Mike Wendling
Reporting from the convention

What's the reaction to Haley's speech from RNC floor?

It's a thumbs-up from one resident of the former governor's home state.

Debbie Epling, 60, Republican chair of Aiken County in South Carolina, says: "She’s great.

"I was neutral in the primary, but happy to support whoever the nominee was.

"I think the page was turned - actually, I think the page was turned when she was invited on Sunday night.

"Everybody’s worried about four more years of Joe Biden, or four more days of Joe Biden."

Haley's speech was a first step to healing primary woundspublished at 02:55 British Summer Time 17 July

02:55 BST 17 July

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent, reporting from the convention

Image source, Reuters

Nikki Haley – who was greeted at the Republican convention with scattered boos – opened her speech with a clear, firm endorsement of the former president.

That wasn’t exactly news – she had said she was voting for him months earlier and released her convention delegates to back him last week – but her affirmation was welcomed with thunderous applause.

She then set about trying to convince the Republicans who supported her, even long after it was clear Trump had the nomination sewn up, to back the man she once sharply criticised.

“You don’t have to agree with Trump 100% of the time to vote for him. Take it from me,” she said.

“I haven’t always agreed with President Trump. But we agree more than we disagree.”

The rest of her speech touched on foreign policy, immigration and crime, taking swipes at Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris, for good measure. When she mentioned their names, the crowd booed.

It may not have been enough to fully repair the damage her campaign did among the Trump faithful, but it was an important start - if she wants to have a future in Republican politics.

Image source, Reuters

Seated beside his running mate, JD Vance, Trump is watching on as his former rivals for the Republican nomination take the stage one-by-one to pay their respects to him.

Trump is clapping along with each applause line, and is seen occasionally commenting on the speakers.

He grew animated when Nikki Haley came out and gave him her full endorsement. Trump appeared to be using the word "great" repeatedly.

He’s been engaging with Vance a lot, at times smiling and laughing, according to our reporters inside the arena - in particular during Ted Cruz's speech.

When Ron DeSantis said that Democrats are in favour of "open borders" except when you send them to the liberal enclave of Martha's Vineyard - as the Florida governor once did - Trump was seen laughing.

Ron DeSantis is getting a strong reception from the crowd in Milwaukee.

"Let's send Joe Biden back to his basement and let's send Donald Trump back to the White House," he said.

He’s focused on two of Trump’s main campaign messages, the economy and the border.

He waded into some of his biggest political talking points: conservative culture war issues, such as how gender and sexuality is taught in schools.

He finishes his speech saying Americans need to "fight, fight, fight".

That's been a catchphrase of Republicans since the assassination attempt on Trump's life. It has been chanted throughout the convention hall here multiple times in the past two days.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent, at the convention

From the very start of the 2024 Republican presidential campaign, Donald Trump’s campaign team treated Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as their greatest rival for the nomination.

After the 2022 midterm elections, when DeSantis was comfortably re-elected while Trump-backed candidates frequently floundered, it appeared that the Florida governor might even have had the upper hand against the former president.

That all evaporated as the calendar turned to 2024. Trump’s criminal indictments consolidated his support among Republican voters, and DeSantis never found an effective response. He dropped out of the Republican race after finishing a distant second in the Iowa caucuses.

Now DeSantis takes his turn addressing the Republican convention crowd. If he still harbours presidential ambitions – and all indications are that he does - this might be viewed as his first speech for the 2028 presidential campaign.

More now from Nikki Haley, who has a message for the Republican convention crowd.

“You don’t have to agree with Trump 100% of the time to vote for him – take it from me,” she said.

“I haven’t always agreed with Trump, but we agree more than we disagree. We agree on keeping America strong, we agree on keeping America safe, and we agree that Democrats have moved so far to the left that they are endangering our freedom.

“I’m here because we have a country to save and a unified Republican party is essential for saving her,” she added.

Haley says America is too bitterly divided, "whether it's on college campuses, or a field in Butler, Pennsylvania" - a reference to the site of the attempt on Trump's life at the weekend.

"No president can fix all our problems alone. We have to do it together," she adds.

Nikki Haley says "we have to go with Donald Trump". The Republican nominee "has my strong endorsement", she says.

Her full endorsement is something she withheld for some time. Haley said in May that she would vote for the former president, but stopped short of giving him her total backing.

Gaetz and Greene thaw slightly to clap Haley's endorsement.

There were some boos down on the floor for Haley but these were quickly drowned out by more cheers.

Notably, congressional Trump loyalists Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz and others in the row behind the former president did not applaud for the former South Carolina governor.

Image source, Getty Images

Nikki Haley is on the stage. She walks out to a mixed reception, but there are more cheers than jeers.

A reminder: the former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor only signalled support for Trump in May after losing to him in the Republican primaries earlier in the year.

At the time she said that while she would be voting for him, that he would be smart to reach out to her supporters.

A source has told our US partner CBS that Donald Trump changed his schedule today to be here in the convention centre to hear former rivals Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis speak.

With Trump and JD Vance looking on from an elevated VIP box, the mood tonight has the feel of a Roman arena.

Mike Wendling
reporting from the convention

A short film has just been shown on the screen, featuring Trump and his false claims of voter fraud in 2020.

He pledges to institute same-day voting and paper ballots and accuses Democrats of widespread cheating at the ballot box.

“We must swamp them” with votes until Republicans win power, he says.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent, at the convention

During her 2024 presidential campaign, former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said Donald Trump was “unhinged”, “diminished” and not fit to be president again.

Now she is about to speak to the Republican National Convention, as Trump – who handily beat her in the nomination contests - watches on.

It will be interesting to see what kind of response the woman who once served in Trump’s administration receives from the assembled crowd. The former president has seemed willing to forgive her previous criticisms, having said she will be on his team “in some form”. His supporters may have different ideas.

Randy Sutton, a former police officer, has just finished speaking.

He’s one of the everyday speakers the RNC is calling on to offer an on-the-ground angle to the party's crime and immigration messaging.

“I’m here to tell you one thing America, Donald Trump is the best friend we will ever have,” he told the crowd.

“The abuse of our criminal justice system has made America more dangerous than ever before, police are the thin blue line,” he claimed.

He also framed a second-term Biden presidency as a threat to law enforcement, a popular conservative talking point.

Image source, Getty Images

Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who just spoke, is another former Trump rival who has become a key ally over the last few years.

"God bless Donald J Trump," Cruz began, adding that he "gives thanks to God almighty for protecting Trump, and for turning his head on Saturday as the shot was fired", hitting him in the ear.

He calls the immigration situation on the southern border with Mexico "a literal invasion".

He goes on to invoke the names of several people killed by illegal migrants and tells the crowd "Democrats wanted votes from illegals more than they wanted to protect our children".

There is no evidence of widespread voting by undocumented migrants, though the children of such migrants, if born in the US, will one day have the right to cast ballots in American elections. Studies suggest that undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than citizens.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from the convention

We're waiting to hear from some of the Republicans that took on Trump in the bruising primary contest, and some in the crowd here told me they wanted to see a more amicable tone this evening.

“Tonight is our unity night,” said New Hampshire state Senator William Gannon. Gannon was originally a delegate for Nikki Haley but after she bowed out of the race, switched his support to Trump. “I wanna win the national election,” he said. Haley did surprisingly well in New Hampshire, helped by a surge of independent voters. Gannon said he believed “it was a wise move to bring her in” for the convention.

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent, at the convention

Donald Trump made his entrance into the convention hall to the sound of a live rock band playing What I Like About You by the Ramones.

The video screens showed past clips of the former president dancing as the crowd whooped and got on their feet.

The mood tonight is much more jovial than yesterday, when the former president made his first public appearance since Saturday's assassination attempt and received a rapturous and emotional welcome.

Now Trump will be seated prominently in the VIP section as three of his former presidential rivals, Ted Cruz, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, deliver their convention speeches.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Donald Trump has just shown up at the convention.

He once again has a bandaged ear, from the injury he suffered during an assassination attempt on his life.

You can watch the convention live at the top of this page.

Mike Wendling
Reporting from the convention

Image source, Getty Images

JD Vance has appeared again at the convention, shaking hands and greeting delegates.

He arrives to the twangy Merle Haggard song “America First”. Not quite the anticipation and excitement of yesterday because the crowd expected him this time.

And of course, they expect Trump himself to appear soon.

The vice-presidential nominee completed a walk-through earlier on Tuesday on stage as he prepares for his big speech, which is expected tomorrow.

Image source, Getty Images

Reality TV actress Savannah Chrisley just took to the stage to criticise federal prosecutors for locking up her parents for tax evasion and fraud.

The prosecutors, says the star of “Chrisley Knows Best”, are from Fulton County - the same Georgia county that is pursuing charges against Trump and 18 other Republicans for election fraud.

She claims that Democrats are in favour of "releasing violent offenders" from prisons.

"Donald Trump has only one conviction that matters. And that conviction is to make American great again," she says.

Image source, Getty Images

In a twist to Tuesday's line-up, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice was joined on stage by his four-year-old English Bulldog - Babydog.

While on stage, Justice spoke on behalf of Babydog and offered her predictions for the upcoming election in November - including that Republicans will retain the house and "flip the senate".

Babydog has become a cultural symbol in West Virginian politics, often appearing alongside Justice in speeches, and even recently featuring in one of the murals unveiled this year in the State's Capitol.