MILWAUKEE — The stage design for the Republican National Convention unveiled Wednesday at Fiserv Forum, and at the announcement, RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said the Republican Party is “fully expecting” former President Donald Trump to attend their convention in July and accept his presidential nominee despite him potentially facing jail time.
“We’re very excited about that. Obviously, if we need to make contingent plans, we will, but we are all steam ahead [in] expecting he’ll be here to accept the nomination,” he said.
The stage for the Republican National Convention unveiled today, and RNC Chairman Michael Whatley is “fully expecting” presumptive Presidential Nominee Donald Trump to attend despite potentially serving jail time.@620wtmj pic.twitter.com/ZeOC2JQlso
— Julien Johnson (@jujuelz_is) June 5, 2024
Last week, the former president was convicted on 34 charges of falsifying business records, and although he was found guilty, Whatley said the Republican Party has actually increased their support for Trump throughout the trial.
“[The trial] has absolutely galvanized his support among the Republican party,” Whatley said. “Right now, we’re showing 90-95% of all republicans support Donald Trump, and what we saw, in terms of support for him, from [from the trial until the verdict] was absolutely massive.”
He said that throughout the trial Trump and the Republican Party has received millions of dollars in donations.
“140 million dollars that we raised,” he said. “Over 2 million individual donors that have given with an average of a 70 dollars per donation… in 50 states across the country.”
Whatley said the RNC workers have been in Milwaukee since Monday and are enthusiastic about bringing the convention to the city, especially with it being in a major swing state.
“We could not be more excited about bringing the convention to Milwaukee… and being able to roll out President Trump’s nomination here,” he said. “[We’re] also excited to roll Milwaukee out to the rest of the world.”
During the announcement of the size of the stage for the RNC, Committee on Arrangements Chairwoman Anne Hathaway said the stage their hoping Trump will stand on is 26 feet high and 60 feet wide.
“Our stage is so big… the stage will be partially suspended from the ceiling and partially mounted on the floor,” she said. “The light of [Fiserv Forum] provides the best seats in the house for everyone to have a great view when the convention gathers in on July 15th.”
The Republican National Convention will take place July 15th-18th.
