RNC Convention Day 1 Live Updates: Rudy Giuliani, Melania Trump Scheduled To Address GOP Event

UPDATE: 10:38 p.m. EDT — Donald Trump will serve as president for Jews, Muslims, African-Americans, and Christians, bringing together America by delivering results, his wife, Melania Trump said Monday night at the Republican National Convention. The former model addressed criticisms about her husband without mentioning them directly, such as his proposed ban on Muslim travelers.

"Let's all come together in a national campaign like no other," she said. "The race will be hard fought all the way to November... It will not be a Trump contest without excitement and drama. But throughout it all my husband will remain focused on only one thing: This beautiful country that he loves so much."

As first lady, she said she would work to help children and women. "We must do our best to ensure that every children can live in comfort and security with the best possible education," she said.

UPDATE: 10:29 p.m. EDT — Now that's what you call an entrance. Donald Trump made his first official appearance at the Republican National Convention Monday night by walking out on stage as "We are the Champions" blared from the speakers.

"We’re going to win. We’re going to win so big," Donald Trump said as he introduced his wife, Melania Trump, as "the next first lady of the United States."

Melania Trump said she was proud of her husband and his message that your dreams, "and your willingness to work for them," is what counts. Melania Trump, an immigrant from Slovenia, spoke after a series of speeches about how illegal immigration is hurting the United States.

UPDATE: 10:10 p.m. EDT — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Donald Trump will do for America, "what I did for New York," during Monday night's Republican National Convention in Ohio.

He thanked Cleveland police for protecting the convention, and said police officers serve regardless of the skin color of a community. "What happened to there’s no black America, there’s no white America, there is just America?” he said.

He called Trump a good friend, father and grandfather.

UPDATE: 9:44 p.m. EDT — Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke received the most applause of the night so far when he opened his speech Monday night during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland by declaring, "Blue Lives Matter!"

Clarke, who is black, celebrated Baltimore Police Lt. Brian Rice's acquittal of all charges Monday morning in the case of Freddie Gray, who died in police custody. He said the Black Lives Matter social justice movement "violates the code of conduct we rely on," adding, "I call it anarchy."

UPDATE: 9:25 p.m. EDT — Sorry, Scott Baio, Donald Trump probably wasn't listening to your speech Monday night at the Republican National Convention. As a series of speakers praised Trump's leadership skills, the presumptive Republican nominee called in to Fox News to discuss the Black Lives Matter social justice movement and the recent killings of police officers in Louisiana and Texas.

Trump said that "in certain circumstances" the social movement should take the blame for the growing number of police killings. "They certainly have ignited people and you see that … Everybody is free to say what you want to say up to a point. But when you are calling death to police and to kill the police, essentially, which is what they said, that’s a real problem."

Trump said earlier on Monday he doesn't believe that President Barack Obama's recent remarks lamenting police killings are sincere.

UPDATE: 9:16 p.m. EDT — Jamiel Shaw, the father of a black man killed in California by an undocumented immigrant, said Donald Trump is the only candidate who will do something about, "illegals."

Shaw's son, a Los Angeles High School football star, was allegedly shot in the head in 2008 by an undocumented immigrant. He spoke during the Republican National Convention Monday in Ohio.

"Trump is sent from God," he said.

UPDATE: 9:02 p.m. EDT — Ohio Gov. John Kasich defended his decision to skip the Republican National Convention this week in Cleveland. He said Donald Trump needs to unite Ohio voters before the November general election.

"I think it's real hard if you don't have a unifying message. And if you go too hard one way or the other, it's very difficult to win. So if you're not a unifier, it's a real challenge," Kasich said.

Trump's campaign manager Paul Manafort said Monday morning Kasich was "embarrassing" his state by missing the GOP convention.

"Most of the Republicans who aren’t coming are people who’ve been part of the past. People who are part of the future of the Republican Party are going to be here and participate in the program," Manafort said.

UPDATE: 8:53 p.m. EDT — Donald Trump doesn't have a problem with immigrants — he even married one, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said Monday night ahead of Melania Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention in Ohio.

“Melania is not only very, very attractive as a supermodel, but she’s also living proof that Donald Trump is not anti-immigrant,” Gingrich said of the presumptive GOP presidential nominee in a Fox News interview. “He’s just for legal immigrants.”

UPDATE: 8:38 p.m. EDT — ​The mother of Sean Smith, one of four Americans killed in the 2012 Benghazi attack in Libya, said Democrat Hillary Clinton is to blame for her loss.

"I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son. Personally!," said Pat Smith of Clinton's service as secretary of state. "Whenever I call the state department, no one will speak to me, because they say I am not a member of the immediate family. Hillary Clinton is a woman, a mother and a grandmother of two. I am a woman, a mother and a grandmother of two. How could she do this to me? How could she do this to any American family?"

Smith's voice was full of emotional during the speech.

"Donald Trump is everything Hillary Clinton is not. He is blunt, direct and strong," she said. "He will not hesitate to kill the terrorists who threaten American lives."

UPDATE: 8:18 p.m. EDT — ​Hillary Clinton feels she is owed the White House, while Donald Trump genuinely wants to help, former TV star Scott Baio told GOP voters at the Republican National Convention Monday night.

Being an American doesn't mean "getting free stuff," said Baio. "It means sacrificing, winning, losing, failing, succeeding."

"Is Donald Trump a Messiah? No, he's just a man," Baio added, before closing his speech with a brief, "Go Trump!"

UPDATE: 8:10 p.m. EDT — Willie Robertson, CEO of Duck Commander and Buck Commander and the star of the reality TV show, "Duck Dynasty," opened a long night of speeches at the Republican National Convention Monday by joking that both he and Donald Trump were "ugly" men with attractive wives. He said he was a longtime Trump supporter.

“We need a president who will have our back," he said. "I can promise you this, no matter who you are, Donald Trump will have your back. "

UPDATE: 7:30 p.m. EDT — Cleveland police said there weren't major problems reported Monday during the first day of the Republican National Convention. Police said there was little conflict between opposing protest groups and there had only been a few arrests.

Media reports before the convention had predicted problems between anti-Donald Trump groups and his supporters after various Trump events saw violence break out between different political fractions earlier this year.

UPDATE: 7:02 p.m. EDT — Twitter is beating up U.S. Rep. Steve King of Iowa after he seemed to make the case Monday that white people have contributed more than others during a MSNBC panel discussing at diversity at the Republican National Convention. Esquire‘s Charles Pierce said the convention was filled with "loud, unhappy, dissatisfied white people."

Here's how King responded: "This whole ‘white people’ business, though, does get a little tired, Charlie. I mean, I’d ask you to go back through history and figure out, where are these contributions that have been made by these other categories of people that you’re talking about? Where did any other sub-group of people contribute to civilization?"

UPDATE: 6:48 p.m. EDT — Donald Trump's campaign dismissed efforts to block him Monday from the GOP presidential nomination during the Republican National Convention in Ohio. Campaign manager Paul Manafort said the chaos that unfolded as people demanded a roll call vote on the convention's rules was simply theatrics from a handful of sore losers.

"What you saw today was just some people that wanted to play politics with the rules," Manafort told CNN. "It would have been a meaningless gesture. Everybody knew the result."

UPDATE: 6:27 p.m. EDT — Melania Trump is expected to make the case that there is a softer side to Donald Trump during a speech Monday night at the Republican National Convention.

"He can have a different tone. He really can have a different tone, because to build the empire and the business that he built, you cannot always use that kind of a tone," Melania Trump said Monday in an interview with CNN. "He can really change. I know him and he could really change the words and the tone."

She added that her husband, "is who he is." "He's a doer," she said.

Melania Trump rarely speaks to reporters, tweets or addresses big crowds, so Monday's speech could be a revealing look at her political views as her family campaigns for the White House.

UPDATE: 6:18 p.m. EDT — The Obama administration wants the Supreme Court to rehear a case that would give millions of immigrants deportation relief, a contentious issue in the 2016 election.

The Justice Department requested Monday that the Supreme Court revisit the case challenging President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration once it has a full bench with nine judges again, the Hill reported. The court announced its 4-4 decision in June that left a lower court order blocking the program in place.

Obama's actions seek to allow undocumented immigrants who are parents of U.S. citizens permission to temporarily stay in the United States and obtain work permits. Republican Donald Trump has said he will build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and deport undocumented immigrants. Democrat Hillary Clinton supports Obama's execution actions on immigration.

Obama's actions were blocked after various Republican-led states sued to stop the program. GOP leaders said it was unconstitutional because it was not approved by Congress. Republicans have also blocked Obama from appointing a new judge to the Supreme Court after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia earlier this year.

UPDATE: 6:03 p.m. EDT — Homeowners in Cleveland renting out their properties on Airbnb this week are making bank off the Republican National Convention, the Atlantic reported Monday. The home sharing website said more than 1,900 people are using the service to find lodging in Ohio during the GOP meeting at a cost of about $300 a night. That's a lot of money. The four-star Cleveland Ritz-Carlton hotel, for comparison, usually goes for $400 a night.

UPDATE: 5:50 p.m. EDT — After Republican leaders moved Monday to silence the so-called Never Trump movement from calling for a vote to change party rules so they could vote for anyone other than Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention in Ohio this week, critics of the New York business mogul said they won't give up.

"You will see more insurgency," Kendal Unruh, leader of the anti-Trump "Free the Delegates" movement, told C-SPAN. "This is America, and people should have the sanctity of their vote not threatened, intimidated and coerced out of them... The system is rigged in order to make sure that Donald Trump gets this nomination."

Meanwhile, the Never Trump movement took the fight to Twitter:

UPDATE: 5:39 p.m. EDT — The Council on American-Islamic Relations urged Republicans Monday to embrace freedom of religion and stop blaming all Muslims for acts of violence carried out by some followers of Islam. Members of the group known as CAIR passed out chewing gum called, “Islamophobin: Multi-symptom relief for chronic Islamophobia” to people outside the Republican National Convention in Ohio. The satirical medicine, "treats blind intolerance, unthinking bigotry, irrational fear of Muslims [and] U. S. presidential election year scapegoating" and "may result in peaceful coexistence," the group said.

UPDATE: 5:27 p.m. EDT — Of the 54 Republicans in the U.S. Senate, 19 won't attend the Republican National Convention this week, ABC News reported Monday. Many prominent Republicans, including former Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, refused to attend in an act of protest against the nomination of Donald Trump as the GOP presidential candidate.

UPDATE: 5:20 p.m. EDT — Donald Trump supporters and a group of Black Lives Matter activists had to be separated by police Monday outside the Republican National Convention in Ohio after the Trump backers started yelling insults.

The Los Angeles Times reported that a dozen men wearing hats that read "Fear God" or "Obey Jesus" started shouting at anti-Trump demonstrators who were chanting "Black Lives Matter." One Trump supporter screamed, "Micah Johnson is your hero." Johnson killed five police officers earlier this month during a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas.

Cleveland police officers stood in between the two groups to discourage violence.

"Our focus is not on trying to be louder than the next guy," said Devin Rodgers, 27, of Cleveland, who supports the Black Lives Matter social justice movement. "It's about trying to show people who we are and get them to understand where we come from."

UPDATE: 5:08 p.m. EDT — Utah Sen. Mike Lee defended supporters of the so-called Never Trump movement who tried Monday to block Donald Trump from receiving the GOP nomination at the Republican National Convention in Ohio.

"A roll call vote is our right as delegates," said Lee, as protesters chanted "roll call vote!" "Those who are calling for unity need to keep that in mind – if they want unity, treat us respectfully as delegates."

The chaos Monday unfolded after a majority of delegates from 11 states asked for a roll call vote in a last-minute effort to get permission to vote for whoever they wanted instead of the candidate voters in their state backed.

Party officials said they would not hold a roll call vote Monday because not enough delegates wanted one. Trump's team said last week it had "crushed" the Never Trump movement.

Lee called the fight, "surreal."

UPDATE: 4:45 p.m. EDT — The Republican delegates who circulated a petition Monday at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland as a means to force a vote on changing the convention's rules apparently felt "cheated" after their efforts were denied. A roll call vote would have given the so-called Never Trump movement a chance to unbind the delegates from lending their support to the candidate their state voted for during the primary season.

"If rules don't matter, I don't know why we spend so much time writing them," former Attorney General of Virginia Ken Cuccinelli said to MSNBC, according to a tweet from MSNBC reporter Andrew Rafferty.

The rules of the convention allow for roll call votes if there are enough signatures on a given petition. A party official ultimately determined that not enough people were vocally in favor of a roll call vote.

UPDATE: 4:27 p.m. EDT — Confusion abounded Monday afternoon during the quest for some Republican delegates to force a roll call vote to change Republican National Convention rules in order to unbind them from voting how their state did. Donald Trump supporters were vocally opposing the apparent, so-called Never Trump movement.

The action on the convention floor has apparently infuriated some of the pro-Trump delegates to the point they have walked out.

A vocal vote was ultimately taken to see how many delegates were in favor of voting to change the rules, with a resounding "Aye!" being voiced in unison by the group. That would seem to mean that a roll call vote was looming on the horizon.

A Republican official soon announced there were not enough signatures on the petition to proceed with a roll call vote.

UPDATE: 4:02 p.m. EDT — A new poll gives Hillary Clinton the slightest of leads ahead of Donald Trump. But with the Republican National Convention having kicked off Monday and Trump likely to endear himself to more voters, the race for the White House just got that much tighter.

The former secretary of state was clinging to a 2 point lead, the Hill reported. The Morning Consult survey registered Clinton with 41 percent to Trump's 39 percent, and 20 percent of those surveyed indicated they had not yet decided. But when taking Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson's support into account, Clinton's lead on Trump expands by 1 point.

Other national polls released this week also indicate that Clinton's lead has indeed shrunken.

UPDATE: 3:20 p.m. EDT — House Speaker Paul Ryan admitted Monday in his strongest terms yet that Donald Trump is not his first choice to win the Republican nomination for president, Politico reported. Trump is "not my kind of conservative," said Ryan, who formally endorsed the New York real estate mogul in early June, just days after he questioned his ability to support a Trump candidacy.

"What I do know for sure is if we disunify, then we hand the left the country by default for another four years," Ryan said in Cleveland. "I just don’t want to be a party to that. I don’t want to be complicit to that."

UPDATE: 3:20 p.m. EDT — Competing political protests surrounding the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, were "clashing" Monday afternoon without any reports of violence, but there were some derogatory terms being thrown around, according to a video and photo tweeted by a reporter on the scene.

The protesters demonstrating against presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump were contained by police to a certain part of downtown Cleveland before the protest ended.

UPDATE: 2:41 p.m. EDT — A petition at the Republican National Convention likely related to the Never Trump movement is demanding a roll call vote on the rules of the convention. It has been signed by 11 delegates from the District of Columbia, according to a tweet from a D.C. delegate who also signed the petition.

In addition to the District, eight states are also "rebelling against Trump," Kris Hammond tweeted.

The petition was apparently launched by Republicans who want to nominate someone other than Donald Trump to represent the party on the presidential ballot, but it requires signatures from most of the delegates from each "rebelling" state, Politico explained.

Submitting those signatures would force a roll call floor vote from all 2,472 delegates to the convention on the Republican National Committee rules that an 112-member panel voted through last week. Those rules required pledged delegates to vote for the candidate dictated by their state's primary or caucus results, a system that would allow Trump to clear the number of votes he needs for a nomination. The faction is hoping those rules will be voided and replaced with rules that allow delegates to vote their conscience.

The petition states in part: "we the undersigned delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention hereby demand a roll call vote on the following items: 1. On the Report of the Convention Committee on Rules of Order of Business; 2. On all minority reports and amendments to the Report of the Convention Committee on Rules and Order of Business.

Pundits have said they don't expect the effort to thwart Trump's eventual nomination.

UPDATE: 2 p.m. EDT — Hillary Clinton will reportedly be in Florida by the end of the week to announce her choice for a vice presidential candidate. The news about the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate came shortly after the Republican National Convention got underway Monday afternoon.

UPDATE: 1:23 p.m. EDT — Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Preibus banged the gavel Monday in Cleveland to great applause as he marked the official start to the 2016 Republican National Convention. Immediately afterward, he asked for a moment of silence to mourn the deaths of the police officers who have recently died during a spate of civilian violence aimed at law enforcement.

"Before we begin the official business of this convention, I would like to take a moment to recognize the fallen police officers in Baton Rouge, Dallas, and elsewhere," Priebus said to delegates. "The men and women who protect our safety and well-being, who put their lives on the line every day, they're our genuine heroes. We also want to recognize the families who lost loved ones during these troubling times. Our nation grieves when we see these awful killings."

Meanwhile, there has been at least one arrest in Cleveland, though the details surrounding the police action were not immediately clear.

UPDATE: 12:59 p.m. EDT — A pro-Donald Trump rally was competing with an anti-Trump rally Monday afternoon shortly before the official start of the Republican National Convention, though neither really attracted too many people, photos on social media showed.

Security was present at each rally, but it was mostly limited to Cleveland Police Department officers on bike in the city's downtown neighborhood at Settler's Landing.

Meanwhile, authorities were still responding to a separate anti-Trump protest on Sunday, when police detained a man for stealing a gas mask from law enforcement. Joselito DeJesus was officially charged Monday with one count of petty theft, Cleveland.com reported. DeJesus, 38, has "mental issues," Cleveland Police Department Chief Calvin Williams said Monday during a press conference.

UPDATE: 11:55 a.m. EDT — The number of high profile Republicans who are missing the Republican National Convention has apparently riled the ranks of Donald Trump's campaign, which on Monday called out George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush for making a "wrong decision" to not come to Cleveland.

Trump's campaign chairman Paul Manafort dismissed the dynastic former presidents as not being part of the party's future, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"Certainly the Bush family, while we would have liked to have had them, they're part of the past," Manafort said Monday during a press briefing. "We’re dealing with the future."

The Trump campaign also turned its related attention to Ohio Gov. John Kasich, the one-time presidential candidate who is also skipping the convention that is being held in his home state. Manafort told MSNBC Monday morning that Kasich, who refuses to endorse Trump's candidacy, was also making a mistake by not attending.

"You know what, he's making a big mistake," Manafort said. "He's hurting his state and embarrassing his state, frankly. But most of the Republicans who aren't coming are people who have been part of the past. And people who are part of the future of the Republican Party are, frankly, going to be here participating in the program."

UPDATE: 11:41 a.m. EDT — A bomb-sniffing dog was alerted Monday to something in Quicken Loans Arena, resulting in the building being at least partially evacuated so officials could conduct an investigation. The building has been placed on lockdown, according to a tweet from someone in attendance.

UPDATE: 11:26 a.m. EDT — The downtown Cleveland building that is housing the Republican National Convention was being evacuated late Monday morning, according to reports. The Quicken Loans Arena was being emptied as emergency vehicles arrives, though the reason for the evacuation was not immediately announced.

UPDATE: 10:20 a.m. EDT — Donald Trump has received some advice, though it's unclear if it is unsolicited or not. Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions doesn't think Trump should address expound on his views and presidential plans when it comes to topic of trade during the events surrounding the Republican National Convention, which starts Monday at 1 p.m. EDT.

"I think he does not need to get in the weeds with a whole lot of details," Sessions said Monday on MSNBC. "He needs to go forward with a plan that would strengthen our immigration system, make sure it serves our interests and he needs to say that the trade deals, he's going to fight for every single job."

Trump has had plenty to say about trade over the past few weeks, including during a speech in which he targeted Hillary Clinton's stances on trade and Wall Street. Late last month, the New York businessman was blasted by top union bosses as being a "fraud" on trade.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee hinted that he would be speaking on Day 1 of the RNC, a departure from the tradition of keeping a would-be nominee from the stage until closer to the end of the convention.

UPDATE: 9:39 a.m. EDT — Images from around Cleveland have been to make the rounds on social media, with Republican National Convention-goers documenting the hours before the GOP event gets underway. From delegates to various Republican contingencies to social messages, it seems that all corners of political activity are being covered before the main event starts.

Day 1 of the RNC gets underway at 1 p.m. EDT.

UPDATE: 9:23 a.m. EDT — Donald Trump will again steer away from political tradition and plans to introduce his wife before she speaks Monday night at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Typically, presumptive presidential nominees wait until later in the week of a convention to take the stage.

UPDATE: 8:23 a.m. EDT — The ghostwriter of Donald Trump's book, "The Art of the Deal," announced through an interview that he feels personally responsible for misleading the public about the New York billionaire and regrets that it is about to culminate in the businessman becoming the Republican nominee for president of the United States.

"I put lipstick on a pig," Tony Schwartz told the New Yorker in an exclusive interview that is scheduled to hit newsstands July 25. "I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is."

The timing of the interview is likely not a coincidence as excerpts began circulating online Sunday night just hours before the Republican National Convention gets underway in Cleveland.

UPDATE: 7:54 a.m. EDT — The theme for the opening day of the 2016 Republican National Convention is "Make America Safe Again," Cleveland.com reported. The phrase is an apparent play on presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign motto, "Make America Great Again."

It could also be a reference to the recent spate of police killings and violence against police that have rocked the country and heightened awareness over the intersection of race and policing in the U.S., something President Barack Obama drew further attention to last week during a town hall event.

While Trump is not scheduled to speak at the GOP event until Thursday, NBC's Savannah Guthrie has announced Trump will be at the first day of the convention.

The night before, the city of Cleveland, where the convention is being held, staged a "welcome party" of sorts for those who have arrived to the Midwestern hub, complete with a fireworks display.

Other confirmed attendees for Day 1 of the Republican National Convention are House Speaker Paul Ryan and Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, who were both spotted Sunday in Quicken Loans Arena, the site of the convention.

Original story:

Republicans are gathering in Cleveland this week to take part — or in some cases, not — in the 2016 Republican National Convention during which Donald Trump is expected to accept the party's nomination to officially run for president of the United States on the GOP ticket.

With speculation at a fever pitch and news leaking last week of Trump's choice of vice presidential candidate, the New York billionaire officially introduced Indiana Gov. Mike Pence Saturday as his running mate following a tweet one day earlier confirming many people's suspicions. Trump's official news conference for the announcement was delayed by one day out of respect to the victims of Thursday night's terror attacks in Nice, France.

All of that set the stage for Day 1 of the Republican National Convention Monday, during which a healthy slate of speakers are scheduled to address throngs of loyal party members on a number of topics, including the 2012 Benghazi terror attacks and immigration, according to the Atlantic.

Speakers scheduled for the opening night of the RNC who have the most name recognition include Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, former New York City mayor and 2008 presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, Iowa Sen. Jodi Ernst and the presidential candidate's wife, Melania Trump.

Perhaps to help shore up Trump's sagging support among black voters, Jamiel Shaw Sr. — a black man whose son was killed by an undocumented immigrant — is also scheduled to speak. Shaw has been a staunch supporter of Trump's contentious immigration policies.

Not all Republicans have rallied behind Trump's candidacy, however, including former presidential candidate Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who will be in Cleveland — but not to support the real estate magnate. He refuses to endorse Trump and plans to attend various party meetings before leaving town Thursday, the same day Trump is scheduled to speak, WKSU reported.

Other prominent Republicans not attending the RNC include former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin; former presidents George W. and George H.W. Bush and Arizona Sen. John McCain. Three former presidential candidates are also abstaining: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.