RNC Day 1 highlights: Trump makes first appearance after ...

+2

The economy was the focus of the first night of the Republican National Convention, but it was Trump’s first public appearance since the attempted assassination at his rally Saturday that stole the show.

Electricity pulsed through Fiserv Forum when Trump, wearing a large white bandage over his right ear, entered the venue. The crowd erupted into raucous cheers as Lee Greenwood performed “God Bless the U.S.A.” — a song played at every Trump rally — in a moment that made a number of people in the crowd, including the former president’s son Don Jr., emotional.

Trump did not make any remarks, other than mouthing “thank you” to attendees, before he settled into a box seat next to Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, whom he announced as his running mate earlier in the afternoon, and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla. Imitating Trump’s remarks after he was shot and stood back up, rally attendees shouted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

Read the full story here.

The X account for the AFL-CIO criticized Trump's record on unions after Teamsters President Sean O'Brien spoke tonight at the convention.

"Some would love for workers to take Trump at his word & forget what he did as President. But we didn’t forget," the AFL-CIO said on X. "And Project 2025 shows he’ll pick up right where he left off: dissolving unions, gutting worker protections, & defunding whole parts of the government people rely on."

The AFL-CIO has endorsed Biden, but the Teamsters have not yet made their endorsement.

At the end of the night, James Roemke, pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin, began his benediction by imitating Trump. “You’re gonna be so blessed,” he said. “You’re gonna be tired of being blessed.”

The convention proceedings have just ended. As Trump walked out, Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" played.

As Amber Rose spoke at the convention, she sported on her forehead a tattoo that read "Bash Slash" in loopy cursive.

Rose, a model and rapper, debuted the tattoo in 2020 as an ode to her sons, Slash and Sebastian.

Rose has been very vocal in her support for Trump, and most recently she appeared in a music video for "Trump Trump Baby" with Forgiato Blow, a popular conservative rapper who interpolated Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" on the track. The song hit a Billboard milestone, becoming a Top 10 hit on two separate charts.

In the music video, Rose mouths the lyrics, "We voting Trump Trump Baby!"

Sarah Mimms

Teamsters president Sean O'Brien made a quick reference to an incident late last year — the near-fight he had with a senator at a committee hearing.

At a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in November, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., a former MMA fighter, brought up a fight he'd had with O'Brien on X and invited O'Brien to settle it physically right there. That led to a back-and-forth between the men, culminating in Mullin’s saying, “Then stand your butt up then," and O'Brien shouting back: "You stand your butt up."

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., had to break up the spat, yelling at Mullin to sit down: "You’re a United States senator.”

O'Brien said in tonight's speech that members of both parties need to "stand their butts up" and fight for everyday Americans.

Sean O'Brien, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters general president, received lukewarm reaction to his speech, especially when he took aim at Republicans who oppose to unions.

"Over the last 40 years, the Republican Party has really pursued strong relationships with organized labor," he said, adding that some in the GOP "stand in active opposition to labor unions."

"This too must change," he said.

“President Trump is a candidate who is not afraid hearing from new, loud and often critical voices,” O’Brien said. “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 is proven to be one tough SOB.”

Delegates cheered parts of O'Brien's remarks, but also appeared uncomfortable with his attacks on corporations and some of his pro-labor rhetoric.

This is central to Trump's strategy: For every suburban mom or Nikki Haley supporter that they lose, they want to replace them with a blue collar worker.

Sean O'Brien, the Teamsters president, said tonight that American workers were being "taken for granted."

He said that the Teamsters and the GOP may not agree on many issues but that they are willing to sit down and discuss topics. He called out both parties, adding, "Elites have no party."

Later, he paraphrased Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., saying both parties in Congress needed to "stand their butts up."

Vice President Kamala Harris will take a lead role in the Biden campaign’s push to draw attention to GOP divisions during the Republican National Convention, including working to court female voters with a focus on national security and reproductive rights.

On Wednesday, the day newly minted GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance will address GOP delegates in Milwaukee, Harris will hold a moderated conversation with Republican women in Michigan in what the campaign calls a direct appeal to Republican and independent female voters.

She will participate in a moderated conversation with Olivia Troye, a former Trump administration national security staffer, and Amanda Stratton, a former registered Republican who the campaign says will share her personal reproductive health story.

Read the full story here.

Two speakers billed as "everyday Americans" praised Trump's economic record in their remarks tonight.

"Under Trump we were thriving. Under Biden we are surviving," said Benjamin Joseph, owner of a home remodeling business he inherited from his father.

He called Trump a businessman whose policies helped entrepreneurs like him pursue their passions.

Mark Laws — a grandfather and retiree living on a fixed income — talked about his financial challenges under Biden. "In the Big Boy Joe economy, I just worry about getting through the day," he said.

Laws added that when Trump was in office, he was "doing great," a remark that was met with a nod from Trump in the front row.

Eric Trump spoke to "TODAY" host Savannah Guthrie at the convention, addressing the assassination attempt on his father.

"It was too close. This cannot happen in America," he said. He told Guthrie that he spoke with his father less than an hour after the shooting — which he said he witnessed on live television. He said his father told him, "'Nothing changes with the convention; I'm going to be there."'

There are no protesters tonight in Zeidler Union Square — one of the two designated protest zones for the convention.

The other zone, Haymarket Square Park, was also empty tonight.

Trump made his first public appearance since the assassination attempt at his Pennsylvania rally. He joined his family and newly announced running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, for the first night of the Republican National Convention.

Republicans blamed spikes in prices for food, gas and housing over the past several years on Biden and promised to lower costs during a second Trump administration but provided scant details about how they would address inflation differently.

During the first night of the convention, with the theme "Make America Wealthy Again," several speakers, including Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, noted the increase in gas prices, which are around $1 a gallon higher than they were before the start of the pandemic. Others noted the increased prices of food and housing.

“The basic things our parents enjoyed are increasingly out of reach for Gen Z and millennials,” said Charlie Kirk, head of the conservative group Turning Point USA. “You see, the American dream has become a luxury item for the wealthy elite.”

Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said earlier this evening that the teleprompter presented a previous version of his speech at the start of the convention tonight, which he then read.

It included a line that the Democratic Party was "a clear and present danger to America."

Kiersten Pels, a spokesperson for Johnson, told NBC News, "It was supposed to begin with the lines: 'We meet at a somber moment in history. We should all heed President Trump’s call for unity, strength, and determination.'"

She added that the new speech "also did not have 'Today’s Democratic Party is a clear and present danger to America.'"

Model Amber Rose said at the convention tonight that the media lied about Trump, and "I believed those lies."

She said that after she did her research, she realized that "these are my people."

Rose used to criticize Trump, and in 2016 she told The Cut that he is "a f------ idiot."

The Republican platform calls for the “largest deportation program in American history” targeting undocumented immigrants, as well as implementation of “extreme vetting” for legal immigration. Trump has discussed plans to deport at least 11 million people, build detention camps to detain migrants and use the U.S. military both at the border and across the country to enforce immigration laws.

Republicans, including Trump, have long argued that mass immigration holds down U.S. citizens’ wages and job prospects; in June’s presidential debate, he reiterated that argument while accusing migrants of “taking Black jobs” — a characterization that drew widespread criticism.

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is sitting near Trump, with Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., sitting between them.

Also in the VIP box are his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, along with their respective partners, Lara Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle.

In his first interview since he was named Trump's running mate, Vance said Trump told him he could help "save" the country and help the GOP ticket win Midwestern states.

Vance told Fox News that Trump also talked with his young son on the phone call on which he heard that he would be Trump's running mate.

"The guy just got shot at a couple of days ago and he takes the time to talk to my 7-year-old," Vance said. "It's a moment I'll never forget."

The crowd chanted "fight, fight, fight" shortly after Trump appeared in the arena.

Trump had appeared to mouth "fight" when the Secret Service escorted him offstage after the assassination attempt.

Moments earlier, the crowd chanted, "USA! USA!"

Read more about Trump's first RNC appearance here.

Lee Greenwood praised God for Trump’s surviving the assassination attempt as his band played live behind him.

“You will not take this man down,” Greenwood said.

Trump began walking out, with his ear bandaged, as Greenwood played "God Bless the USA," the song Trump usually walks on to.

We just saw Trump enter the convention hall — that’s something he has done on Night 1 of each of his two in-person conventions and something that sets him apart from recent nominees. He was wearing a bandage on his ear, two days after he was shot in an assassination attempt.

Ignoring the 2020 conventions, which were scrambled by Covid, Trump is the only nominee going back to at least 2000 who has appeared in person at his convention this early. 

In 2016, he took the stage briefly on Night 1 after a WWE-style entrance, while Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton didn’t appear in person until Night 3 of the Democratic convention, when she appeared onstage alongside President Barack Obama after his speech. 

In 2012, Republican nominee Mitt Romney briefly showed up on the convention’s second official day (the first day was partly scuttled by a hurricane) to join his wife, Ann, after her speech (Obama didn’t appear at the Democratic convention in person until his nominating speech).  

In 2008, the Republican convention was scaled down because of another hurricane, but at the Democratic convention, Obama made a surprise appearance after his running mate, Joe Biden, spoke on the convention’s third day. 

In 2004, President George W. Bush spoke during a live video appearance on Day 2, but neither candidate made an early in-person appearance. 

And in 2000, Vice President Al Gore made a surprise in-person appearance on the third day of the Democratic convention, while Bush dialed in for remote appearances throughout the convention before his in-person speech to close it.  

MILWAUKEE — With the clock ticking last week to the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump met privately to discuss his running mate search with two of his closest advisers: his sons. 

The conversation quickly turned tense when Trump indicated that he was leaning toward Doug Burgum, until recently the largely unknown governor of North Dakota — but someone whose low-maintenance, no-drama personality would never threaten to outshine Trump.

That’s when Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump chimed in.

“Don Jr. and Eric went bat---- crazy: ‘Why would you do something so stupid? He offers us nothing,’” a longtime Republican operative familiar with the discussion told NBC News.

“They were basically all like ‘JD, JD, JD,’” the operative said.

Read the full story here.

Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, took to the stage as the audience chanted "winner take all," a reference to his push for Nebraska to change how it allocates Electoral College votes.

"We will fire the Biden-Harris regime," he said, leaning into an image of young Americans being unable to afford housing and children.

"Under Biden, our young people own nothing and are miserable," he said.

Sydney CarruthSydney Carruth is a digital assistant for NBC News.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said in her RNC speech tonight that more Americans are having babies in recent years because they are “happy.”

Noem, whose state has a near-total ban on abortion, said South Dakota has “the highest birth rate in our nation. People are having babies because they’re happy. In South Dakota, we love babies.”

Noem, who became the subject of national scrutiny after the release of her book "No Going Back," in which she talked about killing her dog, also touted South Dakota’s economy and its recovery from the Covid pandemic in her speech.

Sarah Mimms

In between speeches, the convention showed a video of Trump urging Republicans to vote by mail, vote in person, vote in any way possible to defeat Democrats.

“We must use every appropriate tool available” to win, he said.

He went on to encourage supporters to "keep your eyes open, because these people want to cheat and they do cheat," alluding to his false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. He added: "Frankly, it’s the only thing they do well."

Lifelong Democrat Bobby Bartels, business manager of a Long Island, New York-based steamfitters union, told the crowd of Republican delegates that he's voting for Trump and that a slew of his fellow union members will also be casting their ballots for him.

Bartels said that he has long seen Trump as a "guy who cared," saying Trump collaborated with Bartels and a local union labor in 1986 to help restore Central Park's Wollman Rink, long before Trump entered the political arena.

"And a quick note to President Biden, that involved working outside the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.," Bartels said, most likely referring to Biden's remarks that he might limit evening events.

Bartels claimed that Democrats are doing nothing about the most pressing issues facing voters.

"That's why this union Democrat will be voting Trump, along with many of my local union members, this November," he said to thunderous applause.

Biden today criticized U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision to dismiss the classified documents case against Trump, calling the ruling “specious” and suggesting it was inspired by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

“I’m not surprised,” Biden told NBC News anchor Lester Holt about the ruling, which tossed the criminal case against Trump in Florida, finding that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith was illegal.

He said the ruling “comes from the immunity decision the Supreme Court ruled on” this month, and he pointed to a concurring opinion in the ruling by Thomas, which he inaccurately referred to as a dissent. It was a concurrence that no other justices joined.

Read the full story here.

Most of the tax cuts Republicans passed along party lines in 2017 are set to expire next year. The GOP platform calls for extending those existing policies and introducing new ones.

“Republicans will make permanent the provisions of the Trump Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that doubled the standard deduction, expanded the Child Tax Credit, and spurred Economic Growth for all Americans,” the platform says.

Biden has proposed letting the tax cuts for top earners expire and extending the cuts for those making under $400,000 a year. He also has proposed to raise the corporate tax rate to 28%, which the 2017 law slashed to 21% from 35%. Trump has said he wants to bring it down to 20%. 

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said in her speech that Trump is a "fighter" and the "toughest man that I have ever met."

"Nobody has endured more than what he has gone through. They've attacked his reputation. They impeached him. They tried to bankrupt him, and they unjustly prosecuted him. But even in the most perilous moment this week, his instinct was to stand and to fight," she said.

The crowd began chanting "fight, fight, fight," just like Trump yelled to his supporters at his rally Saturday after the attempted assassination.

The White House plans to unveil new actions aimed at lowering the cost of housing, according to a fact sheet obtained by NBC News.

Biden will call on Congress to pass a law that would ensure landlords capped rent increases at 5% or faced losing out on federal tax breaks.

If it is taken up by Congress, the plan would apply to landlords who hold more than 50 units, meaning more than 20 million units nationwide could be affected, according to the White House.

Read the full story here.

Bob Unanue, the CEO of Goya Foods, rhymed Vice President Kamala Harris' name with a phrase in Spanish as he sought to criticize her handling of the border.

"Our border czar, 'Que mala' Harris," he said, before he added that the phrase means "so bad" in Spanish and then said Harris was "missing in action" in her role helping solve the situation on the southern border.

Though Unanue was going for a pun, it has become somewhat common for Republican politicians to mispronounce Harris' first name, including at the convention so far. (Then-Sen. David Perdue faced criticism in 2020 for referring to Harri, then a colleague, as "Kamala, or Kamala, Kamala-mala-mala, I don't know.")

In his convention speech tonight, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin talked about an outsider who left his successful career in business to jump into politics.

“Eight years ago, there was an outsider, a businessman, who stepped out of his career to rebuild a great nation with the strongest economy, the mightiest military, energy independence, unlimited opportunity, lifting up every American,” he said.

While Youngkin was speaking of Trump, it’s hard not to think he was also giving a nod to his own story, having left his post as CEO of Carlyle Group to run for governor of Virginia in 2021.

Trump had kind words for Biden today, describing their phone conversation after the assassination attempt Saturday.

Trump told ABC News that their call was "very nice," and he said of Biden, "He couldn't have been nicer."

Republicans sought to highlight the increases in gas and grocery prices during the Biden administration on the first night of the convention, dubbing the theme for the night “Make America wealthy again.”

In a video played at the start of the convention’s prime-time programming, Republicans touted gas prices of $2.20 a gallon when Trump left office and contrasted them with prices above $5 a gallon during the Biden administration.

“It hurts my heart, it hurts by budget, it just hurts,” says a woman featured in the video.

Gas prces tumbled during the start of the pandemic to below $2 a gallon after demand for oil plummeted with fewer people driving and flying amid lockdowns and widespread remote work. Prices began to exceed pre-pandemic levels in the spring of 2021 as people began returning to the office and traveling more. Prices briefly spiked to just over $5 a gallon in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine. 

Prices currently average $3.61 a gallon, roughly where they were before the start of the war in Ukraine and about a dollar above where they were before the start of the pandemic. The Biden administration has been touting efforts to lower gas prices by releasing gas reserves from the federal government’s emergency stockpiles.

Sydney CarruthSydney Carruth is a digital assistant for NBC News.

Sara Workman, who introduced herself as a single mom, took the convention stage as one of the “everyday Americans” selected by officials to speak about hot-button campaign issues.

In an emotionally charged speech, Workman, a key swing state constituent, focused largely on immigration and illegal drugs, an issue she said is especially impactful in her home state, Arizona. Teary-eyed, she was met with booming applause from the audience after she recounted her husband’s fatal struggle with drug addiction, which she said left her to raise her son alone.

Workman also touched on economic and culture war issues, including inflation, violence in major cities and what she called “woke indoctrination” in public schools.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who ran for the GOP presidential nomination, said tonight that if people didn't believe in miracles Saturday "then you better be believing right now."

"On Saturday, the devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle, but an American lion got back up on his feet and roared! He roared!" Scott said, bringing the convention crowd to its feet.

Scott also drew applause when he said, "America is not a racist country."

Multiple convention speakers are leaning into anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, especially targeting transgender and non-gender-conforming people.

"Let me state this clearly: There are only two genders," said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama took a swipe at Biden's capacity to serve in office, weeks after the postdebate firestorm that prompted more than a dozen elected Democrats to call for him to step aside.

"The current president is not capable of turning things around. His weakness is costing us our opportunity, our prosperity, our safety. Each diminished, all in decline, just like the man in the Oval Office," she said.

Rep. John James of Michigan, an Iraq veteran, compared his combat service in his convention speech to the attempted assassination of Trump on Saturday: "The bad guys shot at us both, but they missed."

The line, one a few tonight that directly referred to the shooting, was met with ample applause. He said the Democrats have "sold the country" on hope but claim that now "the world is on fire"

Under Trump, "we had an economy so good Democrats were trying to give Obama the credit for it," he said.

In an interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt, Biden pushed back when he was asked whether if he was “wanting to get back on the horse” after his poor debate performance against Trump.

“I’m on the horse. Where have you been? I've done 22 major events, met thousands of people, overwhelming crowds,” Biden said. “A lot's happening. I'm on the horse. What I'm doing is going out and demonstrating to the American people that I have command of all my faculties, that I don't need — notes. I don't need telepro — I can go out and answer any questions at all.”

Analysis

Biden has done 22 events since the presidential debate, according to his public calendar, but just four were campaign events with the kind of crowds he’s referring to. Eight of the events were NATO events, like bilateral meetings with world leaders and working sessions. Five were fundraisers, mostly at private homes.  

“We will DRILL, BABY, DRILL and we will become Energy Independent, and even Dominant again,” the Republican platform says. “Under President Trump, the U.S. became the Number One Producer of Oil and Natural Gas in the World — and we will soon be again by lifting restrictions on American Energy Production and terminating the Socialist Green New Deal.”

U.S. crude oil production has already hit record highs this year, and the country has been the biggest oil producer in the world — ahead of Russia and Saudi Arabia — every year since 2018. 

Trump has promised to remove restrictions on oil and natural gas projects, extending a policy approach he took when he was in office. Environmentalists have criticized that — along with the Biden administration’s permitting of more oil and gas drilling than its predecessor’s — as the Earth warms at a record pace, with an estimated 92% of last year’s heat attributed to human activity. 

The Republican platform doesn’t mention climate change or renewable energy, though Trump has slammed electric vehicles with violent rhetoric. Progressive Democrats’ Green New Deal proposal has never been enacted into law.

The Democratic Governors Association is out with a new statement tonight criticizing North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson — who just spoke at the convention — for comments he made at a church last month.

In the previous remarks, Robinson lamented that "there was a time where we used to meet evil on the battlefield ... and killed it." He rattled off how America fought its enemies in World War II before saying: "Some folks need killing. It’s time for somebody to say it. It’s not a matter of vengeance, not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s out of necessity," he said, according to video first reported on by The New Republic.

"We have wicked people doing wicked things, torturing and murdering and raping," he added. He then said America needs to start "handling its business again," because "the further we start sliding into making 1776 a distant memory, the tenets of socialism and communism start coming into clearer focus." He criticized liberals for getting "mad at you," "watching us" and trying to "cancel" and "dox" people," among other grievances.

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the GOP nominee for governor this year, said in his speech that gas and grocery prices have been rising and factories have been closing under Biden's leadership.

"President Trump had our economy roaring, gas was below $2, unemployment was at historic lows, people could afford homes and we had a president who protected manufacturing jobs," he said.

"Under President Trump, the American dream was alive and well. Under President Trump there was hope, and we need that now more than ever," he continued.

The Republican platform calls for “baseline Tariffs on Foreign-made goods” to encourage domestic production and make America less dependent on imports.

Trump is proposing to go further with tariffs in a second term. He has discussed placing a 10% tariff on all imports and a tariff of at least 60% on goods from China. 

The American Action Forum, a right-leaning think tank, estimates the blanket 10% tariff could cost households more than $2,300 annually, while the tariffs on Chinese goods could increase household costs by more than $1,900 each year.

The Biden administration has largely maintained its predecessor’s tariffs on Chinese imports. It built on them further as recently as May, with hikes on electric vehicles, semiconductors and other goods imported from China.

The Tax Foundation think tank has projected that tariffs already introduced during the Trump and Biden administrations will shrink gross domestic product by 0.2% over the long term, and it forecasts Trump’s additional tariff proposals could crimp GDP by at least 0.8%.

Trump will make an appearance at the convention tonight, according to a source familiar with the plans.

It will be his first public appearance since he was shot in the ear Saturday in an assassination attempt at a campaign rally.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., used her convention speech tonight to discuss the assassination attempt on Trump over the weekend.

"This is also a somber moment for our nation," she said, adding that she thanks God that "his hand was on President Trump" during the shooting.

"I pray for the family of Corey Comperatore," she said, praising the rallygoer who died shielding his family from the gunfire.

Much of the rest of Greene's speech was fiery and leaned into culture war issues. "Let me state this clearly: There are only two genders," she said, to the audience's applause.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said at at the convention tonight that life in America under the Biden administration has become "a lot more difficult."

“Today’s Democrat agenda, their policies, are a clear and present danger to America, to our institutions, our values and our people,” he said.

The crowd booed when Johnson claimed that that agenda included "the sexualization and indoctrination" of children.

He added that Trump and the Republican Party have prioritized the middle class and that "those forgotten Americans are forgotten no more."

The Republican platform vows the GOP “will defeat inflation, tackle the cost-of-living crisis, improve fiscal sanity, restore price stability, and quickly bring down prices.” 

While inflation peaked at an annual rate of 9.1% in June 2022, it has since fallen to 3% as of last month. That is still above the Federal Reserve’s preferred 2% target, though the pace of price increases continues to slow. Many people say they’re still suffering from the effects of inflation over the last few years, despite average wage growth’s more than making up for it since late 2022. It is a key vulnerability for Biden, as Trump has consistently received higher marks on the economy in polls.

To reduce inflation further, the GOP platform calls for increasing American oil and natural gas production to lower households’ energy costs, cutting government spending and stopping unauthorized immigration.

Biden reacted to Trump's selecting Vance as his running mate, telling NBC News in an interview that "it's not unusual," pointing to Vance's ideological parallels to the former president.

"He’s going to surround himself with people who agree completely with him, have a voting record, that support him," Biden said. "Even though if you go back and look at some of the things that JD Vance said about Trump."

Vance was a fierce critic of Trump in 2016 before he became a prominent ally.

Trump's selection of Vance as his running mate means both Republicans atop the ticket have helped raise money for people who engaged in political violence on Jan. 6, 2021.

In 2022, on the anniversary of the Capitol attack, Vance — a Yale Law School graduate — falsely claimed that “dozens” of people “who haven’t even been charged with a crime yet” were being held in “D.C. prisons” pretrial. However, every defendant who was held in pretrial custody had been charged and had been ordered held by federal judges who conducted assessments of their case.

Vance linked to a fundraiser for Jan. 6 defendants including Jack Wade Whitton, who subsequently confessed to his crime and was sentenced this year to more than four years in federal prison. “You’re gonna die tonight!” Whitton admitted yelling at officers, before he bragged in a text that he’d “fed” an officer to the mob.

Only roughly a dozen Jan. 6 defendants are being held in pretrial custody.

RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in the first speech of the night that he has pledged to do three things as the head of the committee: "get out the vote," "protect the ballot" and hold a "world-class convention."

"As long as I am your chair, these will be the RNC only priorities because our number one objective is to win this election," Whatley said.

He added, "This election is not just about the next four years. It's about future generations of Americans to come."

The Republican National Committee’s platform calls for the GOP to “return to its roots as the Party of Industry, Manufacturing, Infrastructure, and Workers.”

Trump tried repeatedly during his term to propose and pass an infrastructure bill but failed to do so — as the Biden campaign has repeatedly sought to remind voters. Congress passed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law in 2021 under Biden, which included $550 billion in new spending initiatives. 

Since then, private-sector investments in manufacturing projects have surged. While the manufacturing workforce is roughly flat compared to pre-pandemic levels and still significantly smaller than before the Great Recession, jobs in highway, street and bridge construction are at record highs. 

Trump hasn’t detailed many plans for infrastructure investment should he regain the White House, but has said he’ll place higher tariffs on foreign goods to encourage domestic manufacturing job growth. Economic analyses have found consumers largely paid for the tariffs on Chinese goods that Trump imposed during his term, which didn’t generate a large boost to the U.S. industrial base and affected producers in both countries unevenly. 

Elleiana GreenElleiana Green is a Digital Politics intern with NBC News

Trump's senior adviser, Jason Miller, posted on X a photo of a new Trump-Vance 2024 airplane.

Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley opened the evening program for the convention, which is now underway.

Matthew Nighswander

Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said today he would "strongly consider" accepting an appointment to replace Sen. JD Vance in the Senate if Trump wins in November.

“The only negative [of JD’s selection] is this leaves our side missing one of our best fighters in the Senate. If asked to serve, I would strongly consider the position," Ramaswamy said in a statement to NBC News.

Ramaswamy, an Ohio native, dropped out of the GOP primary race in January and immediately endorsed Trump.