Overshadowing President Donald Trump's first visit to Connecticut since taking office is the latest in a series of White House controversies. 

Trump arrived to deliver a commencement address at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London. During the speech, he complained to graduating cadets that no president has been treated as "unfairly" as he by the media.

The local crowd greeted him with a standing ovation. Trump has been popular with the military since his campaign.

But in Washington, there's a growing firestorm surrounding new allegations that the president tried to directly interfere with the FBI's investigation into alleged ties between his aids and the Russian government.

Trump says the media is out to sabotage him.

"I didn't get elected to serve the Washington media or special interests," he said. "I got elected to serve the forgotten men and women of our country."

When asked about the turmoil in Trump's White House, one of the Coast Guard graduates told News 12 Connecticut that she and her classmates were ready to follow the president. 

"We've talked about it, but he's the boss," Hanna Del Guercio says. "We'll do whatever he asks of us."

Still, some people in the audience had criticisms for the president.

"There were a couple of points where he strayed from talking about the graduates and their future and went into the political realm," says Kalinn Harrison, mother of one graduate. "And I thought that was probably a little inappropriate."