and still is is a brewery. when the pandemic happened and all you are trying to support yourself with or your business with is canned beer, you have to pivot. they pivoted to also being open in the morning and having a cafe here and being around the clock

for people who are around here. starting today, they can fill all these tables. they don't have to socially distance. and if you are fully vaccinated, you don't have to wear a mask. but that is on the honor system, which leaves businessowners everywhere in connecticut with the question, to mask or not to mask. here is what the owner of this establishment told me. >> i think there's a couple things you need to think about. one is employee safety. i think we have a lot of people that -- if you are under the age of 44, you would have been getting your second vaccine two to three weeks ago. not everyone is actually vaccinated today. we will give it roughly a month to see how things happen, see if there's any spike. >> reporter: there are a lot of businesses who are playing it by ears. others have said, come on in. there's a local small grocery store chain, for example, that has said they did a poll of their employees.

it was about 50/50 who was comfortable notmasking. they have taken down signs. they have it here, face mask required. they don't at the grocery store. most of the people coming in are keeping their masks on. they feel in a place that's around food apparently or just for whatever their comfort level is, they will wear a mask. i think you started out by asking sort of how people have had to navigate. one of the things that a lot of businessowners have done is they have reimagined what their business looks like going forward. let's say if you are a restaurant that did takeout, are you going to continue to do that? if you are a grocery star that started do delivery, will you do that? there's a co-working space and event space here. as early as june, they could have live musical performances here. a lot of re-imagining of what business looks like.

all the businessowners who i have talked to and heard talk about this, craig, say today is the start. i guess one way to put it is they see light at the end of the tunnel. maybe not full daylight. but this is a start of getting back to some sense of normalcy. >> amen to that. as an aside, the beer there, it's fantastic. half full, it's a -- that's a great brewery. you picked a good one. thank you. >> reporter: thanks. an important change that could help people catch cancer when it's most treatable. the u.s. preventative services task force now recommending screenings for colorectal cancer start at age 45 instead of 50. the new guidelines mean that colonoscoies and tests will be more likely covered by insurance. it's the number three cancer

killer in the united states. doctors say this change will likely save thousands of lives. any minute, we expect president biden to start his commencement address to the coast guard academy. first, usef was 14 when he was convicted for a crime that he did not commit. he is out with a new boom. up next, my conversation with him, one of the exonerated central park five. why he says he is not bitter, even after everything he has gone through. >> i found out that a thing like forgiveness, as an example, of where we can go with being able to get out of being bitter. forgiveness is for you. ou a bet. except now you have uncontrollable body movements called tardive dyskinesia - td. and it can seem like that's all people see. some meds for mental health can cause abnormal dopamine signaling in the brain.

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♪ ♪ [sneezes] hey allergy muddlers. [sneezes] are your sneezes putting your friends in awkward positions? [sneezes] stick with zyrtec. zyrtec starts working hard at hour one and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. zyrtec. muddle no more. and try children's zyrtec for consistently powerful relief of your kids' allergies. from the central park five to the exonerated five, this man was just 15 years old in 1989 when he was arrested and convicted for one of new york city's most infamous crimes, a

brutal rape in central park. he didn't do it. he was exonerated for it. now he has a new book called "better, not bitter." he talks about how a dark time inspired such an optimistic message. on the morning of april 20, 1989, new york city awakened to the horrifying news. >> an investment banker left for dead. >> a female jogger was clinging to life after being beaten and sexually assaulted. the city was outraged. the police arrested a group of teenagers. among them this man. the trial gripped the city. the convictions seemed by many at the time as justice served. arrested at 15. you have spent seven years in prison for a crime you did not commit. vilified in the public for years. the title of the book is "better, not bitter."

not a smidge of bitterness? >> i found out that a thing like forgiveness, as an example, of where we can go with being able to get out of being bitter. forgiveness is for you. it's for you to be able to surgically cut yourself from the ball and chain that's holding you back. >> at the beginning of the book you talk about seeing the hand of god in everything. >> yes. >> that happened to you. >> absolutely. >> what did you mean by that? >> there's no way to get through any trial unless you can see the positive outlook on things. i want people to understand that it is through these kinds of trials that when you are tested, then you can testify. you have a testimony because you were able to grow through something as opposed to just go through something. >> you think part of your purpose in life was going to

prison for a crime you didn't commit? >> absolutely. it's one of those questions where you say to yourself, if i had an opportunity to change anything, would i? if you change anything in your past, you change everything in your future. >> you would do it again? you would take the fall for a crime you didn't commit? >> i wouldn't necessarily say that. >> okay. okay. he served nearly seven years in prison. in 2002, the convictions of the central park five were vacated after a serial rapist confessed. did you still feel vilified? >> absolutely. i came out of prison, i'm 6'3" and i'm walking around with my head down inside because it's not popular to say, yes, i'm one of the central park five. >> why are we here? >> in 2012, a documentary about the central park five came out,

followed by the mini-series "when they see us" in 2019. >> i don't think we should admit to something we didn't do. >> it wasn't popular in a grand scale until the central park five documentary came out where we got our voices back. we had no idea that we would be rebranded correctly as the exonerated five. >> the fact that his book is coming out during a time of upheaval across the country on the topic of criminal justice is not lost on him. >> when george floyd was murdered, young people said, the system is not broken, it's operating exactly as it was designed. >> when you were sitting in the prison cell, knowing you had not committed this heinous crime, is this where you thought you would be? >> honestly, i don't think i thought i would be here. i thought i would -- i thought i

would somehow get free and piece my life back together. i didn't know that when god restores what was taken from you, 100 times more than what was taken is what's given. >> i would go to his church. he nowlives in george with his wife and children. president biden in new london, connecticut, at the coast guard academy. this is the president's first military commencement address since being elected. let's listen in. >> i want understands well how the coast guard is to our economic, our environmental and national security. how central you are to our homeland security mission. admiral schultz, congratulations on an outstanding new corps of

officers. this past year, there could be no doubt, the class of '21 is because he is not only -- in 2013, i think i gave the commencement here. i was pointing out how the coast guard was adapting so rapidly to changing conditions. i said, this is not your father's coast guard. i take that back. first class eric schultz, this is your father's coast guard. [ applause ] [ laughter ] i know it probably embarrasses you for me to point that out and say that. i had a son in the united states military. he was very proud. major u.s. army. won the bronze star.

anyway, when he went to iraq for a year, he had -- he got the general to agree to change his name from biden to hunter. his mother's maiden name. he didn't want to be viewed as having getting any favor. admiral kelly, thank you and the staff of the academy for your commitment in tlaning the next -- in training the next generation of leaders. i brought with me a former guard, lieutenant commander -- i'm going to embarrass her. janna mccohen. i thought she was going to light up like a candle she's so excited to be back here. she's an outstanding reflection of this institution. admiral kelly, i want to congratulate you on everything you have done to keep this school open and running and to be as safe as it could be in the middle of a pandemic. the instructors, cadets,

cafeteria, support staff, public works, campus safety, science department, medical staff, morale, well-being and recreation, everyone went above and beyond the normal call of duty to try to make it work. you did. i hear make it work. and you did. i hear that mrs. paula springer's cookies for cadets were particularly a boost. the creed, always ready, always ready. i want to thank you cadets for speaking on of half of your class and for earning the honer of being the class of 2021's distinguished graduate. i want to thank your parents and family to support everything you have done. and those watching online as well. you can't all be here.

uv raysed these cadets to be fear patriots. you were the ones who first installed in them a sense of service. for them to hear a call of duty. it's your day, too. cadets, get up and turn around and salute your parents. up, up, up. i tell you what. all those parents watching on television, you raised a fine, fine group of women and men. cadets, you knew when you chose the academy, you knew you were

choosing a more difficult path. i hope today you take time to reflect on how much all the hard work and extra effort was worth. i hope you take immense pride in all of that time at the academy and all it has given you. you survived our day. you made it through swab summer, made it through a haircut that showed every damn bump in your head. you memorized -- and this is the part i would have found hard, memorizing. i am going to ask you to stand up and repeat it. i'm only kidding. you earned your boards, passed through 100th week and maybe spent too much time at the slice.

you can clap. come on, man, you are moving on. show a little courage. like all of the students across the country you had to finish out what it meant to finish your second year of craft with virtual instructions. last year's graduating class didn't get to have this graduating ceremony. but you -- met it head on and survived. you stuck to the protocols that allowed you to return to campus. with careful testing you were able to go back to london to conduct your first palace in

person -- class in person. you were still able to bring your cars on campus. just weren't allowed to go anywhere in those cars. man, i tell you what. i would have trouble watching my car sit there. but maybe dipping your ring in crown park or have your ring dance outside will be a new standard. the super bowl of it may become a new event. and congratulations to bravo. it's okay to clap. even though you lost you have to clap. everything through it all you found ways to excel through the classroom and athletics. you have nine all americans in your ranks including a record setter in the track and field

5,000 meters. most importantly you had each other's backs. when times got hard you were there for one another. that's something you all learn quickly at the academy. you can't crew the tall ship eagle without working together. it's not possible. the pandemic didn't change that, but it made it more important. i know we wished more of your loved ones could be with you to celebrate in person, packed into the stands especially because so many of you come from proud traditions of service. we have a third generation academy generate. and one cadet selected this over

the naval academy like their mother, father and grandfather. if you need a ride home, you have a seat on air force one. you are a really dull class. come on, man. is the sun getting to you? i would think you would have an opportunity when i say that about the navy to clap, to be here together. being together is a victory in and of itself. an important mark to turn the tide of this pandemic. it's a testament of the skill of the military responsibility you already embody. there is no doubt in my mind that the 140th graduating class

will reflect the best of our country and proudest of our service. in a few minutes you will be ent rant /* entrants in the u.s. coast guard. before being commander in chief, i have-looking forward to do this for a long time. here is goes. i hereby absolve all of those restrictions of minor infractions. they are absolved. you have no idea how i wish that had happened at my graduation at university of delaware. because i need, as we say in my faith, i need it had absolution.

you think i am kidding but i am not. minor infractions like hosing down an -- this is a connection in the earliest part of our nation, the earliest sea going service. no class gets to graduate with the challenges so different than those who walked the hallways before you. you chose as a class motto, you said we are the future. i don't think you have any idea how profound that is. the world is changing. we are at a significant

inflection point in world history. our country in the world, our job has always been to chart the future. we have been able to consistently renew ourselves. time and again we have proven there is not a single thing we cannot do as a nation when we do it together. i mean that. not a single solitary thing. it's particularly important at this moment of accelerating challenges. hybrid threats that don't stop at our border. we have to meet them on the land and sea, wherever we find them. that's where the coast guard excels. pandemic may not have been considered a coast guard mission until there were more than 250,000 crew and passengers who needed to safely disembark in 2019. now we see with clarity how

halting this pandemic will improve our response to the next one and national security. that's why 500 national reservists have deployed in support of fema and other vaccination efforts. with the pace of climate change accelerating, we are seeing more frequent and more intense storms. we call for you to respond. year was the most active hurricane season on record, 30 named storms. the coast guard was always there to respond during the pandemic. but you have also been part of our response to wildfires in the west. record flooding in the middle part of the country. these patterns will only