Biden's first public remarks since cancer diagnosis honor Gold Star families

Former President Joe Biden honored fallen service members and Gold Star families Friday at a Memorial Day service in Delaware, marking his first public remarks since announcing he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

"We come together and remember the debt we owe to the American military," Biden said at the event, sponsored by the Delaware Commission of Veteran Affairs. 

"The military is a solid spine, the spine of our nation," Biden said. "Our troops, our veterans, our military families, and our Gold Star families in particular. Only around 1% of all Americans defend 99% of us — 1%. Just 1% of Americans risk the ultimate sacrifice. We owe them so much more than we can ever repay them."

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A Gold Star family is the immediate family of service members who died while serving in the line of duty. 

For the Biden family, the day is deeply personal as May 30 marks 10 years since Biden’s son Beau died of brain cancer. Beau Biden served in the Delaware Army National Guard for more than 10 years, completing a tour in Iraq where he earned the Bronze Star for his service, and became the state’s attorney general before his death. 

Biden said that his son’s proudest moment was wearing his uniform and said appearing at the event eased the pain of the loss of his son. He also offered some words of encouragement to others suffering loss as well. 

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"Everyone who came here today to grieve, who was grieving in your heart, please know you're not alone," Biden said. "You'll never be alone. And your loved one will never be forgotten. Period." 

Biden said that Beau Biden’s son, Hunter, 19, was present at the event, while he reminisced about attending the exact same Memorial Day event as a senator with Beau Biden around the same age. 

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The former president also said that politics has become divided — but that the sacrifices of those in the military to defend democracy should unite everyone. 

"Our troops don't wear a uniform that says I'm a Democrat or a Republican, says I'm an American," Biden said. "I'm an American. That's who I am." 

Biden announced May 18 that he had been diagnosed with an "aggressive form" of prostate cancer. The former president's office later said he had never received a prostate cancer diagnosis.  

The announcement came amid heightened scrutiny about Biden's mental fitness for office, following the publication of multiple books this year chronicling the deterioration of Biden's mental faculties. 

Likewise, leaked audio recordings of Biden's October 2023 interview with former special counsel Robert Hur were released in May, showing that Biden struggled to not slur his words and even appeared to forget the year his son died. 

Supreme Court hands Trump win on revoking parole for 500K foreign nationals

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a lower court order that blocked the Trump administration from deporting roughly 500,000 migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The decision is a near-term victory for President Donald Trump  as he moves to crack down on border security and immigration priorities in his second term. 

The Supreme Court decision stays, for now, a lower court ruling that halted Trump's plans to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections for some migrants living in the U.S., which allows individuals to live and work in the U.S. legally if they cannot work safely in their home country due to a disaster, armed conflict or other "extraordinary and temporary conditions." 

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer asked justices earlier this month to allow the administration to proceed with its decision to revoke the status for the migrants, accusing U.S. District Judge Edward Chen of improperly intruding on the executive branch’s authority over immigration policy.

"The district court’s reasoning is untenable," Sauer told the high court, adding that the program "implicates particularly discretionary, sensitive, and foreign-policy-laden judgments of the Executive Branch regarding immigration policy."

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