armed forces, army, navy, air force, coast guard, marines and space for us. and i salute you all.le military spouses. what you have to put up with -- they put up with a lot. and family members here tonight. we have so many and so many brilliant families. and you do more than anyone else to support our nation's heroes and on behalf of every american i want to thank you very much. we have some people with us tonight. we have the head of the republican party and then she said, i think that is enough for me now so let's win and go do something else because she wants to get back to her beautiful babies. she has married to a guy known as my son, eric trump. and laura was chairman along with michael whatley of the republican party and they were tough. they were not going to stand for any nonsense. a fantastic job. and we won every single swing state. we won the popularity, we were the most popular candidate in a long time. and i have to tell you with the military, we really won! we really won. i want to thank, obviously, a tremendous supporter of yours and if i ever got out of line she w

forces color guard bearing the national colors and the service flags of the army, marine corps, navy, air forcee force, and coast guard. following is an element from the united states navy guard from washington, d.c. the next is comprised of a flight of the united states air force honor guard from the joint base. and last is a element of the united states coast guard honor guard from coast guard station alexandria. ♪ >> troops in review. ♪ ♪ >> distinguished guests, please stand for the advancing of the colors and remain standing for the playing of the national anthem. >> colors, forward, march! ♪ >> present arms! [the national anthem plays] >> please be seated. >> ceremonial. >> at ease. >> the distinguished public service medal is being awarded to joseph r. biden jr. president joseph r. biden jr. is recognized for distinguished public service as the 46th president of the united states from january 2021 to january 2025. in the face of unparalleled national security challenges, american global leadership under president biden left both the united states and the department of defense far stronge

including about a quarter of a million women who currently serve on active duty in the army, navy, air force, spaceports, marines. i have serious concerns that your behavior toward women disqualifies you from serving in this role. now i been trying to get answers from you for quite some time on this. you haven't wanted to meet our answer into my questions get so we'll just have to do it here and diving. i want to pick up on some of the questions asked by senator shaheen and gillibrand and geraldo and make sure with a list to some of the facts i think are undisputed. a going to talk about anonymous sources. i'm going to quote you directly. we've got the video. with god it in print. so going back to january 2013 come to told fox news interview the women in military simply could measure up to me in a military saying allowing women to serve in combat roles would force the military to lower the bar. he picked up on that same theme in 2015 a given marks on fox news referring to women in combat as quote it would erode standards in june 2024 you sn ben shapiro podcast quote, women shouldn't be in co

going to be involved in acquisition programs, the coordination of the various services army, navy, air force, marines, coast guard, space force. he's going to look at all the departments that look at the future war plans, contingency plans, the kinds of things that youd in terms of personnel readiness and what affects those the acquisition programs i already mentioned. but, you know, he made a lot of promises about expanding the navy, expanding the air force, reducing the army. he's going to see the second and third order effects of those two. it is a mind numbing job to go in as a secretary of defense. and i think, you know, to have his focus primarily on dei is going to be quickly overwhelmed by the kinds of issues that occur in america's military and their relationships with other countries. >> you point out just a little slice of what a full plate he has going into the pentagon. lieutenant general mark hertling, really appreciate your insights and expertise. great to have you on with us. thanks. >> thank you. >> anna. >> next on ana cabrera reports rain in california helping firefighters

armed forces, army, navy, air force, coast guard, marines and space force. and i salute you all.e thank our incredible military spouses, what you have to put up with. they put up with a lot. and family members here tonight, we have so many and so many brilliant families. you do more than anyone else to support our nation's heroes. on behalf of every american i want to thank you very much. we have some people with us tonight, you know, we have the head of the republican party and we won and then she said, all right, dad, i think that is enough for me now. let's win and do something expels she wants to get back to her beautiful babies but she is married to a guy known as my son, eric trump. and lara was essentially chairman along with michael watley. they were tough, they were not going to stand for and nonsense and did a fantastic job. we won every single swing state. we won the popularity. we were the most popular candidate in a long time. i don't have to tell you with the military we really won. i want to thank, obviously, a tremendous supporter of yours and if i ever got out of

armed forces, army, navy, air force, coast guard, marines and space for us. and i salute you all.itary spouses. what you have to put up with -- they put up with a lot. and family members here tonight. we have so many and so many brilliant families. and you do more than anyone else to support our nation's heroes and on behalf of every american i want to thank you very much. we have some people with us tonight. we have the head of the republican party and then she said, i think that is enough for me now so let's win and go do something else because she wants to get back to her beautiful babies. she has married to a guy known as my son, eric trump. and laura was chairman along with michael whatley of the republican party and they were tough. they were not going to stand for any nonsense. a fantastic job. and we won every single swing state. we won the popularity, we were the most popular candidate in a long time. and i have to tell you with the military, we really won! we really won. i want to thank, obviously, a tremendous supporter of yours and if i ever got out of line she would g

the navy missed by over 7,000. the air force couldn't meet their standard even though they lowered their standards. they have lowered their standards to meet numbers they kill or not -- they still cannot get to. we have to fix this. you have the talent and the ability and the desire to fix it. how are you going to fix that? >> thank you for the question. first and foremost, upfront, you have to tear out dei out of institutions and you have to put in army, navy, and air force secretaries, and others, civilian positions of the helm who are committed to the same priorities as the united states and if confirmed, the secretary of defense will be. this is not a time for equity. it is a different word than equality. equality is the bedrock of our military. men and women, duty positions in uniform. we treat you equally based on who you are in the image of god as an individual and we all get the same bad haircut. you are not an individual. you are part of a group. equity prescribes an outcome based on differing attributes we have that di

potus number 47 gets a chance to say thank you to the women and men of the armed forces, army, navy, air force, marines, and space force and of course, the coast guard as well. this was really a night. and mark gordon, show him the crowd here. this was a night not just to celebrate what this means to this president, someone who relishes the role as commander in chief. but this was also a chance for the troops. everyone from pfc and privates and specialists all the way up to flag officers, admirals and generals to say thank you, mr. trump, for all you have done for the armed forces. it's no surprise, trace, that this group in particular has an affection for this president. and he promised that with peace through strength, the best days are yet to come. of course, we all got a chance to see melania. i'm not going to get into the fashion of it all because i don't know enough about it. she looked amazing, as did the second lady, usher vance. it has been a tremendous night here and more of that happening across the way here at the liberty ball. trace back to you. yeah. and just to back you up, kevi

. >> the heads of the other services as far as army, navy, marine corps, air force, what are you hearing about the possibility of them also being fired? >> so everybody is just keeping a really low profile right now. there's been no media engagement and we don't suspect there will be any media engagements right now among the uniformed chiefs, so that's the chief naval officer, general alvin who's the chief of staff of the air force, general george, chief of staff of the army, all of the services right now are trying to show how they would be responsive and meet with the new team. we had yesterday raising some of the acting secretary set of input in place and saw some quick interactions on the border. in the next few hours were going to see the services kind of move forward on enacting president trump's border security initiative, the last executive order issued on the 20th and kinda put more detail as to what assets will be surged to the southwest border in response to his executive order. host: there have been new allegations against defense secretary pete hegseth regarding abuse of his

armed forces, army, navy, air force, coast guard, marines, and space force. and i salute you all. let me also thank our incredible military spouses. what you have to put up with. they put up with a lot and family members here tonight. we have so many and so many brilliant families, and you do more than anyone else to support our nation's heroes. and on behalf of every american, i want to thank you very much. we have some people with us tonight. you know, we have the head of the republican party. and we won. and then she said, all right, dad, i think that's enough for me. now let's win and let's go to something else. she wants to get back to her beautiful babies, but she's married to a guy known as my son, eric trump. and laura was essentially chairman, along with michael whatley of the republican party. and they were tough. they weren't going to stand for any nonsense. and they did a fantastic job. and we won every single swing state. we won the you know, we won the popularity. we were the most popular candidate in a long time. and i have to tell you, with the military, we really

armed forces army, navy, air force, coast guard, marines, and space cards. and i salute you all. and so many brilliant families. can you do any -- more than anybody else to support our nation's heroes and behalf of every american i want to thank you very much. we have some people with us tonight. you know we have the head of the republican party and we want him and then she said all the right that i think that is enough are mean now let's go to something else. she wants to get back to her beautiful babies. but she is married to a guy known as my son eric trump. and lowell wright was essentially chairman along with michael whatley of the republican party and they were tough they weren't going to stand for any nonsense and they did a fantastic job and we went every single swing state. we won do you know we won the popularity we were the most popular candidate in a long time. [applause] and i have to tell you with the military we really want to. [cheering] we really wanted. i want to thank obviously tremendous supporter of yours and if i ever got out of line she would get me right b

will. increasing is where the attacks or the wiped out a big chunk of know all of the serious navy air force and so on. will that full the syrian authority into a corner where it needs to either respond to that which will perhaps invite western animosity or continue turn the blind dime that does that risk its domestic credibility and standing? well, i think soul tide is right, that they will send a blind eye to these rarely encouraging that occupation as much as they possibly can. i don't forget as well. that's just of the big of fish for them to fry at the moment that they took these occupation of node and syria. and of course, that's the kind of this region in these syria. i think there's much more pressing questions for the receiver. for example, questions ok, will syria be federalized? page ds says none of the codes of goals want to federal syria. and then there's the question of the minority groups in syria. remember that most of the security crackdowns and most of the killings of regime forces have taken place in primarily all of white areas, even in mix cities of where we seeing the s

in 2023, the navy missed their recruiting goals by over 7000. in 2022, the air force couldn't only couldn't meet their standards, their numbers, even though they lowered their standards, they've lowered their standards to meet numbers. they still can't get to this. hegseth. we got to fix this. i think what you've demonstrated today is that you have the talent and the ability and the desire to fix it. how are you going to fix it? >> well, senator, thank you for the question. first and foremost, up front, you have to tear out di and crt initiatives, root and branch out of institutions 100%. and then you have to put in army, navy and air force secretaries and others civilian positions at the helm who are committed to the same priorities that the president of the united states is. and if confirmed, the secretary of defense will be. send a clear message that this is not a time for equity. equity is a very different word than equality. equality is the bedrock of our military men and women. duty positions in uniform. black, white doesn't matter. we treat you equally based on

army, navy, marines, air force, all along the way, soldiers standing on the post, saluting as they gopitol, all of them giving jimmy carter their best. i had to look up some of the nation's mottos about our soldiers. the u.s. army, this will we defend. the u.s. marine corps, semper fi. always faithful. the u.s. air force, aim high, fly, fight and win. the u.s. coast guard, always ready. but there's a phrase inscribed above the chapel doors of the u.s. knave academy at unanimous. -- naval academy at annapolis. it's latin for not self but country. i imagine that j.c. knew about that phrase. that every step along the way, he came back to take over his father's farm, it still rang in his heart. not self, but for country. that's what every one of our soldiers have done. every one of the secret service detail for 40-plus years, keeping him safe. not self, but for country. every one of the aides that extended his life while he was in hospice. not self, but country. every worker at the carter center, not self but for country. the channel of you today, can you embrace that? can you embrace tha

while the i r g c, ground force is in charge of holding this massive war game, it's going to involve all the branches of the r g c, as well as the one in the army of the navy. the air force, air defense, all are engaged. so the exercise will feature the latest weaponry and military equipment develop domestically by iran. the revolution guard score spokesman said that they. busy on sale, new underground missile and drone facilities. we are also expecting to see new naval equipment warships and perhaps submarines to be showcased on to unveil the persian gulf during the exercises. so we will wait for the upcoming phases of the drill to see what that one has to show off during the these ongoing exercises. but of course what. 6 fortunately is that the, the i r d c said that the drill is part of the annual routine exercises held by the revolution guards taking place every year in the last 3 months of the persian calendar. which of course ends in mid march. however, each year the maneuver is staged based on the latest security threats against the country. they said that so given the rising tensions between they want it as well. this maneuver is definitely seen as a means

including about a quarter of a million women who currently serve on active duty in the army, navy, air force, the space force, and the marines. and i have serious concerns that your behavior toward women disqualifies you from serving in this role. -trying to get answers from you for quite some time on this, you haven't wanted to meet or to answer any of my questions. so we will just have to do it here and dive in. i want to pick up on some of the questions asked by senator shaheen and gillibrand, they want to make sure we have a list of some of the facts that i think are undisputed. i'm not going to talk about anonymous sources, i'm just going to quote you directly. we've got the video, we've got it in print. so going back to january 2013 you told a fox news interview are that women in the military simply couldn't measure up to men in the military, saying that allowing women to serve in combat roles would force the military to lower the bar. you picked up on that same theme in 2015 making remarks on fox news, referring to women in combat as "it would erode standards." june 2024 you said on b

army, navy, marines, air force, all along the way, soldiers standing on the post, saluting as they gotol, all of them giving jimmy carter their best. i had to look up some of the nation's mottos about our soldiers. the u.s. army, this will we defend. the u.s. marine corps, semper fi. always faithful. the u.s. air force, aim high, fly, fight and win. the u.s. coast guard, always ready. but there's a phrase inscribed above the chapel doors of the u.s. knave academy at unanimous. it's latin for not self but country. i imagine that j.c. knew about that phrase. that every step along the way, he came back to take over his father's farm, it still rang in his heart. not self, but for country. that's what every one of our soldiers have done. every one of the secret service detail for 40-plus years, keeping him safe. not self, but for country. every one of the aides that extended his life while he was in hospice. not self, but country. every worker at the carter center, not self but for country. the channel of you today, can you embrace that? can you embrace that? and let it be in you? let it b

in 2023, the navy missed their recruiting goals by over 7000. in 2022, the air force couldn't only couldn't meet their standards, their numbers, even though they lowered their standards. they've lowered their standards to meet numbers. they still can't get to mr. hegseth. we got to fix this. i think what you've demonstrated today is that you have the talent and the ability and the desire to fix it. how are you going to fix it? >> well, senator, thank you for the question. um, first and foremost up front, you have to tear out, di and crt initiatives root and branch out of institutions 100%, and then you have to put in army, navy and air force secretaries and others civilian positions at the helm who are committed to the same priorities that the president of the united states is. and if confirmed, the secretary of defense will be. send a clear message that this is not a time for equity. equity is a very different word than equality. equality is the bedrock of our military men and women duty positions in uniform. black, white doesn't matter. we treat you equally based on

from the army, the marines, the navy, air force, space, and coast guard.n the east front of the capitol outside. since all the ceremony has moved inside, they are doing it in emancipation all in the capitol visitors center, which is right below the east front. that is what you are seeing on your screen. president trump is due to review the troops shortly. [quiet] [quiet] >> standby. honor guard. attention! ♪ >> ♪ [band plays] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [quiet] >> present. present. >> ♪ [band plays] ♪ ♪ ♪ [quiet] >> [indiscernible] [quiet] >> ♪ [band plays] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> present arms. >> ♪ [national anthem plays] ♪ ♪ ♪ >> order. order. >> ♪ [band plays] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> and with the completion of the military honor guard review at the capitol, president and mrs. trump will be leaving the capitol assume, motorcade into capital one arena for a shortened inaugural parade that will be held indoors and then finally back to their residence at the white house and special order signings and then tonight, later on, the inaugural balls. the traditional parade down pennsylvania

caller: look, i would like to ask the american people to put the head of the army, navy, air force, marineshe same thing you are doing for that particular man, and that means the president-elect of the united states, he should be able to sit there and go through that same thing. host: so when it comes to mr. hegseth himself, what do you think of him becoming the next defense secretary? caller: the man that appoints him should be the one up there going through that instead of him. host: craig, ohio, republican. caller: hi. host: go ahead. caller: i love listening to these local democrats. they lost and they just cannot get over it. you would like to fix california, let's start -- host: we are not doing that topic, we are doing mr. hegseth becoming the next event secretary, what do you think of that possibility? caller: first of all, mr. hegseth is a big criminal. that is all the democrats talk about, that they are criminals. host: you heard the comments and back and forth with senator warren of mr. hegseth when it comes to women and things he said about women in the military. a same type of

transitioned from a foot infantry, peasant based foot infantry army with no satellites, no navy, no significant air force, no missile force. then in 1979 deng xiaoping reformed their economy and you know that the chinese economy had a growth rate of 10% or so. for maybe 30 years, it came down to seven now down to four. and they've got internal challenges, but china became an enormously powerfully rich country, second only to the united states. and like most countries throughout history, when theythy earned that level of wealth, when they, when they developed that amount of financial throw weight in the system, they also embarked upon a military program to develop their military to be world class. so for the first time in chinese history, they have now 44 years later, 45 years later developed the world class military. now they're not equal yet to the united states military. the united states military is still the most powerful, most effective force in the world. and the chinese know that but the chinese are trying to develop their military to a point where they will be the dominant military in east asia,

military transitioned from a foot in victory -- foot infantry army with no satellites, no navy, nosing to begin air force. in 1979, they reformed their economy. you know the chinese economy had a growth rate of 10% or so for 30 years. it came down to 7% and now 4%. they have internal challenges, but china became a powerfully rich country, second only to the united states. like most countries throughout history, when they earn that level of wealth, when they develop that amount of financial weight in the system, they also embarked upon a military program to develop their military to be world-class. so, for the first time in chinese history, they have now 44 years later, develop a world-class military. they are not equal yet to the united states military. the u.s. military so the most powerful, most effective force in the world. and the chinese know that. but, the chinese are trying to develop their military to a point where they will be the dominant military in east asia, western pacific, at leas by the mid-2030's, maybe earlier. president xi has asked his generals to develop the capability to invade, and

nevada is home to the premier aviation training ranges for both of air force and the navy, the largest ammunition depot in the world, and the only place where we verify reliability of our nuclear stockpile without the need for explosive testing. the national guard is one of the units across the country with the mission of fighting wildfires currently activated to fight the devastating fires around los angeles and we therefore play a critical role in national security and hold the position of secretary of defense military equity but every single person who serves in the military, we talk about recruitment and retention in one day they will become a veteran. my veteran and serving active-duty now are concerned about what you think. dod does not have jurisdiction 200,000 plus veterans but am interested inws your given the influence you would have while in service of confirmed. on fox and friends who said the organizations encourage congress to apply for every government benefit after they leave. dependent on government assistance based on injury or illness and military service so is going

and who is responsible, in effect, for fielding our military teams, our army, our navy, our air force, our marines. right now, we are having trouble filling all those spots. only the marines were actually meeting their recruiting goals. the rest are falling short. and let's face it, jake, not everybody wants to serve in the military. it's not right for everybody. but there are some people for whom it is right. right now, our military, 18% of those who are serving are women, and they are terrific, just like the men who are terrific and serving. but pete hegseth said as recently as november 7th is that women don't belong in combat in the military. so think about that. you recruit people and you say, you know, guys, you want to be in the military, come on in. be all that you can be. gals, you can kind of do these other things that are not really at the heart of what the military does. you can't write off 18% of the workforce and expect to be able to have a strong military. this goes to the heart of our national defense. he will be responsible for our active duty military, and he has alre

including about a quarter of a million women who currently serve on active duty in the army, the navy, the air force, the space forces and the marines, and i have serious concerns that your behavior toward women disqualifies you from serving in this role. now i have been trying to get answers from you for quite some time on this. you haven't wanted to meet or answer any of my questions. so we'll just have to do it here and dive in. i want to pick up on some of the questions asked by senator that mean and g gillibrand and horon, and i want to ensure we have some of the facts undisputed. i'm not talking about anonymous sources. i'm going to quote you directly. we have the video. we've got it in print. going back to january 2013, you told a fox news interviewer that women in the military simply couldn't measure up to men in the military saying that allowing women to serve in combat roles would force the military to lower the bar. you picked up on that same theme in 2015 making remarks on fox news referring to women in combat as, quote, a road -- it would erode standards. june 2024, you said on ben shap

marines, navy, air force, coast guard and merchant marines academy who are there, but it's almost reviewing the troops symbolically, that we've seen and we still do see in other countries that don't have democracies, this is obviously very ceremonial and it's a way to honor all of the divisions of the us military who report once again, to donald trump, as commander in chief. >> there's plenty more day to come, plenty more opportunities for there to be partisanship that comes into this, especially as trump starts to do as he promised, which is to get to work immediately. he wanted this day to be significant, in terms of the things that he is doing, not just the ceremonial part. he wanted to do the meat and potatoes of his promises and his agenda and there's still quite a lot that they promised that has not come officially and wait will be expecting them in the coming hours. >> the president is running half an hour, 40 minutes late. he was supposed to have arrived at about 3:38 p.m., roughly, 20 to 30 minutes ago. but, these things happen. one of the interesting things, do you remember from t

including about a quarter of a million women who currently serve on active duty in the army, the navy, the air force, the space force and the marines. and i have serious concerns that your behavior toward women disqualifies you from serving in this role. now, i've been trying to get answers from you for quite some time on this. you haven't wanted to meet or to answer any of my questions, so we'll just have to do it here and dive in. i want to pick up on some of the questions asked by senator shaheen and gillibrand and hirono. and i just want to make sure we have a list of some of the facts that i think are undisputed. i'm not going to talk about anonymous sources. i'm just going to quote you directly. we've got the video, we've got it in print. so going back to january 2013, you told a fox news interviewer that women in the military simply couldn't measure up to men in the military, saying that allowing women to serve in combat roles would force the military to lower the bar. you picked up on that same theme in 2015, making remarks on fox news, referring to women in combat as, quote, erode. it would

he would have to reduce the research and development for the army, the navy, the air force in the marines i 8%. we would have to close 20 military bases in the united states immediately. that is the kind of defense program that mr. carter wants. let me tell you this straight from the shoulder. you don't negotiate from weakness and the kind of a defense program that mr. carter wants would mean a weaker defense and a poorer negotiating position. moderator: a question for president ford. >> my question is the other side of the coin. for the -- for a generation, united states has had a foreign policy based on the containment of communism. we lost the war in vietnam, we lost a shoving match in angola. relations have generally cooled with the soviet union and the last few months. let me ask, what do you do about such cases as italy and does this general drift mean we are moving back towards something like a cold war relationship with the soviet union? pres. ford: i don't believe we should move to a cold war relationship. it is in the best interest of the united states and the world as a whole t

s. navy has made an air force, if a posts, you know, celebrating important days. uh, you know, with pictures supposedly, of us a weapon systems and instead shown russian aircraft in the end. uh, russian naval forces is itself quite infamous. and you know, what i've often is the case is the people putting together this from a p, r perspective, simply don't have the military knowledge or expertise to tell one system for another. or maybe they don't even really care. or maybe it was in a rush to get to a new year's eve party and didn't care what he or she was doing. yeah, more we thought of a go, you know, um, what was the next 4 president's he does? he have. uh, i mean, does it, is it, does he have a plan to i believe his plan is to hold out for as long as possible to port as many ukrainians of whatever age you know, be they young man, or be they old man or be they women between him and the russian forces involved in the intervention in ukraine as possible. i think he will try to drag this out for as long as you can. that may be something something's substantial par

and we are the strongest and the establishment has eroded the army and navy and diminished the readiness of our air force. we have to put an end to this madness. my friends and my colleagues, i think we should all unite in this idea. it is time to reinstate fear in our enemies refocus our mission on lethality and realign our commitment of peace through strength right now. we have to prioritize the things that matter most. we have to make adequate investments in defense. this is the most dangerous moment since world war ii and everyone around the world is looking to america and looking to this body to ensure we maintain the peace. what we are proposing now is just simply as president trump likes to say is a return to common sense and he is right. that message resonated across the country. i am thankful that this body is filled with men and women committed to that change to return to common sense. we can do this together. we should. it is our responsibility to do so. when i took this gavel, you heard me say i don't believe in luck or consequence but the idea of providence. this morning i participated with

construction program, we would have to reduce the research and development for the army, the navy, the air force and marines by 8%. we would have to close 20 military bases in the united states immediately. that's the kind of a defense program that mr. carter wants. let me tell you this straight from the shoulder. you don't negotiate with mr. brezhnev from weakness and the kind of a defense program that mr. carter wants will mean a weaker defense and a poorer negotiating position. >> mr. trewhitt, a question for president ford. >> mr. president, my question is the other side of the coin from mr. frankel's. the america has a look at basis of communism we lost the first war in vietnam, a shoving match in angola, communists have threatened to come to power in italy and have cooled in the last few months. what do you do about italy and does the general drift does it mean we're drifting back to an old cold war with the soviet union. >> i don't believe we should move to a cold war relationship. i think it's the best for the united states and the world as a whole, that the united states negotiate, rath

we would have to reduce the research and development for the army, the navy, the air force and marines. we would have to close 20 military bases in the united states immediately. that is the kind of defense program that mr. carter wants. let me tell you this straight from the shoulder. you do not negotiate with mr. brezhnev from weakness and the kind of defense program that mr. carter wants would mean a weaker defense and a poorer negotiating position. >> mr. truitt, a question for president ford. >> my question really is the other side of the coin from mr. frankel. for a generation the united states has had a foreign policy based on the containment of communism. yet we have lost the war in vietnam, a shoving match in angola. communists threaten to come to power by peaceful means in italy and relations generally of cooled with the soviet union in the last few months. let me ask you first what you do about such cases and secondly it does this general drift mean we are moving back to something like an old cold war relationship with the soviet union? president ford: i don't think we shoul

obviously, him being a veteran of the navy and air force reservist, is important. he relates directly to the experiences of our veterans. he was deployed to iraq. he knows a thing or two about the experience of the veteran. i think that's part of what, to your point center blumenthal makes the va care so special. it's not that there better doctors, better psychiatrist, better nurses or technicians. they are empathetic. that is when hear from my veteran so often times while they appreciate access to community care they appreciate the empathy of a fellow veteran. doug brings that. but he is a chaplin come on. how perfect is that? to me, one of my great frustrations about the va i mean this was last summer $15 billion shortfall is announced. where was all the communication before that? was he transparency would sit before that? suddenly panic sets in fear and anxiety uncertainty even to the point congress itself pass the supplemental. we remember very well a supplemental because low and behold there is not $15 billion surplus. how does that happen? in a competent agen

obviously him being a veteran navy and air force reservist is important. he relates directly to the experiences of our veterans. he was deployed to iraq. he knows a thing or two about experience of the veteran. i think that's part of what, to your point, senator blumenthal, makes the v.a. care to so special. it's not that they're better doctors or psychiatrists or nurses or technicians. it's that they're empathetic. that's what i hear from my veterans so oftentimes. while they appreciate access to care, they appreciate the empathy of a fellow veteran and doug brings that. but guys, he's a chaplain. come on. how perfect is that? to me, one of my great frustrations about the v.a. -- income was last summer. a $15 billion short fall is announced. where was awful the communication before that? where was the transparency that we would seek before that. it was a little c.y.a., i think. and then suddenly panic sets in, fear and anxiety, uncertainty, even tonight point where congress itself passed a supplementeddal. a supplemental where a single dollar was never us

look, just taking army and navy or army. air force or whatever, there's only one day a year where we're like this, and the rest of the time we're like this. you know, i served and when i went to combat, i was on a joint task force. so i worked for both the navy's tier one unit and the army's tier one unit as the physician who flew with the 1/60 and took care of them when they got wounded on the battlefield. so i have a great love for every person who does a uniform, whatever uniform that might be. but you you asked, you know how how we impact the congress. and i think of it like die that you drop into a bucket the veterans are there be the subject matter expertise about what issues foreign policy but we're also there to be the die for patriotism and love of country because we were all willing to give our lives for every single american, regardless of what they believe. right. and bringing that to congress far more valuable than the capabilities of a us, you know, forward. it's it's interesting you talked a little bit about your distri