Melania Trump will deliver her biggest, most high-profile speech in four years on Tuesday as she headlines the second night of the Republican National Convention, arguing for her husband's reelection.
And, her closest aide said, every word will be original.
'I can tell you that every word in this speech is from her. It’s very authentic, and it’s going to come from the heart, so we’re really excited for people to hear from her,' her chief of staff Stephanie Grisham told MSNBC on Tuesday morning.
Tuesday night's speech is meant to serve as a triple fold for the first lady: make the case for President Donald Trump's second term, shore up his declining support among women voters, and bring redemption from her 2016 address, which liberally borrowed from a previous Michelle Obama speech.
Melania Trump will speak from the Rose Garden whose renovations she oversaw and Grisham said it will be one of the first lady's longest speeches to date. President Trump is scheduled to attend.
The speech is being heavily hyped and is scheduled to be given in the prime time hour the TV networks are airing convention coverage.
'The first lady's speech is amazing. It's the highlight of the week,' outgoing White House adviser Kellyanne Conway told reporters on Monday.
First lady Melania Trump will deliver the keynote address for the second night of the Republican National Convention on Tuesday from the newly-renovated Rose Garden
The more public and political remarks come the day after she held an event celebrating the 19th amendment and touting her husband's record on women outside the White House on Monday
She will make her speech from the White House Rose Garden, which she renovated and unveiled over the weekend
Grisham said the Rose Garden location was chosen as it was the couple's home. She pushed back against criticism the political speech on White House grounds could violate the Hatch Act, arguing the first lady is not subject to it.
'It’s the people’s house, but it’s also their home. And so, she thought it would be really nice to deliver tonight’s speech from their home. She’s also not subject to the Hatch Act,' Grisham told MSNBC's Hallie Jackson.
She also said the COVID pandemic made travel difficult so the White House was a safe, cost effective choice.
With a more public and political spotlight than Trump usually seeks, the first lady has spent days crafting this year's speech, White House aides told The Washington Post.
Trump, whose native language is not English, leaned on some of her top White House allies to help write and fine tune her speech in recent days, including Conway and Grisham, and her top aide Marcia Lee Kelly, who is also serving as this year's convention CEO.
Her speech also comes after she talked up her husband's presidential record on helping women during the unveiling of an art exhibit celebrating Women's Suffrage Monday.
'Since taking office, my husband and this administration have taken historic measures to empower and support women in the United States — and around the world,' she said as she appeared in front of the White House.
As one of the most prominent women in the administration, and someone with higher approval ratings than her husband, Melania Trump can help the president capture the key women voting bloc.
And her speech could be her most prominent campaign moment this year. Never a huge fan of the campaign trail to begin with - she made only a handful of appearances for her husband in 2016 - the first lady's office has announced no plans for her this fall.
Melania Trump was scheduled to host two fundraisers - one in California and one in Mar-a-Lago - before the cornavirus pandemic struck and the virus upended those plans.
But, unlike first daughter Ivanka Trump or the other adult Trump children, the first lady has made no campaign zoom calls or online appearances to tout her husband's re-election.
And her low profile comes as Joe Biden is closing the gap with women, in part because of the law marks they give President Trump for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The president, in the 2016 election, won white women without a college degree by 27 per cent. And he won suburban voters by 4 points.
Tuesday also will offer the first lady a second chance to address the party faithful after a plagiarism scandal at the 2016 Republican National Convention turned her big night into a political controversy.
A passage in Trump's speech in Cleveland four years ago closely mirrored a portion of Obama's address to the Democratic National Convention in 2008, borrowing word-for-word passages in some cases and echoing Obama's themes.
The incident caused an uproar and, as it happened on the first day of the convention, became the main topic of much of the rest of that week.
Trump made few appearances on the campaign trail after it occurred and, eventually, a staffer for the Trump Organization took the blame for the mishap.
After Melania Trump spoke to the GOP convention in 2016 (left), it was noted her speech borrowed word-for-word passages in some cases from Michelle Obama's speech to the Democratic National Convention in Denver in 2008 (right)
Tuesday night's speech will also serve as redemption after Trump was accused of plagiarizing her 2016 convention speech from remarks Michelle Obama made at the 2008 Democratic Convention - above she's seen with President Trump four years ago in Cleveland
Trump's speech will close out the second night of the convention after the first set the tone for the four-night event as painting the president as Republicans' only hope against the liberal 'mob.'
'We may not have realized it at the time, but this fact is now clear: Trump is the bodyguard of western civilization,' the first speaker on Monday night, Charlie Kirk, lavished praise on the president.
'Trump was elected to protect our families – our loved ones – from the vengeful mob that wishes to destroy our way of life, our neighborhoods, schools, church, and values,' the Turning Point USA founder said. 'President Trump was elected to defend and strengthen the American way of life.'
Also speaking at the convention were the St. Louis couple who went viral for wielding guns at Black Lives Matter protesters outside their home earlier this summer.
Mark and Patty McCloskey, who are facing felony charges, touted Trump's defense of the Second Amendment in warning Americans of the 'mob.'
'At this moment in history, if you stand up for yourself and for the values our country was founded on, the mob – spurred on by their allies in the media – will try to destroy you,' Mark said as he sat beside his wife and addressed the camera in remote remarks.
Melania Trump's remarks will provide a change of scenery from the first night of the convention, where remarks were largely made from Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., with the exclusion of a few remote and prerecorded remarks and discussion.
Paid for by private donations, the first lady completely renovated the Rose Garden, just in time for her speech making the case for her husband's reelection.
But Grisham said the two events were not connected.
'No. Not at all. She’s been working on that renovation for easily six, seven months, talking to horticulturalists and architectures – and architectures and historians. The Rose Garden was in need of this renewal,' she told MSNBC.
Many took to social media to bash the new design, claiming it is 'cold, colorless and boring,' and looks like 'a cemetery'
White is the dominate theme of the new garden with some added pops of color from small pink roses and lavender flowers
The first couple hosted a private reception for the donors on Saturday night.
'Gardens are symbols of growth and hope. We celebrate this garden in the hope that future generations will not only enjoy – but also draw inspiration and strength – from this space where so much of our history has been shared,' Trump said at the reception of her remodel.
The newly-renovated garden conforms with the first lady's personal aesthetic: clean lines, well structured, and soft, neutral colors. But others took to social media to bash the new design as 'cold, colorless and boring,' claiming it looks like 'a cemetery.'
A slew of other speakers will appear ahead of Trump's speech, including the president's youngest daughter Tiffany Trump, who just graduated from Georgetown Law in May, and his son Eric Trump.
President Trump's Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will appear in recorded remarks from Israel, where he is currently visiting on official business.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer and former Planned Parenthood clinic director – now pro-life activist – Abby Johnson will make speeches Tuesday.
More notable speakers will include Nicholas Sandmann, a teenager who went viral after a confrontation with a Native American activist in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 2019.
Sandmann was wearing a MAGA hat during a school trip to Washington, D.C. – and was confronted by an anti-Trump Native American activist who pounded on a drum inches from his face as he stood there smiling.
Mary Ann Mendoza, an 'Angel Mom' who lost her police officer son in 2014, will also get a chance to speak. Mendoza lost her son after he was in a head-on car collision with an illegal immigrant.
While South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, the lone black Republican in the U.S. Senate, headlined Monday night’s events, much of the focus ended up being on Donald trump Jr. and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, who made separate remarks.
President Trump said last week that he wanted more of the Republican convention to be live than the Democrats' but just three speeches were - included remarks from Sen. Scott, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, former ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley.
But it was the pre-recorded speech of the president's eldest son that stood out as the major political argument of the night and struck directly and forcefully at his father's rival for the presidency.
'This time the other party is attacking the very principles on which our Nation was founded,' he said of Democrats, in a speech taped before it was aired Monday.
He accused Biden, who spent over nearly four decades as senator from Delaware and then served as vice president, 'the Loch Ness Monster’ of establishment Washington D.C.
'Joe Biden is basically the Loch Ness Monster of the Swamp. For the past half-century, he's been lurking around in there. He sticks his head up every now and then to run for President, then he disappears and doesn't do much in between,' Don Jr. said.
Trump Jr. and Guilfoyle recorded their speeches a few hours before they aired, completing them in one take, live to tape, DailyMail.com learned.
Donald Trump Jr took his turn in the spotlight on Monday night as the highest profile member of the first family to address the Republican National Convention
Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr.'s girlfriend, delivered her pre-taped speech to an almost entirely empty Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington D.C.
The duo both prerecorded their remarks in one take before they aired – Here Don Jr. watches from the side as his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle deliver her speech on a TV in the auditorium
In his remarks, the president’s eldest son and his most staunch defender addressed some of his father's weakness – his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and race relations – while hitting Biden in one of his areas of strength - his appeal to middle-class workers.
He echoed his father in blaming the 'Chinese Communist Party' for the pandemic, which has infected more than 5.74 million Americans, including his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, and killed more 177,00 people.
He and Guifoyle, like most of the convention speakers Monday night, spoke from the Andrew Mellon Auditorium in Washington D.C., just a few miles from the White House.
Trump Jr. said Biden's actions – if elected – would destroy the American economy.
'Biden's radical leftwing policies would stop our economic recovery cold. He's already talking about shutting the country down -- again. It's madness,' he said.
The president's son, who works for the family business The Trump Organization, attacked Biden in one of the Democrat's strongest areas – his appeal to blue-collar voters, the same voters that helped elect President Trump in 2016.
'In fact, if you think about it, Joe Biden's entire economic platform seems designed to crush the working man and woman,' Trump Jr. said. 'He supported the worst trade deals in the history of the planet. He voted for the NAFTA Nightmare. Down the tubes went our auto industry. He pushed TPP. Goodbye manufacturing jobs.'
Trump Jr. fist bumps Guilfoyle after they pre-recorded their addresses at the Andrew Mellon Auditorium in Washington D.C. for the first night of the Republican National Convention
President Trump's family will take center stage at this week's convention: first lady Melania Trump will give the keynote address on Tuesday night while Eric Trump and Tiffany speak the same evening. Ivanka Trump will introduce her father on Thursday night ahead of his keynote address, delivered from the South Lawn of the White House.
Meanwhile, Trump Jr appears to have found a calling in politics. A popular surrogate for his father at campaign rallies and a prolific fundraiser for the Republican Party, Trump Jr has sparked talk he'll run for office one day himself.
But on Monday, he advocated for a second term for his father.
Guilfoyle, one of President Trump's most energetic supporters on the campaign trail and the girlfriend of his eldest son, preceded Trump Jr on stage.
The couple make a popular side show ahead of the president at his campaign rallies with their cute, couplely shtick about their life in politics, complete with cute nicknames for one another.
After Guilfoyle finished her remarks, Trump Jr gave her a fist bump
The former Fox News host stuck to the campaign's talking points in her brief remarks, emphasizing that Trump is the 'law and order president' while Joe Biden and Kamala Harris want to defund the police, which Biden has said is not true.
'As Commander-in-Chief, he always puts America First! President Trump is The Law and Order President,' she said. 'Biden, Harris and their socialist comrades will fundamentally change this nation - they want open borders, closed schools, dangerous amnesty and will selfishly send your jobs back to China, while they get richer! They will defund, dismantle and destroy America's law enforcement.'
She also criticized her former home state of California. Guilfoyle is the ex-wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. When he was San Francisco mayor the couple were portrayed as the future of Democratic politics.
'If you want to see the socialist Biden/Harris future for our country, just take a look at California. It is a place of immense wealth, immeasurable innovation and immaculate environment – and the Democrats turned it into a land of discarded heroin needles in parks, riots in streets and blackouts in homes,' she said in dramatic tones.
She then pivoted to what life is like under President Trump.
'In President Trump's America we light things up, we don't dim them down. We build things up, we don't burn them down. We kneel in prayer and we stand for our flag!' she said.
She spoke dramatically, waving her arms and practically shouting her words.
Guilfoyle, who is the finance chair of the Trump re-election campaign, promised the 'best is yet to come' under President Trump. She raised her arms wide, as if in prayer, shouting her support for the president.
'President Trump is the leader who will rebuild the Promise of America and ensure that every citizen can realize their American Dream!,' she said and closed with: 'Ladies and Gentleman, Leaders and Fighters for Freedom and Liberty and the American Dream – The best is yet to come!'
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