President Donald Trump is marking the 243rd anniversary of the Founding Fathers’ adoption of the Declaration of Independence, an event he says “cast off the shackles of tyranny.”
Trump says in an Independence Day message released by the White House that the country is celebrating the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and recognizing the “courageous” members of the armed services who “have valiantly defended them.”
The Republican president says freedom rings “proudly throughout the United States and around the world because of the service and sacrifice of our nation’s veterans and military members.”
Trump is set to speak in the evening at the Lincoln Memorial. He has ordered the Pentagon to stage military demonstrations, including a flyover of jets, helicopters and other aircraft.
Trump says his “Salute to America” will be the “show of a lifetime.”
