Day 2 of the 2024 Republican National Convention

For the second consecutive night, the Republican National Convention played a video in which former President Donald Trump urged Republicans to use “every appropriate tool available to beat the Democrats,” including voting by mail. Trump relentlessly disparaged mail-in voting during the 2020 election, falsely claiming it was rife with fraud, and he has continued to sharply criticize it during the current campaign.

But Trump’s comments in the convention video also included some of his regular false claims about elections. After claiming he would “once and for all secure our elections” as president, Trump again insinuated the 2020 election was not secure, saying, “We never want what happened in 2020 to happen again.” And he said, “Keep your eyes open, because these people want to cheat and they do cheat, and frankly, it’s the only thing they do well.” 

Facts First: Trump’s claims are nonsense – slightly vaguer versions of his usual lies that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen and that Democrats are serial election cheaters. The 2020 election was highly secure; Trump lost fair and square to Joe Biden by an Electoral College margin of 306 to 232; there is no evidence of voter fraud even close to widespread enough to have changed the outcome in any state; and there is no basis for claiming that election cheating is the only thing at which Trump’s opponents excel. 

The Trump administration’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a post-election November 2020 statement: “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history.” 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on stage during the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, July 16, in Milwaukee.

While Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spent the GOP primary trying to make the case against another Trump presidency, tonight on the RNC stage, he urged Americans to stand with the former president.

“Donald Trump, he’s been demonized. He’s been sued. He’s been prosecuted. And he nearly lost his life. We cannot let him down, and we cannot let America down,” DeSantis said.

As he walked onstage, DeSantis received a warm welcome. Delegates took their feet and cheered. Trump; his new running mate, JD Vance; and the VIP box also stood and clapped for the Florida Governor.

Repeating one of his typical stump speech lines, “Let’s send Joe Biden back to his basement,” DeSantis added, “And let’s send Donald Trump back to the White House.”

On the trail, DeSantis often railed against Joe Biden’s capability to lead. Tonight was no different, but he seemed to strike a chord with the crowd, especially after Biden’s disastrous debate performance.

“I am alarmed that the current president of the United States lacks the capability to discharge the duties of his office,” DeSantis said.

Trump let out a laugh when DeSantis said, “America cannot afford four more years of a ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ presidency.”

“Let’s be honest here. Biden is just a figurehead. He’s a tool for imposing the leftist agenda on the American people,” he said. 

While DeSantis often criticized Trump for failing to complete the border wall, DeSantis said, “Our border was safer under the Trump administration.”

“Our country was respected when Donald Trump was our Commander in Chief.”

Nikki Haley speaks on stage during the second day of the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, July 16, in Milwaukee.

Democrats were carefully watching Nikki Haley tonight, too.

As the Republican primary campaign wore along this spring — with Haley winning tens of thousands of votes in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and other states — Democrats eagerly studied the results and saw an opportunity in every single ballot cast for Haley.

More than ever before, it’s unclear whether any of those who voted for Haley would now back President Joe Biden.

She told CNN he wasn’t her first choice and that she wished he had selected Haley as his running mate, but she said she wouldn’t even consider backing Biden.

A senior Democratic adviser who works closely with the Biden-Harris campaign conceded that the promise of all those Haley votes “may not seem as bright” as it once did, but maintained it would still be difficult for some suburban voters to back Trump.

But tonight, one year after the Republican Party seemed awash in division, the fissures inside the Democratic Party are a top worry for Democrats here and beyond.

Anne Fundner speaks during the second day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, on July 16, 2024. Days after he survived an assassination attempt Donald Trump won formal nomination as the Republican presidential candidate and picked right-wing loyalist J.D. Vance for running mate, kicking off a triumphalist party convention in the wake of last weekend's failed assassination attempt. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

Southern California mother Anne Fundner received a standing ovation during her Republican National Convention speech as she recounted her 15-year-old son’s overdose death in 2022, which she described as the “tragic reality of open borders.”

Fundner, who introduced herself as a wife and mother of four, described her oldest son, Weston, as an “amazing big brother” who regularly attended church and loved to play football and surf.

The mother fought back tears as the audience, including former president Donald Trump and his vice-presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance, stood in a standing ovation and chanted Weston’s name and yelled “Joe must go!”

“I hold Joe Biden, Kamala Harris — the border czar, what a joke — and Gavin Newsom and every Democrat who supports open borders responsible for the death of my son.”

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks on stage on the second day of the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, July 16, in Milwaukee.

Arkansas’s Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was met with a standing ovation during her Republican National Convention speech where she said God is “not finished with President (Donald) Trump.”

She looked to humanize Trump, drawing on her time working in the White House. Sanders recalled one time during a bring-your-child-to-work day, her son, Huck, seemed to be running straight toward the former president’s waiting for a hug. But, she said, Huck “sidesteps the president, completely ignoring him in front of everyone and ran straight into my arms.”

“Because he’s the amazing man he is, president Trump didn’t mind at all. After all. He’s a dad to five unbelievable kids and a grandfather to 10. And while that story is certainly a special memory for my family, it’s an even greater reminder why I support President Trump: not for me, not for him, but for my kids and for yours,” she added.

Sanders also remembered a time she was being criticized by members of the media, saying, “Our president pulled me aside, looked me in the eye and said, ‘Sarah, you’re smart. You’re beautiful, you’re tough and they attack you because you’re good at your job. Never let them stop fighting.’”

“Thank you, Mr. President. That’s the Donald Trump that I know.”

This post has been updated with remarks from Sanders.

House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks on stage during the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, July 16, in Milwaukee.

After criticizing President Joe Biden as weak, House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed in his Tuesday speech at the Republican National Convention that Democrats’ policies have brought communities “dramatic increases” in “violence, crime and drugs.”

Similarly, House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik referred to “Biden’s violent crime crisis,” and a video played near the beginning of the Tuesday evening proceedings featured a narrator saying, “It’s not just big cities. Rising crime is a problem everywhere.”  

Facts First: Johnson’s claims about dramatic increases in violence and crime are false, as is the convention video’s claim that there is a problem “everywhere” with “rising crime.” Official data published by the FBI shows violent crime dropped significantly in the US in 2023 and in the first quarter of 2024, though there were increases in some communities; violent crime is now lower than it was in 2020, President Donald Trump’s last calendar year in office. 

Stefanik’s claim of a “violent crime crisis” under Biden is subjective, but she certainly did not acknowledge that the current numbers under Biden are superior to final Trump-era numbers. 

Preliminary FBI data for 2023 showed a roughly 13% national decline in murder and a roughly 6% national decline in overall violent crime compared to 2022, bringing both murder and violent crime levels below where they were in 2020. And preliminary FBI data for the first quarter of 2024 showed an even steeper drop from the same quarter in 2023 – a roughly 26% decline in murder and roughly 15% decline in overall violent crime.   

There are limitations to the FBI-published data, which comes from local law enforcement – the numbers are preliminary, not all communities submitted data, and the submitted data usually has some initial errors – so these statistics may not precisely capture the size of the recent declines in crime. But these statistics and other data sources make it clear crime has indeed declined to some extent nationally, though not everywhere.   

Crime data expert Jeff Asher, co-founder of the firm AH Datalytics, said that if the final 2023 figures show a decline in murder of at least 10% from 2022, this would be the fastest US decline “ever recorded.” And he noted that both the preliminary FBI-published data from the first quarter of 2024 and also “crime data collected from several independent sources point to an even larger decline in property and violent crime, including a substantially larger drop in murder, so far this year compared to 2023, though there is still time left in the year for those trends to change.”  

Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump may upend the presidential race. Such a shift, however, is not seen in the first survey taken since the shooting in Pennsylvania.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll of registered voters released Tuesday puts Trump at 43% to President Joe Biden’s 41%, well within the survey’s margin of error. Their previous poll had the race tied at 40%. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in early June gave Trump 41% to Biden’s 39%, again within the margin of error.

This isn’t to say that later surveys won’t show Trump moving up. In fact, it would be at least a little surprising if Trump doesn’t rise in the polls in the upcoming days given that presidential candidates usually receive a polling bump after their party conventions.

Still, this is a race that hasn’t shown a lot of movement nationally over the course of the campaign. After Biden’s weak debate performance in late June, polls showed only a minimal movement away from him.

The 2024 race has, in fact, been statistically the most stable on record. Fortunately for Trump, this has meant that he’s had a narrow but consistent advantage.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks during the second day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Tuesday, July 16.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis praised Donald Trump on his US border and economic policies during a speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

DeSantis, who ran against Trump to be the GOP candidate for president, went on to criticize what he called President Joe Biden’s “dereliction of duty.”

“As a citizen, as a husband and as a father, I am alarmed that the current president of the United States lacks the capability to discharge the duties of his office,” DeSantis said.

This post has been updated with additional comments from DeSantis.

Nikki Haley speaks on the second day of the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, July 16, in Milwaukee.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was Donald Trump’s top 2024 GOP primary rival, said the Republican Party needs to not just be unified, but also needs to expand.

She argued the party needs to be strong “to save America” and called this a “defining moment” for both the party and the country.

“In this moment we have a chance to put aside our differences and focus on what unites us and strengthens our country,” Haley said.

The audience listens as Nikki Haley speaks on Tuesday, July 16 at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley highlighted Russia’s invasion of Crimea under then-President Barack Obama in 2014 and then Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 under President Joe Biden.

“But when Donald Trump was president, Putin did nothing … no invasions, no wars. That was no accident. Putin didn’t attack Ukraine because he knew Donald Trump was tough,” she said.

Remember: Trump has said he would pressure Ukraine into a peace deal with Russia that would see Kyiv cede territory in the process if he wins the presidency. Earlier this year, Trump said he would allow Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” with countries that don’t meet NATO defense-funding obligations.  As president, Trump described NATO as “obsolete,” and he has aligned himself with Putin, who wants to weaken the alliance. The former president has long praised Putin and went as far as to side with the Russian leader over the US intelligence community regarding Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.  

Haley also slammed Biden’s record on Afghanistan and called it his “sign of weakness” that Israeli Americans are still being held in Gaza.

This post and headline have been updated with additional details.

Nikki Haley speaks during the second day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Tuesday, July 16.

Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations and a former Republican presidential primary challenger, said she came to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee to speak about unity.

Haley called it a “gracious invitation” and said she was happy to accept. “Donald Trump has my strong endorsement, period,” Haley said.

Haley was invited to the convention just days ago. Last week, Haley spokesperson Chaney Denton told CNN that she was not invited and that she was “fine with that.”

The former governor said tonight that the country will be “badly worse off” with four more years of the Biden administration. Haley also argued that Democrats have moved too far to the left. “For the sake of our nation, we have to go with Donald Trump,” she said.

Haley acknowledged that not all Americans agree with Trump all of the time. She said in her remarks that she was speaking directly to those voters.

Haley was the last Trump opponent to stay in the GOP presidential race and argued she would be a better standard-bearer for the Republican Party to reel in moderate and independent voters in a general election against Biden. 

Haley, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, said on the trail that she feels “no need to kiss the ring.” Even after suspending her campaign, she didn’t immediately endorse the former president and instead urged him to “earn” the support of voters who backed her. But she ultimately said last month that she’d be voting for her former boss and released her delegates to the convention and encouraging them to support Trump.

This post has been updated with more of Haley’s comments.

Audience members listen as Sen. Ted Cruz speaks on the the second day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Tuesday, July 16.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz opened his speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by “giving thanks to God Almighty for protecting President Trump” at Saturday’s rally in Pennsylvania, where he survived an assassination attempt.

He then moved on to underlining the stakes of the November election, warning that America is facing “an invasion” on its southern border.

Cruz said that when Trump is elected, “we will fix this.”

Remember: The former president has made immigration and the border a central campaign issue, successfully pressuring Republicans to reject a major bipartisan border deal earlier this year.

Fact check: Trump also has often spoken about the United States being “overrun” by a “new form” of crime he called “Biden migrant crime.” He made that claim earlier this year though early data suggests that in 2023 the US was at or around its lowest violent crime rate in more than 50 years amid a sharp decline in homicides; though there were cases of undocumented people committing crimes during his own presidency; and though, despite some recent cases in which undocumented people are accused of serious offenses, research has found no connection between immigration and crime – and sometimes that immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than people born in the US.

This post has been updated with Cruz’s remarks and with a recent CNN fact check on claims about crimes committed by undocumented people.

Rep. Steve Scalise speaks during the second day of the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, July 16, in Milwaukee.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Tuesday in his Republican National Convention speech that migrants are arriving in the US after having been deliberately freed from prison.  

“On the border, Biden and Harris opened it up to the entire world. Prisons are being emptied,” said Scalise, a Louisiana Republican. 

Facts first: There is no evidence for Scalise’s claim that “prisons are being emptied” so that prisoners can travel to the US as migrants.  

“I do a daily news search to see what’s going on in prisons around the world and have seen absolutely no evidence that any country is emptying its prisons and sending them all to the US,” said Helen Fair, who is co-author of the World Prison Population List, which tracks the global prison population, and a research fellow at the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research at Birkbeck, University of London.

Former President Donald Trump, now the Republican presidential nominee, has repeatedly made such claims in his own speeches and interviews. But Trump has never provided any proof for the claim. 

Trump’s campaign has provided CNN with only a vague 2022 article from right-wing website Breitbart about a supposed federal intelligence report warning Border Patrol agents about Venezuela freeing violent prisoners who had then joined migrant caravans.  

But this supposed claim about Venezuela’s actions has never been corroborated, and experts have told CNN, PolitiFact and FactCheck.org that they know of no proof of any such thing having happened.  

The recorded global prison population increased from October 2021 to April 2024, from about 10.77 million people to about 10.99 million people, according to the World Prison Population List. 

Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump arrives to attend the second day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Tuesday, Jully 16.

Former President Donald Trump, still wearing a bandage over his right ear, is at the Republican National Convention arena in Milwaukee for a second night.

His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, entered the convention earlier this evening.

They are both together in the box, alongside GOP Reps. Elise Stefanik, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Trump’s son Eric Trump and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, among others.

Trump’s former primary rivals Nikki Haley and Gov. Ron DeSantis are set to take the stage soon to deliver remarks.

The post was updated with more details on Trump’s arrival.

One of the main themes of the Republican National Convention’s second night is the border. That isn’t too surprising given that Donald Trump has always been quite hawkish on immigration. 

But Trump and the Republicans are presenting their message to a more receptive national audience.

More Americans (22%) rank immigration as the nation’s top problem than any other issue, according to a June Gallup poll. Four years ago, just 2% put immigration as the nation’s most important problem — it was tied as the 15th most important problem. 

But it’s not just that immigration is now top of mind for more Americans. It’s that more Americans now trust Trump on the issue than they did in 2020. 

When asked which candidate was better on immigration and border security, Trump topped Joe Biden by 27 points in a May Marquette University Law School survey. A similar June 2020 question from a CNBC survey found Biden up by a point over Trump (well within the margin of error). 

It’s no wonder then that the word “border” was mentioned 27 times in this year’s Republican Party platform. In 2016 (the last year with a full GOP platform), the word border was mentioned 17 times. The increase comes despite the fact that this year’s platform had fewer words than the one eight years ago. 

Similarly, the word “invasion” appears six times in the 2024 platform, up from zero mentions in 2016.

Sen. JD Vance entered the arena on the second day of the convention on Tuesday, July 16.

JD Vance is at the Republican National Convention arena in Milwaukee tonight.

On Monday, the Ohio senator was formally nominated as former President Donald Trump’s GOP vice presidential candidate.

He is in box tonight with GOP Reps. Elise Stefanik and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Trump’s son Eric Trump and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders are also present in the box.

Trump is also expected to attend the convention tonight.

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance confirmed he connected with Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday, after initially ignoring the call from an unknown number.

“Obviously, we’re going to do everything that we can to persuade the American people to vote for the President Trump, Vice President Vance ticket, but I appreciated the call. It was very kind of her,” he added.

Vance was asked if he saved the number. 

“I did not. I did not,” he said, laughing.

“Democrats are actively trying to throw their nominee under the bus. This party out here is really united behind President Trump. It’s a really good feeling and I think that momentum is something you can almost reach out and touch,” Vance said.

Vance also said “it’s totally crazy” that the first Republican National Convention he’s ever attended is where he was nominated as vice president.

Former President Donald Trump accused Democrats of attacking the Supreme Court as President Joe Biden seriously considers publicly endorsing major reforms at the nation’s highest court. 

“The Radical Left Democrats are desperately trying to “Play the Ref” by calling for an illegal and unConstitutional attack on our SACRED United States Supreme Court,” Trump posted on Truth Social. 

CNN reported that Biden is seriously considering publicly endorsing major reforms at the top court, a move that would make him the first sitting president in generations to back seismic changes to the way the nation’s highest court operates, according to two sources familiar with the deliberations. 

Chief among the changes Biden is planning to publicly back are term limits for the nine justices, who currently serve lifetime appointments. The president is also said to be preparing to throw his support behind an ethics code for the court that would contain an enforcement mechanism, which was notably absent from the code the court adopted last year.

Rep. Elise Stefanik at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, on Tuesday, July 16.

Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York claimed in her Republican National Convention speech Tuesday that President Joe Biden’s presidency has led to the “highest rate of inflation” in her lifetime.

Facts First: This claim is out of date.  

While the year-over-year inflation rate in June 2022, about 9.1%, was the highest since late 1981, inflation has declined sharply since that Biden-era peak, and the most recent available rate, for June 2024, was about 3%. That rate was exceeded as recently as 2011. Stefanik was born in 1984.  

Eric Hovde, the Republican running for Senate in Wisconsin, claimed in his RNC speech Tuesday that the Biden administration “emboldened drug cartels to flood our streets with fentanyl killing over 100,000 Americans every year” by opening the country’s southern border and allowing “criminals and terrorists to enter the country.” 

Facts First: It’s a significant exaggeration that fentanyl kills more than 100,000 Americans every year due to the country’s “open” borders. The number of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids in 2023, including fentanyl, was approximately 75,000, according to estimated and provisional data. 

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in May that roughly 107,500 people in the US died from a drug overdose, but that is the total number of people who died from an overdose from any kind of drug. 

Synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, were involved in the majority of those fatalities, making up nearly 70% of overdose deaths in 2023, but they did not account for all of them. 

In fact, compared with 2022, there were around 1,500 fewer overdose deaths involving fentanyl and other synthetic opioids in 2023. The estimated number of deaths involving cocaine and psychostimulants such as methamphetamines increased in 2023. 

Specifically, in 2023, there were 74,702 deaths from synthetic opioids, and most of those deaths were from fentanyl. By comparison, in 2022 the estimated number was 76,226, according to the CDC. 

It is also worth noting that fentanyl is largely smuggled by US citizens through legal ports of entry, rather than by migrants sneaking into the country. Contrary to frequent claims by Republicans, the border is not “open;” border officers have seized an increasing amount of illicit fentanyl, numbering in the hundreds of millions of pills, under Biden. 

Former Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, addressed “legal immigrants” and “illegal immigrants” in his Tuesday address at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

To “legal immigrants,” he said: “You’re like my parents. You deserve the opportunity to secure a better life for your children in America.”

To “illegal immigrants,” he said: “We will return you to your country of origin, not because you’re all bad people, but because you broke the law. And the United States of America was founded on the rule of law.”

Former Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, used his Tuesday address at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to speak to Black Americans watching at home.

The Republican Party cares about Black communities, he said.

US President Joe Biden visit Mario's Westside Market grocery store alongside US Rep. Steven Horsford in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday, July 16

President Joe Biden arrived at Mario’s Westside Market Tuesday evening where he stopped by the checkout register to greet some attendants, posing for pictures with a few of them.

“Is that my good side?” one person asked, prompting Biden to joke, “I don’t have a good side.”

Biden then moved back to the deli counter, where he was greeted by the Mario of Mario’s Westside Market.

Mario detailed the funding he’d received under the American Rescue Plan, which allowed him to expand the products his store offers.

Vivek Ramaswamy speaks on stage during the second day of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Tuesday, July 16.

Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, opened his speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with a joke.

To be American in the year 2024 means to “believe in the ideals of 1776,” Ramaswamy said.

“It means we believe in merit, that you get ahead in this country not on the color of your skin, but on the content of your character and your contributions. It means we believe in the rule of law. And I say this as the kid of legal immigrants to this country that means your first act of entering this country cannot break the law. That is why we will seal the southern border on day 1,” he said.

The post was updated with more of Ramaswamy’s remarks.

House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks on stage during the second day of the convention on Tuesday, July 16, in Milwaukee.

House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, saying the country is uniting at this moment.

He assured the audience that the House was conducting an investigation into Saturday’s events, “the American people deserve to know the truth and we will ensure accountability.”

CNN previously reported that the House Oversight Committee had scheduled a briefing with committee members and the Secret Service Tuesday, but the Department of Homeland Security intervened and “refused to confirm a briefing time.” A spokesperson for the panel also said the committee plans to subpoena testimony of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.

The Louisiana Republican throughout the rest of his speech looked to draw an existential divide between Democrats and Republicans.

“We are no longer just in a battle between two opposing political parties,” he said, adding later, “We’re now in the midst of a struggle between two completely different visions of who we are as Americans and what our country will be.”

He said the progressive left “have a very different vision for what America should become. They want to tear down those foundations and remold us into some sort of borderless, lawless, marxist, socialist utopia. We’re here to say, not on our watch, we will not allow that to happen.”

Johnson said he only recently dropped his son off to begin school at the Naval Academy, who will, when he graduates, “join the 1.3 million active duty service members who bravely defend our country.”

“We’re so proud of Jack and all our children. But like most parents today, we’re concerned about their future. America can’t risk four more years of Joe Biden’s weakness that has invited so much aggression by our enemies,” Johnson said.

This post has been updated with Johnson’s remarks.

Rupert Murdoch, the right-wing media mogul who controls Fox News, is attending the Republican National Convention, a person familiar with the matter told CNN.

Murdoch arrived in Milwaukee on Tuesday, the person added.

Murdoch has a long, complicated history with Trump. The former president, upset that Fox News has not in his view been sufficiently loyal to him, has at times bashed Murdoch in no-holds-barred terms.

Murdoch’s visit to the RNC also comes after he advocated for North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to be selected as vice president, including as recently as last week, according to a second person familiar with the matter. Trump, however, selected JD Vance, announcing him as his pick on Monday.

Kari Lake said Tuesday that Democratic Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego, her likely opponent in the state’s US Senate race this fall, voted last week to let undocumented immigrants “illegally cast a ballot in this upcoming election.”  

Fact First: This claim is false.  

The House did not vote on whether to allow noncitizens to vote. The chamber passed a bill on July 10 that would require documentary proof of US citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. Gallego voted against the legislation, which is not expected to be taken up by the Democratic-controlled Senate.  

It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, and experts say it rarely occurs. When people register to vote, they must provide a driver’s license or Social Security number, and their identity is checked against existing databases. Voters are required to swear under penalty of perjury that they are a US citizen. Noncitizens who vote illegally can face imprisonment or deportation.  

Gallego said in a statement that he opposed the bill because its “only purpose is to disenfranchise tens of thousands of Arizonans, and I will not vote to take away the rights of Arizonans to stop something that is already illegal.” 

“Of course, only U.S. citizens should vote,” said Gallego. “But this bill isn’t about that, it’s about making it harder for Arizonans to vote, including married women, servicemembers, Native Arizonans, seniors, and people with disabilities.”  

CNN’s Clare Foran and Haley Talbot contributed reporting to this post.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have something in common: They are both trying to raise money from their Republican National Convention speeches tonight.

Supporters of Haley and DeSantis have just received text messages and emails, urging their supporters to tune into their remarks in Milwaukee. Neither mentioned Donald Trump in their fundraising appeals.

It’s a reminder that Haley and DeSantis still have a full political career ahead of them – unless, of course, the GOP moves on without them.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise speaks during the second day of the convention in Milwaukee, onTuesday, July 16.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise criticized President Joe Biden’s policies on issues including international relations, taxes, the US border and American jobs during his speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Scalise went on to acknowledge the recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

In 2017, Scalise became the 9th member of Congress to be shot while in office and one of two dozen to be targeted by attackers since 1789, according to a 2011 Congressional Research Service report. He was shot in the hip by a man wielding a rifle at a GOP baseball practice in Virginia.

This post has been updated with remarks from Scalise.

CNN staff contributed reporting.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hasn’t texted his supporters since the day he ended his presidential campaign – until now.

A couple hours before he’s expected to take the stage in Milwaukee, DeSantis encouraged his supporters to watch his remarks at the Republican National Convention.

Unmentioned in his message? Donald Trump.

Some background: DeSantis dropped out of the race in January and endorsed Trump, but the two did not speak for weeks after their acrimonious primary for the GOP nomination ended. DeSantis originally wasn’t in the program for Trump’s convention, CNN previously reported, however, he was ultimately awarded a speaking role.

The governor’s political team has remained tight-lipped about what he will say tonight or whether his speech has changed in light of Saturday’s assassination attempt that nearly took Trump’s life.

Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, the House majority whip, highlighted the accomplishments of House Republicans during the Biden administration in his remarks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Emmer said he’s confident Minnesota will vote red on Election Day.

“We will make history this November when we turn Minnesota red for the first time in 50 years,” he said.

The last Republican presidential candidate to carry Minnesota was Richard Nixon in 1972.

The majority whip went on to vehemently defend Trump’s support for police, economic policy and toughness on China.

Emmer’s fiery backing of Trump may come as a surprise to some, given the complicated history between the two Republicans.

Trump helped topple Emmer’s speakership effort to succeed Kevin McCarthy last year, calling him “totally out-of-touch with Republican Voters” on social media, but still earned the Minnesota Republican’s endorsement for president in January.

Emmer also voted to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, a flagrant rejection of Trump’s oft-repeated falsehoods that the results were illegitimate. But in interviews and public comments, reviewed by CNN’s KFile ahead of the speakership vote, Emmer refused to say at the time that Joe Biden won the election.

The post has been updated with more of Emmer’s remarks.

Rep. Elise Stefanik speaks on stage on the second day of the Republican National Convention at on Tuesday, July 16, in Milwaukee.

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik stressed the importance of the election in November during her speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Tuesday

She said the Constitution and the “soul of our very nation are on the ballot” as she attacked President Joe Biden and his administration’s policies.

The lawmaker claimed that internationally, Biden “weakened our national security,” pointing to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. She also brought up House hearings where she was in the spotlight after pressing the presidents of several universities about antisemitism on their campuses. Her efforts attracted supporters from across the aisle as well as former President Donald Trump.

“President Trump will bring back moral leadership to the White House, condemning antisemitism and standing strong with Israel and the Jewish people,” Stefanik said.

Some background: The New Yorker is one of Trump’s staunchest supporters, first and most memorably with an aggressive performance during his 2019 impeachment hearings and then, more lastingly, after his 2020 defeat, when she objected to Biden’s win in the House and promoted Trump’s election lies. 

But it hasn’t always been that way. She was a Trump skeptic — and occasional outright critic — during the 2016 presidential campaign and into the early days of his presidency. Stefanik has often explained it herself: She saw Trump’s popularity in her upstate New York district and got on board. 

Stefanik — who was among the candidates who were sent various levels of paperwork in the vice-presidential vetting process — had publicly expressed interest in becoming Trump’s running mate or for a Cabinet position if he wins.

This post has been updated with remarks from Stefanik.

Law enforcement in Milwaukee arrested a 21-year-old man Monday afternoon who was seen carrying a weapon and wearing a ski mask and a tactical backpack blocks away from the Republican National Convention being held at the Fiserv Forum. 

Capitol Police stopped the man and discovered he was carrying a firearm in his backpack, police said.

The man was subsequently arrested and police said he did not have a legal permit for carrying a concealed weapon in Wisconsin or any other state.

Charges are pending review by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office, police added. 

CNN has reached out to the district attorney’s office for comment. 

President Joe Biden touted his administration’s economic initiatives, specifically citing programs benefiting Nevadans, in remarks delivered in Las Vegas Tuesday.

Biden also detailed his agenda in the first 100 days of a potential second term, saying, “We’re going to make sure that you own more and you owe less.” 

The president said this would include continuing to relieve student debt, end medical debt, raise the minimum wage and pass protections for organized labor through the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. He also pledged that in a second term he would give Medicare more power to negotiate with drug companies and accused Trump of wanting to repeal it. 

Throughout his remarks, Biden pointed to administration policies that he argues are helping grow the economy and lower costs for Americans as he sought to also draw a contrast with the former president. 

“Remember how Trump promised infrastructure week every week for four years? He didn’t build a damn thing. Nothing. Now his project 2025 repeals all we’re doing, that’s what he wants to do. The bottom line is this, because Trump failed at handling the pandemic, lives were lost, and our economy tanked. And now we’re back. Jobs are up, wages are up. Tourism is back, the economy is growing,” Biden said.  

Florida Sen. Rick Scott walked to the stage at the the Republican National Convention on Tuesday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to the crowd chanting “Rick! Rick! Rick!”

He began his speech by praising Donald Trump for being unstoppable, and said the former president should belong in the White House “every day going forward,” he said.

Scott said he had a dream and went on to paint the picture for a second term under President Joe Biden, calling it a “nightmare.”

He claimed that none of this sounded far-fetched, saying Biden wants to “tear down this great country.”

This post has been updated with more of Scott’s remarks.

Chris Christie speaks on January 10.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wrote an op-ed in the New York Times, highlighting what he sees as an opportunity for former President Donald Trump to tamp down on the deep rooted forces that have culminated in increasing political violence in the country.

Christie said the sentiment that “there is no place for political violence,” which has been shared by Republicans and Democrats alike in the wake of the assassination attempt on Trump, is “honorable,” but “much too easy.”

Christie linked the shooting at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally to violence on January 6, as well as around Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and Charlottesville White supremacist demonstrations in 2017.

However, Christie argued that Trump’s actions so far have proven to be “less than promising,” specifically referencing Trump’s choice of Ohio Sen. JD Vance to be his running mate, which he said “doubles down on the portion of the party already completely devoted to him rather than reaches out to the broader party and beyond.”

In the wake of the assassination attempt, Vance placed blame on Biden’s rhetoric. “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination,” he wrote on X.

The publication of Christie’s op-ed comes on the same night that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, also former primary rivals of Trump, are slated to speak at the RNC as Trump works to consolidate Republican voters.

Rep. Matt Gaetz interrupts an interview between former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and  CNN's Kaitlan Collins on the convention floor on Tuesday, July 16.

Rep. Matt Gaetz taunted former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy while he appeared on the Republican National Convention floor on Tuesday.

The pair have been at odds since Gaetz led the effort the oust McCarthy in October.

Former President Donald Trump said he would try to define Vice President Kamala Harris “in a very similar” way he defines President Joe Biden should Biden step aside and Harris ascend as the Democratic nominee. 

Trump has deployed new attacks on Harris as some Democrats call on Biden to step aside over questions over his fitness to continue serving as president. 

Biden has emphatically maintained he will continue his campaign for president.

Trump was asked whether he thought Biden should drop out of the race. 

 Perry Johnson, a Michigan business owner who previously ran for governor and president, said in his Republican National Convention speech Tuesday that income rose consistently under former President Donald Trump.

“Under Trump, family income went up every year. That is a fact,” Johnson told the crowd.  

Typical family income grew by several thousand dollars during each of Trump’s first three years in office, before adjusting for inflation. But it fell by $1,660 in 2020, when the pandemic wreaked havoc on the US economy.

After factoring in inflation, typical family income fell by nearly $2,900 in 2020, after rising in each of the first three years of Trump’s administration.

Former President Donald Trump said in a new interview he is “for TikTok because you need competition.” 

Trump last month joined TikTok and said it was an “honor” to join the app. As president, Trump amplified concerns about TikTok’s links to China and pushed unsuccessfully to ban the app from the US by executive order. 

Trump also criticized social media for having a negative impact on the nation’s youth. 

“They have become too big, too powerful,” Trump argued. “They’re having a huge negative impact on, especially, young people.”

“I don’t want them destroying our youth,” Trump said of social media companies. “You see what they’re doing—including, even, suicides.”

But Bloomberg reports, in the same conversation, Trump praised social media companies he was just critiquing and said, “I respect them greatly.” 

“If you go after them very violently, you can destroy them. I don’t want to destroy them,” Trump said. 

As the Republican National Convention is underway, President Joe Biden said he is “reluctant to walk away” from the presidential race because “there’s more to do” for the country, even as some Democrats continue a private effort to get him to step aside.

Asked if there is anything, including family members, that would convince him to rethink staying in the race, Biden replied, “If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody – if the doctors came and said you’ve got this problem, you’ve got that problem.”

Biden defended his decision to not be a transitional candidate, something he originally committed to during last cycle’s election.

“When I originally ran, you may remember it, I said I was going to be a transitional candidate. And I thought that I’d be able to move from this to pass it on to someone else. But I didn’t anticipate things getting so, so, so divided,” he told Gordon.

When asked about reproductive rights and the Supreme Court, Biden warned about what he believes a future Trump presidency would mean in terms of future appointments to the bench: “There’s probably gonna be two more appointments to the court. There’s probably two people who are going to resign – uh resign, retire. Just imagine – if he has two more appointments on that, what that means forever.”

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice speaks on stage, accompanied by his dog, Babydog, on stage during the second day of the convention on Tuesday, July 16.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice praised former President Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday with his well-known pup by his side.

Justice’s bulldog, Babydog, sat in a chair next to the governor while he gave remarks to the convention crowd.

Justice is running for Senate to fill Joe Manchin’s seat. He has switched party affiliations a few times. He was an independent and a Republican up until 2015. He ran for governor as a Democrat. But in 2017, a year into Trump’s presidency, he announced he would change his registration to Republican at a rally with Trump.

The governor called Trump “super smart” and a “business guy” and talked about how he has spent time with Trump’s sons.

At the end of his remarks, Justice said Babydog predicts Republicans will retain the House majority and flip the Senate and “overwhelmingly we’re going to elect Donald J. Trump and JD Vance in November.”

Former President Donald Trump said in a new interview that, if reelected, he would let Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell serve out his term. 

Trump had said earlier this year he would not reappoint Powell and accused him of considering rate cuts to give Democrats an advantage in the 2024 election. 

He also said, if reelected, he would consider JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon for Treasury secretary. These comments are a notable departure from his post on Truth Social last year blasting Dimon as a “highly overrated Globalist.” Dimon said earlier this year he thought Trump was right about key issues and that bashing MAGA would hurt President Joe Biden. 

In the interview, Trump also argued that the Fed shouldn’t cut rates before the November election and that he wants to get the corporate tax rate down to 15%. 

Former President Donald Trump said he wants Taiwan to pay the United States for protection, likening it to an “insurance policy.” 

A video played near the beginning of Republican National Committee proceedings on Tuesday evening featured a narrator saying, “It’s not just big cities. Rising crime is a problem everywhere.”

Facts First: The claim that there is a problem “everywhere” with “rising crime” is false. Both violent crime and property crime dropped significantly in the US in 2023 and in the first quarter of 2024, though there were increases in some communities.

Preliminary FBI data for 2023 showed a roughly 13% national decline in murder and a roughly 6% national decline in overall violent crime compared to 2022, bringing both murder and violent crime levels below where they were in 2020, President Donald Trump’s last calendar year in office. And preliminary FBI data for the first quarter of 2024 showed an even steeper drop from the same quarter in 2023 – a roughly 26% decline in murder and roughly 15% decline in overall violent crime.  

There are limitations to the FBI-published data, which comes from local law enforcement – the numbers are preliminary, not all communities submitted data, and the submitted data usually has some initial errors – so these statistics may not precisely capture the size of the recent declines in crime. But these statistics and other data sources make it clear crime has indeed declined to some extent nationally, though not everywhere.  

Crime data expert Jeff Asher, co-founder of the firm AH Datalytics, said that if the final 2023 figures show a decline in murder of at least 10% from 2022, this would be the fastest US decline “ever recorded.” And he noted that both the preliminary FBI-published data from the first quarter of 2024 and also “crime data collected from several independent sources point to an even larger decline in property and violent crime, including a substantially larger drop in murder, so far this year compared to 2023, though there is still time left in the year for those trends to change.” 

Former President Donald Trump said in a new interview he’s spoken with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman within the last six months but declined to say what they talked about or how often they speak.

Trump was asked if he thought the US increasing oil and gas production would upset Saudi Arabia. 

“He likes me, I like him,” Trump said of the crown prince. “They’re always going to need protection … they’re not naturally protected.”

Trump said he thought President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama eroded US relations with Saudi Arabia. 

“They’re not with us anymore,” Trump said. “They’re with China. But they don’t want to be with China. They want to be with us.”

The US intelligence community concluded the crown prince approved the operation to capture or kill Saudi journalist and American resident Jamal Khashoggi.

Former President Donald Trump and Nikki Haley, who ran against Trump for the GOP nomination earlier this year, have not personally spoken about her speech at the Republican National Convention, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The Trump campaign reached out to Haley over the weekend to speak, but the two have not spoken Tuesday.

Haley is schedule to speak at the RNC tonight.

Former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, who is running for Senate in Michigan, drew on his previous experience as an FBI special agent and as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee to attack Biden administration policies.

The Michigan Republican also took at aim at the Biden administration’s electric vehicle policies, claiming “EV mandates will destroy American jobs.”

Rogers, who is endorsed by Donald Trump in his Senate race, has backed Trump despite criticizing him in the past. He faces a crowded primary field ahead of the August primary.

The winner of the Republican primary is likely to take on Rep. Elissa Slotkin, whom Democrats have largely coalesced around to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow in the key battleground state.

This post has been updated with remarks from Rogers.

Kari Lake speaks at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, on July 16.

A combative Kari Lake began her speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee by calling out what she called “the fake news” and “disastrous Democrat policies.”

Lake, a former local news anchor, claimed that “the fake news” has lied but that “Americans are waking up.”

She also attacked her Democratic rival Ruben Gallego on immigration – a pivotal issue in the important Arizona Senate race. She took a combative tone in her speech.

Wisconsin Senate candidate Eric Hovde followed up Lake by continuing to blame media organizations for national divisions, saying that the media has to “stop dividing us.”

“We need to heal this country from the division that the left has brought,” he said in his speech.

Some background: Lake is all but certain to win next month’s GOP primary, but her refusal to accept her 2022 gubernatorial loss and her repetition of Trump’s 2020 election lies has given some Republicans pause. She’ll be facing Gallego in a state Biden flipped in 2020 but that looks unlikely to go blue again this year.

She launched her 2024 bid for the Senate in October.

This post was updated with more of Lake’s remarks at the convention, Eric Hovde remarks and background on Lake’s Senate run.

CNN’s Eric Bradner and Simone Pathe contributed reporting.

Biden speaks at the 115th NAACP National Convention in Las Vegas, on Tuesday, July 16.

President Joe Biden, in remarks to the NAACP National Convention, expressed relief that former President Donald Trump emerged safely from Saturday’s assassination attempt, while calling Trump’s administration “hell for Black America.”

He drew a direct correlation between political violence and violence of any kind, invoking the NAACP’s history during the Civil Rights era while calling out violence and threats of violence against Black Americans to this day.

Still, despite his well-wishes to Trump following this weekend’s assassination attempt, Biden did not hold back from criticizing his Republican rival, telling the crowd: “Now, just because we must lower the temperature of our politics related to violence, it doesn’t mean we should stop telling the truth.”

“Here’s the truth about why Donald Trump’s presidency was hell for Black America,” Biden said, listing a litany of policies he said unduly harmed communities of color under Trump, including efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a sweeping tax cuts package Biden said only helped wealthy Americans and a catastrophic pandemic response.  

He also took special care to hit Trump for comments during last month’s debate claiming immigrants were taking “Black jobs,” using the opportunity to highlight Black members of his administration and cabinet.

Former President Donald Trump is expected to appear at the Republican National Convention around 9 p.m. ET tonight, a source familiar with his schedule tells CNN.

This timing indicates he will be present for both speeches from former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his former GOP primary rivals.

Speakers for the second night of the Republican National Convention will include Republican candidates for Senate, House members, a reality television star, one of Donald Trump’s final contenders for vice president, and his top primary rivals, a source familiar with the schedule told CNN.

The program will begin at 7 p.m. ET. These are some notable names on the program, in the order in which they are scheduled to speak: 

Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Sen. JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate, have spoken, according to a Biden campaign aide.

It was a very short call — Harris extended Vance her congratulations, said she looks forward to the next few months, and the two “exchanged pleasantries,” a source familiar says. 

Harris and Vance said they looked forward to debating but did not discuss specifics about a debate, according to two sources familiar with the call.

The Biden campaign previously accepted CBS News’ invitation to participate in a vice presidential debate in studio on either of the two dates the outlet proposed, July 23 or August 13, a campaign official said.

CNN previously reported Harris left a voicemail for Vance shortly after Trump announced the Ohio senator as his running mate on Monday. Vance didn’t answer Harris’ phone call because it came from an unknown number, and he was unable to call back. Staff for Vance’s team had since been in touch with Harris’ team to work on setting up a call.

This post has been updated with more information on Harris and Vance’s call.

President Joe Biden is seriously considering publicly endorsing major reforms to the Supreme Court, including term limits and an ethics code for the justices, as well as amending the constitution to eliminate immunity for presidents, according to two sources familiar with the deliberations.

The Washington Post first reported that Biden was weighing these moves, which would likely require congressional approval.

Biden alluded to the fact that he was these reforms on a call with members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus over the weekend, a source familiar with the call told CNN. He told lawmakers that while he did not want to get ahead of himself, major reforms were likely coming and that he was in the process of consulting with constitutional lawyers, the source said, adding that Biden did not get into specific details during this meeting.

If adopted by Congress, the changes would represent some of the biggest to hit the court in decades. Progressives have in recent years been pushing for such dramatic reforms at the court, but Biden has taken a much more cautious approach to the court.

But as the Supreme Court came under intense scrutiny in 2023 following a series of blockbuster investigative pieces that turned a spotlight on the ethical alleged lapses of several of the justices, Democrats in Congress pushed for meaningful reforms at the court, though the issue never fully gained steam. The nine justices eventually released an ethics code in November that did little to assuage concerns from the court’s critics.

The reforms backed by Biden would need congressional approval and the constitutional amendment would require ratification by 38 states in a process that seems nearly impossible to succeed.

Some context on ethics code: Justice Clarence Thomas took several more trips on the private plane of GOP megadonor Harlan Crow — in 2017, 2019 and 2021 — than were previously known, Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin revealed in June. This is in addition to a previously known 2019 trip to Indonesia, during which Thomas also stayed on Crow’s mega-yacht, Durbin said. The trips add to the picture of luxury travel enjoyed by Thomas and bankrolled by friends of the justice who have ties to conservative politics.

Context on immunity for presidents: The Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that Donald Trump may claim immunity from criminal prosecution for some of the actions he took in the waning days of his presidency in a decision that will likely further delay a trial on the federal election subversion charges pending against him.

This post has been updated with Biden’s remarks to the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Republicans are gathering in Milwaukee, where they officially anointed Donald Trump as their presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate.

Speakers for the second night of the Republican National Convention will include GOP candidates for Senate, House members, a reality television star, one of Trump’s final contenders for vice president and his top primary rivals.

What to watch for at the convention:

What else to know:

Biden nomination push: More House Democrats are calling on the Democratic National Committee to ditch plans to virtually nominate President Joe Biden in the coming weeks. Democrats have been planning for weeks to conclude Biden’s nomination process before August 7 – well ahead of the convention next month. CNN has also learned from multiple sources of a draft letter calling on the party to slow down the process – a clear sign of the party’s deep worries about Biden.

Vaccine skepticism phone call: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s son, Bobby Kennedy III, posted a video of a phone call between Kennedy Jr. and Trump in which the former president appeared to endorse false theories about vaccines’ safety. Kennedy III has deleted the post. Biden’s campaign responded: “Trump and his anti-vax bud ‘Bobby’ are spreading dangerous conspiracy theories that threaten the lifesaving care that tens of millions of people depend on.”

Milwaukee shooting: Police fatally shot a man about a mile away from the main RNC venue in Milwaukee, CNN affiliate WISN reported. Witnesses told the station that two men were fighting in a local park when one of them pulled a knife out. Officers responded and multiple officers shot the man with the knife, WISN reported, noting police had not confirmed those details.

As immigration takes center stage at the Republican National Convention, the Biden administration is touting a drop in illegal crossings at the US-Mexico border, citing President Joe Biden’s executive action that dramatically restricted asylum for certain migrants.

In a Tuesday release, the Department of Homeland Security boasted a drop in the number of daily encounters — below 1,900 per day — and a 50% drop in crossings across the US southern border since the executive action took effect last month.

The latest figures offer some reprieve to the White House, which has wrestled with immigration — an issue that remains a political vulnerability for President Joe Biden. While the administration has seen a reduction in border crossings, Homeland Security officials often caution that migration ebbs and flows.  

Rep. Byron Donalds speaks at an event for Black Republican delegates on Tuesday, July 16.

Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, a close congressional ally of Donald Trump, on Tuesday previewed the former president’s planned message of unity in his Republican National Convention remarks scheduled for later this week.

Donalds, who sat next to Trump on Monday night in the convention hall when the former president returned to the public eye after Saturday’s failed assassination attempt, called the incident a “tragedy for our country.”

Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt, a combat veteran, said, “When you get shot at, it changes you. You have a new resolve on life.”

“President Trump, as he knelt down, put his shoes back on, walked off that stage and told us to fight, fight, fight. He wasn’t talking to Black people or White people or Hispanic people or Asian people. He was talking to Americans,” he said.

The lawmaker added: “Black issues are American issues.”

Usha Vance and Sen. J.D. Vance react after he was nominated for the office of Vice President on the first nightof the convention on Monday, July 15.

When Donald Trump announced Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate Monday night, Shalabh “Shalli” Kumar was filled with pride. But it wasn’t Vance alone that elicited the reaction for the founder of the Republican Hindu Coalition and the chair of the Hindu and Indian Coalition of the Republican National Committee: It was Vance’s wife, Usha, a 38-year-old Yale graduate and the daughter of Indian immigrants.

The Vances “are going to represent a new generation of Americans,” Kumar told CNN.

More context: The 2024 presidential campaign has seen three politicians of South Asian descent vying for the White House: Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy both competed during the Republican primaries, while Vice President Kamala Harris is running for a second term with President Joe Biden.

On Tuesday night, both Haley and Ramaswamy are expected to throw their support behind the Trump-Vance ticket during prime-time speeches at the Republican National Convention.

And as Usha Vance joins the Trump campaign, Asian American political activists from both parties say they hope the increase in representation will correspond with a push to connect with a voting bloc that has long been overlooked.

The increase in South Asian representation in politics is “phenomenal,” said Chintan Patel, executive director of Indian American Impact, a national organization that works to increase representation and civic engagement among Indian and South Asian communities.

Former President Donald Trump and his new running mate JD Vance shake hands on the opening night of the convention on Monday, July 15.

Former President Donald Trump and his new running mate JD Vance will hold a rally in Michigan, a battleground state, on Saturday. The event is scheduled to take place inside the Van Andel arena in Grand Rapids.

Police investigate a shooting near King Park in Milwaukee on Tuesday, July 16. The shooting occurred outside of the security perimeter for the Republican National Convention.

Police fatally shot a man Tuesday about a mile away from the main Republican National Convention venue in Milwaukee, CNN affiliate WISN reported. 

Witnesses told the station that two men were fighting in a local park when one of them pulled a knife out. Witnesses said the men were startled when officers responded and the man with the knife was shot by multiple officers, WISN reported, noting those details had not been confirmed by police. 

Witnesses who spoke during a news conference with local activists near the shooting said they did not see any knife during the altercation between two men before the fatal police shooting. A family member identified the man shot as Samuel Sharpe Jr. and said he was a homeless veteran in his 40s. 

The officers involved were from the Columbus, Ohio, Division of Police, according to a statement from the Fraternal Order of Police posted on social media. 

“No officers have been injured however the condition of the suspect is currently unknown,” the statement read.

The Ohio agency is among several police departments from multiple cities and jurisdictions in Milwaukee to help secure the RNC site, the statement continued. 

Columbus Division of Police Chief Elaine R. Bryant later Tuesday night released a 31-second, edited video that is partially blurred. It starts with the officers engaged in a briefing before turning their attention to an altercation involving two men nearby.

They immediately point their weapons and run toward the altercation, yelling at the man, previously identified Sharpe, to drop his weapon, the video shows.  

Sharpe appears to walk toward the other man when the officers fire their weapons and Sharpe goes down, the video shows.  

Bryant said in the statement that Sharpe was “threatening” the other person before the shots were fired by officers. 

“We’re not even two days into this RNC and we have a casualty. How is that possible?” activist Alan Chavoya said during the news conference. “As always, no answers from the MPD, no transparency, no accountability.” 

In a statement, the ACLU of Wisconsin called for a “full and transparent” investigation into what led up to the shooting and the “swift release” of bodycam video. 

This post has been updated with comments from the Columbus Division of Police Chief and details of the video that showed the shooting.

Eric Trump is interviewed by CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday, July 16.

Donald Trump’s son said he “was enraged” watching his father get shot at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. He said he was watching the event on television with his kids.

Eric Trump talked about how close the bullet came to his father’s face and said “it all hit home” watching him walk into the Republican National Convention on Monday. He talked about the energy in the convention room and the way the delegates turned out for Trump with flags and signs, calling it a “powerful moment” that almost didn’t happen.

The former president’s son also called for accountability as an investigation into the assassination continues. He said he doesn’t fault the Secret Service detail that was on stage with him because “they would take a bullet for him and they demonstrated that.” Still, he said someone needs to be held accountable for the “breakdown” in what happened to allow a gunman onto a roof nearby.

Responding to reports that US authorities obtained intelligence from a human source in recent weeks on a plot by Iran to try to assassinate his father, Eric Trump said, “That’s not new.”

“He effectively put Iran out of business,” he said, “I can only imagine that they don’t like Donald Trump or anybody that wears our last name,” Trump added.

The cover of Sen. J.D. Vance's book "Hillbilly Elegy."

Less than 24 hours after former President Donald Trump announced Ohio Sen. JD Vance was his vice-presidential pick, Vance’s 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” shot to the top of Amazon’s bestselling books. 

The instant bestseller turned Vance into a media star and was later adapted into an Oscar-nominated film directed by Ron Howard.

On Tuesday, the 2020 film adaptation of “Hillbilly Elegy,” starring Glenn Close and Amy Adams, was the 6th most-watched movie on Netflix’s Top 10 in the US, as seen on the streamer’s platform.

Viewership of “Hillbilly Elegy” increased by 1,179% on Netflix compared to the day before Vance’s VP bid, according to research from Luminate, which adds that the film was watched for 19.2 million minutes on Monday, jumping from the 1.5 million minutes the movie was watched on Sunday, when rumors were swirling of Vance’s appointment.

When “Hillbilly Elegy” first debuted, it launched to mostly negative reviews and was largely panned by critics, though Close and Adams received praise for their performances portraying Vance’s grandmother and mother, respectively, as well as the actor Gabriel Basso, who played a younger version of Vance. Close notably was nominated for “Hillbilly Elegy” at both the Oscars and the Razzie Awards, which is the ceremony that infamously honors the worst in cinema every year.

“Hillbilly Elegy” chronicles Vance’s childhood in Appalachia, which he wrote was plagued with poverty, abuse and his mother’s addiction. At the time of “Hillbilly Elegy’s” release, the book was widely discussed as an explanation for Trump’s rise among the White working class. Vance, a Yale Law School graduate, later became a venture capitalist before being elected to the Senate in 2022.

Sen. JD Vance takes part in a walk through on the RNC stage on Tuesday, July 16.

One day ahead of his speech at the Republican National Convention, JD Vance — Donald Trump’s official running mate — did a walkthrough on the stage inside Fiserv Forum. 

The Ohio senator approached the podium in a suit and gold tie as photographers, reporters and cameras flanked behind the glass barrier.

One reporter shouted out, “Senator, how are you feeling?” But Vance kept his attention with those on stage.

Close ally and advocate, Donald Trump Jr., who will be introducing Vance came out and gave him a hug. They smiled and laughed with each other, exchanging words. Vance also hugged Trump Jr.’s fiancé, Kimberly Guilfoyle. 

Vance didn’t reply when a UK reporter shouted out another question. 

Secret Service agents were on the stage, protecting the new vice presidential nominee, as well. 

Tonight’s Republican National Convention’s program will feature a few speakers who notably left the Democratic Party since Donald Trump has been in politics.

New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew made waves in 2022 when he, as a freshman Democrat, switched parties. The “final sign”, he said, which prompted him to leave the Democratic Party was being told that he had to vote in support of Trump’s impeachment. 

Also, last year, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, a former Democratic state lawmaker, wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that he would be voting Republican and joining the GOP.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, who’s running for Senate now to fill Joe Manchin’s seat, has switched party affiliations a few times. He was an independent and a Republican up until 2015. He ran for governor as a Democrat. But in 2017, a year into Trump’s presidency, he announced he would change his registration to Republican at a rally with Trump.

Justice plans to appear at the convention with his bulldog, Babydog, who made an infamous appearance at his 2022 State of the State address.

Vivek Ramaswamy on stage during a walkthrough at the Republican National Conventionat the in Milwaukee on Tuesday, July 16.

Tech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is expected tonight to make the case for Donald Trump directly to Black voters, immigrants and young voters while framing former president as a candidate who can best unite the country, according to an excerpt of his prepared remarks shared with CNN by a Ramaswamy aide.

Ramaswamy, who ran against Trump in the Republican primary before dropping out and endorsing him in January, is expected to dedicate a portion of his remarks at the Republican National Convention to addressing groups of voters who traditionally support Democratic candidates.

Ramaswamy is expected to say to Black voters that Republicans will work to create “safe neighborhoods, clean streets, good jobs, a better life for your children, and a justice system that treats everyone equally.” The Republican Party will seek a fairer criminal justice system “regardless of your skin color or your political beliefs,” nodding to claims made by Ramaswamy and other Republicans that the justice system has been “weaponized” against Republicans, including Trump.

He’ll also speak directly to “every legal immigrant” and promise “the opportunity to secure a better life for your children in America,” while committing to illegal immigrants that they will be deported “not because you’re all bad people, but because you broke the law.”

The 38-year-old Ramaswamy is expected to encourage young voters to support Republicans as a way to “be a rebel” and stand out from their peers by “calling yourself a conservative.”

In his prepared remarks, Ramaswamy will also promote national unity even among those with strong political divisions, a common theme among Republican convention speakers in the wake of the attempted assassination of Trump on Saturday.

Amid the Democratic Party’s decision to move ahead with holding a virtual roll call to nominate President Joe Biden in the coming weeks – before the Democratic National Convention in August in Chicago – three former heads of the DNC have weighed in to back the process, calling it the “wisest course.”

The letter, sent to members of the DNC’s Rules Committee on Tuesday and penned by former DNC chairs Donna Brazile, Howard Dean and Terry McAuliffe — and obtained by CNN — says:

The three ex-chairs goes on to say that “a different approach risks disenfranchising millions of voters and clouding the Democratic path to victory.”

Notably, Brazile, Dean and McAuliffe said that the virtual roll call “need not be immediate” – but should finish before August 7 to not run into any potential legal issues related to Biden’s ability to get on the ballot in Ohio. As CNN reported, some Biden allies have been pushing to step on the gas on the virtual roll call vote, hoping that the president’s nomination can be locked up as quickly as possible.

Some context: Democrats have been planning for weeks to conclude the nomination process before August 7. But still, if voting were to begin Sunday or soon thereafter, that would mark an aggressive timeline and draw fresh scrutiny from other Democrats eager for Biden to acknowledge his challenges and step aside.

Trump posted a photo of their meeting on Truth Social.

Former President Donald Trump met with former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the GOP convention in Milwaukee. 

Trump posted a photo of their meeting on Truth Social and said, “Nice meeting with Former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, a very fine guy!” 

The two leaders have long been linked together, with Johnson having been previously known as “Britain Trump.” Trump and Johnson’s tenures briefly lined up when the Conservative Party emerged triumphant from the carnage of Brexit under Johnson’s charismatic leadership in 2019. He was forced to resign, though, in 2022 after a turbulent term as prime minister. Conservatives have since fallen from grace, with Labor Party winning an election earlier this month in a landslide victory.

Former President Donald Trump and his newly minted vice presidential pick Sen. JD Vance are slated to appear together every night at the Republican National Convention, a source familiar with their plans tells CNN. 

In addition to an expected appearance Tuesday night, Vance will make his first formal speech as Trump’s running mate to the convention on Wednesday, the day before Trump is slated to speak. 

Trump selected the Ohio senator on the first day of the RNC, just two days after he survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, over the weekend. The former president stole the show Monday night when he made his first public appearance since the shooting and joined Vance for Monday night’s final speeches.

Donald Trump Jr. speaks at an event hosted by Axios on Tuesday, July 16.

Donald Trump. Jr said his father, former President Donald Trump, is a changed man after the assassination attempt and that his new speech for the Republican National Convention will be “toned down.”

“I think actually, yes,” Trump Jr. said at an event Tuesday hosted by Axios on the sidelines of the RNC, when asked if his father is a “changed man.”

Trump Jr. said he believes this new version of his father will last. But when asked if he expects a permanent change in the former president’s tone, Trump Jr. said, “He’s going to be tough when he has to be” and isn’t “going to just take an attack.”

He added later, “He’s never going to stop being Trump when attacked. That’s, that’s what makes him an effective leader because he doesn’t cower under fire, quite literally. He’s defiant under that. So he’s never going to change that. But I think, you know, in, in the course of daily action, you can still change. There’s a time and a place for all of those things and I think he’ll be able to do both.”

Trump Jr. said he spent hours with his father on Friday going through his speech planned for the RNC and that his remarks were originally “hot,” but now the speech is “very different” and “toned down.” 

Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, speaks on stage during the opening night of the convention on Monday, July 15.

It was a remarkable moment Monday night at the Republican National Convention, surely creating some amount of confusion among longtime Republicans, when Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, delivered a stemwinder of a speech in prime time. He called former President Donald Trump a “tough S.O.B.”

O’Brien did not endorse Trump, but he leaned into the incongruity of speaking at the convention of a party that has long fought workers’ ability to organize. The union could vote to endorse a candidate later this year.

Republicans Trump’s new running mate Sen. JD Vance, have joined picket lines in recent years. Vance and other Republican senators, however, oppose the Democrats’ proposal to pass a nationwide law, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, supported by labor unions including the Teamsters.

Appearing Tuesday on “Inside Politics,” O’Brien told CNN’s Dana Bash he would speak at both conventions, but has not yet been invited to the Democratic convention.

“The partisanship is not working. We need bipartisan support, we need bipartisan cooperation,” O’Brien said, adding he would definitely speak at the Democratic convention.

Read more about why the Teamsters leader’s crossed partisan lines at the RNC means here.

President Joe Biden arrives for a news conference at the White House on July 1.

A quiet pressure campaign is underway to push President Joe Biden’s formal nomination to begin as early as next week — a month before the party’s convention in Chicago — even as calls intensify within the highest ranks of the Democratic Party for Biden to reconsider his reelection bid.

There has been a push among some Biden allies to kick off the virtual roll call process as quickly as possible, three Democratic officials familiar with the discussions told CNN. Two key Democratic committees have long been set to gather this coming Friday and Sunday to discuss the exact timeline for delegates across the country to start casting their votes. The earliest that voting could begin would be after the second meeting on Sunday.

Democrats have been planning for weeks to conclude the nomination process before August 7, well before the Chicago convention next month. But still, if voting were to begin Sunday or soon thereafter, that would mark an aggressive timeline and draw fresh scrutiny from other Democrats eager for Biden to acknowledge his challenges and step aside.

The DNC virtual roll call process was initially put in place for the party to step around an issue in Ohio that threatened to leave Biden off the ballot in that state. Lawmakers in Ohio have since passed a law to make that issue moot, but the DNC has pointed to the potential of a legal challenge by Ohio Republicans for moving forward with the virtual roll call anyway.

Keep reading about the nomination vote push.

It’s questionable how much running mates really matter — people tend to vote for the top of the ticket. But Republican vice-presidential picks of the 21st Century create a fascinating road map of the party’s evolution.

2000: GOP nominee George W. Bush was callow, so he picked an elder statesman Dick Cheney. Within months, after the 9/11 attacks, Cheney led a neoconservative foreign policy revolution that led the United States into a disastrous war in Iraq – that lit a slow burn GOP isolationist revolt that eventually led to Trump.

2008: Nominee John McCain was alienated from the grass roots and suffering a charisma deficit to Democrat Barack Obama. His Hail Mary pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was meant to redress the balance, but turned catastrophic as her lack of knowledge was soon exposed and spooked voters who couldn’t see her as a potential commander-in-chief. But Palin’s electric convention speech and fiery rallies were a first glimpse of the populist fury that Trump would ride to the White House eight years later.

2012: Mitt Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan was the last gasp of the old GOP. Romney epitomized the corporate, white-collar paternalism that dominated the party for years. His pick of the “Young Gun” Wisconsin representative highlighted the hardcore fiscal economic conservatism that once dominated the GOP’s radical right wing. Despite Romney’s defeat, he later became House Speaker but both he and his ticket mate are now estranged from the Trump GOP. 

2016: Trump needed help with social and evangelical conservatives amid fears his three marriages, flexible morality and tabloid fodder personal life would depress turnout. So, he chose pious Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana. Trump’s fulfilled promise to build an unassailable conservative majority on the Supreme Court cemented his bond with social conservatives and he jettisoned Pence, who refused to facilitate his bid to steal the 2020 election.

2024: The ex-president’s selection of JD Vance, a politician who repudiated his “Never Trumper” past, shows that Trump is unassailable in the GOP, can pick who he wants and that his nationalist, populist trade and foreign policy ideology is now the Republican creed. Vance now has the best shot to emerge as Trump’s anointed MAGA heir.

Former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, shake hands during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday night.

The political marriage between President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance wasn’t an instant match. Earlier this year, as Trump was working to seal the GOP nomination, Vance had yet to even be approached by the Trump campaign about the possibility of joining him on the ticket. The first time Vance’s team began to realize that Trump was formally considering him was when he received vetting paperwork for the running mate process in June.

The relationship blossomed in the spring and summer over joint appearances at campaign events and closed-door fundraisers in California, where Vance, a former venture capitalist, helped Trump connect with wealthy tech entrepreneurs, such as Vance’s close friend, prominent investor David Sacks.

Their final meeting before Monday’s decision took place at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club on Saturday, sources told CNN. One source familiar with the discussion described their time together as “the final interview before getting the job.”

Lobbying for North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio continued until the final hours. But Vance ultimately had the backing of voices with tremendous sway, including the former president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., former Trump senior adviser Steve Bannon, and Tucker Carlson.

That trio argued that Vance had the strongest relationship with Trump and that he would be the most loyal if selected, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.

They also argued that Vance can appeal to working-class voters, who are seen as essential to winning the key battleground states in November, given his upbringing in a poor Rust Belt town. The sources said Vance’s wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance — the child of Indian immigrants — was someone they thought could appeal to minority voters.

Read the full story.

Ben Carson speaks to reporters in the spin room following the CNN Presidential Debate in Atlanta on June 27.

Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson spoke about unity to Wisconsin’s Republican delegation on Tuesday, while also accusing Democrats of being unable to grasp the concept.

Recalling the Cold War, Carson said America’s enemies were actually playing a “long range game,” dividing Americans “on the basis of race, age, income, gender, religion, political affiliation … you name it, driving wedges.”

“And Jesus said it best, he said ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand,’” he said, adding that it’s “vitally important that we each use our spheres of influence to try to bring some sobriety and some unity and values back to our country.”

Lamenting how politics has become a divisive topic, Carson said, “Are you a Republican or you’re Democrat? We need to move away from that. We need to recognize that we are the instruments that are being manipulated.”

“Somebody’s got to be the adult in the room. I don’t expect the other side to come to that conclusion. They will give it some lip service,” he said. “There are many on the other side, who are what Vladimir Lenin referred to as useful idiots. They don’t actually realize that they are hurting themselves.”

New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker on Tuesday said the choice of his GOP colleague JD Vance as former President Donald Trump’s running mate “worries me” because of the “stark contrast” between Vance and former Vice President Mike Pence and how they would have handled January 6, 2021.

Arguing that Pence did the “right thing for our democracy” in certifying the election results that day, Booker said Trump has now “chosen a vice president who said that he would not have done that.” 

President Joe Biden’s deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks claimed that the rhetoric from Republicans after day one of the Republican National Convention has not changed in light of the assassination attempt on Trump, while arguing that Democrats have been focused on talking about issues.

The Democrats’ news conference was focused on criticizing Project 2025, a conservative blueprint that Wisconsin Democratic chair Ben Wikler called “dangerous” for the US.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler argued that Project 2025 would “not make America wealthy again” but “make the richest people in this country even richer.”

Wisconsin Republican Party Chariman Brian Schimming speaks to the press in Milwaukee on Sunday.

Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming praised former President Donald Trump’s running mate choice, Sen. JD Vance, on Tuesday.

“I love JD Vance,” Schimming told Wisconsin GOP delegates, whom he said would be hearing more from the Ohio senator “over the next couple of days.”

Schimming said he likes the fact Vance is a Midwesterner, noting how critical winning battleground Wisconsin is in the race for the White House.

Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden debate at CNN's Atlanta studios on June 27.

New polling finds former President Donald Trump holding a lead in four of seven key states, with no clear leader in the rest and President Joe Biden generally faring worse than he did in the spring.

The polls were conducted by YouGov and sponsored by The Times of London and a consortium of researchers from Stanford, Arizona State and Yale known as SAY24. The surveys of registered voters in each state were conducted after the presidential debate but before Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump. 

In the poll, Trump leads Biden:

Across the other states surveyed, the race is within each poll’s margin of sampling error with no clear leader:

Democrats are defending Senate seats in five of these states this November, and the poll suggests Democrats hold a significant upper hand in each of those races, outperforming Biden’s share of the vote. Each Democrat tops the Republican by 7 points or more, according to the poll.

Roughly 7 in 10 voters in each state say Biden is too old to be president (from 67% up to 72%), while the share saying the same about Trump stands around 40% (between 36% and 40%). 

Robert Kennedy Jr. and former President Donald Trump.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s son, Bobby Kennedy III, posted a video of a phone call between Kennedy Jr. and former President Donald Trump in which Trump appeared to endorse false theories about vaccines’ safety.

Kennedy III posted the brief video on social media Tuesday morning, filming Kennedy Jr. as he listens to Trump speak on the phone. Kennedy III said the video was taken on Sunday, the day after Trump was injured in an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Kennedy III has deleted the post containing the video.

In the video, Trump can be heard discussing the amount of doses of vaccines that are scheduled for children and suggested that after taking a high volume of vaccines, babies start to change.

Trump also appeared to express some skepticism toward public health professionals who accurately state the recommended immunization schedule for children is safe and effective, saying, “And then you hear it doesn’t have an impact, right?”

Kennedy Jr. apologized to Trump for the video of the phone call being released after his son took it down. Trump and Kennedy met in-person in Milwaukee on Monday. 

False claims: As a candidate, Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly made false claims about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. He’s regularly criticized Trump for approving public health restrictions during the Covid-19 health pandemic and implementing a plan to accelerate the development of a Covid vaccine. 

Biden campaign responds: President Joe Biden’s campaign said in a statement Tuesday: “Trump and his anti-vax bud ‘Bobby’ are spreading dangerous conspiracy theories that threaten the lifesaving care that tens of millions of people depend on.”

“This leaked footage is further proof Trump can’t be trusted to protect Americans’ health care. It’s frightening, and if he gains power, it could be the devastating reality for working families across the country,” the statement said.

CNN has reached out to the Kennedy campaign and the Trump campaign for comment. 

This post has been updated with comments from Biden’s campaign.

Former President Donald Trump stands with his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, during the Republican National Convention on Monday.

Political parties are amorphous and only exist as the sum of many thousands of parts from elites and lawmakers at the top and down to individual states, districts and precincts — and ultimately, the votes of partisans who show up to vote in primaries.

It’s rare that parties gather in one place — so quadrennial nominating conventions offer a valuable chance to take the temperature of the two great forces in American politics. This year is especially important because the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the traditional conventions four years ago.

There are two key takeaways so far from RNC 2024: 

Elon Musk attends a summit in Bletchley, England, in November.

Elon Musk is now publicly endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential reelection bid.

The Tesla CEO is planning on supporting Trump’s presidential campaign by committing $45 million a month to a new super PAC backing the former president, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The donations, if they come to pass, are a significant development in not only the campaign, but also the relationship between the two men, who both have fervent support among millions of fans who stand ready to believe most anything they say.

Musk has given money to candidates from both parties in the past. He used to be primarily a Democratic donor, but those relatively paltry sums pale in comparison to the amount he is now reportedly donating to Trump.

Musk has said for several years the Democratic Party has moved too far to the left for him to support many of its candidates.

Asked at a recent shareholder meeting about his relationship with Trump, and Trump having nice things to say about Tesla even as he attacks electric vehicles, Musk replied, “I can be persuasive.”

Relations haven’t always been so friendly between the two. Musk quit two White House business councils he served on early in 2017 after Trump announced America would withdraw from Paris climate accord, tweeting at the time that “climate change is real.”

Read more about Musk and Trump here.

Peter Navarro speaks to the press before reporting to the Federal Correctional Institution in Miami in March.

Peter Navarro – the former Trump White House adviser who has been in prison since March for defying a subpoena from the January 6 congressional committee – will fly to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Wednesday after his release from prison.

Navarro’s fiancé is planning to pick him up on Wednesday morning as he finishes his four-month sentence at the federal prison camp in Miami, and then drive him to Miami Executive Airport, where a private plane provided by his book publisher will be waiting, Navarro’s prison consultant Sam Mangel told CNN.

Nikki Haley speaks during a campaign rally at the Indigo Hall and in Spartanburg, South Carolina, in February.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in her speech to the Republican National Convention Tuesday night will “address voters who are uncertain about voting for President Trump and make the case for why she is voting for him,” a source with knowledge of her remarks tells CNN.

Trump’s former primary rival made clear in May that she would vote for him. Haley announced last week that she was releasing her delegates to the convention and encouraging them to support Trump.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington D.C., on May 24.

North Carolina’s elections board has granted ballot access to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. while denying Cornel West in a hearing on Tuesday, settling key questions around November’s ballot in a key battleground state. 

The North Carolina State Board of Elections voted on the validity of both candidates petitions after holding hearings about objections that were raised questioning their compliance with state law. The hearings have garnered significant attention.

The objections at the heart of the board’s decision came from Clear Choice PAC, a pro-Biden super PAC working to combat third-party candidates, who alleged the minor parties formed by Kennedy and West did not comply with North Carolina state laws and suggested both campaigns misled voters to collect signatures.  

Democrat Siobhan O’Duffy Millen, the sole board member who voted to deny both Kennedy and West ballot access, argued their efforts to gain ballot access in other states as an independent or in affiliation with other minor parties show that they are attempting to circumvent state laws governing ballot access for independent candidates. 

In North Carolina, independent presidential candidates were required to submit 83,188 signatures before April 8th to qualify. But presidential candidates nominated by minor parties only had to submit 13,865 signatures and had until May 17th to do so. 

Board chair Alan Hirsch, also a Democrat, said he agreed with Millen’s argument that Kennedy’s campaign is committing “subterfuge” by establishing its minor party, but voted to approve Kennedy’s petition anyway. He said it was “a close call” and suggested any appeal to a judge would “have a good case.” 

In a statement to CNN, Clear Choice PAC founder Pete Kavanaugh condemned the board’s decision to approved Kennedy’s petition. 

US former President and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump raises a fist during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15.

A close call with death often changes people — but not always in predictable ways.

Even Donald Trump — who’s spent decades crafting his image as a strongman who is not hostage to the vulnerabilities of other mortals — may not be immune an epiphany about life’s fragility.

There did seem something different about the former president on Monday night during his triumphant reemergence at the Republican National Convention. Normally, his body language is cocky, bombastic and designed to intimidate. When he walked into the convention hall, with a bandage on his ear, his face wore unfamiliar emotions. He seemed moved and, for once, aware of something other than himself. At times, his eyes looked like they were brimming with tears.

But no one can really tell what is going on in Trump’s head or how he will respond. He’s pledged to bring the country together and that everything has changed. But his pick for vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, who is known for incendiary rhetoric and who modeled himself on Trump’s politics of division, undercut such a message.

Trump has two pathways ahead of him. Given that he’s ahead in the polls, the country wants stability and President Joe Biden is very unpopular, it would be politically smart to modulate his approach and cruise to Election Day. But this is not who Trump has ever been. His entire political persona is rooted in crushing opponents, wielding unaccountable power, creating his own version of false reality and often, even public cruelty. This is what made him so popular among his most devoted supporters.

But Trump has a second chance at politics and life, and it will be interesting to see how he uses it.

The Republican National Convention has a range of speakers lined up for its convention this week, including lawmakers, governors, and celebrities such as Dana White from the UFC, former President Donald Trump’s campaign.

Republicans are gathering in Milwaukee, where they officially anointed Trump as their presidential nominee and his VP pick, JD Vance.

CNN reported earlier that former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and former Trump aide Peter Navarro, who is expected to be released from prison, would also speak at the convention.

From Trump’s family, sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump; Lara Trump, Eric Trump’s wife and the co-chair of the RNC; and Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancee and former Fox News host, will speak.

Here is the full list of expected speakers.

Greg Landsman is interviewed in his Longworth Building office, Washington D.C., on November 3.

The assassination attempt on Donald Trump “overtook” conversations about whether President Joe Biden should drop out of the presidential race, Democratic Rep. Greg Landsman of Ohio said on CNN Tuesday.

Landsman, whose seat is described as “competitive” by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, suggested last week that he was getting “closer and closer” to joining Democrats who have publicly called on Biden to step aside in the wake of his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump last month.

That was before the attempt on Trump’s life scrambled the presidential race, however.

On “CNN This Morning” Tuesday, Kasie Hunt asked Landsman, “Are you ready to tell President Biden that you think he should step aside?”

“No. First and foremost, what we all witnessed on Saturday was this, an attempted assassination on … former President Trump’s life,” Landsman responded. “That overtook, as you can imagine, the conversations that I was having at home.”

Landsman said he conveyed his concerns to leadership and will leave the decision up to them and Biden.

In his comments last week, Landsman said he wanted to speak with his constituents in Ohio before making a decision about the president’s political future.

Speaking with Hunt, Landsman also took issue with Trump’s vice presidential pick JD Vance, criticizing Vance’s “incendiary” language and stating that it runs contrary to the unity message Trump is trying to convey.

Demonstrators and members of the The Coalition to March on the RNC hold a rally outside the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15.

Despite the presence of hundreds of protesters and counter-protesters for the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, the city’s mayor said there were no significant clashes on Monday.

Two arrests were made for disorderly conduct, according to the Milwaukee Police Department, but Johnson said they saw even less protest activity than expected.

“Most importantly, no one was hurt, and there was no significant property damage that was reported as a result of these demonstrations,” Johnson said.

CNN’s Joe Sutton contributed to this report.

Kamala Harris and JD Vance

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump’s new running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, have yet to speak as of this morning, but their teams are trying to find a time to connect today, a source familiar with the matter says.

CNN previously reported Harris left a voicemail for Vance shortly after Trump announced the Ohio senator as his vice presidential pick on Monday. Vance didn’t answer Harris’ phone call because it came from an unknown number, and he was unable to call back. Staff for Vance’s team has since been in touch with Harris’ team to work on setting up a call.

Former Homeland Security Advisor and Counterterrorism Advisor to Vice President Pence Olivia Troye testifies during a House Judiciary Subcommittee at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on November 30.

Olivia Troye, an ex-adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence who became a fierce Donald Trump critic, is scheduled to appear with Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign event Wednesday, a source familiar with the appearance said. 

Troye is one of a number of high-profile Republicans to back President Joe Biden in recent weeks. Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger and former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan have also announced their support for the president. 

US Senator from Ohio and 2024 Republican vice-president candidate JD Vance attends during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15.

Donald Trump has named US Sen. JD Vance as his running mate, further elevating the Ohio Republican who has adopted the former president’s populist agenda after years of pointed criticism of Trump.

Vance, a freshman, entered Congress with the help of Trump, whose endorsement helped him win a contentious race in 2022. 

Vance was critical of Trump in 2016, and six years later, Trump publicly humiliated Vance even after endorsing him in the 2022 election. 

In the Senate, Vance has been an outspoken supporter of Trump and often votes in allegiance with the former president’s interests. He opposed a Ukraine aid bill earlier this year, adopting Trump’s criticism of providing more aid. He is also close with Donald Trump Jr. 

Vance, a former venture capitalist, veteran and author, was reported to be among the candidates who received vice-presidential vetting materials from the Trump campaign. 

Vance was a CNN contributor from March 2017 to March 2018.

Read more about Vance.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, attends the first day of the Republican National Convention, on July 15, in Milwaukee.

Former President Donald Trump is said to be rethinking his primetime convention speech this week, pivoting to a message of unity after a near-miss assassination attempt.

He has announced a running mate and accepted his third nomination to be the Republican presidential candidate.

And one of special counsel Jack Smith’s cases against Trump was dismissed in Florida, although expect an appeal. It is a pivotal week in US politics.

What can CNN’s experts answer for you? Submit your questions here.

Republican delegates listen during their convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15.

Republicans adopted a new platform for Donald Trump’s third White House run that mainlines the former president’s policies and makes Trump himself a focus of the party. It is a fraction of the length of the 2016 platform and written in Trump’s voice.

Republicans also softened their language on the issue of abortion — angering some anti-abortion activists — and made clear that, like Trump, the party will favor a state-by-state local approach to the issue, meaning they will support efforts to ban abortion outright in some states and allow it to exist in others.

We annotated the full Republican Party platform — their first new platform since 2016. 

Read it with that analysis here.

Donald Trump at the 2024 Republican National Convention hosted at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15.

Donald Trump stole the show at the Republican National Convention on Monday night in his first public appearance since surviving an assassination attempt two days ago.

A bandaged Trump, now the official Republican nominee for president, appeared alongside his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

Here are the top takeaways from the RNC’s first night:

Trump picks Vance Trump called Vance just 20 minutes before publicly announcing his VP pick on Truth Social, a source told CNN.

The choice reflects Trump’s belief that Vance is an effective communicator who can sell Trump’s populist agenda.

Vance now vs. then Vance is something of a double-edged sword for Republicans, who are betting on his ability to communicate Trump’s message but will have to contend with the senator’s own history.

Prior to running for his Senate seat in 2022, Vance was a strident critic of Trump — material Democrats are certain to replay for the duration of the campaign.

VP also-rans get their moments Delegates and convention-watchers heard from several other Republicans who Trump considered for the vice presidential nod, including South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

Ron Johnson’s Ron Burgundy moment Two days after the shooting, many Republican speakers delivered cooler-than-usual rhetoric — except Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, who called Democratic policies a “clear and present danger to the country.”

Johnson’s spokesperson said it was a mistake, and that the senator delivered an old version of his remarks that had been erroneously loaded into the teleprompter instead of a new version calling for unity.

Read more takeaways.

CNN’s John King turns to the magic wall to break down the locations where Ohio Sen. JD Vance could bolster former President Donald Trump’s chances of winning the 2024 election.

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Second-quarter fundraising reports show Democrats outraised Republicans in competitive congressional races, while several vulnerable Senate Democrats burned through cash.

The filing period spans April 1 through June 30, well before Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump, and just three days after the CNN presidential debate.

Here are the main takeaways:

Senate Democrats maintained their financial edge

Democrats outraised their Republican opponents in the nine competitive Senate races on CNN’s list of the 10 seats most likely to flip, as they tried to defend their narrow majority.

House Democrats in most competitive races posted big hauls

Democratic candidates outraised their GOP opponents in 21 of the 22 House races rated as Toss-ups by The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, the most competitive category. Republicans hold a razor-thin majority in the House.

Outside groups poised for big role

The reports also show the leading outside groups and super PACs hauling in huge sums as they prepare to blitz the battleground airwaves with campaign advertising.

In the fight for the Senate, the Senate Majority PAC, which is affiliated with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, raised $44.3 million and entered July with $124.3 million banked.

Trump’s growing Silicon Valley appeal

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Elon Musk – who endorsed the former president Saturday less than an hour after he survived the assassination attempt – is prepared to plow about $45 million a month into a new group, America PAC, recently launched to support Trump’s bid.

Read the full funding update.

Donald Trump has gone from an insurrection to a resurrection.

The searing picture of a nation in dystopian decline that defines the ex-president’s politics was largely missing on the first night of the Republican National Convention.

In its place was a sense of the divine — a pulsating belief in miracles among thousands of Republican delegates and a feeling that God spared their hero after he was nearly killed in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

Thousands of Trump supporters in Milwaukee on Monday night hailed their leader, elevating him from MAGA superhero to saint-like status.

Trump, a white bandage over his wounded right ear, stood below the stands of the Milwaukee Bucks NBA arena. He didn’t speak to the crowd, but mouthed “thank you” over and over again.

Usually, Trump’s face projects anger or rage or sarcasm. But on Monday night, it wore unusual emotion. It looked as if tears welled in Trump’s eyes. A man who normally projects strength and seeks to dominant every room he enters betrayed a trace of wistfulness and vulnerability, as might befit someone coming to terms with their life being saved by a stroke of luck and a turn of the head.

Trump’s supporters have long seen him as a God-like figure and his own campaign has played into the trope with advertising. He’s styled himself as the secular prophet who leads a populist movement.

For Trump’s millions of American fans, Monday night was a validation of their faith in God and the ex-president and the righteousness of his mission.

Read the full analysis.

Republican Vice Presidential candidate, JD Vance, attends the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 15, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The new Republican vice-presidential pick is the embodiment of Trump’s “America First” policies.

Sen. JD Vance is part of a new generation of pro-Trump lawmakers who reject the traditional US foreign policy consensus.

He traveled to the belly of the internationalist beast at the Munich Security Conference earlier this year to rebuke America’s European allies. And at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in the US, he explained why America should no longer finance Ukraine’s fight for its freedom.

He backs Trump’s position that the war in Ukraine should end and the killing should stop.

“It’s good for the country to have somebody saying, ‘How long does this go on? How much money are we supposed to funnel into this country?’” said Vance, who has also argued the US lacks the manufacturing capacity or sufficient military reserves to send more ammunition to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rebuked Vance’s criticism of the war in an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in February.