WASHINGTON, D.C. — Speaking to a crowd at the White House Rose Garden, first lady Melania Trump set a much different tone than the dark messaging of many of the speakers at the Republican National Convention’s opening night.
“In my husband, you have a president who will not stop fighting for you and your families,” she said. “He will not give up.”
The First Lady’s remarks capped off a very non-traditional night, which featured a speech pulled at the last minute, an unprecedented address from a sitting secretary of state, and a cavalcade of members of the Trump family.
Here are 5 takeaways from Night 2 of the RNC:
POMP AND PAGEANTRY
Monday night, President Trump hosted two pre-recorded meetings at the White House – one with freed hostages, the other thanking frontline workers.
Tuesday, the president took it one step further, hosting two events that only a sitting president can do – a pardon and a naturalization ceremony, two typical duties of a president, but not during a political convention.
First, the convention played a video of Trump signing a pardon for Jon Ponder, a convicted bank robber who founded a nonprofit organization that helps formerly incarcerated individuals.
“Two years ago, I was honored to tell Jon Ponder’s story of transformation in the Rose Garden on the National Day of Prayer,” Trump said in the video. “Jon’s life is a beautiful testament to the power of redemption.”
“Today, praise God, I am filled with hope – a proud American citizen who has been given a second chance,” Ponder says.
Later, Trump hosted a naturalization ceremony with acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, who Trump said Tuesday he plans to formally nominate to the position.
The naturalization ceremony could be construed as a violation of the Hatch Act. Even though President Trump is exempt from the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities while on duty, the law may apply to Acting Secretary Wolf.
It also raises the question about whether two members of the U.S. armed forces who appeared in the naturalization ceremony video could be in violation of Defense Department policy for wearing their uniforms at a political event.
Two Army soldiers are being investigated for taking part in the roll call at last week’s Democratic National Convention under similar circumstances.
There were two other notable unprecedented moments Tuesday night – the first lady’s speech from the White House Rose Garden and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s speech from Jerusalem.
A FAMILY AFFAIR
Other than Secretary Pompeo, the most noteworthy speakers Tuesday night all had one thing in common: The “Trump” surname.
Night 2 of the RNC featured speeches from first lady Melania Trump and the president’s children, Tiffany and Eric.
Tiffany Trump’s speech praised the president for signing the First Step Act and the Right to Try Act and urged voters who “care about living your life without restraints, about rebelling against those who would suppress your voice, and building your American dream” to vote for her father.
Eric Trump opened his remarks by invoking the “forgotten men and women” who supported the president’s 2016 campaign. “First, we were ignored, then we were laughed at, then they fought us, and then, together, we won,” he said. He closed with a personal appeal message to his father.
“I miss working alongside you every day, but I’m damn proud to be on the front lines of this fight. I am proud of what you are doing for this country. I am proud to show my children what their grandfather is fighting for. I am proud to watch you give them hell.”
Melania ended her remarks Tuesday night, saying that her husband “supports me in all that I do.”
“I know I speak for my husband and the family when I say we are so grateful that you have trusted him to be our president, and we will be honored to serve this incredible country for four more years.”
BASHING THE MEDIA
While many speakers Tuesday took the opportunity to tell personal stories and anecdotes about Donald Trump, his youngest daughter Tiffany was not one of them.
Instead, she took the opportunity to slam technology and media companies, saying that “people must recognize that our thoughts, opinions, and even the choice of who we vote for are being manipulated and invisibly coerced by the media and tech giants.”
“If you tune into the media, you get one biased opinion or another,” she added. “And if what you share does not fit into the narrative they seek to promote, then it is either ignored or deemed a ‘lie,’ regardless of the truth. This manipulation of what information we receive impedes our freedoms.”
She went on to accuse the media of being a “misinformation system” that “keeps people mentally enslaved to the ideas they deem correct.”
Tiffany Trump was not alone in lobbying attacks against what President Trump calls the “fake news media.” Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds slammed the media’s lack of coverage of the derecho storms that slammed the Midwest earlier this month.
“When the winds had finished raging, and the cleanup had only begun, he showed up,” Reynolds said. “You might not know, because the national media didn’t report it. But the Trump administration was here. In full force.”
Eric Trump also echoed his younger sister’s attacks, claiming “the media mocked” Trump supporters “and ‘the flyover states’ in which they lived.”
In the final speech of the night, Melania Trump criticized the media, urging outlets to spend more time covering the other impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, such as increased addiction rates.
A SPEECH SCRATCHED AT THE LAST MINUTE
Mary Ann Mendoza, a member of the Trump campaign advisory board who was set to speak at the RNC on Tuesday, had her speech abruptly pulled after retweeting a thread promoting an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.
The Daily Beast was first to report on the tweet, which has since been deleted.
Trump campaign spokesperson Tim Murtaugh said, “We have removed the scheduled video from the convention lineup, and it will no longer run this week.”
Mendoza was expected to talk about her son’s 2014 death at the hands of a man who was driving under the influence and living in the U.S. illegally. Mendoza was part of a group of so-called “angel moms” whose children have been killed by people in the country illegally.
Mendoza apologized for the tweet, writing that she “retweeted a very long thread earlier without reading every post within the thread” and said it “does not reflect my feelings or personal thoughts whatsoever.”
She was also identified by CNN as a board member of Steve Bannon’s “We Build the Wall” foundation. Bannon, the former adviser to President Trump, pleaded not guilty last week after he and three others were indicted by federal prosecutors and charged with attempting to defraud donors to the fundraising campaign.
A Republican familiar with the plans told the Associated Press that the controversy about her retweet was why Mendoza’s speech was pulled.
TWO UNCONVENTIONAL SPEECHES
In the coming days, much will likely be made of two of the night’s most notable speakers: Melania Trump and Pompeo.
The first lady closed the night by speaking to a live crowd at the White House Rose Garden.
Her speech stood out because she expressed sympathy and compassion for families impacted by COVID-19, which she called an “invisible enemy.”
“I know many people are anxious, and some feel helpless. I want you to know you’re not alone,” she said.
“Donald will not rest until he has done all he can to take care of everyone impacted by this pandemic,” she added.
She also addressed the racial unrest in America after the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery.
“Like all of you,” she said, “I have reflected on the racial unrest in our country. It is a harsh reality that we are not proud of parts of our history. I encourage people to focus on our future while still learning from our past.”
Rather than take a negative tact against the president’s opponent Joe Biden in her speech, Melania said she did not “want to use this precious time attacking the other side,” making her one of the few people who did not rail against Democrats Tuesday night.
“Because as we saw last week,” she added, in reference to the DNC, “that kind of talk only serves to divide the country further.”
Many on both sides of the aisle have criticized the move to host political events at the White House. President Trump is planning on speaking from there Thursday to formally accept the Republican nomination for president.
However, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel issued an opinion earlier this month saying that federal law would not prohibit Trump from making the speech at the White House.
Meanwhile, Pompeo’s pre-recorded remarks from Jerusalem drew criticism from career diplomats and Democrats as a possible violation of the Hatch Act, which “prohibits Federal employees from engaging in political activities while on duty, in a Government room or building, while wearing an official uniform, or while using a Government vehicle.”
The State Department says Pompeo is addressing the convention in his “personal capacity” and that the department was not involved in preparing the speech and “will not bear any costs in conjunction with this appearance.”
But four current and former high-ranking diplomats told NBC News that it is unlikely the speech, especially given the overseas travel, could be delivered without the help of government resources such as planes, motorcades, security, and staff that might have accompanied him.
The State Department’s legal adviser issued a series of memos to prevent employees from engaging in political activity this year.
Just last month, Pompeo reminded State Department employees to “not improperly engage the Department of State in the political process,” according to a cable obtained by CNN.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) sent a letter Tuesday to Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun informing him that the panel is launching a probe into Pompeo’s speech.
“It is highly unusual, and likely unprecedented, for a sitting Secretary of State to speak at a partisan convention for either of the political parties. It appears that it may also be illegal,” Castro wrote, citing the Hatch Act.
