Republican National Convention 2020: Day 2

Vice President Mike Pence appeared in a nine-minute video at Tuesday’s Republican National Convention showcasing his and the administration’s accomplishments through the stories of six supporters. The video was taped during a tightly-guarded, unannounced trip to Indiana last week that was not listed on Pence’s public schedule.  

“The vice president held a kind of a Covid-era, very small, town-hall style event with a few voters in Indiana at the site of Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home,” a convention organizer previewed to CNN Tuesday afternoon. 

Jordan McLinn, who was diagnosed with Duchene Muscular Dystrophy when he was just 3 years old, is one of the participants. He first met Pence when the then-governor signed Indiana’s Right to Try bill. McLinn traveled to the White House when the President signed namesake legislation, the “Trickett Wendler, Frank Mongiello, Jordan Mclinn and Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act of 2017” in 2018. McLinn, then 8, warmed hearts when he hugged Trump during the signing. McLinn only became able to walk recently, and showed the Vice President how far he had come during their visit. 

The video also will highlight Geno DiFabio, who owns a business that relied heavily on General Motors in Lordstown, Ohio. Lordstown, which manufactured the Cruze sedan, closed in March 2019, leaving 1,600 people without jobs. GM sold the plant to Lordstown Motors, a new company that plans to start building electric trucks there. GM also plans to build a $2.3 billion battery plant nearby as part of a joint venture with LG Chem. And it has made investments at other plants in the state.

Another CNN affiliate, WFIE, reported that Pence also stopped by the home of his friend Tom Gabe, who passed away Sunday, to privately pay his respects to the family during his time in Indiana, per a source close to the situation.

Pence spent four to five hours filming the video, according to a park employee, which was conversation-style, drawing on his talk radio roots, with the participants, who traveled from Oklahoma, Missouri, and Indiana, and battleground states Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. A small handful of aides accompanied Pence to the filming, which took place at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City, Indiana, where the Pence family has visited for years. Pence also fashions himself a “Lincoln historian,” and the site has a “special meaning” to him, per a source familiar with the Indiana trip. 

Each of the participants was tested for coronavirus within 24 hours of the taping, the source said, and the entire taping took place outside, despite the August heat. Participants did not wear masks.

The campaign paid for the trip, the source said. 

“These are all people who in some way have interacted with the Vice President, whether it be his time as governor, or while he served as vice president. We have a few people who have reached out to the vice president, asking for help or thanking him for something he and the president have done. One of the stories is someone he helped when he was governor who subsequently interacted with the President,” communications director Katie Miller said. 

 Watch:

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi attacked Joe Biden’s son’s overseas business ties in an RNC speech rife with debunked conspiracies Tuesday night.

“For Joe Biden, it’s been the land of opportunism, not opportunity,” Bondi said.

She said Biden “has been writing the textbook on abuse of power for 40 years.” She lambasted Hunter Biden’s former position on the board of Ukrainian company Burisma, saying that he had “only had one qualification that mattered: He was the son of a man in charge of distributing US aid to Ukraine.”

Bondi also made misleading claims about Biden’s push to oust Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, making the unfounded accusation that Biden sought to have Shokin removed to halt an investigation into Burisma. Ukrainian activists and European and American diplomats had sought Shokin’s ouster before Biden intervened.

Trump and his allies have repeatedly made unfounded and false claims to allege that the former vice president and his son acted corruptly in Ukraine. Bondi made no mention of the reality that Trump was impeached by the House for attempting to pressure Ukraine’s president to investigate the Bidens over Hunter Biden’s role on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company.

Hunter Biden was only briefly featured at the Democratic National Convention last week, in a video along with his sister Ashley Biden introducing their father ahead of his Thursday night speech.

Hunter Biden in October 2019 said he used “poor judgment” in serving on the board of a Ukrainian gas company because it has become a political liability for his father. But there is no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of either Biden, and no evidence Joe Biden has profited from his son’s business dealings abroad.

Bondi’s speech accusing Biden of nepotism was followed by a video that featured Trump’s daughter Ivanka and daughter-in-law Lara, and then a speech from Trump’s daughter Tiffany. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are also part of the RNC’s speaking lineup this week — Trump Jr. spoke on Monday night, while Eric Trump will speak later Tuesday night.

The two are high-level executives in the Trump Organization, which has benefitted financially from Trump’s presidency.

Watch:

Tiffany Trump.

President Donald Trump’s youngest daughter, Tiffany Trump, spoke Tuesday evening, making an appeal to young Americans to “transcend political boundaries” as they cast their ballots in the November election.

Like half-brother Donald Trump Jr.’s remarks to the convention on Monday, she declined to share personal stories about her father in her remarks, instead opting to speak to his efforts to “challenge the establishment” and briefly referencing his faith and “uncompromising heart.” Trump, 26, is the daughter of the President and Marla Maples.

Her parents divorced in 1999, and Trump was raised by her mother in California. She currently resides in Washington, DC.

And like her father, she went after the media and “tech giants” for what she described as “bias” and “manipulation,” at times questioning the veracity of the media.

But she also cast a more bipartisan tone than many of the convention’s speakers: “Our nation suffers by inhibiting our diversity of thought and inclusion of ideas. Working together outside of our political comfort zones will accomplish so much more.” 

Trump also represented the many Americans who graduated last spring and are facing a tough job market. A 2020 Georgetown Law School graduate, she nodded to those challenges.

“Our generation is unified in facing the future in uncertain times — and many of us are considering what kind of country we want to live in. As a recent graduate, I can relate to so many of you who might be looking for a job. My father built a thriving economy once, and believe me, he will do it again,” she said. 

Watch:

Cissie Graham Lynch — a member of the Trump campaign’s evangelical advisory board and the granddaughter of famed evangelist Billy Graham — said, “President Trump became the first president to talk about the importance of religious freedom at the United Nations.” 

Facts First: This is not true. Previous presidents, including Barack Obama, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, have all spoken about the importance of religious freedom in speeches to the UN General Assembly. Trump himself has previously made a narrower claim than Graham Lynch did – saying that he is the first president to host a UN meeting specifically devoted to the topic of religious freedom. (We haven’t yet looked into that Trump claim.)

In Obama’s 2015 address to the UN General Assembly, he argued that freedom of “peaceful worship” is a self-evident universal truth that is not dependent on an individual country’s culture. In 2016, he called for equal treatment for “a religious minority in Myanmar.” In his 2014 address, Obama denounced the terrorist group ISIS for starving “religious minorities.” 

George W. Bush made appeals for religious freedom in various speeches to the UN General Assembly. He said in 2005 that he has an “agenda for a freer world, where people can live and worship and raise their children as they choose.” In a 2007 address, Bush too denounced the government of Myanmar (also known as Burma) for restricting freedom of worship, and later said of the world in general, “With the commitment and courage of this chamber, we can build a world where people are free to speak, assemble, and worship as they wish.” In his 2008 address, he also called on nations to allow people to “worship as they choose.” 

In George H.W. Bush’s 1991 address, he spoke of the need to defend “inalienable human rights” such as religious freedom, saying that “government has failed” if citizens “can’t practice their religion freely.”

In Reagan’s 1986 address, he castigated the Soviet Union for persecuting religious leaders. 

Sen. Rand Paul.

Sen. Rand Paul said he’s supporting President Donald Trump because he seeks to end wars and not start them, citing Trump’s position on the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq. 

Paul said, “Joe Biden voted for the Iraq War, which President Trump has long called the worst geopolitical mistake of our generation.”

Facts First: Paul’s comments about Trump’s stance on the war are misleading. It’s true that Biden voted for the war in 2002, though he did acknowledge a few years later that his vote was a mistake.

Though Trump himself has repeatedly claimed to have opposed the war before it began, he only became an explicit opponent of the war more than a year after it began. He even expressed tentative support for the invasion in late 2002 and in his 2000 book, “The America We Deserve,” Trump argued that a military strike on Iraq might be necessary.

You can read more about Trump’s past comments about the war in Iraq here.

Mayor Robert Vlaisavljevich.

Eveleth, Minnesota, Mayor Robert Vlaisavljevich, who says he has been a lifelong Democrat, praised President Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention and said this election, the “Iron Range’s economic future and survival is at stake.”

Vlaisavljevich said “for far too long … both parties allowed our country to be ripped off by our trading partners, especially by China.”

But he said four years after Trump was elected, “the Iron Range is roaring back to life, and we have one man to thank: President Donald Trump.” Vlaisavljevich said Trump has fulfilled his campaign promises by lowering taxes and rolling back regulations. 

He said this election, “the Iron Range’s economic future and survival is at stake, and so is America’s. We know we can count on President Trump to fight for us and win.” 

The Iron Range refers to several iron-ore mining districts around Lake Superior in the United States and Canada.

The opening hour of Tuesday’s Republican National Convention offered a clear window into how President Donald Trump’s campaign believes it can reach 270 electoral votes.

Three early speakers, including a dairy farmer, hailed from Wisconsin. And a lobster farmer from Maine offered a narrow, but policy-focused, case for Trump’s re-election.

Trump has trailed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, three states he won in 2016. Setting those aside, if he were to hold onto every other state he won that year, he’d have 259 electoral votes.

Many Republicans believe Trump’s best shot at reversing his fortunes in the Upper Midwest is in Wisconsin, where a win would earn him 10 more electoral votes, totaling 269 — one away from victory.

And Maine, though a Democratic-leaning state, has two congressional districts —and splits its electoral votes, with two going to the statewide winner and one each going to the winner of those districts. If Trump were to lose the state, but win the 2nd District — a rural district where lobster farming is a major industry — he’d land at exactly 270 electoral votes and win a second term.

Nicholas Sandmann, a Kentucky teenager who was at the center of a viral video controversy, used his personal story to condemn cancel culture and argue that President Trump and conservatives are treated unfairly by the press. 

Sandmann was filmed while wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat with his student group at the Lincoln Memorial after his group encountered other groups of protesters. He sued numerous news organizations and so far, has reached settlements with The Washington Post and CNN.

Sandmann said in a speech at the Republican convention on Tuesday that after video of the interaction with protesters in Washington, DC, went public, his life changed forever.

Speaking about the lawsuits against news organizations, Sandmann said he “fought back hard to expose the media for what they did to me and I won a personal victory. While much more must be done, I look forward to the day that the media returns to providing balanced, responsible and accountable news coverage.” 

“I know President Trump hopes for that too,” he continued. “And I know you’ll agree with me when we say no one in this county has been a victim of unfair media coverage more than President Donald Trump.”

CNN’s Van Jones said Tuesday that he “loved” that President Donald Trump pardon John Ponder, a convicted bank robber, but added that he felt torn about the pardon, because it was done at the Republican National Convention.

Jones, a former Obama administration official, who worked with the Trump administration on The First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill signed into law December 2018, said that Ponder was deserving of the clemency, but was inappropriate to be done at a political convention.

“What we need to do is fix the whole pardoning clemency process, make it rational, take it out of the Department of Justice and put it in the White House,” Jones added. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to do it at a political convention, because I think you take up something that’s very sacred, a sacred power the President has. And you wind up cheapening it and using it as a political stunt.”

Watch:

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow claimed that President Donald Trump inherited a “stagnant economy on the front end of recession” from the Obama administration, adding that the Trump White House rebuilt the economy in three years. 

Facts first: This is misleading. The US economy was growing 1.7% in 2016 when Trump was elected. It continued to grow after he took office, especially after the 2017 tax cuts. 

America emerged from the Great Recession in the third quarter of 2009 and grew continuously with only a few hiccups – small GDP declines in 2011 and 2014 – from there on out throughout the rest of President Barack Obama’s presidency. The length of the expansion provoked fears of a slowdown, but the Republican-led tax cuts in 2017 produced additional growth in 2018.   

In 2019, the US economy broke the record as the longest expansion in history, but economists grew concerned that the expansion might have run its course. Slowing global economic growth and a contracting manufacturing sector in the United States were among the biggest concerns, even before the coronavirus pandemic tipped the US into recession. 

Read more from CNN’s Tara Subramaniam and Katie Lobosco here.

Larry Kudlow, Director of the United States National Economic Council.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow used his Republican National Convention address to tout President Trump’s economic policies and his leadership during the coronavirus pandemic.

Kudlow said that the country is coming out of hardship, and the economic health is “coming back.

Kudlow praised Trump’s measures during Covid-19 and said the “bipartisan rescue also saved the economy.”

“Right now, our economic health is coming back with emergency spending and tax cuts, Americans are going back to work,” Kudlow said. “There’s a housing boom, there’s an auto boom, a manufacturing boom, a consumer spending boom.”

The adviser said “looking ahead” more tax cuts and regulatory roll back will be “in store.”

Kudlow said the “economic choice is very clear” this election.

“Coming out of the deep pandemic, who in their right mind would pick the pockets of taxpayers and drain money from their wallets and purses. Look, our economic choice is very clear. Do you want economic health, prosperity, opportunity and optimism or do you want to turn back to the dark days of stagnation, recession and pessimism? I believe there can’t be better economic policies than we’ve had in recent years. So I say, stay with them,” Kudlow said in closing.

Watch:

Cissie Graham Lynch, the granddaughter of famous evangelist Billy Graham.

President Donald Trump’s ties to the Evangelical community have always been somewhat nebulous. A thrice-married New Yorker with no previous record as a church-goer who once declared himself “very pro-choice,” he wasn’t the first choice for many in 2016 and worked hard to convince conservative Christians he was on their side — including by selecting Mike Pence as his running mate.

Perhaps because his personality didn’t seem to jive with any definition of Christian morality, Trump’s attempts to woo evangelicals have often seemed outsized. He was the first President to address the anti-abortion March for Life in Washington; he has posed for photographs with pastors laying their hands on him to pray; and he has acknowledged that his decision to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem appeals specifically to Christians.

There have been missteps, including Trump’s photo-op outside a church across from the White House during protests. His awkward handling of a Bible was decried by many religious leaders as craven. At various points during his presidency, Trump has expressed concern to aides that support among Evangelicals might be slipping.

But while his support may have slid somewhat, a large majority of White evangelicals still support him — and their voices were prominent on Tuesday. 

Cissie Graham Lynch, the granddaughter of famous evangelist Billy Graham, said Trump was “giving hope to people of faith around the world.”

And Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood worker who now opposes abortion, called Trump “the most pro-life President we’ve ever had.” 

Unmentioned in all of it was the current scandal rocking evangelical circles: the dramatic downfall of Jerry Falwell Jr., who resigned as president of Liberty University on Tuesday after reports he and his wife took part in a sexual relationship with a former hotel pool attendant. 

Watch:

Republican convention planners determined early on they wanted to highlight everyday Americans who they say have benefited from policies Trump put in place.

Their goal has been to portray a leader focused squarely on improving peoples’ lives — even as many Americans now find themselves self-quarantined, out of work, unable to travel or suffering from the loss of a loved one.

Amid the baleful tone of Monday night’s programming, the helper-in-chief idea didn’t necessarily penetrate, but the efforts seemed more clear Tuesday with speeches from a lobster fisherman in Maine, a dairy farmer from Wisconsin and the owner of a metal fabrication business who says Trump’s new North American trade agreement has made his business more competitive. 

“As long as Trump is president, fishing families like mine will have a voice,” said Jason Joyce, the lobsterman. “I strongly support President Trump’s re-election. When he sees something isn’t right, he’s fearless in fixing it. He listens to working people.”

Trump’s aides believe individual stories like that can help convince voters Trump is looking out for them more broadly — and rebut accusations made by Democrats that he simply doesn’t care about the lives of ordinary Americans.

Trump ran as a populist who insisted he would enact policies that benefit the so-called “forgotten” Americans that he claimed both parties had left behind. Once he entered office, however, his legislative agenda didn’t always reflect those promises — including passing massive corporate tax breaks.

 Those haven’t been mentioned much during the convention so far. But Trump’s trade agreements have been front and center.

Trump himself has framed the efforts in more starkly political terms. He has focused in particular on farmers, telling aides they are his “people” — in other words, they voted for him — and must be taken care of. In real terms, that has meant massive subsidies as farmers suffered the effects of a tit-for-tat tariff war with China.

The benefits to Americans from Trump’s China trade deal aren’t as clear-cut as the convention would make them seem. Earlier Tuesday, new data was released showing China’s purchases of goods from the United States remained at less than half the committed targets for the year up to July set out in Trump’s Phase One trade deal.

In private, Trump has been less enthusiastic about efforts that don’t seem to have an obvious political upside. That includes on criminal justice reform, an initiative spearheaded by his son-in-law Jared Kushner that Trump endorsed but has not made a central aspect of his reelection bid.

It will appear at moments during the convention, including on Tuesday when Trump pardoned Jon Ponder, who robbed a bank in Nevada and later founded an organization to help former inmates. Alice Johnson, whose pardon was brought to Trump by Kim Kardashian West, is also a scheduled speaker this week.

Lobster fisherman Jason Joyce.

Jason Joyce, an eighth generation lobster fisherman from Maine, didn’t always support President Trump.

“I have to confess I didn’t support Trump in 2016, skeptical that he shared my conservative views, I expected him to flip flop on his campaign promises,” he said during his Republican National Convention speech tonight.

Joyce said he has had a change of heart.

Trump, he said, “has followed through on his promises” and has helped boost the Maine’s lobster industry.

“I strongly support President Trump’s reelection. When he sees something isn’t right, he’s fearless in fixing it. He listens to working people,” he saidWatch:

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Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul.

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul used his remarks at the Republican convention Tuesday night to praise many of President Donald Trump’s policies, especially his efforts to avoid foreign wars. 

When Paul ran against Trump in 2016, he called his opponent an “orange windbag,” a “fake conservative,” and a “delusional narcissist.” 

In his 2020 convention speech, Paul admitted, “I don’t always agree with him. But our occasional policy differences are far outweighed by our significant agreements. But more important than simple agreement is accomplishment. President Donald Trump gets things done.” 

Paul praised Trump’s tax plan, the President’s willingness to engage in health care deregulation efforts, and his work on criminal justice reform. 

Paul, long a critic of military intervention, said he fears Joe Biden will engage in foreign wars if elected president. 

Trump has frequently decried the US’ penchant for “endless wars” and in office, his administration has withdrawn troops from areas of conflict, such as Syria, and allied nations, like Germany.

“Joe Biden voted for the Iraq War, which President Trump has long called the worst geopolitical mistake of our generation. I fear Biden will choose war again. He supported war in Serbia, Syria, Libya. Joe Biden will continue to spill our blood and treasure. President Trump will bring our heroes home,” Paul said. “If you hate war like I hate war, if you want us to quit sending $50 billion every year to Afghanistan to build their roads and their bridges instead of building them here at home, you need to support President Trump for another term!” 

Watch:

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s convention speech was vetted by attorneys to ensure he did not violate any ethics standards, a person familiar with convention planning tells CNN.

The speech has been cleared through Pompeo’s personal lawyers, State Department and White House lawyers, and RNC lawyers, a source familiar said. The source called it “completely lawful and completely appropriate.”

But major questions are still being raised about whether Pompeo violated State Department guidance and a House Democrat is suggesting he may have violated federal law. 

Attorneys for the White House, the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign reviewed each set of remarks airing at the convention to ensure they do not violate ethics restrictions. Pompeo’s remarks were included in that review, a person familiar with the planning tells CNN. It’s not clear if State Department attorneys were involved in the matter.

Pompeo’s speech is far from the only one that has raised questions. His may violate diplomatic tradition, but the venue for Melania and President Trump’s speeches have also faced criticism for using government property to make a political pitch. 

Administration officials voiced little concern Tuesday about the secretary of state’s activities, citing the aforementioned review.

In this May 3, 2018 file photo, President Donald Trump talks about Jon Ponder, center, from Las Vegas during a National Day of Prayer event in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington.

President Trump issued a pardon for Jon Ponder, who was arrested for robbing a bank and has since founded a reintegration program for former prisoners, ahead of the Republican National Convention’s primetime speeches on Tuesday.

In a White House video announcing the pardon, Trump called Ponder’s life story a “beautiful testament to the power of redemption.” 

Ponder joined Trump inside the White House alongside former FBI agent Richard Beasley, who arrested him in 2004 and is now a good friend. 

“My hope for America is that formerly incarcerated people will be afforded the opportunity to take advantage of the fact that we live in a nation of second chance,” Ponder said in the video. “My hope for America is that law enforcement and people in the communities across our country can come together and realize that as Americans, we have more in common than we have differences.”

Jon Ponder, President Donald Trump, and former FBI agent Richard Beasley.

In a video shown during the Republican National Convention, Ponder and Beasley shared their story and thanked Trump for his leadership.

Some background: In February, Trump attended a graduation ceremony in Las Vegas for former prisoners who participated in Ponder’s nonprofit program. At the ceremony, the President said he was asked to give Ponder a pardon. 

“Ware giving him absolute consideration, and I have a feeling he’s going to get that full pardon. I have a feeling. I can’t tell you, but I have a feeling,” Trump said at the time. 

Trump has granted clemency to more than two dozen individuals since taking office. Sometimes, the President has used the executive power after being swayed by celebrities, friends or insiders advocating for him to make the move. And frequently, he’s used the pardon power to make a political statement or to help out old friends.

Among the list are individuals granted clemency by Trump is Alice Johnson, who faced a life sentence on charges related to possession of cocaine. After Kim Kardashian West advocated on Johnson’s behalf, Trump commuted her sentence in 2018. Johnson is also scheduled to speak at the convention on Thursday. 

The list includes several orders absolving old friends and conservative politicians from their crimes, including clemency for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, conservative author Dinesh D’Souza and former New York City Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik. 

And more recently, Trump commuted Roger Stone’s prison sentence, after Stone, a longtime friend and former Trump adviser was convicted of crimes that included lying to Congress in part, prosecutors said, to protect the President.

Trump’s most recent act of clemency was a posthumous pardon for Susan B. Anthony on the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. Some experts have said Anthony likely wouldn’t have wanted a pardon.

Watch:

Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer.

Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer said President Donald Trump has “always made it a priority to repair the relationship” between the government and the Navajo Nation. 

Lizer said, “Whenever we meet with President Trump, he has always made it a priority to repair the relationship with our federal family.”

Lizer praised Trump for signing a presidential proclamation recognizing May 5, 2020, as Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives Awareness Day, and signing an executive order forming the Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives.

He said Trump “delivered the largest financial funding package ever to Indian Country,” and said the funding “was a great start in alleviating the devastating effects that the Covid-19 pandemic has inflicted on our Indian tribes.”

“President Trump also strengthened the Supreme Court by nominating strong conservative judges like Neil Gorsuch, who supports Native American rights,” he said.

Watch:

Pastor Norma Urrabazo of the International Church of Las Vegas.

Pastor Norma Urrabazo of the International Church of Las Vegas opened the second night of the Republican National Convention with a prayer for “healing and comfort to Jacob Blake and his family.”

Jacob Blake, a man shot multiple times by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has been paralyzed and his family is hoping for “a miracle,” their attorneys said. The shooting has spurred protests and unrest in the state, prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency.

Urrabazo also prayed that “we, as a people, will seek reconciliation with you as we do the same with each other.”

“Let us stand together in unity as we embrace another chapter on our journey to greatness. I decree and declare America the best is yet to come. And I ask all this in the name of Jesus. Amen,” she said in closing.

Watch:

The second night of the Republican National Convention has kicked off, with first lady Melania Trump slated to close the evening.

The first lady is hoping to use her enormous popularity on Tuesday at the Republican National Convention to help address one of the biggest challenges facing President Donald Trump in November — his enormous deficit with female voters.

Speaking from the Rose Garden, the first lady is expected to give an uplifting speech reflecting on her work with children, her “Be Best” initiative, her second-term agenda and some of her favorite moments of the past three-and-a-half years as she makes the case that her husband should be reelected. Advisers have said that her speech was not vetted by anyone in the West Wing.

She is hoping to turn the page from the plagiarism controversy that surrounded her 2016 speech when the Trump campaign acknowledged that passages from her remarks had been taken from Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech to the Democratic National Convention, in what was framed as an innocent mistake by a writer who helped her with the speech.

Her chief of staff and former White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, told MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson on Tuesday morning that “every word in this speech is from her” and that it would be an “authentic” address that “comes from the heart.”

Read more here.

First lady Melania Trump speaks during a meeting of the President's Task Force on Protecting Native American Children in the Indian Health System in the State Dining Room of the White House on July 23 in Washington.

Melania Trump’s chief of staff Stephanie Grisham was the primary speech writer for the first lady – Grisham has written the majority of FLOTUS speeches since early 2018.

As with most things, she did not run the content of her speech by anyone in the West Wing or the campaign ahead of time – nor was it vetted upon completion by the West Wing.

The first lady operates completely in a silo, and this speech, even considering what happened in 2016 with the plagiarism, is no exception. 

Historically, it’s incredibly rare that a first lady does not work in tandem with the campaign or the administration on a national address of this magnitude.

The speech set-up is already done in the East Room of the White House in case the rain forces her speech indoors. The East Room, of course, is the same room where Friday the Trumps hosted a funeral for Robert Trump.

Melania again shunned professional speechwriters for this Republican National Convention address, a decision that raised eyebrows in campaign and west wing circles, considering the debacle of 2016. In 2016, she was offered the services of seasoned GOP political speechwriters, but rejected their drafts and instead went with Meredith McIver, a Trump Organization staffer. A plagiarism scandal ensued after that speech. 

This is not only the first campaign appearance for Trump 2020 by Melania, it will likely also be her last. She has no fundraisers, speeches or travel for planned for the rest of the foreseeable future and like 2016, no intention of being an active campaign spouse, according to a source familiar.

First Lady Melania Trump, Eric Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Tiffany Trump.

The second night of the Republican National Convention is this evening, and will take place from 8:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET.

Like Monday night’s speeches in Washington, most of Tuesday’s speeches are scheduled to be taped from an empty auditorium in downtown DC.

President Donald Trump is not scheduled to speak during Tuesday’s events, but the campaign has promised surprise appearances by the President throughout the week.

Notable speeches will include Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, first lady Melania Trump, and Tiffany and Eric Trump — two of the President’s children.

After adopting a “Land of Promise” theme on Monday, the convention will move on to the theme “Land of Opportunity” on Tuesday.

Here are key things to watch tonight:

Read more about tonight’s event here.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler and Kate Bennett contributed to this report.

In this March 15, 2019 file photo, Immigration Reform Advocate Mary Ann Mendoza speaks as President Donald Trump listens during a veto signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.

A previously-scheduled speaker at tonight’s Republican National Convention session has been suddenly pulled from the program after it came to light that she had retweeted a thread promoting an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.

Mary Ann Mendoza, whose police officer son was killed by a drunk driver, had been included in a list of excerpts of speakers’ remarks sent by the campaign earlier Tuesday evening. But the latest rundown of speakers sent by the network pool does not have her listed as a speaker.

Mendoza tweeted an apology saying, “I retweeted a very long thread earlier without reading every post within the thread. My apologies for not paying attention to the intent of the whole message. That does not reflect my feelings or personal thoughts whatsoever.”

Mendoza was also identified as an advisory board member of Steve Bannon’s “We Build the Wall” organization in a March 2019 Facebook post. Bannon and three others involved in that group have been charged with defrauding donors.

According to excerpts from her speech tonight, Mendoza was scheduled to say:

The Daily Beast was first to report news of the tweet.

Hear more:

Congressional Hispanic Caucus chairman Rep. Joaquin Castro arrives for a news conference to discuss the Supreme Court case involving Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals at the U.S. Capitol on November 12, 2019 in Washington.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, has opened an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s decision to speak at the Republican National Convention.

In a letter sent Tuesday to Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun, Castro cites the Hatch Act and State Department policies on political activities, writing, “It is highly unusual, and likely unprecedented, for a sitting Secretary of State to speak at a partisan convention for either of the political parties. It appears that it may also be illegal.”

He called for Biegun to arrange for a briefing and provide written answers by September 1 to a number of questions related to the legal authorization for the RNC speech, use of State Department resources and staff, and his official trip to the region.

In addition, Castro asked Biegun to provide by September 10 “Any and all records prepared by or sent to or from the Office of the Legal Adviser on or after December 3, 2019 regarding restrictions on political activities by Secretary Pompeo or Presidential Appointees or Political Appointees; and (a) list of expenditures from the trip during which Secretary Pompeo recorded his remarks to the RNC, including receipts demonstrating that any expenses incurred by the State Department were reimbursed by the RNC, Trump’s campaign, or other outside sponsors.”

CNN has reached out to the State Department for comment.

Some background: Pompeo’s decision to address the RNC in pre-taped remarks from Jerusalem breaks with past precedent of secretaries of state not addressing political conventions and a long-standing protocol of not discussing domestic politics while abroad. It has drawn scrutiny and scorn from diplomats.

A State Department spokesperson and another source familiar with the situation defended the move by saying Pompeo would deliver the remarks in his personal capacity and that no taxpayer funds would be used.

However, in his July cable, Pompeo himself noted that “presidential and political appointees and career SES (Senior Executive Service) are subject to significant restrictions on their political activity; they may not engage in any partisan political activity in concert with a partisan campaign, political party, or partisan political group, even on personal time and outside of the federal workplace.”

Read more here.

On night two of the Republican National Convention, the GOP is highlighting another conservative at the center of an incident that went viral.

The RNC on Monday featured the St. Louis couple — the McCloskeys — who went viral in late June after they were seen with brandishing guns outside their mansion at protesters walking on a private street en route to demonstrate outside the St. Louis mayor’s residence. The mayor lives on a nearby public street and the protesters were going down a street that doesn’t reach the mayor’s house, a St. Louis city official said. The Missouri couple was charged in July with unlawful use of a weapon, a class E felony.

Monday’s remarks also featured Kim Klacik, a GOP congressional candidate who starred in a viral video about “the reality for Black people” in Baltimore.

On Tuesday, the convention will feature Nick Sandmann, a Kentucky teenager who was at the center of a viral video controversy in which he was filmed while wearing a MAGA hat with his student group at the Lincoln Memorial after his group encountered other groups of protesters. 

He sued numerous news organizations and has so far reached settlements with the Washington Post and CNN.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens to a reporter's question during a meeting with President Donald Trump and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday, August 20.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted his excitement ahead of his Republican National Convention speech tonight.

“President Trump has ensured the safety of America — and SECURED our many FREEDOMS, which is the cornerstone of this great nation,” he tweeted from his personal account today. “I look forward to sharing with you how the President has delivered on that mission TONIGHT!”

Pompeo appeared to have pretaped his speech from the roof of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. 

CNN reported Monday that Pompeo’s unprecedented decision to deliver a speech to the convention comes just a month after he warned employees to “not improperly engage the Department of State in the political process” and cited guidance that “presidential and political appointees and career SES (Senior Executive Service) are subject to significant restrictions on their political activity; they may not engage in any partisan political activity in concert with a partisan campaign, political party, or partisan political group, even on personal time and outside of the federal workplace.”

December 2019 guidance from the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser states — in bold with parts italicized — that “Senate-confirmed Presidential appointees may not even attend a political party convention or convention-related event.”

On a press call with reporters, the Biden campaign cast Monday evening’s tone of the Republican National Convention as “dark” and “dystopian.”

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s expected address to the Republican National Convention from Jerusalem “reckless” and “counter to the traditions of our country.”

“For him to do this I think further shows that this administration is willing to politicize the State of Israel and use it as a political wedge as opposed to a rallying cry for us to come together and continue our traditions of bipartisan support for the State of Israel,” Booker said. “To me, it’s reckless, it is counter to the traditions of our country, it is counter to the mandates that he put forward to State Department personnel.”

Booker added that the President seems to be “trampling” upon the ideas that there are some places that are “sacrosanct” and should not be used in a political capacity.

First Lady Melania Trump applauds as she attends Independence Day events at Mount Rushmore in Keystone, South Dakota, on July 3.

In 2016, first lady Melania Trump rejected at least two drafts of speeches provided by seasoned political speechwriters, opting instead to rely on a woman who worked in New York for the Trump Organization, also an occasional ghostwriter for some of Donald Trump’s books.

It was a decision that would culminate in a case of plagiarism so egregious it would overshadow her convention appearance and follow her into the White House.

This time, the speech Trump will deliver a speech with reflections of her experiences over the last three and a half years, sprinkled with deeply personal anecdotes, a nod to history, a look at her proposed second-term agenda and a forceful push of support for her husband, a White House official familiar with the first lady’s preparation told CNN.

This speech has also not been vetted by anyone in the West Wing.

But Trump has been intricately involved in the writing, editing and delivery of her RNC address, the source said, for which she once again shunned the help of professional speechwriters, relying instead on a senior aide to write the bulk of the content.

The first lady’s chief of staff Stephanie Grisham told CNN the content of Trump’s speech is “positive and uplifting,” adding it is “very forward-looking.”

The first lady rehearsed her delivery from the East Wing late Monday night in front of a small group of advisers, making sure to go over the content enough times to feel as comfortable as possible, the White House source said.

As first lady, the average length of her public remarks at events is typically three to four minutes, on rare occasions they stretch to seven or eight. This speech, says Grisham, will be one of her longest as first lady.

President Donald Trump promised a forward-looking, optimistic Republican National Convention with live appearances after railing against the Democrats’ programming last week.

But only three of Monday evening’s speeches were live: 

The convention began at approximately 8:30 p.m. ET and ended at 10:54 p.m. ET – that’s roughly 2 hours and 24 minutes.

About 25 minutes and 30 seconds of that coverage was live – just under 18% of the evening.

Trump previously expressed his displeasure with the Democratic National Convention’s taped speeches.

“I think we’re going to have more of it as live than what they did. I think it’s pretty boring when you do tapes. I’m going to go live and do mine live,” he said during an appearance on Fox News last week.

He criticized former first lady Michelle Obama for taping her remarks in particular: “And it was not only taped, it was taped a long time ago because she had the wrong deaths. She didn’t even mention the vice presidential candidate in the speech. And, you know, she gets these fawning reviews. If you gave a real review, it wouldn’t be so fawning,” he said during an event celebrating the 19th Amendment.

First lady Melania Trump is expected to speak live tonight from the Rose Garden. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will appear from Jerusalem in taped remarks. 

Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Donald Trump, heads back into the West Wing after speaking to reporters outside of the White House on August 6 in Washington.

Kellyanne Conway will be part of a video scheduled to air tonight during the Republican National Convention featuring “the women in Trump’s life,” a source familiar with the production tells CNN.

Conway, one of Trump’s longest female senior staffers, announced Sunday night she would be leaving her job at the White House at the end of the month to devote more time to her family. 

The video, part of what the source says will be a female-centric portion of tonight’s RNC programming, culminating in the speech from first lady Melania Trump, apparently features women who have worked closely with Donald Trump telling first-person stories about how he impacted their lives or careers, says the source.

Another name the source indicated was on the video is White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.

Some context: Trump has made a number of disparaging remarks about women while president, often using the term “nasty” as a descriptor for many of his female detractors.

More than 20 women have alleged they have been victims of some form of sexual misconduct or harassment from Trump. He has denied the allegations.  

The speech Melania Trump will deliver from the Rose Garden tonight (or the East Room, if it rains) was not vetted by anyone in the West Wing, Stephanie Grisham confirms to CNN, nor did anyone on the President’s staff approve the content.

It is unusual for a first lady to deliver a speech of this magnitude to this large an audience without it being vetted by anyone in the West Wing, specifically to monitor for messaging alignment.

This year, as she did in 2016, Melania Trump shunned the help of professional speechwriters.

Most of her remarks were written by a senior aide, says a campaign official, who tells CNN Trump spent several hours last night in the East Wing rehearsing and making final adjustments to the copy.

President Donald Trump speaks on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Charlotte Convention Center on August 24.

Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said that President Donald Trump will appear “more than once” during Tuesday’s Republican National Convention.

Trump is expected to make appearances each night of the GOP convention. He will give his acceptance speech on Thursday from the White House.

“There will be a small audience” for first lady Melania Trump’s event tonight, and said they “are consulting with a coronavirus adviser and all appropriate precautions will be taken.” He referred questions on the tone of the speech to her office.

Murtaugh went through the list of tonight’s slated speakers – they are expected to address topics such as indigenous people, criminal justice, the Maine lobster industry, the dairy industry, the anti-abortion movement, illegal immigration, drug addiction and law and order.

There will be another elected Democratic speaker: Eveleth, Minnesota, Mayor Robert Vlaisavljevich.

Murtaugh declined to provide details on the President’s Thursday speech, other than to say he will be “trumpeting his economy” and address his “unprecedented” coronavirus response, and a “look ahead” toward the next four years.

“We felt very good about last night,” Murtaugh said of Monday’s programming, adding that the campaign was “very pleased” with the way night one played into the “overarching theme” of “honoring the great American story.”

He ticked through some of the speakers and said they shared “undeniably uplifting” stories.

He claimed that one night of RNC is “more entertainment” and “more informative than all four days of the Democrats.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wears a mask at a press conference on August 12, in Prague, Czech Republic.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will address the Republican National Convention tonight, despite just a month earlier reminding employees to “not improperly engage the Department of State in the political process,” according to a cable obtained by CNN.

Pompeo’s decision to address the RNC in pre-taped remarks from Jerusalem breaks with past precedent of secretaries of state not addressing political conventions and a long-standing protocol of not discussing domestic politics while abroad. It has drawn scrutiny and scorn from diplomats.

Pompeo will discuss Trump’s policy achievements, particularly his accomplishments on China, delivering robust Middle East policy, strengthening NATO, and seeking out diplomacy with North Korea, according to a source who was briefed on the convention plans.

On the Middle East aspect of the speech, Pompeo will highlight the moving of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and the Israel-United Arab Emirates agreement earlier this month, the source said.

Pompeo will address the RNC for about four minutes in a prerecorded message from a rooftop in Jerusalem, the source said. The speech would be given “in his personal capacity,” according to a State Department official.

“No State Department resources will be used,” the official said. “Staff are not involved in preparing the remarks or in the arrangements for Secretary Pompeo’s appearance. The State Department will not bear any costs in conjunction with this appearance.”

A source familiar said Trump asked Pompeo to speak and he considers it a high honor to have been asked. The President thinks it will be one of the most important speeches of the week.

The speech has been cleared through Pompeo’s personal lawyers, State Department, White House lawyers and RNC lawyers, the source familiar said. The source said they are not concerned that it is a Hatch Act violation or improper as Pompeo “will be speaking as a citizen of the US, not speaking as the secretary.”

No taxpayer resources are being used to support the speech, the source said, as it’s being funded by the campaign and RNC. No support staff are traveling with Pompeo on his government plane. The source briefed on the convention plans said a private company paid for by the RNC will record the video.

Pompeo departed for a swing through the Middle East and Africa on Sunday. His stops include Israel, Sudan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

Trump has frequently touted his support for Israel as a top foreign policy achievement, and said Friday that his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem was popular with Evangelicals.

First Lady Melania Trump visits the Children’s Inn at National Institute of Health on Valentine's Day on February 14 in Bethesda, Maryland.

First lady Melania Trump on Saturday unveiled the newly renovated White House Rose Garden, an iconic space that she will use as a backdrop for her upcoming speech to the Republican National Convention.

The Rose Garden has been under construction since late last month, when the first lady announced she was spearheading an overhaul to the space to include updates to the technological elements of the space, as well as the redesign of the plantings and the placement of new limestone walkways.

Since construction began, the garden — used more frequently in the Covid-19 era to hold news conferences as it allows White House staff, journalists and guests to more safely socially distance — has been out of sight from staff and members of the press.

CNN previously reported the space was on a list of spots for the first lady’s convention speech. President Trump will give his convention address Thursday from the South Lawn of the White House.

And some hope she will bring the same meticulous attention to detail that she put into redoing the iconic space — complete with a more than 200 page report — to the showy partisan event. The Rose Garden renovation was paid for by private donations.

The detail-oriented first lady wasn’t so careful in 2016, effectively botching her introduction to America by delivering an RNC speech including lines plagiarized from Michelle Obama’s 2008 convention speech.

In 2016, Trump, according to campaign sources at the time, shunned the assistance of more seasoned speechwriters and worked with a staffer at the Trump Organization who had some experience helping ghostwrite her husband’s books.

This time the first lady is again, opting not to use a professional speechwriting team for her convention address, relying instead on her small circle of staff, according to a Republican strategist, speaking with anonymity to preserve working relations within the White House.