Donald Trump's First Public Appearance After Shooting Incident With Bandage on His Ear | Video

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made his first public appearance at the party’s convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Monday since a weekend assassination attempt.

Trump had a large bandage on his right ear where he was shot on Saturday at a rally in Pennsylvania.

Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. also got emotional as his father made his return to the Republican National Convention stage following Saturday’s assassination attempt.

Shots were fired in the midst of Trump’s speech, prompting him to cover his right ear before Secret Service agents tackled him to the ground. Moments later, Trump stood up, instructed his security detail to “wait," and raised his fist, urging the shaken crowd to “fight." At least one attendee was killed, and two others were critically injured, the Secret Service reported.

The US Secret Service shot and killed the shooter, who was later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Republican Donald Trump selected J.D. Vance, a U.S. senator f

rom Ohio and author of the bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy," as his running mate on Monday, elevating a politician who once criticized the former president in acid terms but has since become one of his most stalwart defenders.

The news, the subject of intense speculation in recent weeks, emerged at the start of the four-day Republican National Convention in Milwaukee to nominate the party’s presidential ticket. Soon after, Vance appeared at the event to the applause of party delegates but did not give any remarks.

“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio," Trump wrote on his Truth Social media website.

The selection of James David Vance could help boost turnout for Trump in the Nov. 5 election, particularly in some of the “Rust Belt" states where the election will likely be decided. The Ohio native is deeply popular with the Republican candidate’s base, and his populist message is well-suited for states that have significant working-class white populations and have suffered from de-industrialization.

A staunch conservative, Vance is unlikely to bring many new voters into Trump’s corner, however, and may even alienate some moderates. Some of Trump’s supporters had pushed him to select a woman or person of color as his No. 2 to expand a coalition that skews toward white men.

Several advisers to Trump said the former president, who survived an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania campaign rally on Saturday, had focused on choosing a running mate he trusted and got along with.

Among those who had privately advocated for Vance, according to several sources familiar with the matter, were Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.

At 39, Vance represents a younger generation in an election that features Trump, 78, and Biden, 81, bringing a counterweight to the Democratic ticket that also includes Vice President Kamala Harris, 59.

Vance’s rapid ascent has been unusual for American politics. After an impoverished childhood in southern Ohio, he served in the Marine Corps, won a scholarship to Yale Law School and later worked as a venture capitalist in San Francisco.

He rose to prominence after 2016 when he wrote “Hillbilly Elegy," in which he explored the socioeconomic problems confronting his hometown.

The book criticized what Vance saw as a self-destructive culture in rural America and sought to explain Trump’s popularity among poor white Americans.

Vance himself was harshly critical of Trump before and after Trump’s 2016 election win against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, calling him an “idiot" and “America’s Hitler," among other epithets.

But as Vance geared up to run for the U.S. Senate in Ohio in 2022, he transformed into one of the former president’s most consistent defenders, supporting Trump even when some Senate colleagues declined to do so.

Vance has played down the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and he has echoed Trump’s criticisms of the way the U.S. Justice Department has prosecuted Jan. 6 rioters, accusing the department of disregarding due process protections.

While the Republican Party historically stood for free markets and embraced foreign intervention as an important national security tool, Trump’s 2016 election opened up significant rifts within the party. Vance has been one of the most vocal opponents of continued aid to Ukraine in the Senate, a stance at odds with many Republican legislative leaders.

On the campaign trail, the former venture capitalist has also served as a bridge between Trump associates and wealthy Silicon Valley donors, many of whom have opened their wallets to Trump this election.