RNC 2024 Day 4 updates: Trump pitches unity, but revives old grievances in longest acceptance speech in history
Trump leaned into his usual talking points during his RNC speech.
On the fourth and final day of the Republican National Convention, former President Donald Trump gave a highly anticipated speech, which he said beforehand would call for unity following his assassination attempt.
However in his first speech since the incident, Trump leaned into his usual talking points, slamming President Joe Biden, Democrats and other critics on a wide variety of issues from the economy, immigration and crime.
For over an hour, Trump went off script much to the crowd's delight. The former president told them he was grateful for their support after his brush with death but argued that the country needed to be fixed due to Biden's policies.
The night also included wild speeches from guests such as Hulk Hogan and Eric Trump, who echoed some of the former president's rhetoric bashing Biden and the Democrats.
Latest headlines:
Rev. Franklin Graham credits Trump with defeating Roe v. Wade
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
'We're voting for the felon': RNC attendees unfazed by Trump's historic conviction
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.
Read more [here].()
-ABC News' Alexandra Hutzler
From Marine to politician: An inside look at JD Vance's journey to the RNC stage
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
Republicans at RNC blame Biden for inflation. Economists say it's misleading
Speakers at the Republican National Convention this week have faulted the Biden administration for putting the nation at risk from threats that include criminals, illicit drugs -- and high prices.
Some economists who spoke to ABC News took issue with the blame placed on President Joe Biden as an overstatement of his role in the price spike.
"There's a long list of reasons for the high inflation. At the top of the list is the pandemic and the Russian war," Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, told ABC News.
Read more here.
-ABC News' Max Zahn