JD Vance honors his mom in first major address as GOP VP at RNC; Don Jr., Kai Trump speak

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GOP voters praised former President Donald Trump's choice of Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate at the Republican National Convention.

"He's young, energetic, he's been under attack, and of course, anyone associated with President Trump is going to be attacked," Mary from Hawaii told Fox News Digital in Milwaukee, site of the 2024 RNC. "He's been battle-hardened. So I think it's a good pick."

Vance, 39, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022. The former Marine Corps combat correspondent graduated from Yale Law School and rose to fame after writing the bestselling 2016 memoir "Hillbilly Elegy" about his Appalachian childhood.

Paul from Buffalo, New York, has been a Vance fan ever since reading his book.

"At the time when I read it, I had no idea that he was ever going to enter politics, much less have this meteoric rise," he said, adding that he trusts Vance to advocate for the "America First agenda" and believes the Ohio native has his "finger on the pulse of working class" concerns.

Ed from Zanesville, Ohio, was happy to see one of the "hometown boys" picked.

"He understands the average American," Ed said. "And he understands what's been happening to our economy."

Those who dislike Trump were not keen on his choice for VP.

"I have absolutely no interest in JD Vance or anyone that Donald Trump would pick to be his vice president," Michael from New Jersey said.

Ellen called Vance a "Trump clone" and said that at least former Vice President Mike Pence had a "different view of the Republican Party than Donald Trump."

Fox News' Kira Mautone and Hannah Ray Lambert contributed to this report.

Five days after surviving an assassination attempt, former President Trump on Thursday will formally accept the GOP presidential nomination during the culminating moment of the 2024 Republican National Convention.

The shooting, at Trump's rally Saturday in western Pennsylvania where one spectator was killed, along with the gunman, instantly impacted the tone and message of the convention, and altered the former president's address.

The Trump campaign has said this week that the former president - following his brush with death - will use his speech to call for unity in the face of tragedy instead of criticizing his political adversaries.

Trump, in an interview Sunday with the Washington Examiner, said "honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now."

"It is a chance to bring the country together. I was given that chance," he emphasized.

And in an email to supporters on the eve of his address, Trump said "I will lay out my vision to UNITE OUR COUNTRY AND MAKE IT GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!"

The push for party unity was on display during the first three days of the convention, with former GOP presidential rivals Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley - who battled Trump in a contentious primary season - delivered speeches from the podium in support of the former president.

Fox News' Paul Steinhauser and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

As the Republican National Convention continues and preparations are made for remarks from former President Trump on Thursday, here is a look back at his two previous addresses at the conventions in 2016 and 2020:

Following an unpredictable Republican presidential primary race in 2016, Trump made his debut at the RNC in Cleveland. In his speech, Trump decried political correctness, telling attendees, "It is finally time for a straightforward assessment of the state of our nation. I will present the facts plainly and honestly. … We cannot afford to be so politically correct anymore."

Much of his remarks emphasized his vision for returning the U.S. to law and order, particularly as it relates to crime and the southern border.

Trump talked about crimes perpetrated by illegal immigrants as he pushed for a more secure border, starting a trend that has continued, with Republicans emphasizing heinous crimes allegedly committed by suspects who entered the country illegally.

"One such border-crosser was released and made his way to Nebraska. There, he ended the life of an innocent young girl named Sarah Root. She was 21 years old and was killed the day after graduating from college with a 4.0 grade point average, No. 1 in her class," he told listeners.

Trump's 2016 remarks would preview what much of his presidency would go on to look like, with a strong emphasis on illegal immigration.

In 2020, after Trump had served in the role of commander in chief for several years, his remarks began to focus on a different subject. By this point, the country was in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and a vaccination had yet to be made available. Due to the pandemic, many speeches were even delivered remotely.

"In recent months, our nation and the entire planet has been struck by a new and powerful invisible enemy. Like those brave Americans before us, we are meeting this challenge," then-President Trump said. "We are delivering lifesaving therapies and will produce a vaccine before the end of the year or maybe even sooner. We will defeat the virus, end the pandemic and emerge stronger than ever before."

Fox News' Julia Johnson contributed to this report.

People attending the Republican National Convention were observed wearing ear patches as a show of solidarity for former President Trump, who is wearing a patch on his ear after sustaining injuries to his ear when he survived an assassination attempt.

This comes after Saturday's shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where gunman Thomas Mathew Crooks opened fire and attempted to kill the former president.

Ohio Sen. and Republican candidate for Vice President JD Vance gave a touching nod to his mother, Beverly Aikins during his remarks at the Republican National Convention Wednesday.

"It's about single moms like mine, who struggle with money and addiction but never gave up," Vance said as his mother sat watching in former President Donald Trump's Friends and Family box for the speech. "I am proud to say that tonight my mom is here, 10 years clean and sober. I love you, mom."

Vance stepped aside and acknowledged is mother while the crowd belted out a chant of "JD's Mom! JD's Mom!"

Before running for Senate, Vance was best-known as the author of the bestselling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," which details the Ohio senator's rural upbringing and his family history struggles with poverty and substance abuse.

Much of the book focused on his mother, who Vance recalled struggled with substance abuse and at times was aggressive at home. The dysfunction, Vance recalled, eventually caused him to be placed in the care of his grandparents, who became his primary caregivers.

Vance also paid tribute to his grandmother, saying she was his "guardian angel" growing up despite the economic struggles that plagued areas such as his hometown.

"Thanks to Mamaw, things worked out for me," Vance said.

The newly nominated vice presidential candidate JD Vance’s mother, Beverly Vance, gave birth to Vance in 1984 when she was 24-years-old.

As Vance documented in his  bestselling book ‘Hillbilly Elegy’, his father walked out on his mother when he was a toddler and she began to struggle with substance abuse and addiction.  Additionally, she would sometimes abuse her young son.

Ultimately, Vance was placed in the care of his grandparents who he described as union Democrats.

Beverly Vance has two children, JD, and his older sister Lindsey. Both children were raised in the southwestern Ohio city of Middletown.

Beverly, who worked as a nurse, was arrested when he was 12-years-old which he told People Magazine was a traumatizing experience.

“In that moment I just felt relieved and I thought to myself, ‘Alright I’m going to live another day,” said in an interview. 

“I just wanted that situation to end and then I just broke down. I was just really sad and felt very lonely because I’m sitting in the back of this police cruiser, they just arrested my mom, the relief of having survived another day was gone and then I just wanted someone to come and take me away.”

Beverly Vance, who has been sober since 2014, was married a total of five times and Vance ultimately took his surname Vance from his grandparents.

Vance's mother was in attendance on Wednesday for his speech.

"Our movement is about single moms like mine who struggled with money and addiction but never gave up and I'm proud to say that tonight my mom is here ten years clean and sober," Vance said. "I love you, Mom."

Usha Vance, the wife of GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance, introduced her husband in a speech to the RNC on Wednesday night.

"I met J.D. in law school when he was fresh out of Ohio State which he attended with the support of the GI Bill," Usha Vance said. "We were friends first because, I mean, who wouldn't want to be friends with J.D.? He was then, as now, the most interesting person I knew -- a working class guy who had overcome childhood traumas that I could barely fathom to end up at Yale Law School. A tough marine who had served in Iraq, but whose idea of a good time was playing with puppies and watching the movie Babe."

Usha Vance described her husband as the "most determined person I knew with one overriding ambition to become a husband and a father and to build the kind of tight knit family that he had longed for as a child."

Usha Vance explained that her upbringing was very different than that of her husband but he "approached our differences with curiosity and enthusiasm."

"The J.D. I knew then is the same J.D. you see today, except for that beard, and, and his goals in this new role are the same that he has pursued for our family," Vance explained. "To keep people safe, to create opportunities to build a better life, and to solve problems with an open mind."

Vance said that it is "safe to say" that neither expected to find themselves in this position.

"But it's hard to imagine a more powerful example of the American dream."

Donald Trump Jr. reflected on his father's attempted assassination at his Pennsylvania rally over the weekend before introducing the Trump campaign's recently-tapped VP nominee, JD Vance, on night three of the RNC in battleground city Milwaukee, WI.

"And in that moment, my father didn't just show his character he showed America's character," Trump Jr. said, recounting Saturday's events. "When he stood up, with blood on his face, and the flag in the back, the world saw a spirit that could never be broken."

Trump Jr. also defended his father against the mainstream media, saying, "We won't ever forget the lies from left wing politicians from their allies in the media."

"You fully understand the extent they have gone to divide this great nation," he said. "They lied about Russia collusion. They lied about Hunter's laptop. They lied about Joe Biden's fitness for office."

"We can't live on nostalgia," Trump Jr. said. "Yes, America was great. But our greatest days are yet to come. Because no matter how far off that old photo may feel, it's not the end of our story. We're like that man who stood on that platform and felt the bullet pierce his flesh just days ago in Pennsylvania. He may have moved to the ground, but he stood back up and when he did, my father raised his fist into the air. He looked out at the crowd and what did he say?"

The crowd erupted in chants of "fight, fight, fight" after his remarks, echoing Trump's rallying cry on Saturday following the near-assassination attempt on him, where a bullet narrowly missed and grazed his right ear.

"And we will fight," Trump Jr. said. "We will fight. We will fight with our voices. We will fight with our tears. And on November fifth, we will fight with our vote."

"JD Vance is going to make one hell of a vice president," Trump Jr. concluded, as some delegates chanted "JD, JD, JD."

Ohio Sen. JD Vance, who was chosen as former President Donald Trump's running mate on the first day of the Republican convention, plans to tie President Biden's career in politics to the struggles of his upbringing during his Wednesday speech.

"When I was in the fourth grade, a career politician by the name of Joe Biden supported NAFTA, a bad trade deal that sent countless good American manufacturing jobs to Mexico," Vance will say. "When I was a sophomore in high school, a career politician by the name of Joe Biden gave China a sweetheart trade deal that destroyed even more good middle class jobs. And when I was a senior in high school, Joe Biden supported the disastrous invasion of Iraq."

Vance will argue that Trump opposed all of those policies, stances that eventually led to his run for president.

"Somehow, a real estate developer from New York by the name of Donald Trump was right on all of these issues while Joe Biden was wrong. Donald Trump knew, even then, that we needed leaders who would put AMERICA FIRST," Vance plans to say.

Former President Trump's granddaughter Kai Trump spoke at the RNC convention on Wednesday night and defended him against his critics.

"He calls me during the middle of the school day to ask how my golf game is going and tells me all about his but then I have to remind him that I'm in school and I'll have to call him back later," Trump's granddaughter told a raucous crowd in Milwaukee.

"On Saturday, I was shocked when I heard that he has been shot and I just wanted to know if he was okay," Trump said describing the events following the attempted assassination of the former president.

"A lot of people have put my grandpa through hell and he's still standing," the teenager added.

"Grandpa, you are such an inspiration and I love you," Trump said. "The media makes my grandpa seem like a different person. But I know him for who he is. He's very caring and loving. He truly wants the best for this country. And he will fight every single day to make America great again. Thank you very much."

WWII and D-Day veteran Sgt. William Pekrul, 98, received a standing ovation and loud cheers following his emotional RNC speech on night three of the RNC.

"It hurts my heart to see what our current president and vice president have done to the country I love so well," Pekrul said. "As we [get] pushed around by China, terrorists run wild in the Middle East and they let our own southern border get overrun."

Pekrul called "America is the greatest nation in the history of the world," and said when he came back from war in Europe, "I kissed the ground."

RNC delegates gave Pekrul a standing ovation and chanted "USA," while former President Trump smiled on and applauded.

Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and John Barrasso of Wyoming said Wednesday that they confronted Kimberly Cheatle, director of the U.S. Secret Service, "face to face" at the Republican National Convention.

In a video shared to social media, Barrasso said he and Blackburn sought "specific answers about what happened with President Trump in Pennsylvania and how that shooter was able to get off a clear shot when the FBI and Secret Service knew that there was a suspicious person an hour in advance of when the shooting occured."

Video of the confrontation was also shared on social media.

Blackburn added, "And they identified a potential threat at 5:51."

"She would not answer our questions. She wanted to say it was not the time or place. This is after we've been through a conference call today, where the question que got cut off," Blackburn added.

Blackburn also issued a message for Cheatle: "She can run, but she cannot hide because the American people want to know how an assassination attempt was carried out on former President Donald Trump.

Questions remain about how the 20-year-old shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, managed to climb on top of a building and open fire at former President Donald Trump and rally attendees in Butler, Pennsylvania, last Saturday.

Cheatle said in an interview Tuesday that her agency was "solely responsible" for the implementation and execution of security there.

She told CNN that no assets from the rally were diverted on the day Trump was shot, even though other events in the state required Secret Service protection.

"At that particular site, we divided up areas of responsibility, but the Secret Service is totally responsible for the design and implementation and the execution of the site," Cheatle said.

Cheatle, in a separate interview with ABC News, said the agency was aware of the security vulnerabilities presented by the building Crooks took a sniper's position on aiming at Trump.

Fox News' Brianna Herlihy contributed to this update.

Fox News' Brooke Singman caught up with Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn on the floor of the 2024 National Convention to discuss the impact the attempted assassination on former President Donald Trump had on the political event.

"There is an atmosphere of gratitude and appreciation and also a recognition that God really had his hand on Donald Trump on Saturday and spared his life," Blackburn said. "I think that sense of humbleness and appreciation that President Trump, the two nights that he has come, how impactful that has been to the American people."

Republican and Democratic politicians, business leaders, delegates and the American people took to social media to express their well wishes for Trump following the assassination attempt on Saturday in Pennsylvania."It is great that President Trump is doing well," Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., posted to X. "It was sad beyond measure that a rally attendee was killed and that others were wounded."

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., wrote to X, "Political violence is absolutely unacceptable."

He added, "I wish Donald Trump, and anyone else who may have been hurt, a speedy recovery."

A group of University of North Carolina (UNC) frat boys who protected an American flag from anti-Israel agitators during a campus demonstration earlier this year received a warm welcome on Day 3 of the RNC as they each carried American flags.

"When the mob tried to take down the American flag on our campus, we knew we couldn't let that happen," one of the frat boys said at the RNC. "We stood guard, we held it up and we did not let it fall."

"Too many people have sacrificed everything for it," the student said. "Too many people have sacrified everything for it. The least we can do was keep it flying, and tonight we are proud to honor our flag again."

After enduring nearly an hour of screaming, slurring and flying objects, the fraternity brothers held up the fallen American flag until it could be restored in a display that many considered a heroic act of patriotism on May 1. A GoFundMe was started to throw a party for the fraternities involved, which raised over half a million dollars by the time donations closed. 

Fox News Digital's Kendall Tietz contributed to this report.

Family members of the 13 U.S. service members who lost their lives during the final days of the U.S. war in Afghanistan spoke at the Republican National Convention Wednesday.

Fox News' Emma Colton captured the emotional scene from the crowd, with most of the audience remaining on their feet as the Gold Star families made their remarks.

During the remarks, the names of each service member who died were read to the audience, with those in attendance shouting the names back in return.

Fox News' Brooke Singman took to the Republican National Convention perimeter in Milwaukee and spoke with attendees regarding their red, white and blue fashion choices.

"There's a lot of energy, a lot of fun and a lot of great outfits," Singman said.

One woman's ensemble, including her hat, were completely decked out in Trump and American pride-themed pins. She specified that she began her collection with one of Trump riding down the escalator in 2015 where the former president announced his bid to run in 2016. Some of the pins atop her hat read "Trump 2016", "Trump 2024", "Vets for Trump", "Tim Sheehy U.S. Senate" and "Adorable Deplorable", among others.

Sheehy is the GOP candidate looking to unseat Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester.

Another woman rocked Trump socks, red and white "Trump 2024" shoes and matching clothing and another woman wore a handmade yellow "political statement" dress which read "Don't Tread on Me." She added that she is wearing a different handmade dress for each day of the 2024 Republican convention.

An elderly man in a wheelchair stopped to tell Singman about his trappings which included a "Trump 2024" visor that donned Trump-esque hair which he jokingly said is all his.

"I borrowed it," the man said. "Don't tell him."

Florida Rep. Carlos Gimenez told Fox News Digital he’s “curious” to hear how former President Trump's RNC speech changed after he narrowly survived an assassination attempt at his Pennsylvania rally on Saturday.

“I expect…we're going to change the direction of this country, but we're going to do it in a unified way," Gimenez said. "I'm really kind of pumped up to try to listen to what he's gonna say. I've been hearing that he's changed his speech, that, the events of Saturday have changed him. And so I'm really curious as to how that's gonna come out.”

Trump indicated he had scrapped his original 20-page speech and "starting all over." He is expected to address the RNC on Thursday, the last night of the convention, where he will also formally accept the Republican Party's nomination to be their presidential candidate.