MILWAUKEE — Former President Trump frequently used the words “administration” and “current leadership” in his speech at the Republican National Convention, but a senior official said the former president never used the word “Biden.”
Trump is set to formally accept the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday, the final night and culminating moment of the 2024 party convention.
The former president's address to his party supporters and a national television audience inside the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee could last more than an hour, Fox News chief political anchor and editor of “Special Report with Bret Baier” said, according to sources.
Trump campaign steps in to Biden confusion
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is photographed during the third day of the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, 17 July 2024. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hochstein)
Trump's speech came just five days after an assassination attempt that left a gunman dead and a spectator at a Trump rally in western Pennsylvania on Saturday, instantly changing the tone and message of the convention — and the former president's speech.
See the latest Fox News coverage of the Republican Convention here
The speech will outline “the reasons for his nomination” and will focus on unity following his near-death experience last weekend, according to a source.
In an email to supporters the night before his speech, Trump said he would “share my vision for uniting our country and making it greater than it has ever been!”
A bloodied former President Trump gestures to the crowd after shots ring out during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (REUTERS/Brendan McDiarmid)
The first three days of the convention were marked by a push for party unity, with former Republican presidential candidate and Trump rival in a fierce primary, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley speaking from the podium in support of the former president.
Republicans are using the convention as a way to reunite the party and galvanize delegates and activists ahead of the final stretch of the campaign in which President Trump and President Biden face off again in 2024.
Trump's speech came as Biden's campaign pushed back against a series of reports over the past 24 hours that the president has become more open in recent days to listening to arguments about why he should not seek reelection in 2024.
“We don't know at this point who the nominee will be,” a Trump political source told Fox News.
Hours earlier, the Trump campaign had contrasted a “united” Republican Party at the convention with the recent turmoil surrounding Biden's reelection.
“What we've accomplished at this convention is to demonstrate to the American people that not only is the Republican Party united, but that President Trump's policies and agenda are firmly established and he has a vision that will unify the country,” a Trump campaign official said.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump applauds alongside his running mate Senator J.D. Vance during the second day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on July 16, 2024. (REUTERS/Elizabeth Franz)
“At the same time, the Democrats haven't even thought about who their candidate should be,” the official claimed.
After his disastrous debate defeat against President Trump last month, the 81-year-old Biden is facing questions about whether he has the physical and mental strength to serve another four years in the world's toughest job.
Click here to get the FOX News app
Politically, Biden has resisted growing calls to stop campaigning from Democrats who are deeply concerned that Democrats could lose not only the White House but both houses of Congress in the fall elections.
Reports in the past 24 hours have said that senior Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have had frank discussions with Biden about ending his campaign.
President Biden waves as he descends the steps of Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, July 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
And the Washington Post reported Thursday that former President Barack Obama has told allies in recent days that Biden's path to victory has narrowed significantly and that he believes the president should seriously reconsider his decision to continue running.
“Our campaign is not envisioning a scenario in which President Biden is not the front-runner. He is and will continue to be the Democratic nominee,” Biden's deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks told reporters at a press conference near the Republican National Convention site on Thursday morning.
“Over the past four days, Republicans have offered a vision for the nation, and now it's clearer than ever that Americans face a stark choice, contrasting visions for this country,” Fulks said ahead of Trump's speech.
Get the latest 2024 campaign updates, exclusive interviews and more on Fox News Digital's Election Hub.
Bret Baier currently serves as FNC's anchor and managing editor of “Special Report with Bret Baier” (weekdays 6-7pm ET), as well as the network's chief political anchor and co-anchor of the network's election coverage. Baier is also the host of “The Bret Baier Podcast” on FOX News Audio, whose programs include Common Ground, The Campaign, The Candidates and The All-Star Panel. He joined FNC in 1998 as its first reporter in the Atlanta bureau and is currently based in Washington, DC.