we are dealing with a cross between george patton and oliver wendell holmes. [laughter] so that is a -- [laughter] so that is a pretty tough, tough combination to face as an opponent, but the good news for us is he is coming here to lead our team. it is the adversaries of the united states who will be facing that formidable opponent across the table. without further ado i will turn over the microphone to the 70th secretary of state, mike pompeo. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. thank you. thanks for those most gracious words, john. and thank you for your service standing in the gap. you have done a remarkable job. i've had the chance to work alongside you as a cia director and you have done this organization incredibly proud. america should be proud of you. and thank you for this amazing work. [applause] so, i think i have the record for the longest trip to the first day of work. [laughter] i am humbled to be here. i tried to prepare myself for this moment, but to stand here and look at the most important diplomatic corps in the world is enormously humbling

oliver wendell holmes and john futch cannot have been more different. in other words and actions resided a pragmatic philosophy grounded in situational thinking, adaptability, and elevated individual consciousness as the arbitrator of duty. this was the common thread at how soldiers thought. he did not create a common experience in what they thought or how they acted. so drink assumed an individualized -- soldiering assumed an individualized role. it is the soldier actions and thoughts and convoluted in ways. we are able to ask three men how did you cope with the physical strength and emotional pressures of having to survive in the ranks? true veterans would stand up and i did my whole duty as far as i knew it or it thank you. [applause] >> we don't have a lot of time for questions, but we can talk more after. >> the soldier from north carolina, was he executed? and 11 other soldiers were captured in scottsville, virginia, along the james river. they shot -- a gunbattle before, charge.t the officer in they were sent to richmond and spent a few days in c

and if you rule for him you're the second coming of oliver wendell holmes.at is the president going to say about judge ellis if, as ken suggests, he allows the charges to go ahead? it strikes me the worst that can happen in the mueller case is the manafort charges are transfeotranfrance f -- transferred to the eastern district and it can cause trouble for the president just as the cohen can cause problems for the president. i think he's really ramped it up over the past couple days, i'm going to use a trump word, they're disgraceful. mueller is a republican, there are democrats on his staff but they're all seasoned professional prosecutors and there's no reason or basis to question their legitimacy or bias. >> i want to make a point, judge ellis was in no way impugning the mueller investigation, he was not saying it was a witch hunt, i'm not sure he anticipated how his words would reverberate and how the president would use them. he was making a legal argument to a legal community about the special counsel. he was not arguing this was a witch hunt. >> jennif

[laughter] >> oliver wendell holmes is next -- >> is that what i said this morning? >> >> yeah. jon and i were on the air this morning, morning joe, he had to produce the document that showed michael cohen's shell company had received -- 4.4 million worth of payments from a partisan -- >> i need a shell company. >> yeah, you do. you do. [laughter] so we do the segment, we ask all the questions, and michael avenatti walks up the step, and jon and i just looked at each other, and he goes can you believe this political culture right now? that was the attorney for a porn starr that the president is -- porn star that the president is alleged to have paid off, and we're sitting there getting some guidance from him on his research on what happened in the russia investigation -- [laughter] and we've taken it for granted now because it's all come so quickly, and we've sort of marinated it. it's crazy. it's insane. >> i said to avenatti, i said do you fancy yourself archibald cox or joseph welch? [laughter] because in a tabloid era, he's basically this remarkable figure. and it is crazy.

lincoln goes out and the man who said get down, you damn fool, was oliver wendell holmes.iments that fought in that battle wallas the 166th ohio. there was a tradition that they would come to see the president before they left. the commander in chief knew the sacrifices his people were making. and he gives a talk to them, saying we are fighting this war and it may take two years, it may take three years. so that you may have a fair chance for your industry, and that we may continue this promise of a tradition of fair play. and lincoln once talked about everybody has the right to rise. and we're not talking about equality of outcome. we're talking about equality of opportunity. that's a fundamental american principle. >> the great optimism in american history is lincoln's assistance that the capitol dome be completed while the country's at war. so the government reconsecrated through the blood of sacrifice would have a place to meet under. william tecumseh sherman, who was incredibly skeptical, he was uneducated, a backwoodsman. reflecting on lincoln's death, sherman is ask