Trump to speak at RNC amid Biden election questions

Donald Trump reportedly does not plan to mention President Joe Biden by name during his speech accepting the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Trump’s planned avoidance of referring to the Democratic incumbent by name, which was reported by Fox News, would be a striking departure from the former president’s long-standing practice of attacking political foes, both Democrat and Republican, by name with demeaning language and nicknames.

But the plan underscores the growing uncertainty that Biden will be the Democratic presidential nominee in November who faces Trump.

Biden, who is the presumptive nominee, is under growing pressure from top Democrats to drop out of the race because of concerns he will lose to Trump and destroy his party’s chances of winning majorities in both chambers of Congress if he remains on the top of the ticket.

Fox reported that Trump, who left the White House in January 2021, intends during his hour-plus-long speech to refer to the “current administration” or the “current leadership.”

Trump’s speech comes five days after he narrowly avoided being killed during a campaign rally in western Pennsylvania when a 20-year-old gunman, Thomas Crooks, opened fire on the Republican and audience members. One man was killed in the attack, and two other men were critically injured.

Trump has said his ear was hit by one of the bullets. Over the past three nights at the RNC, Trump has watched speeches from the audience wearing a large white bandage on his right ear.

A source told NBC News that Trump was subdued Wednesday during a walkthrough of the convention hall, saying that it appeared the attempted assassination was clearly on his mind.

When Trump walked to the podium where he will deliver his speech, he looked around the hall and said that it was much safer inside. The shooting occurred outdoors in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Crooks fired from the roof of a building overlooking the rally site.

Trump is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 18 in New York state court, where he was convicted in March of 34 felony counts related to a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels by his then-lawyer shortly before the presidential election that year.

Trump separately is charged in federal court in Washington, D.C., and Georgia state court with crimes related to trying to reverse his loss to Biden in the 2020 election.

A federal judge in Florida on Monday dismissed the four criminal cases against Trump, in which he had been charged for both retaining classified documents after leaving office in 2021, and with trying to hide them from government officials seeking their return.

The prosecutor in that case, special counsel Jack Smith, is appealing that dismissal ruling.

This is developing news. Check back for updates.