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July 5, 2026 / 2:13 AM EDT
/ CBS News
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President Trump paid homage to veterans, attacked communism and touted America's "golden age" in his July 4th speech commemorating the 250th anniversary of American independence.Speaking in Washington, D.C. after severe weather forced a two-hour evacuation of the National Mall, Mr. Trump's delayed speech mixed politics, patriotism and history.The president honored veterans, including several from World War II, one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat in Vietnam, and William Harvey Carney, who escaped slavery to join the Civil war as a Union soldier and later became the first Black man awarded the Medal of Honor.
