Donald Trump: Republican National Convention Speaking Slots ‘Totally Filled’
The Republican candidate promised a list of speakers by Wednesday.
-- With just over two weeks to go before the start of the Republican National Convention, presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump tweeted Saturday that speaking slots at the high-profile event were already “totally filled, with a long waiting list of those that want to speak.”
Trump also indicated in his tweet that the names of those speakers would be released within days.
His tweet comes against the backdrop of reports that the GOP candidate is having trouble attracting big-name speakers to fill the normally-coveted slots at the convention. The Republican Party’s previous two presidential nominees -- former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Arizona Sen. John McCain -- have both said they will not attend the gathering in Cleveland. Earlier this week, Romney said he did not even plan to vote for Trump in November.
At a speech in Colorado on Friday, Trump said that his children and wife would all be speaking at the four-day convention in Cleveland, Ohio, that kicks off July 18.
“Ivanka, Tiffany, Don, Eric -- they are going to be speaking,” Trump said. “My wife is going to be speaking at the convention. We’re going to have a great time.”
Previously, Trump has also suggested having a “winner’s night” at the convention that would likely include nonpolitical speakers such as famous sports figures.
“That’ll probably be the best-attended night” of the convention, Trump predicted at a rally in Dallas earlier this month.
Conventions have also traditionally been an opportunity for rising political stars to introduce themselves on a national stage, as was the case with then-Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
Spokespeople for the Trump campaign and the Republican National Convention did not elaborate on Trump’s tweet.