After former President Trump revealed his choice of Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio
, for his running mate in the November election, speculation quickly began over who might take Vance’s place in the Senate. 

Vance was elected to the Senate in 2022 and isn’t up for re-election until 2028. However, if he and Trump win, and he takes the role of vice president, Gov. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, will be charged with appointing a replacement. 

“Who else wants JD Vance’s Senate seat to be filled by @VivekGRamaswamy?” asked Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, in a post on X.

Vivek Ramaswamy, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination against Trump in the primary race, is a resident of Ohio.

In a statement provided by a spokesperson, Ramaswamy said, “I have rock-solid conviction that JD will be an outstanding VP for President Trump.”

“The only negative is this leaves our side missing one of our best fighters in the Senate. If asked to serve, I would strongly consider the position and would discuss with President Trump which path makes the most sense for our country,” he continued. 

Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy caught up with Fox News’ Brooke Singman to discuss JD Vance as former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick.

“He’s gonna be an awesome vice president,” Ramaswamy said. “I’ve actually known him for over a decade. He and I were law school classmates and we both grew up in Southwest Ohio, like maybe 10-15 minutes from where he grew up was where our parent’s first house was.”

Ramaswamy announced his run for president in February 2023. In mid January, he endorsed Trump for president.

“I think he is going to be not only a good policy voice but his story is an American dream story and I think that he will give inspiration to a lot of people but he also wants policies that allow a lot of people to live the same dream that he has,” Ramaswamy said of Vance. “I love him. He’s in politics for the right reasons. He’s honest and I just think he’s a great choice. He’s outstanding.”

When asked if Ramaswamy believes Vance will draw young voters’ attention, he said, “I think he’s gonna attract more than that. I think he’s gonna attract a lot of people who are hungry for economic mobility in the country and I think he’s gonna attract even a lot of people who aren’t traditional republicans.”

He concluded with, “I just think he’s a great choice.”

After leaving Yale Law School, Vance became a junior investor with Mithril Capital, an investment firm owned by GOP megadonor Peter Thiel, according to Business Insider.

He spent two years at the firm before leaving and joining a different firm, Revolution, which was co-founded by Steve Case, who formerly chaired AOL. 

Vance went on to start his own venture capital firm called Narya Capital, which was based out of his home state of Ohio. Thiel was one of the major financial backers who assisted Vance with raising the $93 million he used to start the firm. 

Thiel was a significant supporter of Vance’s foray into politics, breaking records when he gave $15 million in total to a PAC supporting the Republican’s candidacy for U.S. Senate. 

In late October 2022, shortly before JD Vance won the Senate race in Ohio, he joined Fox News’ Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino to discuss border security and how illegal immigration effects Ohioans.

When asked about the issues important to Ohio voters, Hemmer noted that immigration was the fourth major concern
to constituents, below abortion, inflation and the economy and threats to democracy.

However, at the time, Vance was challenging President Joe Biden to continue building the wall former President Donald Trump started during his presidency.

“It’s really important to focus in Ohio, Bill, because the southern border is the way that the fentanyl that’s coming into the state of Ohio kills a lot of our citizens,” Vance said. “So, were actually the third state overall when it comes to fentanyl deaths.”

In 2021, there were 5,174 unintentional drug overdose deaths in Ohio and, in 2022, there were 4,915, which was a 5% decline in overdose deaths from the year prior, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

“Certainly, the economy and inflation are top of mind for a lot of voters, but people also want their communities to be safe. They want their children to be safe from this poison that the cartel’s are bringing in. We’re hamming both of those issues,” Vance added. “Unfortunately, Joe Biden and my democratic opponent Tim Ryan, who votes with Biden 100 percent of the time, they’ve been big, big failures on the border issues and especially when it comes to inflation, the economy and of course jobs.”

In the Senate, Vance has established a reputation
for being particularly skeptical of foreign aid, specifically to Ukraine, which has been embroiled in a war with Russia for over two years. He voted against the $95 billion foreign aid supplemental to Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific along with several of his Republican colleagues.

He has also introduced legislation to provide better oversight of aid to Ukraine. Ahead of the vote on additional foreign aid this year, Vance remarked, “I served my country honorably, and I saw when I went to Iraq that I had been lied to — that the promises of the foreign policy establishment were a complete joke.”

Years before being elected, a young Vance enlisted in the Marines and served in Iraq. In the public affairs section of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, he served as a corporal. 

Vance was elected to the Senate in 2022, defeating his opponent, former Rep. Tim Ryan by more than 200,000 votes. He took office in 2023 and has been serving in the upper chamber since. 

During the campaign, he racked up the endorsement of former President Trump, despite his past remarks about him. He touted Trump’s support, which is widely credited with giving Vance an advantage in the Ohio Republican Senate primary. 

Day two of the Republican National Convention (RNC) will feature a wide range of prominent GOP speakers.

Many of Tuesday’s speakers include Republican candidates running in crucial Senate races this cycle, including in Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, Montana, Pennsylvania, and Nevada.

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley was not expected to speak after sharing she was originally not invited to the event, but was scheduled to speak after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Haley is expected take the RNC stage Tuesday evening.

Other speakers expected this evening include rising GOP figures, including the following Senate candidates: Kari Lake of Arizona, Jim Banks of Indiana, Mike Rogers of Michigan, Tim Sheehy of Montana, Sam Brown of Nevada, Bernie Moreno of Ohio, Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, Senate Hung Cao of Virginia, Eric Hovde of Wisconsin. Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia & Babydog are also expected to speak this evening.

In 2016, Vance published his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which quickly became a best-selling book. “Hillbilly Elegy” details his less than glamorous childhood, being raised by his mother and grandmother in Kentucky and Ohio, and the toll addiction takes on families.

The story takes readers through the struggles of poverty in rural and Appalachian America. A movie was ultimately made about the book, which was distributed by Netflix in 2020. Glenn Close received a nod for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role at the Academy Awards for her portrayal of Vance’s grandmother. 

“I may be White, but I do not identify with the WASPs of the Northeast. Instead, I identify with the millions of working-class White Americans of Scots-Irish descent who have no college degree,” Vance said in a 2016 interview about his memoir. 

“To these folks, poverty’s the family tradition. Their ancestors were day laborers in the southern slave economy, sharecroppers after that, coal miners after that, and machinists and mill workers during more recent times. Americans call them hillbillies, rednecks or White trash. I call them neighbors, friends and family,” he said.

While Vance is one of Trump’s most loyal allies now, he was not always so fond of him. Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, he wrote in a text message to his former roommate, explaining that he goes “back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical a–hole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler.”

He once claimed that Trump is “cultural heroin,” writing in an essay, “He never offers details for how these plans will work, because he can’t. Trump’s promises are the needle in America’s collective vein.”

However, Vance has since had a change of heart. He described his transformation on Fox News
, remarking, “I was certainly skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016, but President Trump was a great president, and he changed my mind.”

A top campaign official for President Joe Biden said that the rhetoric around former President Donald Trump “hasn’t changed” after his assassination attempt.

“I would say that we’ve been focused on talking about the issues, reproductive freedom, workers rights, Social Security, Medicare, the economy, a fair tax code,” said Biden Principal Deputy Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks.

“The president and the vice president have been very clear on their vision when it comes to the agenda that they want to put forward for Americans. Our campaign has been talking about that for months since the reelection was announced. And we’re going to continue to do so as the president said,” Fulks said at a press conference Tuesday.

“This is how democracy works. We’re going to continue to have a candid conversation about the stark contrast.” Fulks added that “there are two very, very different, visions for this country” on the 2024 ballot.

The press conference came on the second day of the Republican National Convention (RNC), where Trump was officially named the 2024 GOP nominee alongside running mate Sen. JD Vance of Ohio on Monday.

In a post on X Tuesday, former congresswoman Wyoming claimed that, “JD Vance has pledged he would do what Mike Pence wouldn’t – overturn an election and illegally seize power. He says the president can ignore the rulings of our courts. He would capitulate to Russia and sacrifice the freedom of our allies in Ukraine.”

“The Trump GOP is no longer the party of Lincoln, Reagan or the Constitution,” she said.

“What a beautiful moment,” Eric Trump told Fox News Digital of casting the vote to make his father the Republican nominee for President of the United States.

Eric stood on behalf of the 125 delegates of Florida to put his dad “over the top” the number of delegates needed to succeed as presidential nominee.

“The room went absolutely crazy — it was a beautiful moment,” he added. “I was hugging my wife and Don and Tiffany and everybody else that’s out there.”

Former President Donald Trump was officially nominated Monday night, the first night of the Republican National Convention, as the Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election.

“The place is cheering and the music is blasting and 48 hours earlier we almost all lost him to, frankly an assassin,” Eric said of the assassination attempt on Trump Saturday in Pennsylvania at a campaign rally. “You kind of have the highs and lows of life and believe me I certainly felt that in a 48-hour period from going from seeing him on a stage having been shot to ultimately making him the Republican nominee for President of the United States.”

Eric concluded, “It was surreal, it was emotional, it was beautiful lots of emotions that day.”

Immigration hawks reacted with delight after former President Trump announced the selection of Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, as his running mate, pointing to his record of staunch opposition to illegal immigration and his votes in favor of additional border security.

“President Trump was first elected to secure our border and enforce our immigration laws after decades of neglect in Washington — and he delivered on his promises,” RJ Hauman, president of the National Immigration Center for Enforcement, told Fox News Digital.

“By choosing a fierce immigration reformer like Senator Vance as his running mate, President Trump has reaffirmed to the American people that our borders must be secured and immigration laws aggressively enforced.” “The largest deportation effort in American history now has one hell of a co-pilot,” he said.

Trump announced the Vance pick earlier Monday, saying he has fought “so brilliantly” for workers and farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Minnesota. On Tuesday, the theme for the convention will be “Make America Safe Once Again,”
when border security and illegal immigrant crime are likely to be hot topics, given the ongoing crisis at the southern border and the massive impact it is having on the presidential race. 

Former President Donald Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records in a New York criminal court last month, but can still run for president. 

A Manhattan jury convicted the 45th president on May 30 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to payments to a former pornographic actress amid the 2016 election cycle. 

Trump can still run for the White House, as the Constitution does not place restrictions on presidential candidates based on criminal record. It stipulates that those pursuing the White House be natural-born citizens who are at least 35 years old and who have resided in the U.S. for at least 14 years.

Trump has not yet been sentenced in the case, and prison time remains a potential, though unlikely, option. He is the first former president in U.S. history found guilty of committing felony crimes. Trump has maintained his innocence in the case, calling it a “witch hunt” and “sham” promoted by the Biden administration ahead of the 2024 election.

Correspondent Alexis McAdams spoke with Fox News Digital on the increased security measures taking place to ensure safety for all Republican National Convention attendees, but especially former President Donald Trump since the attempted assassination last weekend.

McAdams said 50,000 people are expected to attend the RNC throughout the week and that the schedule is set to proceed as planned despite the attempt on Trump’s life Saturday.

“From personal experience, we can tell you the measures include blocks and blocks of street closures in all directions surrounding the arena, bulky barriers and barricades pretty much everywhere you look, regular helicopter flyovers, and let me tell you, there are security personnel everywhere including Secret Service and state and local law enforcement from Wisconsin and surrounding states.”

McAdams added, “We have to go through several layers of security every time we enter the venue showing my press credentials, and passing through multiple metal scanners and bag checks.”

The New York Times on Monday published a scathing guest essay on former President Trump just two days after an attempted assassination of the Republican nominee.

 “This is not an election with a wrongheaded but well-meaning Republican. It’s an all-out war with an illiberal megalomaniac who will happily destroy American democracy if it buys him one more ounce of power and keeps him out of prison,” said Times contributing opinion writer Elizabeth Spiers.

Many opinion pieces are written and edited days in advance of publication, so it’s likely it was commissioned before Trump was nearly killed in a shooting in Pennsylvania.

Spiers wrote that Democrats need to “wake up from their West Wing fantasy” in the critical piece. By referencing the television show “West Wing,” she suggested that Democrats are too eager to buy into the high-minded notion of politics portrayed on the show, which aired from 1999 to 2006.

A new poll shows former President Trump leading President Biden in Virginia by three percentage points as Republicans look to flip the state after Biden trounced Trump by 10 points in the Old Dominion State in 2020.

Virginia has voted for Democrats in each presidential election since President Barack Obama’s first campaign for the White House in 2008.

The new Virginia Commonwealth University-Wilder School poll shows Biden dropping from the 42% support he enjoyed in the last VCU-Wilder poll, released in January, to 36%.Trump was unchanged at 39%, with the poll suggesting a dip in support for Biden, rather than any substantial gains for Trump.

Still, the poll bodes well for the Trump campaign and raises more concern for the Biden camp, who have been battling calls from within their own party for the president to drop out of the race following his disastrous debate performance on June 27.

President Biden is focused on maintaining his support from Black voters as the once solid foundational bloc of the Democratic Party begins to waver.

Biden will be participating in an interview for BET on Tuesday to pitch himself as the obvious choice for Black voters. Following the interview, Biden is expected to attend the 115th NAACP National Convention in Las Vegas. He will be delivering remarks during the event. 

Finally, Biden will meet with Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Chairman Rep. Steven Horsford for an economic summit, where he will speak to Black voters and meet with Black members of congress to discuss his vision for a second term.

Members of the CBC who are expected to meet with Biden include Reps. Jim Clyburn, Jonathan Jackson, Yvette Clarke, Robin Kelly, Gabe Amo, Bennie Thompson, Bobby Scott, Troy Carter and Nikema Williams.

A focus group of Black male voters criticized the Democratic Party for their messaging to their community, with one participant calling it “pandering.” 

The New York Times interviewed 11 Black men to share their thoughts about the upcoming election and the current political climate. The participants were asked what the Democratic Party understands least about Black men in the United States. 

“It’s the pandering to the Black race
, thinking that we are looking for a handout and feeling sorry for us, when we’re capable and culpable,” J.D., a 50-year-old coach based in Arizona told the Times. “And I feel like the pandering of ‘all you broken-down people, you need us, and here we are; we’re going to help you’ — it’s not a respectful tone or manner. It’s insulting, actually.”

“I think they’re confused,” Khaled, a 50-year-old school principal in Pennsylvania said. “I think they went so far to try to do so many different things, and now there’s more of an independent thought with Black men in this country.”

MILWAUKEE – Ohio Republican Attorney General Dave Yost previewed a potential debate match-up between Sen. JD Vance and Vice President Kamala Harris and predicted it will not go well for the vice president.

“Poor Kamala,” Yost told Fox News Digital on Monday when asked about the upcoming debate between Harris and Vance now that the Ohio Republican has been named as Trump’s running mate.

Yost agreed with the narrative promoted by many conservatives on social media that the debate clash will be an uneven match-up.

“It will be interesting to see what the oddmakers in Vegas put together on this, but he’s going to be a chef’s knife and salad tongs to her word salad.”

A Biden-Harris campaign official told Fox News Digital that Harris reached out to Vance and left a voicemail congratulating him on his selection, and “expressed her hope that the two can meet in the vice presidential debate proposed by CBS News.”

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller.

Erin Rachwal, who lost her son to fentanyl poisoning and Sheri and Aaron Sparks, who lost their son in the Waukesha parade attack, joined Fox & Friends to talk about the need to hold criminals accountable and stop the influx of illicit fentanyl into the U.S.

Day two of the
Republican National Committee (RNC) will focus on rampant crime in the country, with former President Donald Trump’s message being: “Make America Safe Once Again.”

“Donald Trump wants our community, and our world, and our whole country safe,” Rachwal told Fox & Friends Tuesday, pointing to the open southern border as a driving factor of the fentanyl crisis. 

Sheri and Aaron Sparks said the tragic death of their son “absolutely” could have been prevented, given that the offender was felon out on bail.

“Our system is broken in some sense. We need bail reform. We need to be harder on crime,” Aaron Sparks said.

FIRST ON FOX – As GOP delegates, officials, activists, and supporters head to day two of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Democrats have a message for them.

The day after former President Trump was formally nominated as the GOP’s 2024 standard-bearer, the
Democratic National Committee, in a messaging push shared first with Fox News, is touting what they highlight as President Biden’s “winning record.”

The DNC on Tuesday is launching eight new billboards in Milwaukee, urging Wisconsinites to “Vote Joe” and showcasing that in Biden’s three and a half years in the White House, he has “created more than 15 million new good paying jobs, lowered costs on health care and prescription drugs, and worked to strengthen our democracy, not tear it down.”

The new billboards feature “Dark Brandon”
– an image of Biden featuring beaming laser red eyes that was created by his detractors and co-opted by his campaign – an alter-ego of the 81-year-old president used by his political team to extoll his policy victories.

Vice President Kamala Harris called Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, whom former President Trump chose as his running mate Monday, and congratulated him after the announcement. 

“Vice President Harris reached out to Senator 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,” a Biden campaign official told Fox News. 

After months of teasing his pick, Trump revealed Vance as his running mate
selection in a Truth Social post on the opening afternoon of the Republican National Convention. 

In May, Trump accepted a vice presidential debate on behalf of his future running mate to be hosted on Fox News. However, the Biden campaign has only been willing to do the debate on CBS. 

While no vice presidential debate has been confirmed yet, in the case that Vance and Harris do face off, it may be the vice president’s worst-case scenario. President Biden and former President Trump agreed to two presidential debates. The first was hosted by CNN on June 27 and the second will be hosted by ABC on Sept. 10.

“I think JD Vance would pose the greatest threat [to] Kamala Harris, in some respects. I mean he’s an incredible debater,” Ashley Etienne, Harris’ former communications director, previously told CNN. 

“I think he has this quality that makes him seem palpable to that one to two percent that actually might vote or that is undecided, that will actually pay attention to the debates because most people don’t pay attention to the debates,” she explained. 

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Julia Johnson

MILWAUKEE – One day after Donald Trump was formally nominated as the GOP’s 2024 presidential nominee and named Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate, Trump’s final rival during the presidential primaries takes center stage at the Republican National Convention.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration, will speak at the convention on Tuesday, multiple sources familiar with the decision confirmed to Fox News over the weekend.

As of last week, Haley wasn’t invited to speak at the convention and wasn’t planning on attending the four-day confab, which is being held in swing state, Wisconsin’s largest city.

But following Saturday’s attempted
assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in western Pennsylvania, where the former president was visibly bloodied after a bullet grazed his ear and where one spectator was killed and two critically injured, the GOP quickly unified around their standard-bearer. And as part of that push for unity, Haley was invited to speak at the convention.

Haley launched her presidential campaign in February last year, becoming the first major candidate to challenge Trump, who had announced his candidacy three months earlier. She was the final rival to Trump, battling the former president in a contentious two-candidate showdown from the New Hampshire primary in late January through Super Tuesday in early March.

Haley announced that she was suspending her White House campaign on March 6, the day after Trump swept 14 of 15 GOP nominating contests on Super Tuesday.

The GOP vice presidential nominee is only a freshman senator, but has years of experience outside the political arena that is likely to boost the Republican ticket in November. 

On Monday, former President Donald Trump tapped JD Vance of Ohio to be his running mate. Vance is the New York Times bestselling author of Hillbilly Elegy, a Yale Law School graduate, former Marine, and recently elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022.

“I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social. 

“J.D. has had a very successful business career in Technology and Finance,” the former president added.

But before building his political career, Vance was a successful venture capitalist. Yahoo Finance reported that Vance’s Silicon Valley contacts first helped him bring investor dollars to his home state of Ohio, and then helped fund his campaign for the Senate and have already helped contribute to the Trump campaign.

After graduating from Yale Law school in 2013, Vance moved to San Francisco, where he worked at Mithril Capital, a firm co-founded by former PayPal CEO and Republican donor Peter Thiel, the outlet reported. 

Vance also spent time in his early career near the nation’s capital working for former AOL CEO Steve Case’s venture capital firm, Revolution LLC. There he spearheaded a project to expand capital opportunities to small towns like Middletown, Ohio — where Vance was born, Yahoo notes. 

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Brianna Herlihy

Former President Trump’s selection of Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, as his running mate and vice presidential nominee, has brought Vance’s policy views into the spotlight, given his relatively recent entry into electoral politics.

Vance has served in the U.S. Senate for about a year and a half, having defeated Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan in 2022 and being sworn in as Ohio’s junior senator in January 2023. Vance’s platform in the Senate race mirrored many of those touted by Trump during his administration, even though he was critical of the former president amid his first run for the White House.

Although he is only in his 18th month as a senator, Vance has been outspoken in several areas of economic policy since his election as well as during his campaign. Vance has also discussed economic policy as it related to the issues of rural poverty and social breakdown that he wrote about in his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”

Here’s a look at some of Vance’s commentary and views about key aspects of economic policy, including his views on taxes, the national debt and budget deficits as well as entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.

-Taxes

In a profile of Vance written by Politico in March, Vance expressed ambivalence about some provisions of the Trump-era tax cuts that were enacted in 2017 through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

“Do I think there was some more standard GOP tax fare, some of which I liked and some of which I didn’t? Yeah, absolutely. Do I think cutting the top marginal rate is like a high priority for me? No, I don’t,” Vance said. Politico noted that Vance acknowledged he would have voted for the bill if he had been in the Senate at the time.

Vance said in an interview with the New York Times last month that he opposes higher taxes for the middle class and, although he isn’t inherently opposed to raising taxes on the wealthy, he thinks they could do more harm than good while not addressing structural issues in the economy.

This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News’ Eric Revell

Day 1 of the 2024 RNC kicked off the week-long event with a bang as newsworthy moments poured in from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Here are the five biggest moments from the day.

Donald Trump’s big entrance

Former President Trump made his first public appearance since the assassination attempt against him on Monday.

The stadium in Milwaukee erupted with thunderous applause and cheers for an extended period as Trump entered the venue. Support for the former president has surged in the days following the attempt on his life, and his reception at the RNC was proof that the GOP has united around a candidate.

JD Vance announced as VP

Speculation around who Trump would pick as a running-mate percolated for months as the former president weighed his options.

Trump leaned into the horse-race mentality, often dropping names of popular candidates but never making any commitments. He continued the suspense into the final hour with his selection of Vance.

Vance is set to hit the campaign trail almost immediately after the RNC concludes this week.

Union boss calls Trump a ‘tough SOB’

Moments after Trump arrived to the Milwaukee arena, Sean O’Brien, President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, described him as “one tough SOB” in light of the attempted assassination on the 2024 Republican nominee.

O’Brien’s presence showed an uncommon display of unity between the GOP and workers’ unions, with many commentators saying it was a sign of a new Republican Party.

Trump details call with Biden after assassination attempt

Trump offered the first details of his phone conversation with President Biden hours after Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate him.

Biden had noted on Saturday that he spoke briefly with Trump after the shooting, but he did not offer details. Trump said Biden “couldn’t have been nicer” in the conversation, adding that it was “good, short and respectful.”

Elon Musk pledges $45M per month to Trump PAC

While billionaire Elon Musk was not in attendance at the RNC, he announced massive plans to support Trump’s campaign in the final months of the race.

Musk says he will donate $45 million per month to the pro-Trump America PAC. Musk endorsed Trump after the assassination attempt in Butler, PA this weekend. He had previously spoken positively of the former president but had not made a formal endorsement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Billionaire Elon Musk, coming off his endorsement of Trump after the Republican candidate survived an assassination attempt on Saturday, plans to donate about $45 million per month to a super PAC backing the former president, according to a report.

Formed last month in support of Trump
with financial help from some of Musk’s friends, America PAC includes Palantir Technologies co-founder Joe Lonsdale, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and former U.S. ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft and her husband, Joe, the chief executive of coal producer Alliance Resource Partners, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The group has spent at least $6.6 million on behalf of Trump, who was nominated at the Republican National Convention on Monday to be the party’s candidate for president.

America PAC focuses on registering voters and urging swing state residents to vote early and request mail-in ballots, according to the report. The goal is to counter Democrats’ “get out the vote” campaigns and on-the-ground efforts in the months leading up to the November election.

Musk, who is currently the richest person in the world with an estimated fortune of more than $250 billion, plans to make substantial $45 million donations to the super PAC each month leading up to the election, the report states. The largest known donation of the 2024 election cycle comes from the great-grandson of banker Thomas Mellon, who donated $50 million to a pro-Trump super PAC.

A filing made on Monday revealed that America PAC had $8.75 million in contributions for the three-month period ending on June 30, the WSJ reported, and Musk allegedly signaled that he planned to start his donations this month.

Musk reportedly made a donation to the super PAC last week, according to Bloomberg News, although the size of the donation is unknown.

Vice President Kamala Harris called Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, whom former President Trump chose as his running mate Monday, and congratulated him after the announcement.

“Vice President Harris reached out to Senator 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,” a Biden campaign official told Fox News.

After months of teasing his pick, Trump revealed Vance as his running mate selection in a Truth Social post on the opening afternoon of the Republican National Convention.

In May, Trump accepted a vice presidential debate on behalf of his future running mate to be hosted on Fox News. However, the Biden campaign has only been willing to do the debate on CBS.

Fox News’ Julia Johnson contributed to this report.

The main missions for the GOP at this week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee are obvious, and two were knocked out on the first day of the convention.

The party officially nominated former President Donald Trump as its 2024 standard-bearer and also announced Trump’s pick for VP in Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

Delegates will also officially pass the party’s platform and rules, and will take advantage of the golden opportunity the convention offers to spell out the party’s messaging going into the final three and a half months of the presidential campaign.

The convention is also “a great opportunity to raise boatloads of money to help fund the last leg of the race,” a longtime Republican strategist told Fox News.

Among the fundraising events on tap for the convention week, Trump and Vance will headline a reception on Wednesday titled “Strength in Unity Reception.” The fundraiser will haul in money for the Trump 47 Committee, the Save America PAC, the Republican National Committee and state GOP chapters.

“This is a prime opportunity for the biggest donors to be writing checks,” the strategist, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, told Fox News. “They’re going out there to meet the next President of the United States.”

The strategist, a veteran of numerous Republican conventions
, said the speculation over Trump’s running mate in recent weeks “adds even more interest for top contributors. Donors want to go out and meet that person too. This has built up a lot of anticipation that should draw a lot of folks who can write big checks.”

One day after former President Donald Trump was formally nominated as the 2024 GOP nominee and named Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate, Trump’s final rival during the presidential primaries will take center stage at the Republican National Convention.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration, will speak at the convention on Tuesday, multiple sources familiar with the decision confirmed to Fox News.

As of last week, Haley wasn’t invited to speak at the convention and wasn’t planning on attending the four-day confab, which is being held in Milwaukee, swing-state Wisconsin’s largest city.

Following the assassination attempt on Trump at his Pennsylvania rally on Saturday, where one rally attendee was killed and three, including Trump, were wounded, the GOP quickly unified around their standard-bearer. As part of that push for unity, Haley was invited to speak at the convention.

Haley launched her presidential campaign in February last year, becoming the first major candidate to challenge Trump, who had announced his candidacy three months earlier. She was the final rival to Trump, battling the former president in a contentious two-candidate showdown from the New Hampshire primary in late January through Super Tuesday in early March.

In late May, in her first public comments since announcing the end of her 2024 campaign, Haley said she would vote for Trump. She won a total of 97 delegates during the primaries, and last week, released all of her delegates and urged them to support Trump.

Asked last week in an interview with Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade about Haley, Trump said “there was a lot of bad blood there, and she stayed too long.”

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital that President Trump was “energetic” after surviving an assassination attempt on Saturday, calling him an “inspiration” and saying he will “be the one to unite the country” while praising his “outstanding” pick of Sen. JD Vance as his running mate.

Fox News Digital spoke exclusively with Ramaswamy shortly after Trump announced on Monday that Vance, R-Ohio, is his pick for vice president.

“He’s going to be an awesome VP,” Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital, adding that he has known him “for over a decade.”

Ramaswamy and Vance were classmates at Yale Law School and both grew up in southwest Ohio.

“I think he is going to be not only a good policy voice, but his story is an American Dream story, and I think that he will give inspiration to a lot of people, but he also wants policies that allow a lot of people to live the same dream he has,” Ramaswamy said. “And I love him.”

“He’s in politics for the right reasons. He’s honest. And I just think he’s a great choice, outstanding,” Ramaswamy added.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Ohio Sen. JD Vance is a “dynamic” choice for vice president who will bolster former President Trump’s message of unity, New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis told Fox News Digital.

“JD Vance is a young, dynamic individual who is a great communicator. … He has an amazing personal story. He relates to regular American people all across the country, and I think that he will certainly add to the ticket, Malliotakis told Fox News Digital from the RNC.

“Not to mention, he comes from a swing state, which is always helpful.”

Trump announced Vance as his running mate on Monday as the RNC kicked off and delegates from across the nation officially nominated Trump.

“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump announced on his Truth Social platform Monday afternoon.

Vance serves as a senator from Ohio after previously working as a venture capitalist and making his mark on the national map with his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”

The junior Ohio senator previously made critical comments during Trump’s 2016 run but has since become a loyal ally of the 45th president, including in May when Trump was on trial for 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, said he is “overwhelmed with gratitude” to be chosen as former President Trump’s running mate for the 2024 presidential election.

“What an honor it is to run alongside President Donald J. Trump. He delivered peace and prosperity once, and with your help, he’ll do it again,” Vance wrote on X a few hours after the first night of the Republican National Convention wrapped up.

“Onward to victory!” he continued.

Vance will be hitting the campaign trail immediately, according to Fox News’ Aishah Hasnie. He is scheduled to participate in a big fundraiser in Oklahoma on July 26 hosted by U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin.

Former President Donald Trump arrived at the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee for his first public appearance since a gunman opened fire at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

The gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, shot at Trump and struck him in the ear. Trump survived the attempted assassination. He arrived at the RNC with a bandage covering his gunshot wound.

RNC attendees erupted in cheers as Trump walked the floor and waved to the room filled with Republicans.

As he walked to his seat, he shook the hands of his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, Mike Johnson and VP pick JD Vance, among others.

Sean O’Brien, President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, described former President Trump as “one tough SOB” on Monday evening, in light of the attempted assassination on the 2024 Republican nominee.

“President Trump is a candidate who is not afraid of hearing from new loud and often critical voices,” O’Brien told an audience at the Republican National Convention.

“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 has proven to be one tough SOB.”

The line drew massive cheers from the crowd in Milwaukee. Trump was also in the audience, having walked into the arena with a bandaged ear moments earlier.

Model and influencer Amber Rose, 40, received loud cheers throughout her RNC speech Monday night, in which she recounted her story of becoming a supporter of former President Donald Trump after her father challenged her to “prove” that he was a “racist” as she had previously said.

“I watched all the rallies, and I started meeting so many of you red-hat-wearing supporters,” Rose said. “I realized Donald Trump and his supporters don’t care if you’re black white, gay or straight. It’s all love.”

“I let go of my fear judgment, of being misunderstood, of getting attacked by the left and I put the red hat on too,” Rose said. “I never felt more free in my love for my country than I do now. I want to thank my father who’s in the audience tonight for opening my eyes.”

Former President Donald Trump arrived at the RNC, his first public appearance since an attempt on his life during a rally in Pennsylvania Saturday.

Trump, who was grazed in the ear by the bullet and sported a bandage on the injured ear, had reportedly been in good spirits after the dramatic shooting, showing more concern one dead and two wounded supporters who were in attendance at the event.

The former president also insisted that the RNC go on as scheduled, making his first public appearance just two days after the attempt on his life.

MILWAUKEE — Ohio Sen. JD Vance is a “dynamic” choice for vice president who will bolster former President Trump’s message of unity, New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis told Fox News Digital. 

“JD Vance is a young, dynamic individual who is a great communicator. … He has an amazing personal story. He relates to regular American people all across the country, and I think that he will certainly add to the ticket, Malliotakis told Fox News Digital from the RNC. 

“Not to mention, he comes from a swing state, which is always helpful.”

The Trump campaign is pushing back after President Biden immediately took to social media to blast Trump’s newly chosen candidate for Vice President, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

Shortly after Vance was announced as Trump’s candidate, the Biden campaign posted on X along with a fundraising link,

“Here’s the deal about J.D. Vance. He talks a big game about working people. But now, he and Trump want to raise taxes on middle-class families while pushing more tax cuts for the rich.”

Trump 2024 Deputy Communications Director Caroline Sunshine took issue with that attack in an interview with Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller on Tuesday.

“I think that response, given the events that have transpired in this country where President Trump had an assassination attempt on his life, for the sitting U.S. president to be calling for anything other than unity, but instead using this opportunity to attack President Trump’s new vice presidential nominee, go after him on policy, it seems really out of touch, really in poor taste,” Sunshine said.

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio — former President Trump’s VP pick — said he was “certainly skeptical” of Trump in 2016 when asked by Fox News’ Sean Hannity how he would address critics of his VP candidacy who cite his previous comments in which he called Trump “America’s Hitler.”

“I don’t hide from that,” Vance told Hannity exclusively Monday night at the RNC. “I was certainly skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016. But President Trump was a great president and he changed my mind, I think he changed the minds of a lot of Americans, because again, he delivered that peace and prosperity.”

Vance also blamed the “media’s lies and distortions” in 2016, calling it another thing he “bought into.”

“I bought into this idea that somehow he was going to be so different, a terrible threat to democracy,” Vance said. “It was a joke.”

Instead, Vance said, “Joe Biden is the one who’s tried to throw his political opposition in jail,” referring to Trump’s indictment
brought on by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by Biden’s Cabinet member, Attorney General Merrick Garland. The case, which dealt with Trump’s handling of classified documents, was tossed out on Monday by a Florida judge before the RNC kicked off.

“Joe Biden is the one who’s trying to undermine American law and order. President Trump did a really good job. And I actually think it’s a good thing. When you see somebody you were wrong about, you ought to admit the mistake and admit that you were wrong,” Vance said.

Hannity said he asked Trump about Vance’s previous comments and told him that Trump said, “But he doesn’t think that way now, does he?”

“So he actually had a very good sense of humor about it,” Hannity said.

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity how President Trump asked him to be his running mate on Monday, saying that Trump told him that he has to ‘save this country.’

“He just said ‘look, I’ve gotta go save this country. I think you’re the guy who could help me in the best way, you can help me govern. You can help me win, you can help me in some of these Midwestern states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and so forth,'” he said.

Vance also noted that they had been close for a while, and that Trump’s endorsement had been critical for Vance’s Senate bid in 2022.

Trump announced Vance as his running mate on Monday afternoon.

“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump announced on his Truth Social platform.

Trump emphasized that Vance, on the campaign trail “will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond….”

Fox News’ Jesse Watters is excited about former President Donald Trump selecting Ohio Gov. JD Vance as the vice presidential pick for the 2024 elections.

“Trump, Vance; that’s the ticket,” Watters said. “Smart pick.”He went on, “JD’s a self-made man, came out of the middle of nowhere out in a steeltown of Ohio, went to the Marines, Yale. Great best selling author, kind of like myself, and then a venture capitalist, but not a corporate guy.”

Watters said that Vance will probably “eloquently wipe the floor with Laffin'” in reference to Vice President Kamala Harris.

He added “And very, very suave when it comes to mainstream media interviews. Cool, calm, and collected and able to deliver the America first punch in the mouth with class.”

Watters believes the Trump, Vance ticket will be strong in the Midwest.

“I think, I think I smell a winning ticket,” he concluded.

Former President Donald Trump’s motorcade departed for the RNC, where the former president will make his first public appearance since surviving a assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally Saturday.

The Republican National Convention is an event where Republicans from across the country gather to select the Republican nominee for president.

During political primaries, candidates are vying for delegates, as traditionally allocated via the state’s popular vote. These delegates then go to the convention and cast their vote for the candidate they are assigned to based on who won their respective state.

However, given the fact that most primaries are concluded well before the primary date, conventions have become an increasingly ceremonial formality. Conventions are often seen as an opportunity for the presumptive nominee to fundraise, gain media attention, and do some free campaigning in a potentially relevant state.

In 2024, the Republican convention will take place in Wisconsin, a critically important swing state for the GOP in this election. Wisconsin was key to former President Donald Trump’s victory in 2016 and equally key to his defeat in 2020. Additionally, Trump is expected to announce his vice presidential candidate at the convention, drawing more media attention to his campaign. 

Elon Musk plans to contribute about $45 million per month to a new Super PAC that is backing former President Donald Trump’s campaign.

The PAC, called America PAC, boasts supporters such as Palantir Technologies co-founder Joe Lonsdale, the Winklevoss twins, former U.S. ambassador to Canada Kelly craft and her husband, Joe Craft, who heads coal producer Alliance Resource Partners, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

The PAC, which was founded in June, will focus on registering new voters and encourage early voting and mail-in balloting in swing states, the report notes.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., delivered a speech on the first night of the Republican National Convention (RNC) Monday night, declaring “America is not a racist country.”

“We are not simply the party of our leaders,” Scott, previously one of former President Trump’s Republican challengers, said. “We are also a party of a young woman in Wisconsin taking over her family farm, and a Hispanic father working 16 hour days in Nevada, and a black teenager in Philly starving for opportunity.”

Scott added, “We’re not just the grand old party of the past. We are the great opportunity party of America’s future.”

“But if you are looking for racism today, you find it in cities run by Democrats,” Scott continued. “On the south side of Chicago, poor black kids trapped in failing schools, thousands shot every single year … But there’s good news. It’s conservative values that restores hope — it’s Republican policies that lifts people up.”

“You see, we are the Republican Party of Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump,” he said.

Scott, the only black Republican in the Senate, suspended his 2024 presidential campaign in November 2023. While he didn’t immediately endorse any other candidates following his resignation, he later endorsed Trump in January.

While former President Trump’s speech is likely to remain under wraps until the mogul delivers it at the convention, there have been some hints as to what it may or must include.

Commentators and critics have suggested Trump dispatch with his typical bombastic style that has become a favorite at his rallies, and instead deliver a disciplined message to the American people.

While the Trump campaign has been largely silent since President Biden’s disastrous debate performance last month, the presumptive nominee is likely to continue his muted though occasionally pithy observations.

Trump will likely remind the country he has challenged Biden to further debates, and lay out the various crises he attributes to the incumbent; including the border and the economy.

He must speak to the “unlikely” voters in his party, who do not regularly vote — as his margins in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona were narrow enough that those people may make the difference for him in November.

Celebrity speeches have long been a staple at party conventions, although Democrats have become the party known to attract more big-name stars every four years.

Actresses Tracee Ellis Ross, Eva Longoria, Kerry Washington and Julia-Louis Dreyfus all served as emcees at the 2020 Democratic National Convention (DNC), but sports stars and TV hosts have also made appearances.

The 2020 DNC also saw Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry and the Food Network’s Ayesha Curry give speeches.The 2016 DNC also saw its fair share of celebrities, including performances by singers Demi Lovato, Paul Simon, Alicia Keys, and Andra Day, as well as appearances from comedian Sarah Silverman, and actresses America Ferrera, Lena Dunham, Meryl Streep and Elizabeth Banks.

Republican National Conventions (RNC) have also seen their fair share of celebrities, although at a much smaller scale.The 2016 RNC included appearances by actor Scott Baio and “Duck Dynasty” star Willie Robertson.

Multiple celebrities are also expected to appear at each party’s 2024 convention, although it’s unclear who all might make an appearance.

On day one of the Republican National Convention, it was revealed by former President Donald Trump via a post on Truth Social that he selected Ohio Sen. JD Vance as the vice presidential nominee.

Vance accepted the vice presidential nomination by acclimation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Iowa Attorney General Breanna Bird asked the crowd to nominate Vance by signifying “I”, which they did enthusiastically.

“Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table,” said Bird.

The crowd full of delegates cheered and chanted “JD” as Vance and his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, clapped along with the crowd. Vance is seen placing his hand over his chest in gratitude for the applause.

“Delegates and alternates, ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce that Senator JD Vance has the overwhelming support of this convention to be the next Vice President of the United States,” Bird said.

Vance is expected to appear on “Hannity” tonight at 9 p.m. ET.

A source within Sen. JD Vance’s political orbit told Fox News on Monday night that the senator wasn’t informed he was being named as
former President Trump’s running mate until approximately 20 minutes before Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social platform.

“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump announced on his Truth Social platform Monday afternoon.

“J.D. honorably served our Country in the Marine Corps, graduated from Ohio State University in two years, Summa Cum Laude, and is a Yale Law School Graduate, where he was Editor of The Yale Law Journal, and President of the Yale Law Veterans Association. J.D.’s book, ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ became a Major Best Seller and Movie, as it championed the hardworking men and women of our Country,” Trump’s post continued. “J.D. has had a very successful business career in Technology and Finance, and now, during the Campaign, will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond….”

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Usha Vance, the wife of Ohio Sen. JD Vance was thrust into the national spotlight after former President Donald Trump chose her husband as his running mate Monday.

Usha Vance, née Chilukuri, born in 1986, was raised in San Diego, California, and attended Yale Law School, where she met the future Ohio senator, according to a report from the New York Times.

“We were friends, and I liked that he was very diligent,” she told NBC News about how she met her husband in a 2017 interview. “He would show up at 9 a.m. appointments that I would set up for us to start working on the brief together.”

Before law school, Vance received a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale and a master’s in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge.

The pair married in 2014 and have three children together: sons, Ewan, 6, and Vivek, 4, and a daughter, Mirabel, 2.

President Biden on Monday called former President Trump’s selection of Sen. JD Vance as his running mate for the 2024 presidential race “not unusual.”

Trump selected the Ohio senator as his running mate, announcing the pick on Monday.

Biden was asked about the choice in an NBC interview due to air on Monday evening.

“Well, it’s not unusual: He’s gonna surround himself with people who agree completely with him, have a voting record like – support him,” Biden said, before adding “even though if you go back and look at some of the things JD Vance said about Trump,” and then chuckled. 

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will use his Republican National Convention speech to push for stronger border control and fewer migrant releases in the wake of the death of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Texas last month – as he highlighted a number of deaths allegedly at the hands of illegal immigrants.

“Tomorrow I will be speaking for Jocelyn. And I will be speaking for Lincoln Riley. And I will be speaking for Rachel Morin and all the others whose lives had been needlessly stolen by illegal immigrants released by Joe Biden and the Democrats,” he told Fox News Digital in an interview.

Two illegal immigrants, Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, 21, and Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, 26, face capital murder charges in the death of 12-year-old Nungaray in Houston. They are accused of luring her under a bridge, tying her up and killing her before throwing her body into a river. 

Officials confirmed they were in the country illegally. Martinez was apprehended by Border Patrol in March and Pena was apprehended in May. Both were released on an order of recognizance pending their immigration court hearings. 

“Had Joe Biden and the Democrats followed the law, put them on a plane and sent them home, Jocelyn Nungaray would still be alive,” Cruz said. “Jocelyn was a beautiful 12-year-old girl, she loved animals, she dreamed of being an actress.”

“This is happening over and over and over again, every damn day. We see another story of a person killed, a child raped, of a woman assaulted by illegal immigrants released by [President] Joe Biden and the Democrats,” he said, calling Nungaray’s death “entirely preventable.”

Eric Trump, businessman and former President Donald Trump’s third child, said his “heart sank” when he watched the attempted assasination of his father at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally on Saturday in his first on-air interview since the incident.

“We were speechless,” he told host Laura Ingraham
of “Ingraham Angle” Monday night. “And as they rushed him into the car, and obviously there’s chaos after that he didn’t get in touch with anybody for a little while and he finally called me from the hospital right as he was going in to get a CAT scan, and he was actually incredibly calm and made a couple little jokes.”

While Trump commended the Secret Service agents who “would have taken a bullet for him all day long,” he said “no one should have gotten on that roof, and they’ll figure out exactly what happened there.”

“It’s inexcusable,” Trump said. “It should have never happened.”

Trump said he heard a portion of his father’s speech that he is scheduled to give on Thursday night on the last day of the RNC, dubbing it “inspiring” and “amazing.”

“It’s what this country needs right now,” he said.

Former President Donald Trump’s son, Eric Trump, will be on Fox News’ “Ingraham Angle” with host Laura Ingraham on Monday night just after 7PM ET.

The interview comes two days after the assassination attempt of his father and hours after Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, was announced as former President Trump’s running mate.

On the evening of Feb. 3, 2023, a freight train full of toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, and residents near the site feared long-term health consequences when a large black plume lingered in the area above homes for weeks.

A year later, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, 39, met with struggling members of the community and spoke with reporters. He urged President Biden to fund long-term health screening for residents in nearby areas.

Vance, a Middletown, Ohio native
and current Cincinnati resident, first visited East Palestine following the Norfolk Southern train crash less than two weeks after hazardous materials spilled onto land and into nearby water. He implored Biden to “stop blaming Donald Trump” for the train derailment.

Vance’s quick response to the train derailment and advocacy for local residents landed him in the spotlight and earned him a front row seat in the news for months. Trump joined Vance and other Ohio lawmakers on Feb. 22, 2023, to shake the hands of local residents and distribute water, food and other supplies to those desperately in need of necessities.

Vance was officially revealed as the 2024 GOP vice presidential
pick by Trump on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

A top ally of former President Donald Trump is thrilled about Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance’s selection as the Republican vice presidential nominee, but says his possible departure from the Senate will be bittersweet.

“Awesome. I’ve been on JD’s side ever since he got in the Senate. I hate to lose him. He’s awesome,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville told Fox News Digital from the floor of the Republican National Convention immediately after Vance’s selection was announced.

“He’ll be a very good vice president and a very good future president of the United States,” Tuberville said.

He poured water on the suggestion that Vance’s nomination would “enhance” Trump’s campaign.

“I don’t think anybody is going to enhance it. He’s going to do what he’s going to do, but I’ll tell you one thing, he is going to be a great addition to the ticket.

Fox News contributor Mary Katharine Ham gives her thoughts on former President Trump’s selection of JD Vance as his running mate for the 2024 presidential campaign.

“In a week filled with giant news surprises, I find myself once again surprised that former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick wasn’t more surprising.

In the end, the bread crumbs were real, not some reality-show head fake, as Trump chose 39-year-old Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio to be his running mate. The young senator, elected from his home state in 2022, is a writer, a father and a Marine. He is simultaneously a Washington newcomer and a veteran of elite political circles for those who have a long enough memory.”

Read more from
Fox News Opinion.

Sen. Marco Rubio, who was previously floated as one of former President Trump’s potential VP picks, congratulated Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio on being selected.

Prior to Trump’s Truth Social announcement that Vance was his runningmate pick, multiple sources told Fox News on Monday that Rubio – the three-term conservative senator who was considered to be among the names on a short list of contenders for running mate – was informed that he wouldn’t be named as the GOP’s 2024 vice presidential nominee.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and Bret Baier contributed to this report.

A Biden-Harris campaign official
told Fox News that VP Harris reached out to Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio — former President Trump’s runningmate — and left a voicemail congratulating him on his selection, and “expressed her hope that the two can meet in the vice presidntial debate proposed by CBS News.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Trump’s campaign for comment.

Harris’ former communications director said last month that JD Vance, today announced as former President Trump’s running mate, is the one Republican who would be the “greatest threat” to her vice presidency if chosen.

Meanwhile, the Biden campaign claimed Monday he will “enable” an “extreme MAGA agenda” following the announcement.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw and producer Patrick Ward contributed to this report.

The Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA) nonprofit organization that supports anti-abortion politicians through its SBA Pro-Life America Candidate Fund political action committee called JD Vance a “strong pick” to be former President Trump’s runningmate in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.

“JD Vance is an exceptional selection as President Trump’s running mate,” SBA president Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement Monday afternoon. “His courage in exposing Democrats’ agenda of abortion for any reason, even in the seventh, eighth, or ninth month, helped propel him to a decisive victory in the 2022 midterm elections.”

Dannenfelser said Vance’s “hardscrabble upbrining” informs his “compassionate” approach to certain abortion restrictions.

In 2021, Vance defended a Texas law that banned most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Asked by Spectrum News in Columbus, Ohio, at the time whether he supported abortion exceptions for cases of rape and incest, he disagreed with the question’s premise and said “two wrongs don’t make a right.”

“At the end of day, we are talking about an unborn baby. What kind of society do we want to have? A society that looks at unborn babies as inconveniences to be discarded? … It’s not whether a woman should be forced to bring a child to term, it’s whether a child should be allowed to live, even though the circumstances of that child’s birth are somehow inconvenient or a problem to the society,” Vance said.

He also said during the Ohio Senate debate in 2022 against Democratic opponent Tim Ryan that he was pro-life with “reasonable exceptions.” He also said that year he supported Sen. Lindsey Graham’s, R-S.C., proposed 15-week abortion ban that included exceptions for rape, incest and the mother’s life.

However, a national abortion ban has been left off the Republican National Convention (RNC) platform, and Trump opposes one, too.

Fox News Digital’s David Rutz contributed to this report.

Vice President Harris’ former communications director said last month that JD Vance, today announced as former President Trump’s running mate, is the one Republican who would be the “greatest threat” to her vice presidency if chosen.

Ashley Etienne, who served as Harris’ communications director in 2021, told CNN that she believes Ohio Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, is an “incredible debater” and could present a challenge to Harris in the upcoming election.

“I think JD Vance would pose the greatest threat [to] Kamala Harris, in some respects. I mean he’s an incredible debater,” Etienne told CNN. “I think he has this quality that makes him seem palpable to that one to two percent that actually might vote or that is undecided, that will actually pay attention to the debates because most people don’t pay attention to the debates.”

Senator JD Vance will join Fox News’ Sean Hannity live tonight at 9pm ET, hours after he was announced as former President Trump’s running mate.

This will be Vance’s first interview since being announced as Trump’s VP pick this afternoon. 

“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump announced on his Truth Social platform.

Trump emphasized that Vance, on the campaign trail “will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond….”

Former President Trump and his newly picked running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, are both skeptical of continued foreign aid to Ukraine’s defense against Russia, according to past statements.

In a post on his Truth Social account in April, the Republican frontrunner questioned why the U.S. was sending more money to the Eastern European nation than Europe itself. 

“Why can’t Europe equalize or match the money put in by the United States of America in order to help a country in desperate need?” Trump asked. 

He added that “survival and strength” was important to the U.S. but that it should be a larger concern for Europe.

“GET MOVING EUROPE!” Trump said. “In addition, I am the only one who speaks for ‘ME’ and, while it is a total mess caused by Crooked Joe Biden and the Incompetent Democrats, if I were President, this War would have never started!” 

Meanwhile, Vance previously shared an exclusive memo with Fox News Digital in January he circulated with members in his Senate GOP flank warning them about a Department of Defense (DOD) report that he said detailed the “shortcomings in monitoring U.S. aid to Ukraine.”

Vance wrote, “U.S. personnel on the ground could not keep up with the volume of weapons streaming into Ukraine and failed to keep an accurate, timely record of them” and that, “There was no live, comprehensive database of equipment sent to Ukraine, and systemic failures inhibited the proper validation of reports of lost or expended equipment.”

Vance was also one of the few lawmakers in April to vote against the $95 billion aid package for Israel and Ukraine, which also included support for Taiwan, in a 79-18 vote. The package allocated $61 billion to Ukraine.

The Democratic National Committee reacted to former President Donald Trump’s decision to tap Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate, arguing Vance “embodies MAGA.”

“This is the most consequential election of our lifetimes, and with Donald Trump’s decision today to add J.D. Vance to the Republican ticket, the stakes of this election just got even higher.,” the statement said. “J.D. Vance
embodies MAGA – with an out-of-touch extreme agenda and plans to help Trump force his Project 2025 agenda on the American people. Vance has championed and enabled Trump’s worst policies for years – from a national abortion ban, to whitewashing January 6, to railing against Social Security and Medicare. Let’s be clear: A Trump-Vance ticket would undermine our democracy, our freedoms, and our future. There is so much on the line, and it’s more important than ever that we reelect President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris this November.”

Former President Donald Trump, the expected Republican presidential nominee, on Monday announced Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate, and the Biden campaign is claiming he will “enable” an “extreme MAGA agenda.”

In an initial reaction to his contender’s choice as vice president, President Biden said Vance “talks a big game” about wanting to support working-class Americans but that he pushes “more tax cuts for the rich.”

“Here’s the deal about J.D. Vance,” Biden posted on X Monday. “He talks a big game about working people. But now, he and Trump want to raise taxes on middle-class families while pushing more tax cuts for the rich.” 

“Well, I don’t intend to let them,” Biden said, asking supporters to donate to his campaign. 

JD Vance, former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate, and his wife discussed the idea of serving in the White House ahead Monday’s highly-anticipated announcement.

Usha Chilukuri Vance and her Senator husband joined Fox & Friends for a sit down interview just three weeks before he was announced as Trump’s running mate.

“I don’t think people understand how hard he works and how creative he is. Everything he says and does is built on a foundation of so much thought. He’s always trying to do better,” Usha told Fox of her husband.

When asked how she feels about the VP speculation, Usha said “I don’t know that anyone is ever ready for that kind of scrutiny. I think we found the first campaign he’d embarked on to be a shock. It was so different from anything we’d ever done before, but it was an adventure.”

Usha added, “I believe in JD and I really love him, so we’ll just see what happens.”

Sen. JD Vance’s name is being added to the Trump campaign’s jet, after he was announced as former President Donald Trump’s VP pick.

Senior Advisor Jason Miller posted the image of the changes being made on X.

Trump announced Vance as his choice for running mate on Monday. The Ohio senator will be formally nominated at the Republican National Convention.

Donald Trump Jr. posted on X Monday after Trump announced Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, will be 2024 his running mate that “Biden is stuck with the worst VP in the history of our nation,” referring to VP Harris.

“President Trump has one of the most dynamic, young leaders in the country in [JD Vance],” Trump wrote. “We also have incredible patriots like Governor [Doug Burgum], Senator [Marco Rubio], and countless others who will work their tails off to get my father elected this November!”

He added, “Our party has never been more unified!”

Trump announced his VP pick in aTruth Social post Monday afternoon.

“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump wrote on the social media platform.

Elon Musk took to X to praise former President Donald Trump’s pick of Ohio Senator JD Vance as running mate.

“Congratulations,” Musk said to Vance. “Excellent decision by @realDonaldTrump.”

Trump announced on his own social media platform, Truth Social, his selection of Vance on Monday, picking the Ohio Senator over contenders such as Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgrum.

“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump said of the pick. “J.D. honorably served our Country in the Marine Corps, graduated from Ohio State University in two years, Summa Cum Laude, and is a Yale Law School Graduate, where he was Editor of The Yale Law Journal, and President of the Yale Law Veterans Association.”

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Republican Committee, released a statement Monday congratulating Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, on being selected as former President Trump’s running mate.

Daines joins a chorus Vance’s GOP colleagues offering strong support for Vance.

“As chairman of the Utah delegation to the Republican National Convention, I just cast all of Utah’s 40 votes for President Donald Trump and for his running mate, my friend and colleague JD Vance,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, posted to X.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called Vance a “friend” and “a conservative chamption who fights for American workers.”J.D.

“He’ll make an outstanding vice president,” Cotton said. “I commend President Trump’s excellent choice of a patriot who served our nation in uniform.”

Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn.,  a former ambassador to Japan in the Trump administration, called Vance a “true patriot” who will “implement his America First agenda, fight for the forgotten men and women of America, and Make America Great Again!”

Robert F. Kennedy will receive protection from the U.S. Secret Service, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Monday.

The protection is being given to Kennedy, an Independent presidential candidate, following the assassination attempt of former President Trump over the weekend.

“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.

Trump joined growing calls for Kennedy to receive Secret Service protection in the days since the assassination attempt.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said it was “imperative” that Kennedy receive the protection detail.

“Given the history of the Kennedy Family, this is the obvious right thing to do!” Trump wrote, referencing the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the 1968 killing of Robert Kennedy, then a presidential candidate.

Republican Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, former President Trump’s running mate, was first elected to the Senate in 2022, having never before held elected office.

Vance first rose to prominence after authoring a 2016 book called “Hillbilly Elegy,” a memoir about his upbringing in a poor Appalachian family that reflects the values of many Americans who support Trump’s policies. Prior to his run for office, Vance worked as a venture capitalist at entrepreneur Peter Theil’s firm, Mithril Capital, and for a short time at a corporate law firm.

He also served as a U.S. Marine, including on a deployment to Iraq. Vance came out on top in a crowded Republican primary field in his Senate race before facing Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan, a former presidential candidate, in a closely watched November general election that year. 

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is out with a statement praising the pick of Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio as former President Trump’s running mate.

“The America First ticket just became stronger with Senator JD Vance joining President Trump as his running mate,” Blackburn said in a statement.

“JD is a true freedom fighter, who will champion the issues important to Americans: secure borders, safer communities, lower taxes, a lethal fighting force, and the rule of law. It has been an honor to serve with JD in the U.S. Senate and to witness his hard work on behalf of Ohioans.”

“I know he will make an incredible Vice President for the American people, and I’m all in for Trump-Vance 2024! Together, we’ll defeat Joe Biden and the Democrats in November and save our country,” she said.

MILWAUKEE — Former President Trump has decided on his running mate, and it won’t be Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida or North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

Multiple sources told Fox News on Monday that Rubio – the three-term conservative senator who was considered to be among the names on a short list of contenders for running mate – was informed that he wouldn’t be named as the GOP’s 2024 vice presidential nominee.

And sources also told Fox News that Burgum, the two-term North Dakota governor and top Trump surrogate, was also informed that he would not be named as the former president’s running mate.

The Trump campaign says that the first time we will see the running mate in-person will be at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, where the Republican National Convention kicked off on Monday, at 4:37PM ET, just ahead of the vice presidential roll call nominating process. 

Besides Rubio and Burgum, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio was also considered to be a front-runner to serve as Trump’s running mate.

The Republican National Convention was called to order on Monday at 1:59 p.m. ET.

Former President Trump will be officially named the Republican presidential nominee for 2024 at the event.

Trump’s campaign has said that the former president plans to call for unity at the convention, following his close call during an attempted assassination at his rally on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead,” Trump said in an interview afterward. “I’m supposed to be dead.”

Trump has also said he plans to announce his choice for running mate shortly after the festivities begin on Monday.

There have been several contenders for the vice presidential nominee, but leading the pack have been frontrunners Sens. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Gov. Doug Burgum, R-N.D.

As speculation continues, Vance was observed leaving his Ohio home in a motorcade en route to the convention. However, a source familiar told Fox News the motorcade was made up of Ohio police and Capitol Police, not Secret Service.

Fox News’ Alexas McAdams contributed to this report.

Former President Donald Trump will not choose either Sen. Marco Rubio or Gov. Doug Burgum as his 2024 running mate, sources tell Fox News.

Rubio and Burgum were both floated as top candidates Trump was considering as his vice president.

Trump reportedly has made his decision on who will join him on the 2024 ticket, but sources confirmed to Fox News that is his pick will not be Rubio or Burgum.

The former president is expected to announce his running mate on the first day of the Republican National Convention (RNC) Monday.

Former President Trump has chosen his running mate, Fox News has confirmed. He will be revealing his choice at the Republican National Convention.

Ahead of the announcement of Trump’s vice presidential nominee, the former president has finally determined his preferred running mate.

Two of the frontrunners
, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Gov. Doug Burgum, R-N.D., have received calls informing them that they have not been selected as Trump’s running mate, sources confirmed to Fox News.

Another frontrunner for vice presidential nominee has been Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio. However, there are also several other contenders such as former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R-Va., who are also being speculated.

Rep. Wesley Hunt
spoke with Fox News Digital ahead of Republican National Convention events on Monday and relayed his takeaways from watching the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

“What it really articulated in my mind was the idea of what combat really means to me and to watch his courage under fire,” Hunt said.

“He knelt down and he wanted to put his shoes back on, stood back up, and then told the crowd to fight because he wanted to walk off that stage with dignity,” he added.

Hunt, a West Point graduate and War on Terror combat veteran, said he had seen horrible things while serving in the military.

“But nothing compares to watching a man that I admire, and a man that is fighting for this country, and is fighting for our values, and is fighting for our way of life every single day become a political target. For what? For what?,” he asked.

Hunt added that he believes Trump will be President of the United States again and emphasized his disgust for some social media posts regarding Trump surviving the shooting.

“We should all be appalled by what we saw,” Hunt said, adding that some tweets were “utterly disgusting.”

Fox News’ Outnumbered broke down the dismissal of the case against former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents on Monday.

“Former President Trump’s Motion to Dismiss Indictment Based on the Unlawful Appointment and Funding of Special Counsel Jack Smith is GRANTED in accordance with this Order,” U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon wrote in a 93-page ruling. “The Superseding Indictment is DISMISSED because Special Counsel Smith’s appointment violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.”

Trump had faced charges stemming from special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into his possession of classified materials at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. He pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony counts from Smith’s probe, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.

Trump’s classified documents case was thrown out by Judge Cannon Monday on the basis that Special Counsel Jack’s Smith’s appointment violated the Constitution.

Fox News’ Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida cannot appear on the 2024 ticket alongside former President Donald Trump unless one of them changes their residency from Florida.

Rubio has been floated as one of the top contenders on Trump’s shortlist for vice president, however, living in the same state presents a roadblock for potentially running on a ticket together.

Given that both Rubio and Trump live in Florida, the politicians are currently barred from running on a 2024 ticket together under the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution that states that a president and a vice president may not reside in the same state.

However, in the case that either Trump or Rubio moved out of Florida before the election, then they could legally appear on the ticket together.

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Gov. Doug Burgum, R-S.D., are also among the top candidates Trump is reportedly considering as his running mate, an announcement expected on the first day of the Republican National Convention (RNC) Monday.

Former longtime Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel is an extremely familiar face in the GOP.

But there’s no word yet on whether McDaniel will attend the Republican National Convention this week in Milwaukee.

And if she does make an appearance, it’s clear she’ll have no formal speaking role at the convention.

But McDaniel would be among scores of friends in a party where she’s made plenty of strong relationships during her tenure as Michigan GOP chair and her more than seven years steering the national party committee.

Then-President-elect Trump picked McDaniel to run the RNC after he won the White House in the 2016 election. She was overwhelmingly re-elected to the post in 2019 and 2021, and convincingly won a final re-election in January 2023 over a handful of challengers.

But earlier this year, Trump repeatedly urged changes at the committee – following lackluster fundraising last year and his opposition to the RNC’s presidential primary debates.

His criticism of the RNC essentially pushed McDaniel out the door, and she stepped down at a party meeting in Houston in March as Trump clinched the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

First-term House Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, is a part a growing group of young, Black conservative lawmakers who are steadily changing the face of the Republican Party – and he believes that more non-White voters will follow.

“This is what the party is today. This is the future of the party as well,” Hunt told Fox News Digital in an interview.

Despite only being elected to Congress roughly a year and a half ago, Hunt – a retired Army captain who served in Iraq – is slated to speak at this week’s Republican National Convention (RNC), where former President Donald Trump will be formally declared the party’s White House nominee.

Hunt said it was important for more non-White Americans to join the GOP because it reflects the country’s own changing demographics. He pointed to his own home state of Texas, for instance, which is projected to be a majority-Hispanic state by the next census, Hunt said.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind and Matteo Cina contributed to this report.

Former President Trump will announce his pick for vice presidential running mate, and delegates are expected to approve that pick via acclamation, not a roll call vote. 

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum are among the contenders on Trump’s short list, but “it’s almost an embarrassment of riches that there are so many good people” for Trump to choose from, one senior campaign adviser said on “Fox & Friends” last Monday. “What President Trump has said is that whoever he does pick needs to be able to step in and do the job on day one,” he added.

The process has changed over time. At one point, vice presidential candidates were chosen by the party
to balance a ticket either geographically or ideologically. Conventions used to be a place for delegates to negotiate or debate a potential vice presidential candidate.

Now, presumptive presidential nominees choose their own running mates, and typically announce their pick before the convention.

Protesters have started to gather at the Coalition to March on the Republican National Convention rally at Red Arrow Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Ahead of the RNC’s events kicking off
on Monday afternoon, people have begun demonstrating against the GOP. Dozens of signs were seen at protests in the city, including those calling former President Trump and Republicans “racist,” and some that called to end support for Israel.

“Ban bombs not books,” another sign read.

For months ahead of the RNC, Republicans had fought with law enforcement and Secret Service leaders about the security for the event. The GOP and former President Trump’s campaign argued that the protesters were going to pose a security concern if they were allowed to be too close to the RNC site.

Protesters claimed it was a First Amendment violation to prevent them from being within sight and earshot of the RNC.

After the attempted assassination of Trump on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, the conflict over security was spotlighted again as concerns for safety were elevated.

However, Secret Service said it was confident in its plan for the event, adding that there aren’t plans for additional security aside from what was already being provided for.

While no official schedule of the Republican National Convention’s speakers has been released as of press time, several of former President Trump’s family members are expected to attend.

Donald Trump Jr., the nominee’s eldest son and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, reportedly will speak and introduce the yet-unannounced vice presidential nominee.

However, former first lady Melania Trump will attend, along with family members who themselves are also state RNC delegates.

While youngest son Barron Trump was selected but declined to stand as a delegate from Florida, Trump Jr.’s fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle, as well as Tiffany Trump – the former president’s only child with ex-wife Marla Maples – will serve. Michael Boulos, Tiffany Trump’s husband, will represent Florida.

The 2024 Republican National Convention, to be held the week of July 15, will be hosted in Milwaukee, Wis.

While there are few specifics on the thought process that went into the choice of venue, it is notable that Milwaukee was previously named the convention site in 2020.

However, the coronavirus pandemic rendered most of former President Trump’s renomination convention remote that year.

Milwaukee will join the list of cities that have hosted both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.

The core of the festivities will take place at Fiserv Forum, where Fox News also moderated a 2023 Republican presidential primary debate.

During her remarks at the 2020 Republican National Convention, then-first lady Melania Trump recalled how thankful her family was that voters in 2016 “were willing to take a chance on the businessman who has never worked in politics” when they chose then-President Donald Trump.

Melania telegraphed confidence in her husband in taking on COVID-19, which was posing a serious problem for people, businesses, and ways of life across the country, assuring listeners that he would tirelessly work to develop treatments and vaccines. She further reflected on her life as an immigrant and growing up in Slovenia under communist rule, noting the wonderful things she heard as a child about America.

“As I grew older, it became my goal to move to the United States and follow my dream of working in the fashion industry,” she said, thanking her parents for their work to get their family to America.

The first lady called becoming an American citizen, “one of the proudest moments in my life.” Melania promised, “Just as you are fighting for your families, my husband, our family, and the people in this administration are here fighting for you.” 

A Florida judge dismissed the case against former President Trump for the handling of classified documents, and some legal experts are calling it a “strongly reasoned” opinion that eliminates the “greatest legal threat” to the presumptive 2024 GOP just ahead of the Republican National Convention. 

On Monday, Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon issued a 93-page opinion dismissing the case on the grounds that the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith to oversee the case was unconstitutional. 

“Upon careful study of the foundational challenges raised in the motion, the Court is convinced that Special Counsel’s Smith’s prosecution of this action breaches two structural cornerstones of our constitutional scheme – the role of Congress in the appointment of constitutional officers, and the role of Congress in authorizing expenditures by law,” Cannon wrote. 

Jonathan Turley, a defense attorney and law professor at George Washington University, told Fox News Monday that “of all of the cases that could be dismissed, this would be at the top of the list. This was the greatest threat. And for now, at least, it’s gone.”

Former President Trump reflected on the now world-famous photo of him holding his fist in the air after an assassination attempt during an interview published on Monday, quipping you “usually have to die” for it to become iconic.

“A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen,” Trump told the New York Post.

“They’re right and I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture.”Trump was shot in the ear on Saturday in an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The photo of Trump has been re-posted across social media following the shooting and was on front pages across the country and world Sunday. After shots were fired at the president, Secret Service agents surrounded him, and the former president was seen pumping his fist in the air and telling the crowd to “fight.” 

Trump told the Post that he “wasn’t supposed to be here” in the interview following the assassination attempt. Experts have said Trump was extraordinarily lucky to survive, as just a few centimeters and a coincidental head turn were the difference between life and death.

Recently installed Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley is far from a household name.

But those watching the Republican National Convention this week may become quite familiar with Michael Whatle
y, who will receive plenty of screen time during the four-day confab in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Whatley succeeded longtime RNC chair Ronna McDaniel, who stepped down at a national party committee meeting in Houston, Texas in March as former President Trump clinched the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

Then-President-elect Trump picked McDaniel to run the RNC after he won the White House in the 2016 election. But earlier this year, Trump repeatedly urged changes at the committee – following lackluster fundraising last year and his opposition to the RNC’s presidential primary debates. His criticism of the RNC essentially pushed McDaniel out the door.

Whatley, who had served as the North Carolina GOP chair since 2019, and also as the general counsel for the RNC, was partially handpicked by Trump to succeed McDaniel because of Trump’s repeated unproven claims that his 2020 election loss to President Biden was due to massive voter fraud.

Prior to his work with the Republican Party, Whatley served as a federal law clerk, a senior official in the administration of former President George W. Bush and as the chief of staff for former Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina. He also served as a senior adviser to the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, Florida Recount and Transition Teams, as well as the Trump-Pence campaign and transition teams.

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, reportedly departed on Monday before noon from his home in Ohio with a motorcade as speculation continues about his potential status as former President Trump’s running mate.

Footage showed the Ohio senator leaving his house in a motorcade, presumably on his way to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, reported Forbes.

The motorcade is not Secret Service detail, a source familiar told Fox News. The security are Capitol Police officers as well as Ohio state police. Gov. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, approved the added security out of an abundance of caution after the assassination attempt on Trump.

DeWine’s office confirmed the approval to Fox News.

Vance is considered a frontrunner for Trump’s vice presidential nominee, alongside Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Gov. Doug Burgum, R-N.D.

The Republican is one of the lawmakers who has been supportive of Trump for the longest, even during the early stages of the GOP primary race.

After the attempted assassination of Trump on Saturday during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania,
Vance slammed President Biden for his rhetoric. “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” he wrote on X.

“That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination,” the senator continued.

Fox News’ Alexas McAdams contributed to this report.

“Fox & Friends” co-host Ainsley Earhardt recounted receiving the news of the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.

Earhardt said she received a phone call from a FOX employee to turn on the television as the president had just been shot.

“To see that happen to someone who wants to give so much to our country is just very emotional and something I’d never experienced before,” Earhardt said. “When Reagan was shot I was 5 or 6 years old.”

She went on to express condolences to the family of Corey Comperatore
, the volunteer firefighter, husband and father who lost his life at the rally, “I’m so sorry for the family that did lose their loved one.”

Comperatore died shielding his family from bullets. Two others, David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74, are fighting for their lives.

“I wish them all the best, lots of prayers going up,” she added.

Earhardt concluded, “Stop the vitriol and just move forward as a country the red white and blue is more important than these politics.”

Former President Donald Trump is demanding independent presidential candidate
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “immediately” get Secret Service protection.

“In light of what is going on in the world today, I believe it is imperative that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. receive Secret Service protection — immediately. Given the history of the Kennedy Family, this is the obvious right thing to do!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Monday.

RFK Jr. previously said that the Biden administration denied his request for Secret Service protection, but more lawmakers are calling for him to receive the same service as other presidential candidates after Trump survived an assassination attempt.

Gov. Jared Polis, D-Colo., called on President Biden to change his administration’s previous decision to deny Kennedy Secret Service protection just hours after the Trump rally shooting.”I encourage [Biden] to immediately provide secret service protection for [Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.],” Polis wrote on X.

Local law enforcement had responsibility for the building where Thomas Matthew Crooks fired several shots at former President Trump on Saturday, Fox News has learned.

The building Crooks fired from was a “rally point” for one of the local counter sniper teams, according to a federal law enforcement official familiar with the security plans.

The source also said that a team was actually stationed in, or near, the building. There were four counter sniper teams at the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, including two from the Secret Service and two from local law enforcement.

Fox News’ Jake Gibson, David Spunt, Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.

Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood
made a surprise appearance at the 2012 Republican National Convention, where now-Sen. Mitt Romney was nominated as the GOP nominee to challenge then-incumbent President Barack Obama. 

Eastwood opened his speech with the line,  “I know what you’re thinking”, referencing the number of .44 Magnum rounds his “Dirty Harry” Callahan character fired in the 1971 film. Eastwood improvised much of his speech, addressing an empty chair, which was supposed to represent Obama. The speech lasted 12 minutes, despite being scheduled to last just five. 

After directing the beginning of the speech to the empty chair, Eastwood spoke directly to delegates and the audience, saying:

“We own this country…it’s not politicians owning it; politicians are employees of ours … And whether you’re Democrat or whether you’re a Republican or whether you’re Libertarian or whatever, you’re the best. And we should not ever forget that. And when somebody does not do the job, we got to let ’em go.” 

The speech ended with another reference to “Dirty Harry.”

Eastwood’s speech was seen by more than 30 million people.

Former President Trump is now breaking his silence
on the assassination attempt against him during a rally on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead,” Trump told the New York Post. “I’m supposed to be dead.”

“The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle,” Trump also told the newspaper onboard his private plane while heading to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for this week’s Republican National Convention. “By luck or by God, many people are saying it’s by God I’m still here.”

Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, retired Army captain and West Point graduate, joined Brian Kilmeade on “Fox & Friends”
this morning to discuss Secret Service planning to brief lawmakers over concerns with rally safety preparedness following Trump’s assassination attempt.

“The biggest question is, is how does an assailant get on a rooftop that close to the former and future president of the United States?,” Hunt asked.

He added that being within 150 yards of anything is an “easy shot.”

“With my AR, I could absolutely make that shot,” Hunt said.

When Kilmeade asked if he were in Trump’s situation, would he return to rally events, Hunt said, “If I know President Trump, of course he’s going to.”

“God had his hands on him in that moment and I know what it feels like to get shot at,” Hunt said. He revealed that after he was fired at during missions, he felt a “reinvigorated spirit” for life and that he expects to see the same from Trump this week at the 2024 RNC.

While Republicans in Wisconsin and New Hampshire have long traded fire over which state is the birthplace of the GOP – which stands for Grand Old Party – there is no dispute over where the party’s first national convention took place.

The party
, which was founded in the mid-19th Century, held its first national nominating convention at Musical Fund Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from June 17 to 19, 1856.

The party – formed just two years earlier – nominated then-Sen. John C. Fremont of California for president. Fremont was an explorer who had also served as a military officer in the Mexican-American War. Former Sen. William L. Dayton of New Jersey was nominated for vice president.

Democrat James Buchanan, who defeated then-President Franklin Pierce at the Democratic convention, went on to defeat Fremont in the general election, in a three-way contest that also included American (Know Nothing) Party nominee Millard Fillmore. 

What is a delegate?

During the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, delegates from all over the country gather in one location and elect their respective nominee for president. Delegates are traditionally elected by their state party, mostly including local officials and party members, and they are sent to the convention on behalf of their state. Each party has a set number of delegates available — 4,672 Democrats and 2,429 Republicans — a certain percentage of whom are referred to as “superdelegates.”

What is a superdelegate?

Both parties use superdelegates slightly differently, but the key concept is that a superdelegate is one who is not bound to vote for their assigned candidate. While a Democrat delegate from Texas is bound to vote for the Democrat who won the state of Texas, a superdelegate from Texas can vote for whoever they wish, but only in a contested convention, as established in 2018. Additionally, while Democrat delegates are local party leaders and officials, superdelegates make up members of the Democratic elite. They are senators, representatives, party leaders, prominent officials, etc.

Republican superdelegates are more hamstrung. Each state automatically gets three, assigned by the RNC, and they are bound to vote for the candidate who won their state. They are also not allowed to vote in the first round of voting, limiting any power they have to a contested convention, as established in 2016.

A new national poll conducted in the wake of the Biden-Trump presidential debate has found that nearly 80% of voters are concerned about Biden “not having the necessary mental and physical health to be a president for a second term.”

The NBC News survey of 800 registered voters, which was conducted over July 7-9 and before the assassination attempt against former President Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania this past weekend, has Trump leading Biden by 45% to 43% in a head-to-head race. 

While the matchup remains close, the poll found that 62% of Democratic voters wish someone else was at the top of their party’s ticket instead of Biden and that 79% of all voters are worried about the 81-year-old Biden’s mental and physical capabilities.

Only 50% of respondents had the same mental and physical fitness concerns about Trump, who is 78.

Fox News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report.

Former President Trump told Fox News that he will be announcing his choice for his running mate on Monday during the Republican National Convention.

“He did confirm that he’s going to make a VP choice today,” Fox News’ Bret Baier said, noting Trump said so on the phone.

The frontrunners for Trump’s running mate are considered to be Sens. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., as well as Gov. Doug Burgum, R-N.D.

The former president has held out and did not announce his running mate prior to the RNC, which is beginning on Monday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

There were initial concerns that the RNC may need to be postponed after there was an assassination attempt against Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday. However, Trump refused to push back the event.

Trump’s choice of running mate will come after months and months of speculation that began during the Republican presidential primary race before he became the presumptive GOP nominee.

Democrats have pressed pause on their efforts to replace President Biden as the 2024 Democratic nominee in the aftermath of the assassination attempt against former President Trump, with one lawmaker saying they’ve all resigned themselves “to a second Trump presidency,” according to one report.

The concern among many Democratic lawmakers surrounding Biden’s cognitive decline and his ability to defeat Trump in the election has taken a “back seat” as they focus on their own security and unifying language for a country reeling from the attempt on Trump’s life over the weekend, Axios reported Sunday.

A growing number of House Democrats and one Democratic senator have called on Biden to withdraw from the race since his debate debacle last month. However, Trump’s attempted assassination
may have dwindled their momentum, the report suggests.

Fox News’ Yael Halon contributed to this report.

A prominent security presence outside the residence of Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, over the weekend heightened speculation around former President Trump’s pick for vice president.

Trump survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally on Saturday, reportedly suffering a gunshot wound to his right ear in the shooting that took the life of one rally goer and injured several others.

After the incident, several black trucks and police vehicles were reportedly seen outside of Vance’s residence as he remains on of the top three candidates on Trump’s shortlist for vice president.

A spokesperson for Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, however, told an NBC reporter that he approved the security presence at Vance’s residence on Saturday, with sources saying that it was not Secret Service, but state state law enforcement.

Vance, along with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Gov. Doug Burgum, R-S.D., remain on the top of list for Trump’s potential vice president.

Fox News’ Bret Baier reports that senior GOP officials indicate Trump could announce his running mate as soon as 1p.m. ET Monday after the Republican National Convention (RNC) commences.

​​Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., a candidate being floated as a potential vice president for Trump, delivered a heart-felt speech at the 2020 Republican National Convention (RNC). Scott talked about his upbringing and eventually being elected to serve in the Senate, which he described as an “American journey.”

“Regardless of the challenges presented to us…every four years…Americans come together to vote…To share stories of what makes our nation strong, and the lessons we have learned that can strengthen it further for our children and grandchildren,” Scott said, adding that “while this election is between Donald Trump and Joe Biden…it is not solely about Donald Trump and Joe Biden.”

Scott also took aim at President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris — the then-Democratic ticket.

“Make no mistake: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris want a cultural revolution. A fundamentally different America.”

“If we let them…they will turn our country into a socialist utopia…and history has taught us that path only leads to pain and misery, especially for hard-working people hoping to rise.”

Federal criminal charges against former President Trump for mishandling classified documents were dismissed on Monday by a Florida judge.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon granted a motion to dismiss the superseding indictment against him, based on a violation of the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.

Trump’s defense team had filed the motion, making the argument that Special Counsel Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed.

Justice Clarence Thomas notably mentioned the issue of Smith’s appointment to the Trump investigations in his concurrence to the Supreme Court immunity ruling earlier this month.

Cannon’s decision to grant the motion agreed that the critical Appointments Clause gives Congress a considered role in determining the propriety of vesting appointment power for inferior officers. 

It was argued that the special counsel’s position effectively usurped that important legislative authority, transferring it to a head of department, and in the process threatened the structural liberty inherent in the separation of powers. 

Cannon explained that there is a legal route by which to appoint Smith to the role, writing that he could be appointed and confirmed through the default method prescribed in the Appointments Clause. This, she notes, is what Congress has directed for United States attorneys throughout American history. Congress could also authorize his appointment through enactment of positive statutory law consistent with the Appointments Clause, she said.

Fox News’ David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss security preparations for the Republican National Convention (RNC) following the assassination attempt on former President Trump.

“We plan as much as we can plan in regards to that there is always going to be something that can throw a little screwball, but then we have to have the resources to be able to respond,” the chief said.

Norman added that security is “continuing to work with our partners” and “continuing to communicate in regards to that this is a respected event in regards to that we need to be able to work with each other and have that communication. But also, resources are here. We’re making sure we have the ability to respond the way that we need to based on behaviors and based on the intelligence we are receiving.”

The RNC will commence Monday, just days after former President Trump survived an assassination attempt.

MILWAUKEE, WI – The Republican National Committee kicks off in a couple of hours, just two days after former President Donald Trump, the GOP’s standard-bearer, survived an assassination attempt.

And the Saturday shooting at Trump’s rally in western Pennsylvania – where one spectator was killed and two more critically injured, and the former president visibly bloodied after a bullet grazed his ear – has altered the tone and raised the stakes of the convention.

At the four-day confab which is being held in swing state Wisconsin’s largest city, Trump will formally become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, and the official roll call will take place during the opening session Monday.

But as the convention gets underway, all eyes are on the former president as Trump’s expected to announce his choice for running mate, which would bring to a conclusion weeks of vetting and intense media speculation.

Fox News’ Bret Baier reports that senior GOP officials indicate a running mate announcement could occur soon after the convention is gaveled into order at 1pm ET. “It will be part of the hooplah today kicking things off”.

Considered the front-runners for the Republican vice presidential nomination are Sens. JD Vance of Ohio, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota.

Others thought to be in contention are Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, and Reps. Elise Stefanik of New York and Byron Donalds of Florida.

MILWAUKEE – The Republican National Convention
 kicks off on Monday, just two days after former President Donald Trump, the GOP’s standard-bearer, survived an assassination attempt.

And the Saturday shooting at Trump’s rally in western Pennsylvania – where one spectator was killed and two more critically injured, and the former president visibly bloodied after a bullet grazed his ear – has altered the tone and raised the stakes of the convention.

U.S. Secret Service and other officials announced on the eve of the convention that there are no plans to expand the security perimeter and that there are no known threats.

“The arena’s set, the security is here and we feel very comfortable that we’re working with the Secret Service,” Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”

The last Republican National Convention was held in Charlotte, N.C.,, but was far from a traditional one, taking place during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in late August 2020.

The RNC and the Trump campaign canceled the originally planned gathering due to the COVID pandemic, which had been set for Jacksonville, Florida, in July.

The convention’s overall theme was  “Honoring the Great American Story” with different nights focusing on America as the “Land of Promise,” the “Land of Opportunity,” the “Land of Heroes,” and the “Land of Greatness.” Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., Trump family members, and law enforcement officials were among the featured speakers.

The Trump campaign raked in $76 million during the lightly attended, largely virtual convention.  

The 2016 GOP convention took place in Cleveland, Ohio. Many feared a contested convention, amid concerns within the party over Trump, but his nomination was ultimately not challenged from the floor. 

On July 19, 2016, the convention formally nominated Donald Trump for president and then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence
for vice president. They went on to win the general election, defeating the Democratic ticket of Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine. 

The Republican National Convention’s high-profile attendees will include former 2024 GOP presidential candidates who have since become some of former President Trump’s strongest allies.

That reportedly includes North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott – both of whom have generated buzz as possible Trump running mates.

Vivek Ramaswamy, among the first Republicans to drop out and endorse Trump, is also reportedly expected to be there.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
, with whom Trump had a bitter feud, is also expected to attend and even speak at the convention.A notable exclusion, however, is former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley. The ex-Trump administration official is the only woman who challenged Trump for the 2024 nomination and the final major challenger to drop out.

A Haley spokesperson told Politico that she “was not invited, and she’s fine with that. Trump deserves the convention he wants. She’s made it clear she’s voting for him and wishes him the best.”