WEBVTT

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(triumphant orchestral music)

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- [Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen,

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the President of the United States

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and Mrs. Melania Trump.

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("Hail to the Chief")

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(audience applauds)
(camera shutters click)

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- Good afternoon
everyone, please sit down.

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Welcome to the White House.

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We have Second Lady here
with us, and Vice President.

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Thank you for being here today.

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You and your team

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are dedicated to helping
our military families,

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and continue to do a great work.

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Thank you very much.

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(audience applauds)

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Every day should be a
celebration of mothers.

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As a mother myself,

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I can relate to all that
it takes to raise a child.

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Motherhood is a blessing
in its rawest form.

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It is joyous and delightful,

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and at times it is
challenging and worrisome.

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But the love between a mother and child

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strengthen us, help us grow,

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and provides a deeper
meaning to all of our lives.

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When I became First Lady
of the United States,

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I knew it was a real opportunity

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to raise awareness about the
issue I care so much about,

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the wellbeing of children.

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Earlier this week I celebrated
anniversary of Be Best,

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my initiative meant to encourage children

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to be best in their
individual paths in life.

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Over the past year I have
talked with parents, students,

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and teachers at schools.

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I have visited doctors, nurses,

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and patients at hospitals
and care facilities.

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Talked with industry leaders
of large and small companies,

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and I have been the amazing work

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that results from people who care.

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Leadership is among one of
the most valuable traits

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we can teach our children,

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and I can think of no better place

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where this is cultivated
that our military.

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I've had the great privilege

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of meeting many members of our military.

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In March, the Second Lady
and I visited Fort Bragg,

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and had the opportunity to see
the incredible capabilities

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of some of our military personnel.

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This administration supports
our armed forces 100%,

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and that includes taking
care of the families

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that sacrifice greatly

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so their loved ones can serve our country.

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(audience applauds)

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It is an honor to have
each of you join us today.

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The President and I are grateful
to you and your families

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for all that you're doing
for our great nation.

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Because of the sacrifices made

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by your sons, daughters,
husbands and wives,

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we as a country enjoy
the freedom and security

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of raising our children
in the great country,

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the greatest country in the world.

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The United States of America.
(audience applauds)

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Thank you again for being here,

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and I hope you enjoy the
United States Army Corps.

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Everyone in this room
deserves to be celebrated.

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God bless you and your families,

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God bless the United States of America,

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and happy Mother's Day!

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(audience cheers)

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And with that, it is my honor

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to ask the President to say a few words.

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(audience applauds)
- Thank you, honey.

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Great job, thank you very much.

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And thank you for being here.

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And, Melania, you did a beautiful job

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in organizing this incredible celebration

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of America's military mothers.

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That's good, I had a great mother, Mary.

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I loved my mother, I miss my mother.

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Military moms are the backbone of America.

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I know it is still two days away,

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but I wish everybody right
now a very Happy Mother's Day.

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Happy Mother's Day, everybody.

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(audience applauds)

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Happy Mother's Day, thank you.

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We're especially pleased to be joined

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by our great Vice President, Mike Pence.

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Mike, stand up, Mike.

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(audience applauds)

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Stand up, Mike.

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Doing a great job.

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And our wonderful Second
Lady, Karen Pence.

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Karen, thank you.

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(audience applauds)

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And, by the way, they're
a proud military family

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and tremendous advocates for our warriors

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and their loved ones.

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Thank you both very much for being here.

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This afternoon, I want to express

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our incredible appreciation to all of you:

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the moms serving our nation in uniform,

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the mothers of our great heroes,

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and the moms with spouses who
serve in the armed forces.

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Your unwavering dedication and support

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strengthens our entire nation.

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Today, we honor you, we celebrate you.

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We salute you and everything that you do,

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so many things, so many great
things, for our country.

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To the active-duty moms here today:

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We thank you for your courage,

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and we applaud your noble service.

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You have two of the most
important jobs in the world:

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bravely defending America from our enemies

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and helping to raise

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the next generation of American patriots.

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You have spent Mother's
Days, and, you know,

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come on, let's go.

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(audience applauds)

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Let's go.

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You have spent Mother's
Days on ships out at sea,

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on bases in faraway lands,

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and staring down foreign threats

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in very, very dangerous areas.

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And you've done it all
out of love for family,

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for country, and for duty.

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Our nation is forever in your debt.

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Thank you very much, great
job, incredible job, thank you.

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(audience applauds)

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We're also honored to be joined today

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by the moms whose spouses
are serving in the military.

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We know that you also make
that tremendous sacrifice

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for your country, so much so.

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They would never be as
successful without you,

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I have to tell you.

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And most of them know that.

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Most of them.

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I'm not sure all of them know that,

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but most of them know that, right?

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When you married an American warrior,

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which is exactly what they are,

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you became part of an
elite group of heroes.

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As military spouses, you
help carry your families

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through frequent moves
and long deployments.

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You uplift your communities,

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care for your fellow military families,

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and sustain our service members

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through their most difficult battles.

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You know that one of the great challenges

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of military spouses is
to find a meaningful job

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as you move in support of
your active-duty spouse.

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That's why, one year ago,

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I took action to increase
employment opportunities,

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as you probably know,

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I hope you're all taking advantage of it;

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I'm sure you are, for military spouses

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all across our nation.

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- Thank you!
- Incredible people.

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Thank you, heh, who said that?

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Stand up, I want to see, who said that?

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(audience applauds)

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Thank you.

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We want military spouses
to be able to pursue

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their careers and help
their families thrive.

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Finally, to the moms in this
room who raised children

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that grew up to join the
United States Armed Forces,

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you have given our country
a gift beyond measure.

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You raised your children to
live by the sacred values

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of loyalty, bravery,
patriotism and service.

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The greatest honor of my life

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is serving as your Commander-in-Chief.

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This extraordinary group of men and women,

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and there's nobody like you
on the face of the Earth,

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the heroes of the American Armed
Forces are more courageous,

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selfless, and fearless
than any fighting force

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in all of human history, so true.

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And Mike and I have worked
very, very long and hard.

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Our military is now regaining strength

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like it's never had before.

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We had budgets of $700 billion,

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far, far more than ever before.

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And this year, $716 billion.

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And I know we're going for $750 billion.

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And we had a very depleted military.

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You know it better than I did.

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And now it's raring.

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It's just something special.

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Hopefully, we don't have to use it.

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They're gonna look at it,
and they're gonna say,

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"We don't want to mess with them."

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Right?
(audience laughs)

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We don't want to mess with them.

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So, our military is in great shape

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and I think it's something you know,

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but I want you to know it

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just in case you had any questions.

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Anybody have any questions?

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It really is, thank you.
(audience applauds)

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And I just have to say that our nation

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is eternally grateful
to our military mothers.

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Your love and devotion and sacrifice

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keeps America safe,
strong, proud, and free.

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Today, and every day, we thank
God for our military moms.

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You have always been there for us,

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and my administration will
always be there for you.

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And you know that, you know that.

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(audience applauds)

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So I just want to finish by saying,

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to let me, once again,

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wish everyone in this room a
very, very happy Mother's Day.

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You are very special people.

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I don't even know if you
know how special you are.

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You work so hard.

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Sometimes you don't realize it.

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But you are very, very special people.

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And I want to just say,

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God bless you and God
bless our great country.

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God bless America.

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Thank you very much.

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Thank you everybody, thank you.

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(audience applauds)

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Thank you everybody!

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(audience chatters)

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(camera shutters click)

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- [Audience] Thank you!

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(audience applauds)