Vice President Mike Pence delivered the final remarks at the penultimate night of the 2020 Republican National Convention, where he addressed a crowd in Maryland while promoting false claims about the administration's response to the coronavirus and condemned protests across the US challenging police brutality.
The third night of the convention also included several women from the Trump administration, including Kellyanne Conway, who is set to leave the White House in coming days, as well as Kayleigh McEnany and the vice president's wife Karen Pence.
Lt Gen Keith Kellogg, the vice president national security adviser, also argued the safety of the US depends on the president's re-election – a sharp departure from a statement issued by nearly 80 former national security officials who served under four Republican administrations who have all endorsed Joe Biden.
Donald Trump has demanded his Democratic rival take a drug test before the presidential debates, as the president announced federal law enforcement and National Guard service members will be deployed to Wisconsin ahead of a fourth night of protests in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, who has been left paralysed after an officer shot him several times in the back.
NBA and WNBA players began striking in protest on Wednesday, forcing the leagues to cancel games, as law enforcement in Wisconsin confirmed Rusten Sheskey as the officer who fired seven shots at Mr Blake following Sunday's shooting.
A 17-year-old suspect accused of fatally shooting two protesters and injuring another in Kenosha, Wisconsin had reportedly attended one of the president's campaign rallies in January, after his social media pages were discovered to show posts supporting the president and law enforcement.
As the RNC entered its third night, Democrats announced their vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris will counter the president's closing night speech on Thursday.
The president is expected to deliver remarks on Thursday to close out the convention, but Hurricane Laura – set to bring devastating storm surges and fierce winds to coastal parts of Louisiana and Texas – could delay the event.
The White House, meanwhile, said that the president is considering executive action to bail out airlines if Congress doesn't reach a new coronavirus stimulus package.
Follow live coverage as it happened
Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
Testing, testing...
Melania Trump used her Tuesday night address to the Republican National Convention to share sympathy with Americans, who she said were "not alone" amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
That sombre tone - which was delivered somewhat controversially from the bipartisan setting of the White House Rose Garden - was meant to drum-up Republican support among those who have disagreed with president Donald Trump's earlier denials about the threat from from coronavirus, and his administration's handling since.
"My husband's administration will not stop fighting until there is an effective treatment or vaccine available to everyone," said Ms Trump on Tuesday night, as she spoke in front of an audience that included the president, the vice president and his wife, and her parents.
"Donald will not rest until he has done all he can to take care of everyone impacted by this terrible pandemic".
Report says some Rose Garden attendees not tested
Melania Trump on Tuesday night addressed around 70 people at the White House Rose Garden, some of whom had not been tested for the conronavirus prior to their arrival, reported CNN.
According to a source, some attendees at the speech did not have a temperature or coronavirus test upon arrival at the White House, whilst many people were seen without masks.
That came as she delivered a largely sympathetic speech on the impact of the pandemic on Americans, as the death toll nears 180,000.
Melania strikes sombre tone on pandemic
“I want to acknowledge the fact that since March, our lives have changed drastically," said the first lady on Tuesday, whose address to the Republican National Convention was notable for it's softer and more thoughtful tone than the speeches that had come before her.
Whilst echoing her husband's comments about the virus as "the invisible enemy", Ms Trump did not deploy other statements made by president Donald Trump in recent months, including derogatory terms such as the "China plague".
Instead, as the US passed 5.7 million infections, she admitted that "Covid-19, [had] swept across our beautiful country. And impacted all of us“.
The Independent's Andrew Buncombe has the analysis, here:
The backdrop to Melania Trump's speech on Tuesday night caught the attention of some viewers, who noticed that her address to the Republican convention featured some wrinkled American flags.
Twitter users soon pointed-out that they looked as if they had not been pressed before being put into place.
Whilst Donald Trump's decision to host some RNC speeches at the White House was dubbed an abuse of office by some critics, the flags on display on Tuesday night arguably caused more questioning about the set-up.
Lincoln Project calls death toll 'Trump's wall'
As the Republican Party gathered for the second night of this year’s convention, anti-Trump campaign group the Lincoln Project broadcast an ad calling the coronavirus death toll “Trump’s wall”.
Over drone footage of a fence in the south-western desert, the video states plainly that “More than 175,000 Americans are dead. Friends & colleagues. Sisters, brothers, mothers & fathers.”
Pointing out that their bodies laid end-to-end would span 2,673 football fields, the ad then cuts to ground level, with the words “Trump is building his wall” superimposed over a parade of side-by-side gravestones.
The video, which is an updated version of an ad released earlier this year, plays heavily on the US president's promises during his 2016 campaign to build a wall on the southern border with Mexico.
Andrew Naughtie has the latest:
Republicans position Trump as solution
Pushing the coronavirus pandemic aside, the second night of the Republican National Convention was supposed to shout about the economic opportunity that the United States under Donald Trump could offer.
Instead, Tuesday night's RNC speakers rallied around the president, as Melania Trump told Americans that her husband "will carry us through again."
Eric Trump, the president's middle son, added that Republicans' battle against Democrats was "a fight only my father can win."
But, as the United States' coronavirus death toll neared 180,000 on Tuesday as protests over a Wisconsin police shooting of an unarmed black continued, Democrats including Kamala Harris, the party's vice presidential nominee, commented that Republicans needed to "get real".
John T Bennett has the latest:
Melania praises Trump's 'honesty' despite 20,000 untruths
Bringing proceedings to a close on day two of the Republican National Convention, Melania Trump sought to praise her husband as a straight-talking politician whose honesty could be commended.
“We all know Donald Trump makes no secrets about how he feels about things," she said on Tuesday. "Total honesty is what we as citizens deserve from our president, whether you like it or not, you always know what he is thinking”
Those comments come almost a month after fact-checkers at the Washington Post revealed that the president had made 20,000 false or misleading claims since assuming office in 2017.
Matt Matthers has more:
Democrats hit-back at RNC bible comments
On the second night of the Republican convention, some speakers pushed claims made previously by Donald Trump that the Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, was "against God".
Cissie Graham Lynch, granddaughter of the late evangelist the Reverend Billy Graham, said a Biden presidency would leave "no room for people of faith."
The Democrat, who is a practising Catholic, formally accepted his party's nomination last week with comments about his faith.
Pete Buttigieg, who competed in the Democratic primary before endorsing Mr Biden, challenged the Republican characterisation on Twitter, recalling a walk Trump took to a church during protests outside the White House to hold up a Bible for photographers.
"They would speak of faith? The choice here is so simple. One man waves a borrowed Bible around, the other actually reads it," Mr Buttigieg tweeted.
Reuters
Trump, Trump and Trump...
In another viral moment from the Republican convention on Tuesday night, former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi accused Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden of nepotism just moments before two of Donald Trump's children were due to speak.
Her comments came as advertisements for the next three convention speakers on Tuesday night appeared on screen, in an evening that concluded with the US president's wife, Melania Trump.
Ms Bondi's speech came months after president Trump alleged that the younger Biden had profited from his father's work against Ukraine corruption as vice president.
The four day Republican convention, which features other Trump family names including the president's eldest daughter and son, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., was widely ridiculed for its narrow line-up.
John T Bennett reports:
Pompeo speech to RNC under House investigation
A Democratic-run House committee has said it will investigate Mike Pompeo's address to the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, after the secretary of state shunned diplomatic tradition with a speech that was recorded whilst on a visit to Israel.
Mr Pompeo, who gave a prerecorded speech supporting Donald Trump's reelection, appeared to violate longstanding norms for travelling secretaries of state – and guidance to diplomats Mr Pompeo himself signed.
Democrats had argued that the secretary of state's speech was as a possible violation of federal law prohibiting executive branch employees from overt political activism while on duty.
John T Bennett has the latest:
Trump changes tune on immigration
The Republican convention on Tuesday made little reference to president Donald Trump's signature plan to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, as the party sought to bring more moderate voters on board.
Instead, the most prominent mention of immigration came during a taped segment in which Mr Trump oversaw a naturalisation ceremony at the White House, jovially congratulating five immigrants as they were sworn in as new American citizens.
The president, whose harsh rhetoric on border control has seen the country's immigration system radically changed during his presidency, was followed on Tuesday night by his wife Melania Trump, who spoke of her own naturalisation process and childhood in Slovenia.
Julie Pace reports:
Melania's comments on America's racial tensions
In a wide-ranging speech to the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, Melania Trump touched on months of unrest over racial inequality in the United States that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody in May.
Calling on Americans to come together, the first lady said: "Like all of you I have reflected on the racial unrest in our country. It is a harsh reality that we are not proud of our history. I encourage people to focus on our future, while still learning from our past."
Those comments, which come in contrast with other Republicans and the US president in recent months, did not go unnoticed.
Following that speech, the anti-Trump campaign group - the Lincoln Project - shared this interview with Ms Trump when she previously joined her husband in pushing unsubstantiated claims that former president Barack Obama was not born in the United States - otherwise known as the "birther movement".
President Trump earlier this month appeared to suggest that Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for vice president, was also ineligible to serve - despite evidence.
RNC speaker pulled over anti-Semitic remarks
Mary Ann Mendoza, who was due to speak at day two of the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Tuesday night, was dropped at the last minute after she promoted an antisemitic Twitter thread.
She had urged her 41,300 Twitter followers to “do yourself a favour and read this thread”, which contained a string of antisemitic and QAnon-linked conspiratorial claims, including a reference to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
That post was deleted just hours before she had been scheduled to talk-up Donald Trump's tough stance on immigration.
John Sharman reports:
Mike Pence set to address RNC on Wednesday
The US vice president Mike Pence will address the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night, as he accepts his renomination as Donald Trump's running mate for November's election.
Mr Pence, who was rumoured to have been at risk from being dropped from the Republican ticket, will become the highest ranking official to address the four-day convention aside from the president, who has made appearances each day.
His speech comes after he was ridiculed on Monday for saying that Republicans would "make America great again, again", in an apparent admission that the Trump administration had failed amid numerous crises.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Ahead of Mr Pence's address to the Republican convention on Wednesday, Poltico has interviewed 21 people who were involved with the vice president's work on the coronavirus task force, which has overseen the White House response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
One health official told the outlet that the task force had "definitely lost time" as the pandemic began earlier this year, with Mr Pence pondering over decisions as cases went up.
“How much, I can’t say…but it was disruptive to slam the brakes when we should’ve been going full speed ahead,” said the source.
Others praised the vice president's listening skills and decision to expand the task force beyond an immediate White House circle, whilst balancing the demands of president Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, the total number of US cases neared 5.8 million, according to John Hopkins University data.
Gap between Trump and Biden narrows in swing states
Joe Biden's lead over Donald Trump in six crucial swing states appears to have slimmed, according to a new CNBC/Change Research poll, as some voters say the pandemic is less of a concern.
The survey, which was carried out last week, shows Mr Biden with 46 to 49 per cent of the vote across all six states that will likely decide the outcome of November's presidential election.
At the same time, the number of swing state voters who said they have serious concerns about Covid-19, fell from 69 per cent to 66 per cent, in the space of two weeks.
Social media questions Melania's 'American dream'
In an address to the Republican convention, first lady Melania Trump said obtaining US citizenship was "still one of the proudest moments in my life,"
Those comments on Tuesday led some to question exactly how she entered the US, following years of attacks by her husband, president Donald Trump, on illegal immigration.
“After 10 years of paperwork and patience, I studied for the test in 2006 and became an American citizen," said the first lady during her speech.
Whist online, social media users commented that Ms Trump would likely have been unable to do the same today.
"On Melania's so-called American dream, under her husband's immigration policies, neither she nor her parents would be here," wrote one user.
Andrew Naughtie has the latest:
Tiffany Trump attacks the media in RNC speech
“Rather than allowing Americans the right to form our own beliefs,” said Tiffany Trump on Tuesday, there is a “misinformation system that keeps people mentally enslaved” in America.
Who is responsible for this enslavement? “The media,” of course — oh, and “tech giants”.
Holly Baxter has the analysis on what Trump's children had to say at the Republican convention, here:
Report says Trump Jr. concerned about election loss
The US president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, is reportedly concerned that his father may not win re-election come November.
That claim, reported by The New York Times on Tuesday, detailed Mr Trump Jr’s concerns as leaked by unnamed campaign officials and a conservative activist who claims they have regular contact with the president’s son.
The activist told the times that Mr Trump Jr is the “only person who thinks they’re going to lose. He’s like, ‘we’re losing dude, and we’re going to get really hurt when we lose”.
Griffin Connolly reports:
