RNC 2024 Day 4 updates: Trump pitches unity, but revives old grievances

During a conversation with Politico, Speaker Mike Johnson said he believes Trump "is in a great place" following the attempted assassination.

"I think, you know, in his heart and in his head, he's in a place where you would want a future president to be in a moment like we're facing for the country," Johnson told Rachael Bade, co-author of Playbook and contributing political correspondent for ABC News.

Johnson said he spoke with Trump about God and how a near death experience gets anyones attention after the shooting.

The speaker said Trump will address this directly in his speech tonight, saying "I think it's gonna be momentous. I think it's going to be historic, I think."

"I think he's going to talk about unifying the country, which is what he's implied he changed the content of the speech," Johnson added. "That's exactly what the country needs to hear. Right now. And he's the person who could deliver that, and it's going to be a very important moment for all of us."

-ABC News' Lauren Peller

Rev. Franklin Graham, the influential evangelist preacher who is scheduled to speak at the convention Thursday night, talked with ABC News Live hours before he is set to take the stage.

Graham spoke about Trump's changed stance on abortion that would leave the matter up to the states.

"President Trump ... has a very difficult position because he has to represent all Americans and that includes people who have different views," said Graham, who is publicly anti-abortion.

"I believe President Trump had Roe v. Wade defeated," Graham added. "No other president has been able to do that."

When asked about his support for Trump after he became a convicted felon, his ties to a porn star or his offensive remarks, Graham responded, "Donald J. Trump has made many mistakes in his life, and I'm sure he regrets, many of them ... all of them."

"But at the same time, I look at his policies and what they do for America … and so I believe that Donald J. Trump can ... help get this country's economy back," he added.

Graham is the son of influential evangelist Billy Graham, who died in 2018.

-ABC News' Isabella Meneses

This week, thousands of Trump's biggest supporters are gathered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to see him accept the party's nomination for president. In their eyes, Trump' hasn't done -- and likely can't do -- any wrong.

Two dozen convention-goers who spoke with ABC News Digital, including delegates and guests, said Trump's historic conviction on 34 felony counts gave them no reservations about backing him this election cycle.

"We have 54 in our delegation, and we have T-shirts that we're all going to be wearing that's like, 'The year of the felon.' We're good. We're voting for the felon," said Barbara Jernigan, an alternate delegate from Missouri.

-ABC News' Alexandra Hutzler

Vice presidential nominee JD Vance addressed the nation from the RNC on Wednesday night -- a sight that made his longtime friend Cullen Tiernan proud.

"I always knew that he was smart enough to do whatever he wanted. We've always been attracted to public service, so I really wasn't surprised," Tiernan, a friend of Vance's for more than two decades, told ABC News of his bid to join forces with Trump.

He says he isn't surprised that his friend is making history as the first post-9/11 veteran on a major party's presidential ticket -- something Tiernan said he believes will serve Vance well as VP if the Trump/Vance ticket is elected.

"Having a veteran voice like that, somebody who understands what it's like to be an enlisted Marine kind of goes back to his whole 'Hillbilly Elegy' in his story," Tiernan said, referring to Vance's best-selling memoir. "I think that's going to be really powerful."

Read more here.

-ABC News' Beatrice Peterson