July 15 (UPI) — Former President Donald Trump attended the Republican National Convention on Monday night, making his first public appearance since surviving an assassination attempt over the weekend. It was also his first public appearance with his vice presidential running mate Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance.
With a large white bandage covering the wound he received to his right ear from the shooting, Trump entered the GOP convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee as musician Lee Greenwood sang God Bless the U.S.A.
The crowd cheered.
The former president was seen in the live broadcast shaking hands with Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, ex-Fox news commentator Tucker Carlson and his two adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, before standing beside Vance, his newly announced vice presidential pick.
“He is here tonight to show his courage, his defiance against somebody who tried to kill him. You will not take this man down. He has the courage, the strength and he will be the next president of the United States,” Greenwood said of the former president.
As he finished his song, the crowd chanted “U.S.A.”
Trump’s right ear was pierced by a bullet Saturday just a few minutes into his speech at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
One spectator was killed. Two others were critically injured. The shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was fatally shot by Secret Service snipers moments after his failed assassination attempt.
It was his first public appearance since the shooting and came after he was officially nominated at the convention to become the Republican nominee for president in November’s election.