Trump makes first public appearance since assassination attempt: RNC highlights

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"This too must change," he said.

“President Trump is a candidate who is not afraid hearing from new, loud and often critical voices,” O’Brien said. “And I think we all can agree whether people like him or they don’t like him, in light of what happened to him on Saturday. He is proven to be one tough SOB.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read the full story here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read more about Trump's first RNC appearance here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read the full story here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read the full story here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read the full story here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Statement

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Coalition to March on the RNC — the main leftist protest effort against the GOP convention — held a rally and march on the first day of the convention.

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

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

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

Organizers with the Poor People’s Army, a homeless advocacy group, are leading a march of about 100 supporters to the Republican National Convention venue, where the group’s leader will symbolically issue a citizen’s arrest of GOP leaders for what the group is calling “crimes against humanity.”

Among the demonstrators is 2024 Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who walked with the group about 1.5 miles from King Park to Fiserv Forum, the site of the RNC.

“As far as I’m concerned, this is the real convention here, where real people are — everyday Americans who are really very much locked out of the RNC and the DNC,” Stein told NBC News.

After tempering attacks on Trump following Saturday’s assassination attempt, Biden plunged back into campaign mode today, defending his decision to remain in the race despite calls for him to exit.

In an interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt, Biden at times grew combative and said he isn’t leaving the race even though some Democratic leaders have expressed fears that he can’t win.

“I’m old,” Biden said. “But I’m only three years older than Trump, number one. And number two, my mental acuity has been pretty damn good. I’ve gotten more done than any president has in a long time in three-and-a-half years. I’m willing to be judged on that.”

Read the full story here.

A recess was called for convention proceedings.

The program will resume at 6:45 p.m. ET, a convention official announced.

In a new interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt today, Biden defended his language in the lead-up to Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump, saying his rival’s rhetoric is the real problem.

Some Trump allies have blamed Biden and other Democrats for allegedly fomenting hostility to Trump that they claim contributed to the shooting, including Biden’s telling donors on a private call recently that it is “time to put Trump in a bull’s-eye.”

Read the full story here.

Special counsel Jack Smith's team criticized Judge Aileen Cannon's dismissal of the classified documents case in a rare public statement that also indicated an appeal was forthcoming.

“The dismissal of the case deviates from the uniform conclusion of all previous courts to have considered the issue that the Attorney General is statutorily authorized to appoint a Special Counsel," said spokesperson Peter Carr in a statement. "The Justice Department has authorized the Special Counsel to appeal the court’s order.”

Vance said in a 2018 edition of his memoir "Hillbilly Elegy" that he voted for a third-party candidate in 2016.

"And despite all of my reservations about Donald Trump (I ended up voting third party), there were parts of his candidacy that really spoke to me," Vance wrote in the book's afterword.

He went on to describe the aspects of Trump's campaign that appealed to him: "from his disdain for the 'elites' and criticism of foreign policy blunders in Iraq and Afghanistan to his recognition that the Republican Party had done too little for its increasingly working- and middle-class base."

"For so many years, I and a few of my intellectual fellow travelers in the Republican Party were telling politicians to make precisely those sorts of arguments," he continued. "Yet the populist rhetoric of the campaign hasn’t informed the party’s approach to governing. Unless that changes, I suspect Republicans will pay a heavy political price."

Vance's Senate office on Capitol Hill had a Capitol Police officer stationed outside following him being named as Trump's running mate.

There is usually not an officer outside of his office.

House Speaker Mike Johnson officially declared the Republican presidential nomination ticket as Trump and Vance.

Minutes earlier, Vance was received with loud applause when delegates confirmed their support for the Ohio senator. The crowd chanted, "JD! JD! JD!"

Trump called Vance with the news that he was selecting him as his running mate 20 minutes before announcing it on social media, a source familiar with the call told NBC News.

Shortly after Trump announced Vance as his 2024 running mate, delegates in the audience grabbed markers and began transforming their Trump campaign posters into signs endorsing the full 2024 ticket: Trump-Vance.

Then as Vance made his way onto the convention floor, the first time since the announcement, delegates raised their new posters high above their heads.

A source familiar with the call said that Harris reached out to Vance and "left a message to congratulate him on his selection, welcome him to the race and express her hope that the two can meet in the vice presidential debate proposed by CBS News."

Vance was just introduced as Trump's vice presidential pick at the convention. He walked through the Ohio delegation, shaking hands with delegates.

In an interview on NBC News' “Meet the Press," Vance defended Trump’s recent remarks calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate Biden and his family if he wins a second presidential term.

“I find it interesting how much the media and the Democrats have lost their mind over this particular quote,” Vance told moderator Kristen Welker. “Donald Trump is talking about appointing a special prosecutor to investigate Joe Biden for wrongdoing. Joe Biden has done exactly that for the last few years and has done far more in addition to that, to engage in a campaign of lawfare against his political opposition. I think what Donald Trump is simply saying is we ought to investigate the prior administration.”

Vance is less than two years into a six-year Senate term, which means his seat would be up for grabs if the Trump-Vance ticket wins the presidential race this fall.

In that event, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, would get to appoint a replacement senator, after which there would be a special election to fill the remainder of the term.

DeWine has had a fractious history with Trump and the MAGA movement, and he and Trump lined up on opposite sides of the GOP's 2024 Ohio Senate primary. (Trump's candidate, Bernie Moreno, won.) Read more here about the intraparty dynamics in Ohio.

The three Republicans who ran in the GOP primary to challenge Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio., all praised Trump's pick of Vance as his running mate.

Bernie Moreno, who won the GOP primary, said that the selection was "brilliant."

"JD is a dynamic, visionary leader who is the perfect messenger for the America First agenda alongside President Trump," he said. "He will fight with President Trump for our middle class, secure our border, and unleash American energy. I am proud to call JD a friend and I look forward to working with him to fire Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Sherrod Brown."

The other two former Ohio Senate candidates who praised Vance were Frank LaRose and Matt Dolan.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum applauded Trump's selection of Vance.

Burgum, who was himself high on Trump's shortlist for a running mate, wrote on X that Vance's "small town roots and service to country make him a powerful voice for the America First Agenda."

"I look forward to campaigning for the Trump-Vance ticket to Make America Great Again!" he wrote.

Biden-Harris campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon said in a new statement that Trump picked Vance to be his running mate because the Ohio Republican would do what Mike Pence wouldn't do as president on Jan. 6.

Trump picked Vance because "Vance will do what Mike Pence wouldn’t on January 6: bend over backwards to enable Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda, even if it means breaking the law and no matter the harm to the American people," she said.

She added that the Biden campaign will spend the next several months "making the case between the two starkly contrasting visions Americans will choose between at the ballot box this November: the Biden-Harris ticket who’s focused on uniting the country, creating opportunity for everyone, and lowering costs; or Trump-Vance — whose harmful agenda will take away Americans’ rights, hurt the middle class, and make life more expensive — all while benefiting the ultra-rich and greedy corporations.” 

The campaign immediately began fundraising off the pick.

After serving less than one term in the Senate, Vance doesn't have nearly as long of a voting record as some of the other vice presidential options. But as we learned when we examined his voting record last month, that may have been a political strength for Vance in his bid to become Trump's running mate.

He joined the Senate after the internal battles in the GOP over things like immigration and isolationism, which is why, at least in the Senate, he's been the "MAGA King."

Vance, 39, a first-term senator, first rose to fame after he published his 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” about having grown up poor in Ohio. A graduate of Yale Law School and a Marine veteran, Vance worked in venture capital before he moved back to his home state to start his own firm and eventually run for office in 2022. 

Vance lamented Trump’s rise in the party publicly, and he described himself as “Never Trump guy” in an interview with Charlie Rose in 2016. But Vance ultimately changed tack, seeking — and scoring — Trump’s key endorsement for the Senate in the midterms, without which he might not have won the primary. He has been a reliable Trump supporter in Congress and on the campaign trail.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be given Secret Service protection, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said during today's White House press briefing.

"In light of this weekend's events, the President has directed me to work with the Secret Service to provide protection to Robert Kennedy Jr.," Mayorkas told reporters. "Both prior to and after the events of this past weekend, the Secret Service enhanced former President Trump's protection based on the evolving nature of threats to the former president and his imminent shift from presumptive nominee to nominee."

Kennedy has repeatedly requested Secret Service protection. "Major presidential and vice presidential candidates," who are identified by the secretary of Homeland Security, are afforded protections.

Kennedy thanked Biden for "granting me Secret Service protection," in a post to X.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's running for president as an independent, met with Trump today in Milwaukee, according to Kennedy campaign press secretary Stefanie Spear.

Kimberly Guilfoyle, who's engaged to Donald Trump Jr., praised Trump's decision to choose Vance as his running mate.

"I really like him personally," she told NBC News' Jacob Soboroff on the floor of the convention. "I think he’s a good man. He’s a great father, a great husband, a great American who served the country. He’s intelligent, articulate contemplative."

She emphasized that the vice presidential pick matters especially in light of the assassination attempt against Trump on Saturday.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., celebrated Trump's pick of JD Vance on X.

Rubio was considered to be high on Trump's shortlist to be his running mate.

Many convention delegates met Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell with loud boos when he spoke as Kentucky came up on the presidential nomination roll call vote.

McConnell did not answer a question from NBC News' Vaughn Hillyard about his decision to attend the convention.

Following more than two hours of marching and chanting around downtown Milwaukee, the Coalition to March on the RNC — the main leftist protest effort against the GOP convention — has wrapped. 

Protesters ended where they started, in Red Arrow Park, across the Milwaukee River from the official convention proceedings, with speakers talking about reproductive and immigrant rights. 

All in all, the group marched for two hours and twenty minutes — a walk that climaxed with a tense but peaceful confrontation with anti-abortion protesters right outside the Fiserv Forum.

The march began with about 2,000 people but organizers estimated that their group picked up another 1,000 people along the way. 

Attendees and leaders expressed a sense of pride — and fatigue, given the hot weather on Monday — as the effort, which took almost two years to organize, came to a close.

“I’m very proud of what we did,” said lead organizer Omar Flores. “It went extremely well, it was peaceful, we got in front of Fiserv,” he said. 

With the announcement coming from son Eric Trump on behalf of the state of Florida, Trump has officially clinched the Republican nomination for president.

Chris Donnellan had been drinking a beer with a friend at Mo’s Irish Pub when protesters came down the street. He popped his head out of the side door and began filming the scene, but said he was surprised to find the city otherwise empty.

“I wonder if what happened Saturday diminished the crowd,” he said of the assassination attempt on the former president.

Donnellan, who lives in D.C. and plans to attend the DNC, said he is accustomed to seeing large protests and political events. So far, the RNC and the planned demonstrations feel small in comparison.

“I wonder about the burnout effect,” he said. “Oct. 7 was a long time ago,” he added, referring to the ongoing war in Gaza. 

Trump waited just about until the last moment to reveal his vice presidential pick, posting on social media as Republican convention delegates were in the process of voting on Trump's official nomination.

No nominee has waited until the convention to announce his nominee this century. And as our colleague Steve Kornacki reports, the last time a vice presidential nominee was announced for the first time on the floor was back in 1980.

Trump’s decision, which is expected to be ratified at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, continues a meteoric rise for Vance, who eight years ago captured the political zeitgeist with his bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”

In the book, Vance shared vivid memories about his mother’s battle with drug addiction, a rotating cast of father figures and the other socioeconomic challenges that his family faced after migrating from eastern Kentucky to southwestern Ohio.

The book’s publication coincided with Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, inadvertently anticipating his rise as a political figure and becoming a Rorschach test for those trying to make sense of Trump’s appeal among white working-class voters.

Read the full story here.

The Republican National Convention's 2,429 delegates have begun the roll call, when each state officially casts their delegate votes for Trump as the GOP nominee.

Trump will clinch the nomination with 1,215 delegates, and historically, national parties orchestrate the roll call so the president's home state (in this case, Florida), is the one that helps him clinch that majority.

In 2016, it took about an hour for Trump to hit that majority, and the whole roll call took about an hour and forty five minutes. Expect this to be a bit shorter though, since Republicans had to deal with some dissent inside their party during that roll call, as not all delegates were happy with Trump being the nominee that year.

Trump just broke the news on his Truth Social social media page, announcing that Vance, the Ohio senator, is "the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States."

More on his decision here.

The Coalition to March on the RNC has now stopped in front of the Fiserv Forum, the site of the convention.

This is the closest the group will get to Fiserv, lead organizer Omar Flores said.

Organizers are chanting slogans at a small group of anti-abortion protesters lined up at the security barrier in front of the arena, who are, in turn, yelling back, “Save the babies.”

According to five sources familiar with the conversation, Sen. Marco Rubio was told he is not Trump’s vice presidential pick.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has also been told he will not be Trump’s running mate for vice president, three sources have told NBC News.

According to one of the sources, part of the reason Rubio is not the pick has to do with uncertainty over the issues on the residency requirements that could not be resolved to satisfaction. Both Trump and Rubio are Florida residents.

Trump had been focused on three finalists: Rubio, Burgum and Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.

Tonight's speakers list doesn't just include elected officials. Some other interesting names will be speaking, too.

Model Amber Rose will speak during Monday's evening session. (She praised Trump in an interview last week ahead of her speech, as her participation had been previously announced.)

Sean O’Brien, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, is speaking as his group’s potential endorsement hangs in the balance.

Trump has made his pick for vice president, according to three campaign officials, and will announce it here at the Republican convention at 4:30 p.m. ET. The running mate will appear when the vice presidential nomination process starts.

The 88-degree heat index in downtown Milwaukee today was no match for 74-year-old Victoria Schaefer, who turned out for the Coalition to March on the RNC protest.

Schafer said she showed up to protest for reproductive rights and that she was most concerned that Trump could nominate even more anti-abortion justices to the Supreme Court if he wins in November. 

“It’s all about the court,” she said. “I’m also here to protest all the things Trump stands for.”

Schaefer stood among a crowd of about 2,000 protesters working their way through dozens of chants on progressive issues, including support for the Palestinian people, LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights and support for reparations.

We just got our first glimpse of the elected officials on tap to speak at tonight's session of the Republican National Convention.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin are the two governors slated to speak tonight. North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the party's gubernatorial nominee in the state, will also speak.

As for senators, the list includes Sens. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Katie Britt of Alabama, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.

Four House members are on the schedule too: Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Byron Donalds of Florida, Wesley Hunt of Texas and John James of Michigan.

After more than two hours of speakers, the Coalition to March on the RNC, the main leftist group protesting the convention, has kicked off its march through the streets of downtown Milwaukee.

Organizers on megaphones led the crowd in chanting, “When Trump says ‘get back,’ we say ‘fight back,’” and, “When immigrant lives are under attack, what do we do? Stand up and fight back.”

Lead organizer Omar Flores said about 2,000 people attended the march, a far smaller number than the 5,000 he said he’d expected.

A minimal counterprotest effort has manifested, with just a small handful of anti-abortion demonstrators lined up. At one point, one person in a pro-Trump shirt jumped in front of the drum line at the start of the march and waved an American flag. 

Dating back to 1912, when John Schrank shot Theodore Roosevelt, stocks have historically fallen after an assassination attempt against a president or presidential candidate. Not this time, however.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 200 points as of early Monday afternoon, two days after a gunman wounded Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Of the previous 10 assassination attempts, the Dow had fallen by an average of 1.1% during the next trading day, according to CFRA Research.

Relief over Trump's survival wasn't the only thing propelling markets though.

“The market is really focusing on earnings, AI, inflation and interest rates, all of which seem to be going in our favor,” CFRA's Sam Stovall said. “That is why the market has pretty much ignored what happened.”

Francoise Demonique, from Detroit, arrived in Milwaukee at 3 a.m. to set up a mobile merchandise stand that sells unofficial candidate T-shirts emblazoned with the faces of Trump and Biden.

Each shirt features a “positive” biographical story of one of the candidates.

Demonique was sporting the Trump shirt Monday, saying, “Today I’m wearing red, I’m giving respect” — but promised to wear the blue Biden shirt at the DNC in Chicago next month.

He said the purpose of his small shirt company, Meet a Great American, is to boost positivity in a hyperpartisan environment. 

“We need democracy, not division. Trump or Biden, it doesn’t matter,” he said.

“This is the most beautiful country in the world, we don’t need to fight,” he said. 

Trump began fundraising off of the classified documents case's dismissal, just hours after the federal judge canned the case against him and days after his assassination attempt.

"THE DOJ'S DOCUMENTS CASE AGAINST ME WAS JUST DISMISSED!" a fundraising email sent out today reads. "Now it's time for us to unite the country! We will reinvigorate our economy for ALL AMERICANS.

"We will secure our border. We will show PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH on the world stage. WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" the ad continues, before soliciting donations.

Trump said in an interview yesterday he believes he narrowly avoided his own death.

“I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead,” Trump said in an interview with the New York Post.

Trump spoke to the Post while en route to Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention this week; the former president reportedly had a large white bandage on his right ear from the injury he sustained from the shooting.

Trump recalled turning his head slightly to the right to read a chart about undocumented immigrants during the rally — a split-second move he believes allowed him to dodge a shot that would have killed him.

Read the full story here.

The Senate Homeland Security Committee is launching a bipartisan investigation into Trump's attempted assassination, Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., said.

The committee will look into "whether or not there were security breaches that we need to close," Peters said, modeling the investigation after its bipartisan look at the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. As with its Jan. 6 probe, the committee is expected to release recommendations on security changes.

Peters said he spoke "at length" with Homeland Secretary Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas yesterday and has a briefing with the FBI today. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and ranking member Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., were briefed by the FBI by phone this morning.

Less than two days after the assassination attempt on Trump, the former president called on the Secret Service to give independent presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. protection.

Kennedy has repeatedly requested protection and been denied, a decision he's been deeply critical of (it's a decision made by the Department of Homeland Security in concert with congressional leaders). Since the attempt on Trump's life, there's been a growing push among some lawmakers to expand protection to include Kennedy, including new legislation offered by two New York representatives, Republican Mike Lawler and Democrat Ritchie Torres.

On Monday, a DHS spokesperson confirmed that the agency is evaluating the request "with due consideration."

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said he will encourage Senate candidates to exercise more caution with their language after the attempted assassination of Trump.

“It’s unfortunate that people are starting to point fingers and that’s the underlying problem that we have in our country right now is that people point fingers at each other with vitriol that can lead to violence,” he said. “Everybody needs to stand down, stand back, take a deep breath and urge the American people to come together as one people.”

He added that as the head of the Senate's campaign arm, he would "make sure that we’re bringing down the vitriol and to be very careful of the language that you use, words do matter."

Yossi Aharoni traveled to today’s Coalition to March on the RNC from Minneapolis. He says he came to draw attention to the fact that Trump is not the anti-war, isolationist candidate he sometimes paints himself to be.

He said he felt it was “certainly more than possible” that the assassination attempt on the former president could end up boosting his electoral prospects this fall because it could cast him sympathetically in the eyes of some voters.

Aharoni said he felt that possibility makes it even more important to protest against his policies. 

“I don’t think it changes who he is fundamentally or what he wants to do,” Aharoni said of the attack on Trump. 

Anne Smith, of Milwaukee, said she felt similarly.

“I mean, you can see it in so many examples of politicians who were targeted or an assassination attempt almost killed them, and they were able to use that public momentum from that act to win elections or stay in power,” Smith said.

Brad Sigal boarded a bus early this morning with some 100 other activists from the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee. They carried signs that read “Legalization for all!” and said a second Donald Trump presidential term would be devastating for immigrants.

“The first years were a catastrophe,” Sigal said. “And he’s promising to do worse this time.”

When asked about President Joe Biden’s immigration policies, Sigal shook his head and said he also plans to protest at the DNC.

“This is something that has continued in every administration,” he said. “We don’t care what party is it. We’re going to continue protesting.”

Shares of Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. soared more than 30% on the first trading day following the attempted assassination of the former president.

Trump is the company's biggest shareholder, owning more than 114 million shares. The gain added hundreds of millions of dollars to the former president's net worth. Trump cannot sell shares of the stock — whose ticker symbol “DJT” stands for Trump’s initials — before the end of September.

Trump Media is the parent company of the former president's social media outlet, Truth Social.

Former President Donald Trump is expected to reveal his choice for a running mate later today as the Republican National Convention opens here.

Bret Baier of Fox News reported that Trump confirmed those plans to him in a telephone interview.

“Yes, we’re going to get the VP today,” Baier said. “And he said there’s other things to come. I don’t know what that means.”

Read the full story here.

Trump lawyer Alina Habba said the dismissal of the Trump classified documents case marks the first step in restoring the rule of law, arguing the “unlawful appointment and funding” of special counsel Jack Smith “has been a critical factor of the sham” case.

“This dismissal marks the first step in ending the weaponization of our justice system, restoring the rule of law, and Making America Great Again,” she said in a statement.

Former Trump official Kash Patel similarly praised the dismissal of the classified documents case as a constitutional “victory” and accused the Justice Department of unlawfully bringing the case against the former president.

“This case exemplifies the degradation of our constitution by decades of DOJ malfeasance, layered incessantly atop another, to create judicial scripture rather than law,” Patel said in a statement.

Biden has spoken with the FBI family liaison for Corey Comperatore, the former fire chief who was killed at the Trump rally Saturday, to make sure his relatives know that he is available to speak to them if a conversation would be “right for them,” according to a White House official.

The president has expressed his heartfelt condolences to the Comperatores and has said he is praying for them while respecting their privacy at this difficult time, the official added.

“He was a father. He was protecting his family from the bullets that were being fired and he lost his life, God love him,” Biden said Sunday afternoon, adding that he was also thinking of those who were injured.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called Judge Aileen Cannon's ruling in the classified documents case “breathtakingly misguided," saying in a statement that her decision "flies in the face of long-accepted practice and repetitive judicial precedence. It is wrong on the law and must be appealed immediately."

Schumer said the ruling "is further evidence that Judge Cannon cannot handle this case impartially and must be reassigned.”

In a post to his Truth Social platform, Trump argued that the dismissal of the "unlawful" classified documents case in Florida this morning should be the "first step" in dismissing the other legal battles he faces.

"As we move forward in Uniting our Nation after the horrific events on Saturday, this dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts," Trump wrote.

Trump repeated his claims, without evidence, that the Biden Justice Department is behind the "political attacks" against him, which he described as an "election interference" effort by the president.

"Let us come together to END all Weaponization of our Justice System, and Make America Great Again!" he wrote.

Although President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden was prosecuted by a special counsel that also did not get specific Senate confirmation for that role, Judge Cannon writes in her opinion that she sees a difference between the two special counsels.

“The appointment of private citizens like Mr. Smith — as opposed to already-retained federal employees — appears much closer to the exception than the rule,” she writes about special counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting Trump, and David Weiss, the U.S. attorney from Delaware who was appointed to be the special prosecutor in the Hunter Biden case.

Cannon goes on in her opinion to contrast Smith’s appointment with Weiss’, pointing out Weiss was already a U.S. attorney. However, the Biden case is not in her jurisdiction, so her ruling doesn't have any power with regard to that case.

Today's ruling by Judge Cannon comes weeks after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas raised constitutional questions about the special counsel.

In his concurring opinion in Trump v. U.S. (the presidential immunity case), Thomas questioned the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith, arguing that the president "cannot create offices at his pleasure" and that "if there is no law establishing the office that the Special Counsel occupies, then he cannot proceed with this prosecution." (Trump's lawyers had made this argument in the election interference case, but the Supreme Court didn't agree to consider it.)

Thomas raised whether the special counsel's nomination needed to be confirmed by the Senate. Cannon's ruling appears similar, and Thomas' concurrence is cited in her opinion twice.

From here, Jack Smith will be able to appeal the dismissal to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That court will certainly hear the case and probably hold oral argument on the matter. But even if it were to be heard on an expedited basis, and even if the appeals court were to overturn Judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling, this all but guarantees the classified documents case could not go to trial before the election.

The ruling doesn’t have any immediate impact on the Washington, D.C., election interference case. Trump’s team never challenged that case on appointments clause grounds, but they could make that argument once District Judge Tanya Chutkan regains the case in early August.

Nothing about today’s ruling to dismiss the case is binding on Chutkan. The only courts that can direct Chutkan to rule in a particular manner in the D.C. case are the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Some House Republicans quickly began to celebrate the dismissal of the classified documents case against the former president today.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., appeared to suggest that the federal judge overseeing the case, Judge Aileen Cannon, should be appointed to the Supreme Court.

"Future Supreme Court Justice Cannon," Gaetz wrote in a post on X, coupled with an image of Cannon.

Trump nominated Cannon to the federal bench in 2020.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote on X that the dismissal is a "win for President Trump is a victory for the rule of law."

Stephen Miller, senior adviser to Trump, praised the Florida judge who dismissed Trump’s classified documents case.

“Amazing what happens when you have a neutral and impartial jurist applying the law instead of rabid radical Trump-democrat partisans in robes,” Miller wrote in a post to X, referring to Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated by Trump.

Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, reacted quickly on X to Judge Aileen Cannon's ruling.

"This is a deeply corrupt act by a Trump judge. Very scary the powers his people want to give him," he said.

(Cannon was nominated by Trump and confirmed with 56 votes by a Republican-controlled Senate in November 2020.)

In her 93-page ruling tossing the Justice Department's case accusing Trump of mishandling classified documents, Judge Aileen Cannon argued that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith incorrectly sidestepped Congress' power to confirm high-level administration appointments.

"The bottom line is this: The Appointments Clause is a critical constitutional restriction stemming from the separation of powers, and it gives to Congress a considered role in determining the propriety of vesting appointment power for inferior officers. The Special Counsel’s position effectively usurps that important legislative authority, transferring it to a Head of Department, and in the process threatening the structural liberty inherent in the separation of powers," she wrote.

She went on to argue that the special counsel would have needed congressional approval or authorization to be a valid appointment.

Reached by NBC News, a White House spokesman referred all inquiries on the dismissal of the Trump classified documents case to the Justice Department.

The Florida judge overseeing Trump’s classified documents case dismissed the indictment against him.

During the first of his daily RNC press conferences this morning, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson briefly highlighted security measures in place for the Republican National Convention in light of the assassination attempt on Trump.

Johnson said two arrests have been made around the secure convention sites, both “involving individuals who were intoxicated.” He described both arrests as “uneventful.”

Johnson, a Democrat, also maintained his support for Biden and praised the president’s calls for unity in response to the shooting at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle expressed confidence in the security plans for the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week after the attempted assassination of Trump.

After extending her condolences to the family and friends of Corey Comperatore, who was killed during the Trump rally shooting Saturday, Cheatle noted in a statement that Secret Service agents moved swiftly to kill the suspected gunman and guide Trump to safety. Cheatle said she has been in continual contact with Secret Service personnel in Pennsylvania since the shooting, has been coordinating with Trump’s protective detail and has briefed Biden on details of the incident.

Cheatle said she is “confident” in the security plan for the RNC, noting that the Secret Service works with federal, state and local law enforcement, as well as public safety personnel on security plans for big events such as the convention.

“I am confident in the security plan our Secret Service RNC coordinator and our partners have put in place, which we have reviewed and strengthened in the wake of Saturday’s shooting,” she said.

At first, they sounded like firecrackers, Blake Marnell said of the gunshots that rang out Saturday at Trump's really.

Once he realized what had happened, "I was wondering if he was dead. I was really just trying to listen to what the Secret Service was saying,” Marnell told NBC San Diego. He had been standing in front of Trump’s lectern.

When the gunfire stopped, Marnell got up and saw Trump bleeding. "We saw him walk off largely under his own power," he said.

The Capitol Police said in a statement that it has been operating in a "heightened threat environment" for several months following threats on members of Congress and called Trump's assassination attempt "a tragedy of historic proportions."

"We have been working with our federal, state and local partners on a comprehensive security plan to protect the Members of Congress during both political conventions," the law enforcement agency said, without providing specific details of its expanded operations.

The New York City Police Department also warned of increased political violence, according to a counterterrorism memo obtained by NBC New York, saying the incident "is likely to resonate with violent extremists."

Former colleagues at Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Department mourned the loss of Corey Comperatore, their former chief who was killed while shielding his daughters during the attempted assassination of Trump.

"He's a man who would give the shirt off his back to anyone," Craig Cirrinncione said. "He was a man of love," he added.

A lot of questions need answering about how a shooter was able to get so close to Trump. NBC News’ Jay Gray reports from Butler, Pennsylvania, with the latest details of the investigations.

Secret Service and local law enforcement representatives said yesterday there are no plans to change the security measures for the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week.

“We’re not anticipating any changes to our operational security plans for this event,” said the Secret Service’s RNC coordinator, Audrey Gibson-Cicchino.

Read the full story here.

Britain's King Charles has written to Trump, Buckingham Palace confirmed today, without divulging the details of the message.

Trump paid a state visit to Britain in 2019 when he was president and met Charles' mother, Queen Elizabeth II.