Former President Donald Trump is expected to make an appearance at the Republican National Convention on Monday, according to multiple reports, hours after the party formally nominated him for president and just two days after he was grazed with a bullet in an assassination attempt at his rally in Pennsylvania.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and his wife Usha Chilukuri Vance look on as he is nominated for the office ... [+]
Trump is expected to appear Monday at the convention in Milwaukee, MSNBC and CNN reported, citing unnamed sources.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., kicked off Monday’s speeches, both making anti-transgender statements in their brief remarks: Johnson said “biological males” should not be competing in women’s sports and denounced the “sexualization and indoctrination of our children,” and Greene said “let me state this clearly, there are only two genders.”
Republicans officially nominated Trump on Monday afternoon, a formality as Trump won the majority of delegates in the primaries, clinching the nomination on March 12.
Trump on Monday announced Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, and the GOP officially nominated him for the ticket later Monday.
The former president is set to deliver a speech Thursday and Vance is scheduled to speak Wednesday.
Monday’s remaining speaker line-up includes former presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Turning Point USA Executive Director Charlie Kirk and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien.
The events of each day center around a different theme; Monday’s is “Make America Wealthy Once Again.”
Trump arrived in Milwaukee ahead of the convention Sunday. Trump said in a Truth Social post Sunday he considered delaying his trip to Milwaukee by two days following the attempt on his life, but ultimately decided to travel to Milwaukee as planned. “I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else,” he said.
The convention comes just two days after Trump narrowly avoided assassination when a gunman opened fire at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing Trump’s right ear with a bullet and killing an audience member. The shooting has injected a rare theme of unity between Republicans and Democrats into the 2024 presidential campaign as lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have condemned political violence in the wake of the attack. Trump enters the convention as the vast majority of polls taken in the wake of his June 27 debate with President Joe Biden show him expanding his lead over the president and as Biden faces calls from within his own party to step aside in the race. In a victory for Trump on Monday, Florida-based federal Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the Justice Department’s classified documents case against him, ruling the agency violated the Constitution by appointing special prosecutor Jack Smith to handle the case without the approval of Congress or the president.
Trump Officially Secures GOP Presidential Nomination (Forbes)