Live Fact Check: Republican National Convention Night
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The third day of the Republican National Convention begins Wednesday with Republicans, led by new candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, U. S. Sen. J. D. Vance of Ohio, now focusing on issues of national security and foreign policy.
WATCH LIVE: 2024 Republican National Convention Night
Republicans are expected to talk about how Democratic President Joe Biden is handling the current crises in Europe and the Middle East. Former Trump administration officials are also expected to speak to describe what foreign policy would look like if he returns to the White House for a second term.
Vance will also make a national appearance Wednesday night when he delivers his first speech as the Republican vice presidential candidate.
It ends after the blessing of Reverend Packy Thompson of Houma, Louisiana.
Thompson thanked God for Trump. I also thank him for protecting him from the evil perpetrated last Saturday,” he said.
And the collection is postponed until Thursday.
“Tonight, J. D. Vance, the Project 2025 poster, is in the spotlight. But it’s the ruling families and the middle class that will be affected if he’s allowed to stay,” said Michael Tyler, communications director for Biden’s campaign.
“Backed by Silicon Valley and the billionaires who bought his election to the vice presidency, Vance is Project 2025 in human form: a timeline that places extremism and the ultra-rich above our democracy. »
And he added: “To serve you and make this country a position where all the dreams you have for yourself, your family circle and your country are imaginable again. “
After the speech, Vance’s wide circle of relatives took the stage to a song for a Republican conference: Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow. “
The song became a political staple in 1992, when another young politician from modest backgrounds ran for national office. It was Bill Clinton, who of course is a Democrat.
The Ohio senator said he had spoken to someone who wondered if he would ever buy a house. Vance went on to blame the housing crisis on the “barons of Wall Street,” who caused the economy to collapse and led to housing construction. Workers lost jobs and wages stagnated. Then, he argued, Democrats let millions of illegal immigrants into the country, further driving up real estate prices.
But the housing affordability crisis has exploded under the Biden administration, not for any of those reasons, but because interest rates have risen dramatically along with inflation. Housing costs were high under the last three presidents, but low interest rates have kept loan rates low, so the homes remain a hit for many, especially in places like Vance’s home in the Ohio State.
Today, those loan rates have risen exponentially, leaving once-expensive homes but still out of reach for most would-be first-time buyers. This is one of Biden’s most intractable problems.
To appeal to a wider audience about immigration, Vance used the example of his in-laws, who are immigrants from South Asia.
“These are incredible people who have actually enriched this country in many ways,” Vance said. “And of course I’m biased because I love my wife and her family. But it is true. “
Vance also used the term “illegal aliens” to describe illegal immigrants in the country, rather than the more derisive term “illegals” used by previous speakers. The choice of words is an example of the overall tone of Vance’s speech, which is much gentler than that of the guy who introduced it, Donald Trump Jr.
“Joe Biden has been in Washington for as long as I’ve been alive,” said Vance, 39. “For part of a century, he has championed every political project aimed at weakening and impoverishing the United States. “
In contrast, Vance said, Trump has controlled in 4 years to oppose all of those negative trends. “Just believe what he’s going to do when we give him 4 more years,” Vance said, prompting chants of “4 more years. “
In winning the nomination, Vance beat out a giant field of Republican political wannabes in Ohio, where the GOP controls each and every executive workplace in the state, whether it’s the legislative chambers and the state Supreme Court.
This combined reception is a reminder that Vance is not yet well known, even among Republicans. And he wasn’t the most talented speaker among the vice president’s shortlist. That’s possibly why Vance strictly followed the script for much of his speech, according to teleprompters in the room.
It is also noted that the speech focuses more on Vance’s biography than on the conservative red meat issues that Republican activists are passionate about.
Vance drew on his best-selling memoir to talk about growing up in a vanished Ohio town. He attributes his good luck to his grandmother, whom he calls “Mamaw. “
He talked about how tough she was. One day, when Vance remembered that he was spending too much time with a local boy who was promoting drugs, his grandmother told him that she would run the boy over with her car if Vance didn’t stop.
“She said, ‘JD, no one will ever know,'” Vance recalled.
The crowd roared and chanted “Mom! Mom!”
Vance’s autobiographical speech is aimed at introducing the country to the 39-year-old rookie senator, but he seemed to have no choice yet to immediately confront Saturday’s assassination attempt on his running mate.
“For 8 years, President Trump has given everything to fight for his country. He didn’t want politics, but he did want the country,” Vance said.
“They said he was a tyrant. They said that it had to be stopped at all costs. But what did he ask for?” Vance asked. He called for national unity. “
He also shared an unexpected personal detail: Two nights ago, he said, Trump kissed his two adult children on the cheek. “Sorry guys,” Vance joked about the moment, noting that either of Trump’s children were “squirming” like Vance’s own 4-year-old son when the Ohio senator tried to kiss him.
With a kiss to his wife, he went to Merle Haggard’s “America First” show, which was performed several times during the convention.
Bowing his head and waving to the crowd, the 39-year-old Ohio senator, who was elected just 20 months ago, proclaimed, “Wow, wow!” as the crowd briefly chanted “JD, JD. “
“My name is J. D. Vance and I’m from the state of Ohio,” he said.
To chants of “O-H-I-O,” he said, “We gotta do it with Ohio love, we gotta win Michigan too. “
Usha Vance, JD Vance’s spouse and unknown politician, reached the RNC level for her primetime debut.
“When I asked to introduce them to my spouse J. D. Vance, I lost,” she said. “What can I say that hasn’t already been said? I mean, this guy is the subject of a Ron Howard movie.
Usha Vance has exposed the stark differences between how she and her husband grew up. The senator comes from a low-income Appalachian family and comes from a middle-class immigrant family in San Diego. “When JD met me, he addressed our differences with interest and enthusiasm,” she said.
Biden commented after Air Force One took him back to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The president was in Las Vegas to speak with members of a Latino civil rights organization, but canceled his appearance after learning he tested positive for the virus.
The White House said the president had mild symptoms, had begun treatment and would isolate at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Donald Trump Jr. spoke poignantly of his father’s courage on Saturday after a would-be assassin opened fire, saying he had shown “the whole world” that “the next American president has the center of a lion. “But he oscillated between talking about his father as a defender of national unity and criticizing his enemies.
“When he stood with blood on his face and the flag on his back, the world saw a spirit that may never be broken,” said Trump Jr. “And that is the true spirit of America. America knows what it’s like to be depressed. We know what it’s like to be scared.
He temporarily began to denounce the “lies” of the media.
“They lied about Russian collusion, they lied about Hunter’s laptop. They lied about Joe Biden’s suitability for office, they lied about border security,” Trump Jr. said. In the end, he says, “all hell broke loose in United States. “
Trump Jr. concluded by referring to his father on Saturday. “He would possibly have ended up on the ground, but they abandoned him,” he said. “He raised his fist in the air and what did he say?The crowd responded: “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
The speech shows the challenge facing the convention — to give voice to the fear and frustration of their conservative base while also trying to promote Donald Trump as a symbol of hope for all voters.
A plane entered the limited airspace surrounding the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Wednesday and was escorted out of the domain via an F-35 aircraft from the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
The plane was out of communication with air traffic while flying about 24 miles southwest of Milwaukee around 3:30 p. m. , NORAD said. The F-35 aircraft was flying at about 4,000 feet altitude and would have been visible from the ground, NORAD said.
NORAD did not provide any important information about the type of plane it intercepted, its direction or whether it knew it was violating limited airspace.
The Federal Aviation Administration has imposed transit restrictions on flights in and around Milwaukee during the conference that ends Thursday.
Vice presidential candidate J. D. Vance will draw on his poor Appalachian upbringing in his opening remarks, as he promises the electorate that it may not be the small Midwestern town he comes from.
“Never in my craziest mind would I have believed that I could have status here tonight,” Vance, a 39-year-old first-term senator, will say, according to excerpts of his comments published during the campaign.
He grew up in Middlethe City, Ohio, “a small town where other people spoke their minds, built with their hands, and enjoyed their God, their family, their community, and their country with all their hearts. “
In his speech, he uses his young people to create a relationship with Biden, 81, who is more than twice his age.
Vance notes that he was in fourth grade when “a career politician named Joe Biden supported NAFTA, a bad industrial deal that sent countless smart American manufacturing jobs to Mexico. “
“In small towns like mine in Ohio, or neighboring Pennsylvania, or in Michigan and other states in our country, jobs were sent and young men were sent to war. “
He will also reference his mother, a single mother “who struggled with addiction but never gave up. ” And I’m proud to say that tonight my mom is here, 10 years white and sober.
Vance concluded his speech with a promise to the American people:
“To the rest of us in Middletown, Ohio, and to all the forgotten communities in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and every corner of our nation, I promise you this: I will never know ‘where I came from. ‘
William Pekrul, who claims to be the father of 11 children, fought on D-Day and in the Battle of the Bulge. “We were many, today we are not many,” Pekrul said, on stage.
“But for those of us here, United States is still worth fighting for. “
Pekrul went on to say that “it hurts my heart” to see how Biden and Harris have taken care of the country. “If President Trump was the commander in chief, I would go back and re-enlist today,” Pekrul said, as Trump smiled and applauded.
Trump has a history of questionable statements about veterans, adding that he was accused through his former chief of staff, a former Marine general, of mocking the sacrifice of those buried in Normandy who died in the D-Day invasion. Trump denied making the statement.
As issues related to the war between Israel and Hamas are being discussed, symptoms emerge from the crowd on the ground that say “We are Jews for Trump. “
An Israeli flag flies near a woman holding a sign that reads: “Free the hostages, Israel and fight anti-Semitism. “
Biden’s leadership has strongly supported Israel despite significant protests from within the Democratic Party itself. Biden visited Israel shortly after the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, and hugged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Biden has rejected demands to halt all arms shipments to Israel, though he has suspended the transfer of 2,000-pound bombs, fearing they could simply be used in densely populated spaces in Gaza.
At the same time, U. S. officials have been racing since October to try to hammer out a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that would see the release of the hostages and at least a transitory end to hostilities.
Biden’s most level-headed advisers, including national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have met with the families of American and other hostages still being held by Hamas and have pledged to work for their release.
Country singer Brian Kelley played his song “American Spirit” as a fraternity organization from UNC Chapel Hill took the stage, carrying American flags.
The organization was revered for cutting down a Palestinian flag that activists were flying in position of the American flag in their camps. Then the fraternity brothers raised the American flag again.
Next up was Shabbat Kestenbaum, a Jewish Harvard student who was suing his school for alleged anti-Semitism. day,” Kestenbaum said.
The case of an American captured by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and held hostage since then was also pronounced.
The families of the thirteen US service members killed in a suicide bombing in August 2021 have emerged on the scene as Trump and Republicans seek to further shine a spotlight on one of the most difficult moments of Biden’s term. “Joe Biden refused to acknowledge his sacrifice. ” Christy Shamblin, the mother of Sergeant Nicole Gee, told the crowd. Donald Trump knew all of our children’s names. He knew all the stories about him.
The crowd at the RNC chanted “Never forget!” and “United States!”
The parents and loved ones of those service members have been thrust into the political spotlight, appearing before Congress and granting media interviews.
Republicans have claimed that Biden’s decision to withdraw US troops after two decades of war in Afghanistan is strictly political. But the agreement for the US withdrawal from Afghanistan signed during Trump’s administration in February 2020. The agreement called for the withdrawal of US troops by May 2021, but Trump left office in January without leaving a plan in place to the effective withdrawal of forces.
Families criticized Biden for never publicly naming their loved ones. On Wednesday, one of the family members called out to each of the thirteen members, and the crowd echoed the call of each lost soldier as it was read aloud.
The Republican complaint about the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan resonates with electorates everywhere. Former Biden supporters, such as former New Hampshire House Speaker Steve Shurtleff, have cited the failed withdrawal as one of the reasons they need Biden to step down.
Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida Trump helped Gold Star families heal after loved ones were killed in combat.
Waltz explained how Trump has organized them into his clubs for dinners and occasions to thank them for their family’s service and sacrifice.
The former Green Beret also opened his Wednesday night remarks by addressing Biden and asking attendees, “Have you noticed charging stations in the Middle East for Biden’s electric tanks?
Waltz, co-chair of the platform committee, also spoke at Monday’s conference. His call has been discussed as a possible candidate for secretary of state in a second Trump administration.
Kellyanne Conway reminded RNC attendees how many have held senior positions in the Trump White House.
The former senior presidential adviser said Tuesday that she is one of five women, along with others other than former press secretary-turned-Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who held senior positions under the Trump administration.
Conway said they included 19 young people in total. Party officials and strategists noted that Trump has struggled in the last two elections (and in May 2024) to attract college-educated suburban women.
In 2016, Conway became the first woman to effectively run a Republican presidential campaign.
His presence at the 2020 RNC served as a sort of farewell, as he had announced that he would be leaving the administration.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was welcomed by the entire delegation, led by Texans waving their white cowboy hats.
“I can tell you that the United States wants a president who will protect our border,” said Abbott, the governor of the state that holds most of the U. S. -Mexico border.
Abbott criticized the Biden leadership for opposing his efforts to secure more of his segment of the border, “to take back our land and wire it in. “
Abbott’s comments prompted thousands of people on Fiserv’s forum to chant, “Send them back, send them back. “
Throughout the convention, non-politicians singled out what they called “ordinary Americans” to defend Trump or oppose President Biden.
“It looks and feels like an invasion because it is,” said Jim Chilton, an Arizona rancher, of the immigration unrest he has noticed near his property.
Chilton’s wife, Sue, said a U. S. Customs and Border Patrol agent was shot and killed near their home and she was concerned about protecting her husband when he visited their property.
“Under President Donald Trump, it wasn’t like that,” Sue Chilton said.
The shooting of the U. S. border agent occurred in 2018, when Trump was president.
After ABC News reported that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer argued to President Joe Biden on Saturday that it would be better for him to abandon his re-election bid, a spokesman for the lawmaker denied this report.
“Unless ABC’s source is Senator Chuck Schumer or President Joe Biden, the reports are just idle speculation,” Schumer’s spokesperson said. “Leader Schumer conveyed his group’s perspectives to President Biden on Saturday. ”
The crowded conference hall gave former Trump White House official Peter Navarro a standing ovation that lasted more than a minute as he took the stage. He was released from a Florida prison earlier today.
“If they can come for me, if they can come for Donald Trump, be careful, they can come for you,” Navarro told congressmen and delegates. Navarro was released after serving a four-month sentence for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U. S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. .
Navarro’s provocative speech is a rare mention of Jan. 6 at the congress. He spoke for more than 10 minutes — one of the longest speeches to date — about what he called the “jackals of the law” whom he accused of locking him up. Navarro kissed His fiancée was on the level of wild cheers. It was a surprising welcome from one of Trump’s longest-serving advisers, even though he hadn’t had any specific notoriety before his challenge to the Jan. 6 committee.
The scene was a common sight at Trump rallies, where the presidential candidate plays a recording made by those convicted of crimes on Jan. 6, whom he refers to as “hostages. “But there was no similar moment at the convention, which has so far avoided talking about Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 loss.
A handful of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. supporters waved flags near the front of the independent candidate they say is a strong choice for the bipartisan ticket in which they feel increasingly out of place.
Patrick Clerkin, 31, who lives outside Boston, said he was in Milwaukee looking to energize young voters. “This time they have a third selection,” Clerkin said, while an AI-generated pop edit of a crusade jingle via John F. . Kennedy was blaring through a loudspeaker in the background.
Clerkin called the leaked video of Kennedy’s phone call with Trump “encouraging. “
“That wouldn’t happen if they didn’t make it noteworthy,” Clerkin said.
Jackson criticizes Biden’s physical and intellectual talents in carrying out his presidential duties and blames the president’s “staff and family” for not pressuring him to abandon his reelection campaign. But Jackson said, “Perhaps the biggest blame lies with his own vice president. … She lied to us. He has placed the country before the country. His character is not as dignified as Joe Biden is in his form and mind.
If that’s obvious, Republicans are doing everything they can to lay the groundwork for a crusade against Harris if necessary.
The South Carolina Republican spoke at the RNC on Tuesday night, talking about her origins as a top high school dropout and Waffle House waitress before the first woman to graduate from the Citadel Military College.
He also addressed the attempted assassination of Trump, saying that, “just as Trump temporarily stood up” after the shooting, “America will soon be alone again” with his return to the White House.
Mace worked for Trump in 2016 and won South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District in 2020. But after criticizing Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U. S. Capitol, the former president endorsed a Republican who nominated her for the 2022 primaries.
Mace won that race, regained Trump’s graceful good graces, and now has his own as he seeks a third term.
The third night of the RNC radically complains about President Biden as commander in chief and weak head of state. There have already been plenty of smears against Biden this week, which are expected at a Republican conference before challenging an incumbent Democrat.
The question is whether the attacks are successful beyond conservatives who are already likely to vote for Trump.
Republican President Michael Whatley went over the argument in his opening remarks, talking about a porous southern border and claiming that Russia and China were “under control” when Trump was president. But the latter, in particular, constitutes a simplified view of the situation. The ambitions and competitive postures of Moscow and Beijing in their respective regions are realized.
Trump spent much of his presidency making friendly overtures toward Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, Biden has largely followed Trump’s technique on industrial policy with China.
But those details and nuances probably won’t be conveyed tonight in Milwaukee.
Russia’s top diplomat welcomes Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance for ending US aid to Ukraine and says Moscow will work with any US leader “willing to engage in a fair and mutually respectful dialogue. “
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a U. N. news convention that Vance is in favor of peace and “that’s what we need: to stop Ukraine from being filled with weapons. “
“Then the war will end and then we can look for solutions,” he said.
Vance needs the United States to deal with its own mess, not necessarily a war thousands of miles away on some other continent, though he said Putin was wrong to invade. This view is in line with that of presidential candidate Trump, who has claimed that if elected, he will end the clash before his inauguration day in January, but declined to say how.
The Russian minister is under pressure that any solution in Ukraine will have to take into account the current situation and the truth of political life. And a key detail is that the four Ukrainian regions illegally annexed through Moscow in 2022 are now part of Russia. , as the Constitution provides, “and it makes no sense to continue discussing them, it is not negotiable. “
Biden boarded Air Force One and told reporters traveling with him: “I feel good. ” The president wore a mask when he boarded Air Force One.
Shortly before the White House announced Biden’s status, the president stopped by the Original Lindo Michoácan restaurant, mingling with customers, chatting and taking selfies as he went from table to table earlier in an interview with Univision.
President Biden has taken a coronavirus test, according to a speaker at UnidosUS’s annual convention streamed on the White House YouTube channel.
Biden was scheduled to speak at the event in Las Vegas on Wednesday afternoon as part of an effort to rally the Hispanic electorate ahead of the November election. Janet Murguía, president and CEO of Unidos USA, told visitors that the president apologized and may not attend because he had tested positive for the virus.
The president had already visited the Original Lindo Michoacán restaurant in Las Vegas, where he greeted visitors and scheduled a meeting with Univision.
The role of Outer Police in Milwaukee came under scrutiny after police officers in Columbus, Ohio, shot and killed a knife-wielding man near the convention.
Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman told The Associated Press today, a day after the shooting, that officers were tasked with responding to an “imminent active risk situation. ” He said this repairs people’s confidence that authorities support the community, regardless of where they come from.
The shooting angered citizens of the community because police arrived from another location. It has also revived activists’ concerns about police use of deadly force.
New Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s team says it’s too early to talk about the vice presidential debate since Democrats don’t officially have their nominees and President Biden could still withdraw from the race.
After Vice Harris agreed to a proposed third debate date via CBS News and encouraged Vance to accept, Brian Hughes, a Trump campaign spokesman, said, “We don’t know who the Democratic nominee for vice president will be, so we can do it. “Eso. No set a date before its congress. To do so would be unfair to Gavin Newsom, JB Pritzker, Gretchen Whitmer or those who choose Kamala Harris as their running mate.
President Biden is the presumptive nominee of the Democrats, but party leaders are pressuring him to resign after his disastrous debate with Trump. Biden insisted he would not drop out of the race.
A black pickup truck dropped Peter Navarro off at a Hyatt hotel just outside the security perimeter surrounding the Republican National Convention. He will speak tonight.
Navarro, who served as a White House trade adviser under Trump, was released today from a Florida prison after serving four months for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol by a crowd of people. supporters of the Republican president, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Navarro brought his own luggage to the hotel after his crime earlier in the day.
“I am freedom,” he told the AP.
Ohio Sen. J. D. Vance lashed out at the press Thursday at his first fundraiser since becoming Trump’s running mate, saying “they’re really missing out on everything this guy has done. “
Speaking to donors in Milwaukee, not from the conference venue, Vance said the truth about Trump came to light on Saturday, after he survived a failed assassination attempt and Trump stood up, raised his hand in the air and said, “Fight!”Fight! Fight!”
Trump, he said, “literally got shot; he almost lost his life by millimeters in the service of this country. “
But in addition to being crazy and angry, Vance said, Trump “called for national unity. He called for calm. He showed leadership, my friends. “
“The media helps to continue saying that they need someone to lower the temperature. Well, Donald Trump was shot and he turned down the temperature. That’s what makes a true leader,” he added.
Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. J. D. Vance is at his first fundraiser since becoming the official Republican vice presidential nominee.
Vance said he would use his speech Wednesday to defend the importance of re-electing Trump.
Speaking to several hundred donors at Discovery World, a lakeside museum and aquarium in Milwaukee, he joked that he had told Trump he was “very excited for tonight” and had no intention of ruining it all, but that it was too late. Trump to replace his mind.
Vance brought in Ohio Congressman Jim Banks, who called him “the long haul of the Republican Party” and the America First movement.
He applauded Trump for his election and said Vance was the most productive candidate for engaging with working-class men and women in critical states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Fresh off his speech in Congress on Donald Trump’s departure, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was back on the Republican circuit.
One of his first stops on Wednesday: the Republican luncheon in Iowa. Yes, the state that will vote for the first time in the race for the Republican nomination in the 2028 presidential election.
DeSantis finished in a disappointing position in the Iowa caucuses in January and then abandoned Trump. He didn’t mention 2028 when he was with the Iowa delegates, but he actually sounded like a governor who was still looking to sell his record to an organization. of influential Republican activists.
He mentioned several conservative political accomplishments and, as he did Tuesday night, boasted about Republicans’ existing dominance in what was once a coin-flipping state.
The reason, according to DeSantis: “We had leadership. “
Menachem M. Raitport, a New York state delegate and candidate for the 9th Congressional District seat, says he doesn’t know much about J. D. Vance or other Trumps as a vice presidential candidate.
“I hope our president has done a thorough evaluation of his nominees,” Raitport said Wednesday at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. “And if Donald Trump believes that this is his choice, then he is my choice because I have full confidence in the President who will return our country to prosperity, security, secure borders and fix our economy and fix our country in its entirety and unite us all.
If Vance and Vice President Kamala Harris were to face off in a debate, Raitport said she would watch him “with a bucket of popcorn and laugh. “
“I’m sure JD Vance has a lot to say and he’ll do it clearly,” Raitport said. “On the other hand, Kamala Harris, it’s going to be a comedy show. “
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich introduces Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance as part of Donald Trump’s ongoing effort to remake the Republican Party and the nation.
Gingrich, Trump’s best friend who is talking to the former president, told Iowa Republicans on Wednesday that the former president may have simply made a traditional best friend selection to “solidify” the party — a marriage like that of conservative rebel Ronald Reagan and the status quo figure. George H. W. Bush, who opposed him for the nomination in 1980.
“He’s had time to think about it and his answer is, ‘No, other people are for me, so I can make a deal. People are for me so we can get things done, and I want someone who believes in what we’re doing,” Gingrich. saying.
This flies in the face of some of the rhetoric about party unity that governed the first two days of the Republican National Committee. Or, more accurately, it reflects that the definition of Republican unity in 2024 is about accepting Trump’s vision and his imprint on the party.
This influence is so profound, Gingrich added, that “every word” of the Republican platform “personally written or edited” through Trump.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as former President Donald Trump’s press secretary, asked about the chances of 2028 and whether she was intrigued by the prospect of becoming the first woman president.
“Right now, frankly, the only election I’m thinking about is November of this year. As soon as this is over, I will focus on 2026 and being re-elected as governor of my home state,” she said in a verbal exchange with Politico in an event hall across from the conference venue in Milwaukee.
She was also asked if she had waited for Trump and if he had given her a hard time.
“I have a wonderful relationship with the president,” he said. I kept up a wonderful back and forth and I’m proud to be with him in 2016 and 2020. “
Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a moderate verbal exchange on abortion access in Kalamazoo, Michigan, about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
“As we all know, it is a heinous, horrible and cowardly act,” Harris said. “My husband and I are grateful that he was not seriously injured that day. As soon as we saw what happened, we prayed for his well-being. ” be,” he continued.
Harris also offered her condolences to the family of Corey Comperatore, the firebrand leader killed while the government says he was protecting his family from gunfire at Saturday’s Trump rally in Pennsylvania.
Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow praised Vice President Kamala Harris’ time in the United States Senate and her role as a deciding vote for the Democrats’ legislative calendar in a crusade in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Stabenow said the Biden administration has accomplished “the task of rebuilding our country” and “has been able to do more for Michigan than I ever did in my lifetime. “
“We’ve seen her masterfully grill Trump’s Supreme Court nominees and other members of the administration,” Stabenow said. “I can’t wait for her to debate with J. D. Vance. I’m shaking right now.
Stabenow then turned his attention to Vance, whom he criticized as a Trump “clone” and criticized his record on issues of abortion, Medicare and the 2020 election results.
“Tonight, when he delivers his speech and when he travels the country. The fact is that J. D. Vance, and indeed Donald Trump, are pro-United States,” he said to applause.
U. S. Rep. James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, subpoenaed Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear before the committee Monday in what is expected to be the first congressional hearing on the assassination attempt. President Donald Trump.
First, Comer said the Secret Service had committed to his presence, but that national security officials appear to have intervened and that no “significant update or information” has been shared with the committee.
Comer said the “lack of transparency and lack of cooperation” with the committee called into question Cheaille’s ability to lead the Secret Service and required a subpoena.
Cheatle said the firm understands the importance of a review ordered by Democratic President Joe Biden and will participate fully in it and in the congressional committees reviewing the shooting.
The House Oversight Committee on Monday subpoenaed the director of the Secret Service in the first hearing into the assassination of Donald Trump.
Former national security advisor Robert O’Brien says the popular app TikTok is “the spy operation ever created in the history of espionage. “
Speaking to reporters at a forum hosted through Bloomberg News at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, O’Brien said the app provides China with unprecedented non-public information for American users, posing an immediate risk to the National security.
Trump, however, backed down on TikTok, which he had once tried to ban. O’Brien noted that the former president had amassed a large following on the app, with many more fans than President Biden.
“He likes that metric,” O’Brien joked.
O’Brien is expected to play a management role if Trump wins a term and has said he would “certainly be willing to serve” if asked.
O’Brien also called it the concept of a comeback for former U. N. ambassador Nikki Haley, who led a bitter No. 1 crusade against Trump but praised him at the conference Tuesday night.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he came back here,” he said. I think President Trump is very generous, especially when other people say smart things about him. And last night he said really wonderful things about him.
TikTok has long rejected accusations that the Beijing government has user data.
California Rep. Adam Schiff says he thinks it’s time for President Joe Biden to “pass the torch” and retire from the election.
Schiff said Wednesday that Biden has been “one of the ultimate presidents,” but that the country is at a crossroads and that an eventual Trump presidency would undermine American democracy.
READ MORE: Rep. Adam Schiff calls on Biden to withdraw from re-election bid
“While the decision to withdraw from the crusade rests solely with President Biden, it is time for him to pass the torch,” Schiff said in a statement. “And in doing so, safeguard his legacy of leadership by allowing us to defeat Donald Trump in the next election. “»
Schiff, who is running for Senate this year, is a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who led Trump’s first impeachment process in the House in 2019.
U. S. Sen. Joni Ernst says she appreciates the unified vibe of the Republican convention, but tells her fellow Iowans that she’s excited, for another reason, about the Democrats’ rally next month in Chicago.
“How many of you are going to see the Democratic National Convention?Ernst at an Iowa Republican Party luncheon on Wednesday.
Delegates laughed as she continued, “Make popcorn because it will be the most fun exercise ever. “
Ernst proudly said she is a “conspiracy theorist” who, for “more than a year,” has told others privately that President Joe Biden would not be the nominee. “It’s in free fall, and the sad thing is that they’ve dug it so deep at this point, how the hell will they be able to get rid of it?
U. S. Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat running for Senate, called on President Biden to withdraw from the presidential election.
Prosecutors charged a 21-year-old Milwaukee man with carrying a concealed firearm near the security perimeter of the Republican National Convention.
The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday filed a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon and a license contrary to type.
According to the offender’s complaint, federal agents patrolling the convention’s security area saw the man walking Monday morning. Officers saw the guy wearing black pants, black gloves and a balaclava and wearing what the complaint describes as a “large black tactical backpack. ”
The agents stopped him and saw a lump in his waist, which led them to ask him if he had a gun. The man let officers search for him, according to the complaint. They discovered an AK-47 pistol in his backpack. Officers also discovered a “Scream” film mask, a flashlight and other materials.
The guy told officials he had a concealed shipping permit, according to the complaint.
Online court records indicated the man was scheduled to appear in court for the first time Thursday morning.
Court records do not indicate whether the man had an attorney who could speak on his behalf and the prosecutor said he had no information about who might represent him. Attempts to locate the man’s phone number were also unsuccessful.
Vice President Kamala Harris has agreed to an appointment for a debate opposite Ohio Sen. J. D. Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee.
That date is Tuesday, August 13, which CBS News had proposed and Harris accepted, according to a Biden-Harris crusade official who was granted anonymity to discuss debate negotiations.
First, he had agreed on two other dates: July 23 or August 13. But Biden’s crusade only accepted one vice presidential debate hosted through CBS News, while Trump’s crusade insisted that there be one on Fox News.
— Associated Press Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
Tony Fabrizio, Trump’s pollster and senior adviser to his campaign, said Wednesday that Vance would be “absolutely” key in Rust Belt states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, where the senator’s working-class roots and populist outlook are popular.
“His story is fascinating,” Fabrizio said while speaking at an event hosted by the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and The Cook Political Report.
WATCH: Who is JD Vance?
“We’re going to see J. D. Vance massively entrenched in the Rust Belt states until Election Day,” Fabrizio said. “This also leaves the president the option to go to other states, most likely to expand the electoral map. “
Wisconsin delegate Kathy Broghammer said Wednesday that she expects J. D. Vance is selected as Trump’s vice presidential nominee.
“No matter what level you’re at in your life, he can relate to you because he’s been there,” she said at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. “I think people can feel satisfied and confident that he will understand them. “
Broghammer also said she wasn’t concerned that a woman or a user of color wasn’t chosen for the role.
“I don’t see any negativity in any of them,” he said. I don’t see things in terms of race. I don’t see things in terms of gender. If you’re a woman, that’s great. If you’re not a woman, that’s okay too. Whatever color you are, I don’t care. It’s about what is internal and what you can bring into the country, how you can help us.
“I love this country,” he added. We want everything. Everything is backwards. Everything is lost. I have two sons. They are young, one is 29 years old, the other 30 years old. In other words, if someone is looking to take away the American dream from my children, I won’t settle for that.
Nassau County Delegate and Director Bruce Blakeman of New York hopes U. S. Sen. J. D. Vance brings more enthusiasm to the task than former Vice President Mike Pence.
“I love Mike Pence,” Blakeman said Wednesday at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. “Mike Pence is a smart man, but Mike is the kind of person you probably need to be an instructor for or someone like that. “
“JD is a doer. It’s a kind of action,” Blakeguy continued. “It’s a type of principles. HeArray cares deeply about this country. I think JD is the right person for Trump because he’s strong, and collectively, they’ll have the strength that other Americans want. »
But that doesn’t mean the two will agree or deserve to agree on everything, Blakeman added.
“When you settle for the vice presidential nomination, your job is to advise the president, but do it privately,” he said.
U. S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, a New York state Republican, said Wednesday that the choice of U. S. Sen. J. D. Vance as Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee is part of his party’s commitment to youth.
“We’ve been criticized for being the oldest party,” D’Esposito said at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. “I think it’s aimed at another demographic in this country that has been excluded for too long. “
“I think he’s precisely what this country is good for and what we were missing,” D’Esposito added. “He’s someone who’s a leader. He is someone who fought for this country. He is someone who has been an experienced and leveled leader. -Legislator in the chair.
D’Esposito also said Vance’s nomination shows that the GOP “can put aside our differences,” noting that the senator was once a critic of Trump.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has said he will seek the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle following the assassination of Donald Trump.
Johnson said Wednesday on Fox News that “what happened is inexcusable” and that the House would release a task force to investigate security at Trump’s rally last weekend.
“We want answers,” he said in a social media post. Cheatle was scheduled to appear before a House committee next Monday, but Johnson said he told her he would likely not appear.
President Donald Trump’s running mate, U. S. Sen. J. D. Vance of Ohio, is unknown to most Americans.
According to a new vote through the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, conducted before Trump picked the freshman senator as vice president, 6 in 10 Americans don’t know enough about Vance to form an opinion.
About 2 in 10 American adults have a favorable opinion of it, and 22% view it negatively.
Among Republicans, 61% don’t know enough to have an opinion on Vance. About a quarter of them have a positive opinion of him and about 1 in 10 people have a negative opinion.
Democrats are pessimistic about their party’s customers in November, according to a new poll from the AP-NORC Public Affairs Research Center.
With only about a third of Democrats, Biden is more likely to win than Trump in November. About 3 in 10 Democrats are equally capable of winning, and 16% of the victory will most likely go to Trump.
On the other hand, Republicans are often convinced that Trump is in the most productive position to win.
Trump also has an advantage over Biden in who is best able to handle a crisis: 38% to 28%. And others are more or less slightly divided on which candidate has the most productive vision for the country, with 35% saying Biden and 34% Trump.
The vote offers a bright spot for Biden: 40% of adults say he’s fairer than Trump, while about 2 in 10 think otherwise.
About two-thirds of Democrats, President Joe Biden, deserve to withdraw from the presidential race and let their party choose another candidate, according to a new poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The vote took place two weeks after Biden’s debate failed and undermines his claims since then that Democrats across the country back his candidacy.
Democrats are more likely to say they are dissatisfied with Biden as a candidate now than they were before his shaky performance. About a portion are dissatisfied, compared with about four in 10 in a June AP-NORC poll.
Young Democrats are especially likely to need to see him resign, and say they are dissatisfied with him. Three-quarters of Democrats under forty-five need Biden to retire, compared with about six in 10 among older Democrats.
While there is a glimmer of optimism for Biden’s campaign, the vote provides evidence that Black Democrats are among Biden’s most powerful supporters, with about a portion of respondents saying they continue to run, compared to about 3 in 10 white and Hispanic Democrats.
Overall, seven in 10 Americans think Biden deserves to retire, and Democrats are less likely than Republicans and independents to say he deserves to make way for a new candidate.
Abortion is a central issue as Democratic leaders and women with harrowing private histories of suffering to access reproductive care piled up in Milwaukee the week of the Republican National Convention.
Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar blamed Trump for banning abortion after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Wade. Trump takes credit for appointing three U. S. Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the landmark 1973 ruling establishing a constitutional right to abortion.
“I need to talk to American women to tell them that there’s only one team in this poll that cares about you and that’s the Biden-Harris team,” she said. “The Trump-Vance price list doesn’t care about women. “
Amanda Zurawski, an Austin woman who gave birth prematurely, developed sepsis and nearly died, said her story “only became imaginable because of Donald Trump, and if it’s up to Trump and his new running mate JD Vance, It may become true for many other Americans.
Zurawski called Vance’s abortion timeline “extreme,” noting that he had in the past opposed the need for rape and incest exceptions to abortion restrictions.
Nearly two-thirds of Democrats, President Joe Biden, deserve to withdraw from the presidential race and let their party nominate another candidate, according to a new poll, particularly contradicting his post-debate assertion that “middle Democrats” are still with him, even if some of the “big names” oppose him.
The new AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, conducted as Biden fights to save his candidacy two weeks after the failure of his debate, also found that only about 3 in 10 Democrats are incredibly or very confident in themselves that he has the brainpower to serve well as president. up from 40% in an AP-NORC poll in February.
READ MORE: These 3 Democrats did no better than Biden in this poll against Trump. They didn’t do worse either
The effects underscore the demanding situations facing the 81-year-old president as he tries to silence calls within his own party for him to drop out of the race and tries to convince Democrats that he is the most productive candidate to defeat Donald Trump. conducted largely before Trump’s assassination attempt Saturday at a crusade in Pennsylvania.
It’s not clear that the shooting influenced people’s views of Biden, but the small number of election interviews conducted after the shooting didn’t provide any early indication of an improvement in his prospects.
Democrats will seek to hold a virtual vote to nominate President Joe Biden as their nominee in the first week of August, while Biden rejected calls from some of his members to drop out of the race after his disastrous debate against Donald Trump.
The Democratic National Convention’s rules committee will meet Friday to discuss its plans, according to a letter sent to members through The Associated Press on Wednesday, and finalize them next week. The letter from the co-chairs, Bishop Leah D. Daughtry and Gov. Tim Walz, say the virtual vote likely won’t take place until Aug. 1, but the party is still committed to holding a vote by Aug. 7, which was the Ohio vote.
“We will not implement a rushed virtual voting procedure,” Daughtry and Walz wrote, “although we will begin to think about how a virtual voting procedure would work. ”
United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told The Associated Press he was “horrified” to learn that former President Donald Trump was wounded in a shooting on Saturday.
“Thank God, former President Trump survived and is doing well,” Murthy said in an interview.
The attempted assassination of Trump by a 20-year-old with an AR-style rifle came just weeks after Murthy declared gun violence a public health crisis in the United States.
WATCH: Republicans try to cheer up electorate as they call for unity after assassination attempt
Republicans have roundly rejected Murthy’s calls for gun restrictions. Trump fired Murthy, an Obama appointee, as surgeon general in 2017. Murthy is serving a term in the Biden administration.
Murthy said he was also thinking about Saturday’s Trump protesters, who feared for their lives.
“This kind of fear, by the way, is what millions of people enjoy every day in our country,” Murthy said of gun violence in the United States.
The House Democrats’ crusade committee says it raised $44 million in the last quarter.
Despite the turmoil that has rocked Biden’s reelection, strategists said donors are mobilizing to give congressional Democrats a firewall against a possible time when Trump takes the White House.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said Wednesday that the total included $19. 7 million raised in June. Biden’s faltering debate against Trump took hold at the end of the month.
After three days, an enigmatic portrait emerged of the 20-year-old who nearly killed former President Donald Trump with a high-velocity bullet: he is a lonely sage with few friends, probably with a scant footprint on social media and no clues. Strong political ideals that can recommend a reason for an assassination attempt.
READ MORE: Secret Service’s handling of security in Trump rally investigation, Homeland Security inspector general says
Even after the FBI hacked into Thomas Matthew Crooks’ cellphone, searched his computer, home and car and interviewed more than a hundred people, the mystery of why he opened fire on Trump’s rally on Saturday remains unclear. A bullet grazing the Republican candidate’s ear remained equally elusive. as when it happened.
Former White House official Peter Navarro was released from his criminal charge on Wednesday and is scheduled to speak hours later at the Republican National Convention, according to a user familiar with the timeline who spoke on condition of anonymity before its official release.
Navarro was released after serving his four-month sentence for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Navarro will go straight to Milwaukee to speak on the third night of the Republican National Convention.
It is scheduled to do so at 6 p. m. hour.
— Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.
Vice President Kamala Harris criticizes Republican Donald Trump’s new running mate ahead of her speech Wednesday at the Republican National Convention.
In a video released during President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign, Harris downplayed the selection of Ohio Sen. JD Vance as Trump sought “someone he knew would automatically support his excessive agenda. “
“Make no mistake: J. D. Vance will only be unwavering with Trump, with our country,” Harris says in the 45-second video.
Trump and other prominent Republicans have recently stepped up their grievances against Harris. It comes amid the hypothesis that she could simply upgrade Biden as the most sensible on the Democratic presidential list if he heeds growing calls for him to drop out of the race.
U. S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, the first House Democrat to publicly call on President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, said the Democratic National Committee will not “rush” the nomination procedure for his reelection bid.
Doggett said Wednesday that plans for an early nomination, which the Democratic National Committee is contemplating through a virtual call ahead of the August conference, would jeopardize his chances of winning. Instead, he called for an open procedure to elect a new Democratic presidential candidate.
“Temporarily advancing the nomination procedure is not a way to win over the many unconvinced voters in developing battleground states,” he said. “The threat of a Trump tyranny is so wonderful that we will have to put forward our most powerful candidates. “
“A short circuit in the Convention’s procedure puts the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives at risk,” he added.
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