Republican National Convention 2020: Day 2

As President Donald Trump watched from the audience, first lady Melania Trump praised his administration and defended his leadership style during her Republican National Convention remarks delivered from the White House Rose Garden. 

“In my husband, you have a president who will not stop fighting for you and your families. I see how hard he works each day and night and despite the unprecedented attacks from the media and opposition, he will not give up. In fact, if you tell him that it cannot be done, he just works harder,” the first lady said.

She took a moment of her speech to uphold Trump’s character and leadership style, and why she believes he is the President the country needs for four more years.

“He is what is best for our country. We all know Donald Trump makes no secrets about how he feels about things. Total honesty is what we as citizens deserve from our President, whether you like it or not, you always know what he is thinking,” she said.  “And that is because he is an authentic person who loves this country and its people, and wants to continue to make it better. Donald wants to keep your family safe, he wants to help your family succeed. He wants nothing more than for this country to prosper and he does not waste time playing politics.”

The first lady said the President is a “husband who supports me in all that I do,” and she praised Trump’s administration for having “an unprecedented number of women in leadership roles.” She added that her husband “has fostered an environment where the American people are always the priority” and “welcomes different points of view and encouraged thinking outside of the box.”

The first lady said that they would be “honored to serve this incredible country for four more years.”

“I believe that we need my husband’s leadership now more than ever in order to bring us back once again to the greatest economy and the strongest country ever known,” she said in closing.

In remarks from the Rose Garden tonight, first lady Melania Trump gave her most detailed comments on the racial unrest that’s gripped the country over the last months, tying what she’s observed to a 2018 trip she made to Africa, where she learned about the slave trade.

 “This time in our history, we must never forget, so that we can ensure that it never happens again,” Trump told an audience of about a hundred in the White House Rose Garden. “Like all of you, I have reflected on the racial unrest in our country. It is a harsh reality that we are not proud of parts of our history. I encourage people to focus on the future while still learning from the past.”

Trump went on to call for peace: “I urge people to come together in a civil manner, so we can work and live up to our standard American ideals. I also ask people to stop the violence and looting being done in the name of justice, and never make assumptions based on the color of a person’s skin. Instead of tearing things down, let’s reflect on our mistakes, be proud of our evolution and look to our way forward.”

First lady Melania Trump took a moment in her Republican National Convention speech to speak directly to parents about social media and “the downside of technology.”

In 2018, Trump unveiled her formal platform: “Be Best,” a three-pillar initiative aimed at issues facing children: well-being, social media and opioid abuse.

In what she described as “a special message for the mothers of this country,” Trump went on to talk about the challenges children face when navigating social media.

“This modern world is moving so fast. And our children face challenges that seem to change every few months. Just like me, I know many of you watch how mean and manipulating social media can be and I’m sure like me, many are looking for answers about how to talk to your children about the downside of technology and their relationships with their peers,” she said.

Trump continued: “Like every parent in this country, I feel there are so many lessons to teach our son. And the responsibilities as his mother but there’s just not enough hours in the day to do it all. I remind myself that I’m more fortunate than most and still have days that I look for wisdom and strength to the very best I can for him.”

“To mothers and parents everywhere, you are warriors,” she said.

Trump then vowed that her husband “will not stop fighting for you and your families.”

Those who attended first lady Melania Trump’s speech in the White House Rose Garden that capped the second night of the Republican National Convention were not required to get tested for coronavirus, a person who attended the speech told CNN.

There were screening questions on the form to RSVP, but no coronavirus tests or temperature checks were done at the White House, the person said. The Trump campaign said earlier in the day that about 70 people would be attending the speech, which was the first one with an in-person audience at the Republican convention.

Early Wednesday morning, the first lady’s chief of staff Stephanie Grisham told CNN that the audience members “in the rows near the President and vice president” were tested for coronavirus before the speech.

Grisham said most of the guests were not tested, especially those “in the last five or six rows,” but she claims anyone who came into close contact with Trump or Pence — including senior aides, staffers and Melana Trump’s parents — were tested.

The vast majority of those attending did not wear masks, and the chairs provided for attendees did not appear to be placed six feet apart. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises keeping at least six feet apart from others if possible in order to prevent the spread of the virus, and the agency also advocates for face coverings, especially if it is difficult to keep six feet apart from another person.

In Washington, DC, the government currently prohibits gatherings of more than 50 people to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

“We contracted with a coronavirus adviser and all suggested protocols were followed,” Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told CNN. He did not answer an inquiry about whether everyone who attended the speech was tested.

Melania Trump, whose speech stood in stark contrast to the rest of the messaging of the convention, was one of the few speakers who offered deeply felt condolences to the families of the nearly 180,000 people in the US who have died due to coronavirus. She expressed her gratitude for the many first responders who have been on the front lines dealing with the more than 5.7 million coronavirus cases in the US.

Read more here.

First lady Melania Trump sought to provide some comfort to families suffering during the coronavirus pandemic and vowed that her husband would “will not rest until he has done all he can to take care of everyone impacted by this terrible pandemic.”

“I want to acknowledge the fact that since March, our lives have changed drastically. The invisible enemy, Covid-19, swept across our beautiful country. And impacted all of us,” she said. “My deepest sympathy goes out to everyone who has lost a loved one and my prayers are with those who are ill or suffering. I know many people are anxious and some feel helpless. I want you to know you are not alone.”

She vowed that the Trump administration would “not stop fighting until there’s an effective treatment on or vaccine available to everyone.”

The first lady went on to thank frontline workers for the tireless fight against coronavirus.

“I want to extend my gratitude on to you all of the health care professionals, frontline workers and teachers who stepped up in these difficult times,” she said. “Despite the risk to yourselves and your own families you put our country first and my husband and I are grateful.”

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Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the first African American to serve in that role, attacked Joe Biden in his speech at the RNC tonight, saying the former vice president ought not tell Black Americans how to vote.

Beginning the speech by citing Abraham Lincoln, who was born in Kentucky, Cameron moved on to address a comment Biden made to popular Black radio host Charlamagne tha God back in May, in which he said “If you have a problem figuring out if you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.” (Biden later walked back his remark, saying, “I know that the comments have come off like I was taking the African American vote for granted but nothing could be further [from] the truth.”)

“I… think about Joe Biden who says, ‘if you aren’t voting for me you’re not Black,’” Cameron said.

“…Mr. Vice President, look at me,” he continued. “I am Black. We are not all the same, I’m not in chains, my mind is my own and you can’t tell me how to vote because of the color of my skin.”

Cameron then called the Democratic presidential nominee a “backward thinker in a world that is craving forward-looking leadership.” 

“There is no wisdom in his record or his plan just a trail of discredited ideas and offensive statements,” he added.

Night two of the Republican National Convention largely ignored the coronavirus pandemic, using the White House setting to fabricate a world that does not match the one in which Americans are now living — or the political landscape of the 2020 election, in which the pandemic and President Trump’s health and economic actions in response to it are dominant.

Trump issued a pardon and hosted a naturalization ceremony in the White House, with acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf. For both events, none of the participants wore masks.

Later, in the Rose Garden, Melania Trump — the last speaker of the night — was the only one to address the pandemic directly and at length. But almost all the guests attending her speech appeared to be maskless.

Masks are largely unnecessary in the White House because of the testing capacity and requirements there. But that kind of rapid testing isn’t available in most of the country.

Mentions of the virus that has left more than 177,000 Americans dead were few and far between for most of the night — and when it came up, such as in White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow’s speech, it was in the context of promises of an economic rebound.

The speeches and events without masks were in stark contrast to the Democratic National Convention last week, which featured video montages with people in masks, and where Joe Biden at times wore a mask himself. Speakers at the Democratic National Convention hammered Trump’s handling of the virus, with one woman saying her 65-year-old father died because he had trusted Trump when the President downplayed it.

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday attacked Democratic nominee Joe Biden over his son Hunter Biden’s position on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma. “That very same company was being investigated by a Ukrainian prosecutor. Joe Biden, the Vice President of the United States, threatened to withhold aid to Ukraine unless that same prosecutor was fired. And then, he was fired,” Bondi claimed.  

Facts First: This is false. The Ukrainian prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, was not actively investigating Burisma. In fact, Biden sought the prosecutor’s removal because Shokin was widely seen as ineffective and corrupt. 

In pushing for Shokin’s removal, Biden was carrying out US policy that was supported by Ukrainian activists, US diplomats and European allies – as well as Republican senators like Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who is now investigating Burisma and the Bidens. 

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

Bondi made similar allegations during President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, where she served as defense counsel. Trump and his allies have repeatedly made unfounded and false claims to allege that the former vice president and his son acted corruptly in Ukraine. 

CNN’s Daniel Dale has a more detailed fact check on the matter from January here.   

Anti-abortion activist Abby Johnson asserted that during his first year in office, Trump “overturned an Obama-Biden rule that allowed government subsidy of abortion.”  

Facts First: This is misleading. Trump signed legislation in 2017 blocking federal funding for abortion providers, but federal funds have been barred from being used for elective abortions since 1976. 

Johnson appears to be referring to Trump signing a bill in 2017 allowing states to withhold federal money from organizations that provide abortion services, including Planned Parenthood — reversing an Obama-era regulation that prohibited states from withholding money from facilities that perform abortions.    

But because of the Hyde Amendment, which dates back to 1976, federal funds were and are already barred from being used for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or to save the woman’s life.  

Planned Parenthood provides other health services, which is what the federal money is meant to pay for. The 2017 bill permits states to suspend even that funding, if the organization providing those services also performs abortions. 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed that President Donald Trump “has held China accountable for covering up the China virus” — the administration’s loaded term for coronavirus — and for “allowing it to spread death and economic destruction in America and around the world.” 

Facts First: This is partly false. While some members of the administration, including Pompeo, criticized China over the virus early on, Trump repeatedly praised China and its leader Xi Jinping at the outset for how it handled the outbreak, while also repeatedly downplaying the potential seriousness of the disease in the US. CNN identified 37 times between January and early April where Trump praised China on Twitter and in comments. 

Even as he got tougher on Beijing and Xi, Trump’s initial retaliatory actions took aim not at the Chinese government, but at the World Health Organization. Trump announced in April he was halting funding to the multilateral body, criticizing it for failing to “get medical experts into China to objectively assess the situation on the ground and to call out China’s lack of transparency.” In May, he said that the US was terminating its relationship with WHO, and the administration began the formal process of withdrawing in July.

The Trump administration has taken a number of actions against Beijing in recent months, but those moves were not exclusively tied to coronavirus. Officials like Pompeo had indicated in the past that there could be more retaliatory actions, and CNN reported in April that the administration was formulating a long-term plan to punish China on multiple fronts for the coronavirus pandemic.

As for China’s responsibility, US intelligence has gathered information showing that officials in Wuhan, China, kept senior officials in Beijing in the dark for weeks about the virus that resulted in the Covid-19 pandemic, according to US officials familiar with the intelligence. 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said President Donald Trump “lowered the temperature and, against all odds, got North Korean leadership to the table.”

“No nuclear tests, no long-range missile tests and Americans held captive in North Korea came home to their families as did the precious remains of scores of heroes who fought in Korea,” he said.

Facts First: This lacks context. While Trump did meet twice with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, he has little progress to show for those summits. North Korea launched a number of projectiles earlier this year and although there hasn’t been a known nuclear test inside North Korea since September 2017, a UN report found that Pyongyang is continuing work on its nuclear program. 

Trump’s second summit with Kim in February 2019 ended without a joint agreement after Kim insisted sanctions be lifted. Working level talks have broken down, and in November 2019 the North Korean Foreign Ministry said it was not “interested” in further meetings with the US.

Americans did come back to their families. One of those Americans – Otto Warmbier – came back with significant brain injuries and died shortly after.

North Korea turned over 55 boxes of remains presumed to be of US service members killed during the 1950-1953 Korean War in July 2018. The effort to retrieve the remains, which has long been touted by Trump as evidence of the success of his first Singapore summit with Kim, was suspended in May 2019.

The unprecedented appearance of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at President Trump’s convention — which aides say came at the President’s own request — is a clue at how Trump views his first term foreign policy achievements. 

Staged on a hotel rooftop in Jerusalem, Pompeo sought to cast Trump as the ultimate dealmaker, his location highlighting a recent agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to normalize relations that Trump helped broker.

Voters in the US consistently rank foreign policy near the bottom of their most important issues, though in a broader sense, America’s role in the world and how allies now regard the United States has played heavily in Democrats’ messaging during this election.

Trump has mostly shrugged off suggestions that America is viewed as a less reliable partner, saying his goal isn’t to make life easier for either foreign friends or foes. While he claims to have great relationships with western leaders, he has also appeared cozy with strongmen and dictators — including his praise for Turkey’s leader during a taped segment on Monday.

Ultimately, there are few experienced Republican national security voices outside the administration who have appeared willing to defend Trump’s policies. Many have said outright they oppose them. And several of Trump’s onetime aides — including his former national security adviser John Bolton and his former Defense Secretary James Mattis — have raised serious questions about his decision-making. 

That has given people once considered outside the foreign policy mainstream more clout. Sen. Rand Paul, who has rankled his party’s leadership at times with anti-interventionist views, was invited to speak Tuesday to underscore his stance.

He said Trump aimed to “end war rather than start one” and refused to “leave our blood and treasure in Middle East quagmires.”

Speaking from Jerusalem via pre-tapped remarks, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praised President Trump’s foreign policy, saying that his family is “more safe, and their freedoms more secure, because President Trump has put his America First vision into action. It may not have made him popular in every foreign capital, but it’s worked.”

Pompeo went on to highlight particular Trump policies in China, North Korea, the Middle East and in making NATO “stronger.” Pompeo also touted the move of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“As a soldier, I saw, first hand, people desperate to flee to freedom. The way each of us can best ensure our freedoms is by electing leaders who don’t just talk, but deliver,” Pompeo continued.

“An American hostage imprisoned in Turkey for two years, Pastor Andrew Brunson, said upon his release that he survived his ordeal with these words of scripture, ‘Be faithful, endure and finish well.’ If we stay the course, we will,” the secretary of state said in closing.

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

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

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

Earlier today, House Democrat Rep. Joaquin Castro, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, opened an investigation into Pompeo’s controversial decision to address the RNC.

Castro said in a statement Tuesday that the “American people deserve a full investigation.”

With reporting from CNN’s Jeremy Diamond, Kaitlan Collins and Kevin Liptak

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Eric Trump blasted former Vice President Joe Biden in his address Tuesday night, claiming that the Democratic presidential nominee would remove the Second Amendment and “defund the police.”

Trump claimed that Biden has pledged to remove the Second Amendment. “Biden has pledged to … take away your cherished Second Amendment,” the President’s son said.

He also contrasted his father’s accomplishments with Biden’s plans. According to Eric Trump, “Biden has pledged to defund the police.” 

Facts First: Biden has not pledged to remove the Second Amendment. He does support certain gun control measures. 

Biden’s plan, as laid out on the campaign’s website, proposes to “end our gun violence epidemic and respect the Second Amendment, which is limited.” Along with banning the “manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” the plan includes mandating that people who own assault weapons either sell them to the federal government or properly register them with the authorities, along with other measures.

Facts First: Biden has expressly not supported calls to “defund the police.” 

Biden’s published criminal justice plan called for a $300 million investment in community policing efforts – including the hiring of more officers. On June 8, Biden told CBS, “No, I don’t support defunding the police.” Rather, he said, “I support conditioning federal aid to police based on whether or not they meet certain basic standards of decency and honorableness. And, in fact, are able to demonstrate they can protect the community and everybody in the community.” 

It’s worth noting that the slogan “defund the police” means different things to different activists – from the dissolution of police forces to partial reductions in funding.

Trump’s campaign has seized on a single comment Biden made to a progressive activist in a July video chat. In that conversation, Biden repeated his opposition to defunding police. When pressed, he did say he “absolutely” agrees that some funding can be redirected to social services, mental health counseling and affordable housing, but he immediately transitioned to his previous proposal to deny federal funding to specific police departments that do not meet certain standards. Biden said in early June that decisions about funding levels should be made by local communities, since some have too many officers, but some don’t have enough.

Like half-sister Tiffany Trump who spoke before him, President Trump’s son Eric did not share personal stories about his father, but focused his speech on touting the President’s economic, health care and foreign policy agenda.

He sought to contrast the efforts of the current administration and Joe Biden’s policy platform, saying the “American spirit” that built the Hoover Dam and “defeated fascism” would “defeat the empty, oppressive, and radical views of the extreme left” in November.

“Under President Trump, freedom will never be a thing of the past. That’s what a vote for Donald Trump represents,” he added. “It is a vote for the American spirit, the American dream and the American flag.”

He said Joe Biden “is a career politician who has never signed the front of a check and does not know the slightest thing about the American worker or the American business.”

He also called Biden “a total pushover” on China and who would be “a giant relief for terrorists.”

Trump’s son, an executive vice president for the Trump Organization, used the end of his speech to send a direct message to his father.

“I miss working alongside you every day but I’m damn proud to be on the frontlines of this fight. I am proud of what you are doing for this country. I am proud to show my children what their grandfather is fighting for. I am proud to watch you give them hell. Never stop,” he said.

He added, “Dad, let’s make Uncle Robert proud this week,” referencing Robert Trump, the President’s brother who recently died.

Trump’s convention speech comes a day after New York Attorney General Letitia James sought for him to be deposed in an investigation of the Trump Organization. He did not address the issue at the convention.

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The Republican National Convention showed a video of President Donald Trump overseeing a naturalization ceremony for five new US citizens at the White House on Tuesday.

“Today America rejoices as we welcome five absolutely incredible new members into our great American family. You are now fellow citizens of the greatest nation on the face of God’s earth. Congratulations,” the President said at the ceremony, which occurred earlier in the day on Tuesday. 

The event was not open to reporters or photographers, and a video of the ceremony was later posted on the official White House YouTube channel. 

“You followed the rules, you obeyed the laws, you learned your history, embraced our values, and proved yourselves to be men and women of the highest integrity,” Trump said. “It’s not so easy. You went through a lot, and we appreciate you being here with us today.”

In his remarks, Trump called US citizenship the “most prized, treasured, cherished, and priceless possession anywhere in the world.” 

“There’s no higher honor,” the President said.

Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf administered the oath to the five people. 

“Mr. President,” Wolf said, “I want to again commend you for your dedication to the rule of law and for restoring integrity to our immigration system.”  

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Florida’s lieutenant governor, Republican Jeanette Núñez, highlighted her Cuban heritage in her speech at the RNC this evening and depicted the upcoming election as a choice between capitalism and the socialism her parents left behind when they fled Fidel Castro’s Cuba.

“Fellow Americans, the fabric of our nation is in peril,” she said. “Daily the radical left systemically chisels away at the freedoms we cherish… [they] normalize socialism to dismantle our Constitution.”

“Let me assure you, socialism does not offer opportunity, socialism deprives,” she continued. “It is a falsehood that feigns promises for the masses and consistently yields only misery. They pedal dangerous ideologies and normalize socialism to dismantle our Constitution.”

Núñez’s appeals comes as Republicans work to make up ground in Florida, a key battleground state where Cuban-Americans, make up a powerful voting bloc. Recent polling suggests President Donald Trump is trailing Joe Biden in that state.

“Americans have a choice, we can go down a dark road of chaos, and government control or we can choose the path of freedom and opportunity that was paved by those who sacrificed everything to preserve the American dream for future generations,” Núñez added.

President Donald Trump’s two “surprise” appearances during Tuesday’s convention blatantly used his presidential powers to advance a political message — advancing the impression that Republicans are exploiting his office to support his reelection.

In pre-taped videos, Trump issued a pardon for a man who robbed a bank in Nevada and later founded an organization for former inmates; the President also presided over a naturalization ceremony for new American citizen. The two acts flex the powers of the incumbency during the highest-profile political event of the calendar.

All presidents, in some way, use the powers of their office when it comes time for reelection. That includes highlighting executive orders that benefit key voting blocs or touting foreign policy achievements only available to the sitting commander-in-chief. 

But never have those moves been so blatantly staged for political gain — as they appeared to be Tuesday, with highly-produced videos meant for debut at a political convention.

Trump had already been accused of violating ethics norms by utilizing the White House for his convention speech on Thursday. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whose speech Tuesday is unprecedented for the country’s top diplomat, is now being investigated by House Democrats for the convention speech he taped from a hotel rooftop during an official trip to Israel.

But the two appearances Trump was planning Tuesday were the most direct use of his office for political gain. Pardon power is one of the most sweeping prerogatives a president enjoys, spelled out in the Constitution. Trump has previously deployed it for political allies or people with high-profile cases.

On Tuesday, the White House released a video clip on YouTube of Trump issuing a full pardon for Jon Ponder, a former bank robber and the founder and CEO of HOPE for Prisoners, a ministry in Las Vegas that helps those who are incarcerated reintegrate back into the community.

They also posted a video of Trump overseeing a naturalization ceremony for five new US citizens. He emphasized the achievements of each of the citizens, and congratulated them on coming to the country legally.

“You followed the rules, you obeyed the laws, you learned your history, embraced our values, and proved yourselves to be men and women of the highest integrity,” the President told the participants. 

Both events occurred at the White House. Administration officials have said previously that Trump’s use of the building doesn’t violate any laws, and that staffers are permitted to participate on their own time as long as his appearances occur in the residence portion and not the West Wing.

Police officer Ryan Holets, who adopted a baby born to a homeless woman addicted to heroin in 2017, praised President Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention for his leadership combating the opioid epidemic. 

“I hold a special place in my heart for those facing opioid addiction, and that’s why I’m enormously grateful to the President for his leadership in fighting this deadly enemy. Through his efforts, we are turning the tide on the crisis of addiction,” Holets said. 

Holets was first lady Melania Trump’s guest at the State of the Union address in 2018. He said his daughter, Hope, is now a “thriving two-year-old,” and that her mother is approaching three years of recovery.

“We are fortunate, America, to have a President who cares deeply for the downtrodden, and who works tirelessly to find solutions. A President who doesn’t just talk about problems, but stops and helps,” Holets said. 

He said, “President Trump is the leader we’ve needed the last four years, and he is the leader we need for the next four years. You see, Donald Trump is the right President at the right time.”

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Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds made her case for President Donald Trump on a national stage Tuesday, touting the President’s leadership after a devastating storm brought hurricane-force winds her state. But her endorsement of the administration’s “actions and outcomes” doesn’t reflect the situation for Iowans desperate for relief after this month’s derecho.

A derecho covered an area nearly 800 miles wide in the Midwest with hurricane-force winds topping 100 miles per hour. It lasted 14 hours from August 11 to 12, destroying or severely damaging thousands of homes, schools and businesses while damaging millions of acres of crops and uprooting countless trees that had stood for over a century, helping take power lines down with them. 

“It was the worst storm in our state’s history. And Iowans did what you expect Iowans to do: They helped each other, they took care of each other, and they still are. But someone else also had our back: Our president,” Reynolds said in her remarks Tuesday. 

Reynolds submitted a 23-page disaster declaration request to the federal government seeking just under $4 billion in relief, including agriculture, public assistance, private utilities, and homes with major damage, for 27 of Iowa’s 99 counties on August 16. 

Trump tweeted he approved “the FULL Emergency Declaration for the Great State of Iowa.” 

But, as of Tuesday, the Des Moines Register reports that only one county, Linn County, “has received approval for federal individual assistance from the Trump administration.” 

Reynolds conceded during a Tuesday press conference, per the Register, that some counties wouldn’t qualify for federal individual assistance and they are “continuing to run the numbers” for other “more impacted areas.”

CNN affiliate KGAN reported last week that the individual assistance petition, which covers repairs to damaged homes and medical, child care, and vehicle expenses, is “‘under review’ by FEMA and not yet approved.” 

Trump traveled to Iowa for a disaster recovery briefing last week. And in the days immediately following the storm, Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Des Moines for multiple campaign events, including a fundraiser and a coalition event billed as “Farmers and Ranchers for Trump.” He met with Reynolds and a small group of farmers before that event “to hear firsthand about the damage to their farms and property,” per a handout from his office. There was no press coverage of Pence’s meeting.

“When the winds had finished raging and the cleanup had only begun, he showed up… The President cut through the bureaucracy to do what needed to be done, and to do it quickly,” Reynolds said in her RNC remarks.

Reynolds has maintained a close relationship and has been a loyal ally to the Trump administration, carefully sidestepping opportunities to criticize the President and complimenting him during her numerous trips to the White House.

Her Tuesday evening remarks, which clocked in under four minutes, also praised Trump’s trade deals but neglected to mention the coronavirus pandemic. Iowa has seen more than 57,296 confirmed cases and more than 1,052 deaths as of Tuesday. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The campaign paid for the trip, the source said. 

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

 Watch:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watch:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watch:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“My father and grandfather earned their livings mining the raw materials that made the steel that built America,” Vlaisavljevich said. “This election is a make or break for workers who are carrying on the legacy of men like them.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“It’s a very good thing to show the country that redemption is possible,” Jones said. “But I think it cheapens it when you do it in a political convention, and you do it in a political way, because then it begins to look like you’re just doing it as a stunt.”

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

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

Watch:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Then came a once in 100 year pandemic. It was awful. Health and economic impacts were tragic. Hardship and heartbreak were everywhere. But presidential leadership came swiftly and effectively, with an extraordinary rescue for health and safety to successfully fight the coronavirus,” Kudlow said.

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

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

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

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

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

Watch:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watch:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Joyce said he has had a change of heart.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watch:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“We believe that each person is made by God for a purpose,” the President added. “I will continue to give all Americans, including former inmates, the best chance to build a new life and achieve their own American dream.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watch:

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

“Our People have never been invited into the American Dream. We for years fought congressional battles with past congressmen and senators that were part of a broken system that ignored us,” Lizer said during a speech that aired during the Republican National Convention Tuesday night. “That is, until President Trump took office.”

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

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

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

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

Watch:

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

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

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

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

Watch:

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

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

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

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

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

Read more here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here are key things to watch tonight:

Read more about tonight’s event here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“President Donald Trump is the FIRST political leader we’ve ever seen take on the radical Left to finally secure our border and to end illegal immigration since day one. I’ve met him many times and I know what’s in his heart…I know what he hopes and dreams for this country.”
“President Trump knows what it takes to make America great again. He knows the formula for America’s greatness is simple. It’s everything Brandon represented: Ensure law and order and protect the vulnerable, give generously to your community, love your family, deeply, and practice your faith.”

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

Hear more:

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

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

“In furtherance of the constitutionally mandated obligation to conduct oversight of the State Department, as well as to determine whether and legislative action is necessary, to address this matter, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations intends to examine this issue carefully,” Castro wrote.

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

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

CNN has reached out to the State Department for comment.

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

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

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

Read more here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 “The American people didn’t need the dark, dystopian vision for our country that was on display last night at the Republican Convention,” Bill Russo, deputy communications director for the Biden campaign, said. “We’re already living through that reality because of Donald Trump’s failures as president. We heard a lot last night about how cancel culture is going to ruin your life, but very little about how Donald Trump’s mismanagement of the Covid-19 crisis might end it, like it tragically has for almost 180,000 Americans. We heard about the great economy that Donald Trump inherited from Barack Obama and Joe Biden, but not a morsel of regret for how Trump’s failed leadership has squandered it starting even before COVID hit.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“President Trump himself will have a significant role again tonight and he will appear more than once during the programming,” Murtaugh told reporters during a briefing call, but said it does not mean he will be giving prepared remarks.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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