MILWAUKEE, Wis. — The Republican National Convention kicks off on Monday, just two days after former President Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s standard-bearer, survived an assassination attempt.
And the shooting at a Trump rally in western Pennsylvania on Saturday that left one spectator dead, two seriously wounded and the former president visibly bleeding after a bullet grazed his ear changed the tone of the convention and elevated its importance.
The U.S. Secret Service and other officials said on the eve of the tournament that there were no plans to expand the security perimeter and no known threats.
“We feel comfortable that the arena is ready, security is in place, we’re working with the Secret Service,” Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
Trump campaign and RNC stress ‘carry on’ after assassination attempt
Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 14, 2024, the eve of the Republican National Convention (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
“This facility will be able to safely accommodate 50,000 delegates, representatives, guests and media, which is very important to us,” Whatley stressed.
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Trump said in a social media post on Sunday that he would postpone traveling to the convention in the wake of the shooting but decided not to let “potential assassins” change his plans.
The former president arrived in Milwaukee, the largest city in the battleground state of Wisconsin, a few hours later.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump arrives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA aboard Trump Force One on July 14, 2024, the day after surviving an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Reuters/Cheney Orr)
The four-day conference will see Trump officially become the Republican presidential nominee.
And as the convention gets underway, all eyes are on the former president, with Trump very likely to announce his running mate.
With about 2,400 Republican delegates from around the country gathering at the Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee, the first item on the agenda will be to formally nominate Trump during a roll call from each state during Monday’s afternoon session.
Trump is scheduled to speak at the convention on Thursday night and accept the nomination.
The rally, expected to draw about 50,000 people, plans to stick to its original program despite Saturday’s shooting, and speakers have been asked not to change the content of their speeches.
Former President Donald Trump was hastily removed from the stage after a shooting occurred during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Republicans are aiming to use the convention to reunite the party and galvanize delegates and activists ahead of the final stages of the campaign for a rematch between President Trump and President Biden in 2024.
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As part of the push for unity, President Trump’s final rival in the race for the Republican presidential nomination this year will speak at the party’s convention.
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, John F. Kennedy, who served as ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration, is scheduled to speak at the convention on Tuesday, a person familiar with the decision confirmed to Fox News on Sunday.
Haley was locked in a fierce two-candidate race with Trump from late January to early March and gave up on running for the White House, but she was not initially invited to the convention.
With the convention opening on Monday, a new, streamlined Republican platform that received swift and overwhelming initial approval last week is expected to be passed during the opening session.
The platform softens the GOP’s longstanding rhetoric in support of a federal ban on abortion and was praised by many top social conservative leaders, but not all evangelicals are happy with the new document.
The bill’s expected passage is the latest sign of Trump’s growing ideological control over the Republican Party.
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