The United States Marine band played and the U. S. Army Chorus sang the National Anthem for the crowd. Vice President Mike Pence, Treasury Secretary\u2026<\/b>
\nThe United States Marine band played and the U. S. Army Chorus sang the National Anthem for the crowd. Vice President Mike Pence, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Rep. Lou Barletta, and Rep. Mike Kelly attended the event and all received thanks from the President.
\u201cI\u2019d love to have a voice like that, what a voice,\u201d Trump said after thanking those performing and the administration officials in attendance.
\u201cWe love our country. We respect our flag. and We always proudly stand for the National Anthem, we always will stand for the national anthem\u201d President Trump said to applause from the crowd.
Trump thanked those gathered for the \u201cpatriotic celebration.\u201d
The President then launched into explaining why Americans should stand for the playing of the National Anthem:
He went on to highlight the economic successes achieved under the Trump administration \u2014 record low unemployment rates for African American, Hispanic, and female Americans.
\u201cWe\u2019ve created seven trillion dollars of value in our country since the election,\u201d said Trump. \u201cWe\u2019re the largest economy in the world and getting a lot larger and fast,\u201d he added it was quicker than he had thought.
The crowd cheered and applauded as President Trump began talking about the military men and women, past and present, being honored, \u201cSome of them are right here. Many of them are looking down right now at our country and they are proud.\u201d
\u201cSo we stand together for freedom. We stand together for patriotism. And we proudly stand for our glorious nation under God,\u201d Trump closed thanking the crowd for attending the event and said that it was a larger crowd than he had expected.
Originally the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles were scheduled to be celebrated at the White House on Tuesday, but when a significant number withdrew from the event in the days prior, the White House changed the event to honor America and the military.
One heckler that arose early on was booed down by other attendees. One person knelt during the anthem.
The event closed with the band playing \u201cGod Bless America\u201d and audience members waving small American flags in the air.
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana<\/p>\n

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