Wouldn’t that be beautiful?
It’s time to stop this madness. It’s time to halt the killing. It’s time to end the senseless war. If you want to end wars, you have to talk to both sides. Nearly four years ago, amid rising tensions, a history teacher named Marc Fogel was detained in Russia and sentenced to 14 years in a penal colony. Tough stuff. The previous administration barely lifted a finger to help him. They knew he was innocent but they had no idea where to begin. But last summer, I promised his 95-year-old mother, Malphine, that we would bring her boy safely back home. After 22 days in office, I did just that, and they are here tonight.
To Marc and his great mom, we are delighted to have you safe and sound and with us. As fate would have it, Marc Fogel was born in a small rural town in Butler, Penn., where his mother has lived for the past 78 years. I just happened to go there last July 13 for a rally. That was not pleasant. And that is where I met his beautiful mom right before I walked onto that stage, and I told her I would not forget what she said about her son, and I never did, did I? Never forgot. Less than 10 minutes later, at that same rally, gunfire rang out and a sick and deranged assassin unloaded eight bullets from his sniper’s perch into a crowd of many thousands of people. My life was saved by a fraction of an inch.
But some were not so lucky. Corey Comperatore was a firefighter, a veteran, a Christian, a husband, a devoted father and, above all, a protector. When the sound of gunshots pierced the air — it was a horrible sound — Corey knew instantly what it was and what to do. He threw himself on top of his wife and daughters and shielded them from the bullets with his own body. Corey was hit really hard. You know the story from there — he sacrificed his life to save theirs.
Two others, very fine people, were also seriously hit, but thankfully with the help of two great country doctors — we thought they were gone, then they were saved. So those doctors had great talent. We are joined by Corey’s wife, Helen, who was his high school sweetheart and their two beloved daughters, Allyson and Kaylee. Thank you.
To Helen, Allyson, and Kaylee: Corey is looking down on his three beautiful ladies right now and he is cheering you on. He loves you. He is cheering you on. Corey was taken from us much too soon, but his destiny was to leave us all with a shining example of the selfless devotion of a true American patriot. It was love like Corey’s that built our country, and it’s love like Corey’s that is going to make our country more majestic than ever before.