Trump arrives in Cleveland to attend Republican National Convention

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump today arrived in Cleveland, Ohio, to attend his party’s National Convention where first his wife Melania will give a speech before the delegates.

Trump landed in Cleveland in his private jet in an unusual gesture as nominees tend to arrive on the last day when the official declaration of candidates for the US presidency are made.

The speech of his wife, a Slovenianborn former model, highlights the opening day of the convention which will last until Thursday when the realestate magnate will likely be officially named his party’s presidential nominee.

Leaders of the Republican National Convention today denied demands of the ‘Never Trump’ movement for states to vote freely regardless of the results of the party’s primaries, triggering strong protests.

In the convention, antiTrump delegations clamored that states are left to vote their conscience and not unanimously and in line with the outcome of the primaries, something that was repeatedly denied.

The intent of delegates such as Utah Senator Mike Lee was that freeing delegates could force a rebellion against magnate Donald Trump, who theoretically has the number of delegates necessary to be officially named the party’s nominee for the White House.

Chaos gripped the plenary session of the meeting when Rules Committee chairwoman Enid Mickelsen approved the rules governing the convention that the delegates vote in the same sense as the majority of voters did when the primaries were held in their respective states.

Led by Utah Senator Mike Lee and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, rebel delegates asked for the possibility that each state separately decides to allow their members to vote according to their conscience, to be considered.

Arkansas congressman Steve Womack, the temporary presiding officer, finally agreed to a vote by acclamation in which both ayes and nays were resounding.

Initially, nine states pushed for a roll call vote but three withdrew that petition at the last minute, reducing the number to six which is below the required minimum of seven states to force the vote by show of hands.

“This is unprecedented,” said Senator Lee who called for a vote by roll call instead of by acclamation.

Some delegates threw down their credentials after hearing Womack’s verdict, another frustrated attempt by the antiTrump movement to boycott his candidacy.

Last week, the ‘Never Trump’ movement tried to amend the rules of the Convention, so that delegates can vote freely, something that was rejected by the 112member rules committee.

In the primaries, Trump, who will appear today at Quicken Loans, significantly surpassed the 1,237 delegates needed to avoid a contested convention as it has been tried today amid shouts.

Some delegates and prominent leaders of the party apparatus, do not agree with the provocative style and some controversial proposals of Trump, such as banning the entry of Muslims to the country to combat jihadist terrorism.