RNC 2024 Day 3 updates: JD Vance touts working class roots in debut as VP nominee

Families of soldiers who died during the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, some of whom were holding pictures of their relatives, took the stage.

Christy Shamblin, the mother-in-law of Sgt. Nicole Leeann, said Trump spent six hours with her and other family members in Bedminster, New Jersey.

"I had expected to meet an arrogant politician. Instead, I met a man who had empathy for us. He was compassionate and he spent time with us because he knew it would make us feel better," Shamblin said.

Alicia Lopez, the mother of Marine Corporal Hunter Lopez, held back tears as she said the Biden administration have not "owned up to their failures." She said Biden never said her son's name.

"There has been a deafening silence from the Biden-Harris administration," Lopez said.

Her husband, Herman Lopez, read the names of the soldiers who died in the waning days of the war.

12:49

Gold Star Afghanistan families talk about Trump's support

Families of soldiers who died during the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, some of whom were holding pictures of their relatives, took the stage.

ABCNews.com

Florida Rep. Michael Waltz, the first Green Beret ever elected to Congress, was the latest elected military veteran to address the RNC on Wednesday night.

"Folks, we have deployed all over the Middle East, all over Africa, all over Afghanistan, and I have never in my lifetime seen the world falling apart like it is under Joe Biden," he began. "And that's because under President Trump, we had a president who defeated ISIS, broke Iran, stood with Israel, always stood with our allies, made China pay."

He called Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan a "debacle" and "stain on our national conscience."

7:01

Florida Rep. Michael Waltz addresses the RNC

Florida Congressman Michael Waltz speaks to the crowd at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

ABCNews.com

Multiple speakers tonight have taken President Joe Biden to task for his handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Well, Americans agreed with their assessment: In an Aug. 13-16, 2021, poll from Morning Consult/Politico, only 31 percent of voters approved of Biden's handling of the situation. Even worse for Biden, the withdrawal was the event that really seemed to catalyze the collapse in his approval rating. On Aug. 15, 2021, the day the Taliban returned to power, Biden's net approval rating was +8 points in the 538 average. But by Sept. 3, his disapproval rating was higher than his approval rating, which has been true every day since.

-538's Nathaniel Rakich

Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former 2020 campaign staffer and Donald Trump Jr.'s fiancée, got the crowd fired up in her speech on the floor.

Guilfoyle claimed that under President Joe Biden, the country "is more dangerous, vulnerable and impoverished than anyone had thought possible."

"We are closer to World War III than any time in my life," Guilfoyle said.

She said Republicans would "restore an era of national pride where freedom of speech is respected and cancel culture is ended, [and] where high school girls only compete with other girls, not biological men."