Trump makes first public appearance since shooting: key moments of first day of the Republican national convention
The first day of the Republican national convention in Milwaukee has now concluded.
Delegates will return to the Fiserv Forum at 5pm CT tomorrow for the second day of the four-day event, which is a crucial moment on the road to the 5 November election.
Here’s a look back at what happened today so far.
The Republican partyformally nominatedDonald Trump as their candidate for president, and the former president in the evening appeared at the convention, his first public outing since being wounded by a gunman on Saturday.
Trumpannounced that Ohio senator JD Vance would be his running mate. Not long after, Vance turned up on the floor of the convention, and the GOP made him their vice-presidential nominee by acclamation.
Joe Bidensaid Vance was “a clone of Trump on the issues”. ABC News reports that Kamala Harris tried to call Vance, but couldn’t reach him, and left a voicemail.
The president acknowledged that it was a “mistake” to say that he wanted to put a “bullseye” on Trump, in an interview with NBC News.
Robert F Kennedy Jr met with Donald Trump in Milwaukee, Politico reports, as Trump sought his endorsement. Kennedy, an independent presidential candidate, is polling at around 9% nationally, and received Secret Service protection today.
Donald Trump Jrtold the Guardian he advised his father to pick JD Vance because he thought the senator would fight for him.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the rightwing congresswoman, said divine intervention kept Trump safe on Saturday.
Sean O’Brien, the president of the Teamsters, defended his controversial decision to address the convention, then said Trump was “one tough SOB” for surviving the assassination attempt.
Donald Trump pumped his fist repeatedly and waved at supporters as he leisurely walked down the stairs from the VIP seating and into a tunnel that led backstage.
Michael Whatley, the chair of the convention, has just gaveled the night’s session closed.
Before he did, he congratulated Donald Trump and JD Vance on their nominations.
“Senator Vance, congratulations,” he said. “President Trump, we are honored to have you here tonight and on behalf of the entire Republican party all across America, we are grateful for you to be our nominee for the 47th president of the United States of America.”
The crowd burst into applause, as Trump pumped his fist and clasped hands with Vance.
Sean O’Brien concluded his speech by declaring: “If the powers to be stop me from raising my voice on behalf of American workers, I will not have one single regret,” and will go back to being a truck driver.
As he walked off stage, the crowd resumed chanting: “We want Trump!”
Teamsters president Sean O’Brien started his speech off on a high note with praise for Donald Trump after he survived an assassination attempt on Saturday.
But the meat of his speech is a pitch to the GOP to reconsider its stance on unions, after the party decades spent promoting policies that make it more difficult for organized labor to thrive.
“You know, corporatists hate when working people join together to form unions. But for a century, major employers have waged a war against labor by forming corporate unions of their own. We need to call the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Toundtables what they are. They are unions for big business,” O’Brien said.
He then decried “elites”, a common target of attacks from Trump and his allies:
Remember, elites have no party. Elites have no nation. Their loyalty is to the balance sheet and the stock price at the expense of the American worker.
Trump is 'one tough SOB', Teamsters president says
Sean O’Brien has shown his knack for bringing the crowd to its feet, drawing one of the loudest applauses of the night by saying that, after surviving an assassination attempt on Saturday, Donald Trump is “one tough SOB”.
“President Trump had the backbone to open the doors to this Republican convention, and that’s unprecedented. No other nominee in the race would have invited the Teamsters into this arena,” O’Brien said.
“You can have whatever opinion you want, but one thing is clear: President Trump is a candidate who is not afraid of hearing from new, loud and often critical voices, and I think we all can agree whether people like him or they don’t like him, in light of what happened to him on Saturday, he has proven to be one tough SOB.”
Teamsters president says union 'not beholden to anyone, or any party'
By way of justifying his decision to address the Republican national convention, Teamster president Sean O’Brien said that the union was “not beholden” to any politician or party.
“The American people aren’t stupid. They know the system is broken. We all know how Washington is run. Working people have no chance of winning this fight. That’s why I’m here today, because I refuse to keep doing the same things my predecessors did,” O’Brien said.
“Today, the Teamsters are here to say we are not beholden to anyone or any party. We will create an agenda and work with a bipartisan coalition ready to accomplish something real for the American worker.”
And in a remark that brought the convention to its feet, he said:
And I don’t care about getting criticized, it’s an honor to be the first Teamster in our 121-year history to address the Republican national convention.
Actor and model Amber Rose was up next, rebutting the assertion that Donald Trump is racist.
“The first person I knew who supported Donald Trump was my father. I was shocked. My entire family is racially diverse, and I believed the leftwing propaganda that Donald Trump was a racist. My father said: ‘No, he’s not Amber, what are you talking about?’ And when I insisted, he said, prove it. So to prove my father wrong, I did my research and looked into all things Donald Trump,” Rose said.
“People have to do their research. I watched all the rallies, and I started meeting so many of you, his red-hat wearing supporters. I realized Donald Trump and his supporters don’t care if you’re Black, white, gay or straight – it’s all love.”
Donald Trump listened to a story from western Michigan resident Mark Laws, who was talking about how inflation has affected him.
JD Vance is sitting to Trump’s left, and to his right is congressman Byron Donalds. Next to him is Tucker Carlson, the conservative former Fox News commentator. Carlson appears to be leaning over Donalds to talk to Trump.
