Democratic National Convention Ends With Kamala Harris Accepting Nomination: Live Updates

Donald Trump's aides looked to steer the former president away from brewing with anger about the Democratic National Convention.

So they booked events to keep the GOP nominee busy and to keep him in the media as he's worked to find his footing against Vice President Kamala Harris, sources told The Washington Post.

Trump doesn't like "issues-focused speeches" that don't entertain his base, a person close to the Trump campaign said, and has instead used events to mock Harris thanking the DNC crowd and to criticize Democrats for siding with Harris after President Joe Biden dropped out.

Trump, when asked if the Democrats' change on the ticket threw him off, said he thinks the campaign is "doing great."

Check out the full report here .

Trump has at least five campaign stops set up next week, as he tries to focus attention away from the DNC.

On Monday, he is visiting Detroit to speak at a conference of the National Guard Association of the United States. On Thursday, he has a speech on the economy scheduled in Potterville, Michigan, and a town hall event in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Then on Friday, Trump has a rally planned in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, before he goes on to speak at a Moms for Liberty event in Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance is set to give a speech Tuesday in Big Rapids, Michigan.

Two people close to Trump told The New York Times that the former president has spoken to them about how he finds it difficult to avoid making personal attacks on his opponents. Apparently, Trump said that its a tough habit to curb because of the overwhelming animosity he feels for people like Harris and President Joe Biden.

Trump has seemed to make an effort over the past two weeks to focus more on policy issues, but he has still managed to veer off script. As the Times noted, Trump delivers his prepared remarks with a notable lack of energy, becoming highly animated only when ad-libbing.

A dozen former White House lawyers who worked in the presidential administrations of Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush put out a letter warning about the threat that Trump poses to the nation.

"We endorse Kamala Harris and support her election as President because we believe that returning former President Trump to office would threaten American democracy and undermine the rule of law in our country," the lawyers wrote, according to a Fox News report .

The letter, released Friday, urged "all patriotic Republicans, former Republicans, conservative and center-right citizens, and independent voters to place love of country above party and ideology and join us in supporting Kamala Harris." It noted that people who worked at the most senior levels in the first Trump administration now refuse to endorse him.

"We believe this election presents a binary choice, and Trump is utterly disqualified," the letter read.

Signatories included J. Michael Luttig, a retired federal judge who has been a conservative critic of Trumps for years.

Writing on Truth Social at 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Trump reiterated his usual attacks against President Joe Biden and Harris, calling her the Weakest Presidential Candidate in History on Crime.

Trump once again claimed without evidence that Harris allowed escaped mental institution patients and terrorists to cross the southern U.S. border. He brought up his past complaint that Harris did not go through the usual primary process, even though that was the case due to the unusually late date in which Biden dropped out of the White House race.

What gives her the right to run for President? Trump asked. "This is a Threat to Democracy!"

For any American out there who is tired of Donald Trump and looking for a new way forward, ours is a campaign for you, Harris-Walz campaign chair Jen OMalley Dillon said in a statement after Kennedy announced he was suspending his campaign.

"Even if we do not agree on every issue, Kamala Harris knows there is more that unites us than divides us: respect for our rights, public safety, protecting our freedoms, and opportunity for all, she continued.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. devoted the bulk of his rambling speech to complaints.

He spoke about being excluded from the presidential debates -- unfairly, in his opinion. He spoke about the Democratic Party staging a palace coup against Biden and criticized Harris for not yet giving a major interview. And he spoke for a long time about ultra-processed foods, which he suggested were linked to a variety of physical and mental health issues.

Our country has the earliest puberty rates of any continent on the Earth. And no, this isnt because of better nutrition. This isnt normal. Breast cancer is also estrogen-driven and now strikes one in eight women. We are mass poisoning all of our children or adults, Kennedy said.

The good news is we can change all this, he said. First, we need to root out the corruption in our health agencies. Second, we need to change incentives in our health care system. And third, we need to inspire Americans to get healthy again.

Five of Kennedys siblings released a statement denouncing him for his Trump endorsement, saying its a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story."

They reaffirmed their support for the Harris-Walz campaign.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed that relentless systematic censorship and media control led him to conclude he needed to suspend his campaign, although he is working to scrub his name from ballots in 10 battleground states.

I want everyone to know that I am not terminating my campaign. I am simply suspending it, and not ending it. My name will remain on the ballot in most states, Kennedy said.

I encourage you to vote for me," he continued. "And if enough of you do vote for me, and neither of the major party candidates win 270 votes, which is quite possible, in fact, today our polling shows them tying at 269 and 269 I could conceivably end up in the White House in a contingent election.

(Presidential candidates need to amass at least 270 electoral college votes in order to win.)

Its with a sense of victory, and not defeat, that Im suspending my campaign activities, Kennedy said.

Kennedy clarified he is suspending his campaign, not fully ending it.

"I am not terminating my campaign, I'm simply suspending it," he said, explaining that he will remain on the ballot in certain states that are not considered battlegrounds.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. remarked on his decision to suspend his independent bid for the presidency.

I began this journey as a Democrat the party of my father, my uncle, the party I pledged my allegiance to long before I was old enough to vote, Kennedy said during a press conference in Arizona.

He recalled attending his first Democratic National Convention in 1960, at age 6, and noted that his disenchantment with the party led him to eventually become an independent.

The mainstream of American politics and journalism derided my decision, Kennedy said. The naysayers told us that we were climbing a glass version of Mount Impossible.

The first thing I want to tell you is that we proved them wrong we inspired a massive political movement," he added.

Nicole Shanahan, a Silicon Valley lawyer, shared a brief message on social media as news emerged that her independent presidential campaign with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had ended.

Im not a Kamala Democrat. Im not a Trump Republican. Im an INDEPENDENT American who is endorsing ideas, not a person or a party, Shanahan wrote . I will continue working to give a voice to the voiceless and bring power back to the people.

In a separate post, she wrote , "In a world that seems to have lost its way, my promise to each of you is to keep doing my part to make it a little less crazy."