South Dakota, July 4 -- US President Donald Trump on Friday (local time), on the eve of the nation's 250th anniversary, paid tribute to the "American giants" carved into the Black Hills of Mount Rushmore.

Addressing a patriotic crowd on the eve of America's 250th Independence Day, the President anchored his vision for the nation's future in the legacy of four of his most influential predecessors: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.

"We salute the father of our country, George Washington. The author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson. The great emancipator and savior of our union, Abraham Lincoln. And the man who built America into a global superpower, Theodore Roosevelt," Presi...