Thousands turned out for Donald Trump’s first public rally since a gunman shot him in the ear in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania last week.
Trump is scheduled to address a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan at 17:00 EST (22:00 BST) on Saturday, but people have already lined up for a rally in the morning.
The line stretched for about three miles (4.8 km) outside Van Dell Arena after the doors opened at 13:00 EST.
Trump and his new running mate J.T. More than two hours before Vance took the stage, the 12,000-seat venue began to close its doors.
- author, Madeline Halbert, Grand Rapids
- stock, BBC News
- Report from New York
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In the biggest change since last week’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the event was held indoors, allowing security officials to carefully monitor who entered and cut off threats from outside the rally.
Shooter William Crooks was able to target Trump in Pennsylvania by climbing onto the roof of a building near the rally stage.
Many of the Trump supporters who showed up at Saturday’s event in Michigan’s Battlegrounds didn’t let the shooting that injured Trump’s ear and killed an audience member deter them.
They were decked out in red Make America Great Again hats, complete with cowboy hats, shirts and full outfits resembling the American flag. T-shirts with Trump’s mug shot went on sale.
The 26-year-old daughter of Wendy and Steve Upcott did not want to attend the rally, fearing for their safety in the wake of the assassination attempt. But they decided to come anyway because of their strong desire to show their support for the former president after the attack.
“The chances of it happening again a week later are unlikely,” said Wendy Upcott of Clarkston, Michigan.
Former Secret Service agent Jason Russell told the BBC that because the Grand Rapids event is indoors, it will be easier to secure than the Butler rally.
There will be metal detectors that marchers will walk through, while soldiers will pre-search the entire building, Mr Russell said.
Trump won’t be seen until he actually takes the stage, and several of his Secret Service agents will be in tow.
“You’ll have a pretty, significant number of agents on site,” Mr Russell said.
Investigators have yet to determine a motive for the 20-year-old gunman who shot Trump and was later killed by Secret Service agents.
The agency faced an intense investigation into how the gunman opened fire from a nearby building after marchers tipped off the police.
It’s one of several campaigns by the former president for the key battleground state, as polls show him in a close race against President Joe Biden.
The rally comes on the heels of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Trump officially accepted his party’s presidential nomination and gave his first public speech since the assassination attempt.
Trump’s vice presidential pick, Ohio Sen. The rally marks JD Vance’s first appearance on the campaign trail.
Mr Biden, meanwhile, had to suspend campaign events after testing positive for COVID-19. He continues to resist calls from members of his own party to drop out of the race due to concerns about his age and cognitive abilities.
Trump remained largely silent on the drama that rocked the Democratic Party, focusing his speech at the Republican convention on attacks on Mr Biden’s administration.
During the hour-and-a-half speech, he discussed mass deportations of immigrants and concerns about inflation, while also recounting the July 13 shooting that killed him in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“I shouldn’t be here,” he told the crowd: “I had God by my side”.
Trump’s campaign also announced plans to hold its next rally in Charlotte, North Carolina on July 24 at Bojangles Coliseum.
