RNC 2024 Day 1 updates: Bandaged and emotional, Trump makes 1st appearance since assassination attempt
Chants of "we love Trump" could be heard as he entered the RNC.
The first day of the Republican National Convention has wrapped up in Milwaukee -- marked with an appearance by former President Donald Trump just two days he was wounded in an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday evening.
Despite the shooting, the gathering of more than 50,000 attendees, including an expected 2,400 Republican delegates, is slated to maintain its original programming as a time to bring the party together -- but now newly energized by Trump's amazing survival and raised-fist show of defiance.
One of the most anticipated moments of Trump's campaign happened Monday when Trump named 39-year-old Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate.
Latest headlines:
Conga lines break out at the RNC
On the left side of the stage, near where delegates from New York and Tennessee are stationed, a conga line has broken out.
Many participants are waving "Trump" signs in the air.
Trump expected to make RNC appearance tonight
Trump is expected to make an appearance at the Republican National Convention Monday night, multiple sources told ABC News. He is not expected to speak.
A large motorcade recently left the hotel where Trump is staying and appears to be heading in the direction of the venue.
-ABC News' Rachel Scott, John Santucci, Katherine Faulders and Kelsey Walsh
Tepid response to Noem
Unlike the crowd's roar for recent speakers, the response to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has been more muted -- though she's still garnering applause for hitting Republican talking points on COVID and the economy.
ABC News' digital team can see more people leaving their seats and walking on the convention floor as Noem speaks. That's compared to the attention devoted to South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Noem has garnered the biggest response when talking about Trump and the attempted assassination attempt, as the crowd erupted in a chant of, "Fight, fight, fight."
-ABC News' Alexandra Hutzler
Sen. Johnson tells PBS teleprompter loaded wrong speech
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson claimed that the speech he gave onstage Monday at the convention was the wrong one -- and that it was because the teleprompter had an old speech.
During his speech, Johnson had said that the Democrats' policies "are a clear and present danger to America, to our institutions, our values and our people."
When asked by PBS NewsHour about those remarks -- as Trump calls for national unity in the wake of his assassination attempt -- Johnson said he was talking about Democrats' policies and said, "I'll also give you an inside scoop -- that speech was written last week; they literally loaded the wrong speech."
"I had taken that out, OK. Instead, I loaded -- about that we needed a somber moment in history. We should heed President Trump's call, to unite, to be strong, to be determined. We must heal and unify this nation," he said. "I didn't know how to get that in without screwing up the teleprompter. I was not happy with that."
Johnson said he stands by saying that the Democrats' policies are "destroying this country."
"But we also have to try and unify and heal this nation," he said. "I didn’t attack any individual, I was talking about their policies."
A spokesperson for Johnson told ABC News that the wrong speech was loaded, and it was an old copy.
The speech was supposed to start with Johnson saying: "We meet at a somber moment in history. We should all heed President Trump's call for unity, strength and determination."
-ABC News' Jacob Steinberg, Oren Oppenheim and Brittany Shepherd