Night 1 of the Republican National Convention begins

Charlie Kirk, founder and president of Turning Point USA. Republican National Convention

Charlie Kirk, founder and president of conservative youth activist organization Turning Point USA, praised President Trump's leadership and warned that the 2020 presidential election "is a decision between preserving America as we know it, and eliminating everything that we love."

Kirk said that if reelected in November, Trump would help give youth and future generations a better country.

"This election is the most critical since 1860, when a man named Lincoln was elected to preserve the union from disintegration. This election is not just the most important of our lifetime — it is most important since the preservation of the Republic in 1865," Kirk said.

"By reelecting Trump, we will ensure that our kids are raised to love our country and respect our founding father, not taught to hate or be ashamed of them," he continued.

"We will be a country that has its best 100 years ahead. We will build a future where America remains the greatest country ever to exist in the history of the world. All of that is within our grasp if we secure 4 more years for the defender of western civilization, our champion, my friend, the 45th president of the United States, President Donald J trump," Kirk said.

Kirk described Turning Point USA as "the largest pro-American student organization in the country" that is "fighting for the future of our Republic."

Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the Archbishop of New York. Republican National Convention

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, delivered the opening prayer ahead of Monday's primetime speeches at the Republican National Convention.

Dolan called on prayers for front line workers and those suffering from the coronavirus. He called for prayers for all lives to be protected -- an apparent nod to recent anti-police brutality demonstration across the country. He also pushed for prayers for immigrants and unborn infants.

"Pray we must that all lives may be protected and respected in our troubled cities and the police who guard them, in tense world situations where our men and women in uniform keep the peace, for the innocent life of the baby in the womb, for our elders in nursing care and hospice, for our immigrants and refugees, those lives threatened by religious persecution throughout the world or by plague, hunger, drugs, human trafficking or war," Dolan said as the Statue of Liberty was seen in the background.

Before concluding, Dolan called for watchers to "pray for democracy," for "an electorate so eager to perform its duty of faithful citizenship."

Dolan received online criticism for accepting the invitation to pray at the RNC, but earlier Monday, he defended his appearance, saying that he doesn't see a prayer offering as an endorsement of a party or candidate.

President Donald Trump speaks during the first day of the Republican National Convention on Monday, August 24, in Charlotte. Chris Carlson/AP

Republicans have kicked off night one of the Republican National Convention tonight with a theme focused around the "Land of Promise" after formally nominating President Donald Trump earlier in the day.

While the in-person Democratic National Convention was scrapped due to the coronavirus pandemic, Republicans began their convention with an in-person roll call in Charlotte, North Carolina, and then move to remote speeches largely from an auditorium in Washington, DC — but, in an unprecedented move, also from the White House.

The start to the Republican convention comes as the first polls since the DNC last week show Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has gained popularity, but has not widened his lead over Trump.

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence appeared at the roll call in North Carolina on Monday to thank delegates.

Notable speakers tonight will include some of Trump's Republican allies in Congress (Sen. Tim Scott, House GOP Whip Steve Scalise, Rep. Matt Gaetz and Rep. Jim Jordan), former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, and the President's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.

Besides lawmakers, tonight's program includes a list of speakers who appear to have credited the Trump administration and Republicans for policy successes or who have been successful examples of the President's policies in action.

The lineup will include the father of a student killed in the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, a GOP congressional candidate who starred in a viral video about "the reality for Black people" in Baltimore and a coffee shop owner who was the first to qualify for a Paycheck Protection Program loan in Montana.

There will also be remarks by Patricia and Mark McCloskey, the couple who drew national attention this summer after they were filmed brandishing guns at a group of protesters who were walking along the neighborhood's private street, en route to the St. Louis mayor's residence to advocate for policing reform.

The night's event began with this video:

While there will be an audience when President Trump delivers his address from the South Lawn Thursday night, sources tell CNN the RNC and Trump campaign scrapped plans to have a live audience at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC, where Donald Trump Jr. and others will give their speeches Monday night. 

Gatherings of more than 50 people are prohibited in Washington under current regulations and it became too much of a headache to figure out how to safely have an effective audience, an official involved in the planning told CNN.

The conversation at the Republican National Convention is expected to focus on Covid-19 during at least a portion of the program Monday night.

Officials, lawmakers and allies of President Donald Trump will attempt to rebut four days of Democrats hammering his response as inadequate during last week's Democratic National Convention.

On Monday, Trump teased possible breakthroughs for a vaccine as critics accused him of putting a political timeline on a scientific endeavor. 

Trump is expected to appear with frontline workers tonight.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan defended his Republican National Convention appearance by stating he doesn't see offering a prayer as an endorsement of a party or a candidate after receiving online criticism.

Posting on Twitter his previous statement on why he agreed to participate, Dolan said that had he been invited to offer a prayer during the Democratic National Convention he would have "happily accepted," as he did during the 2012 DNC convention. 

The statement says it’s one of his “most sacred obligations” to “try and respond positively whenever I am invited to pray.”

In response to CNN’s inquiry about some of the criticism he has received since word emerged of his participation, Dolan acknowledged it.

“I want to say that I maintain almost neutrality when it comes to Politics, we the church absolutely don't get involved in party politics, I only represent a sector of the church, if we don't pray for America, as Catholics, who will? The RNC involvement is giving me a positive criticism these past days," he told CNN.

The Archdiocese of New York says that they notified the Democratic National Committee that Cardinal Dolan would accept an invitation to pray at the Democratic National Convention as well.

"We notified the DNC that the Cardinal would also accept an invitation to pray at their convention, if they wished. However, they had already invited other Catholic representatives to pray," Joseph Zwilling, the director of communications for the Archdiocese of New York told CNN.

Read the tweet:

A senior Trump campaign official told reporters on a call today that the President "will be making an appearance every night” of this week’s Republican National Convention, though he will not be speaking every night.

Tonight’s appearance involves Trump “meeting with frontline workers during the course of the broadcast, honoring them for their sacrifices and commitment to keeping the American people healthy, safe and supplied. These will include police officers, firefighters, nurses, truckers and delivery drivers, and President Trump will be welcoming and thanking the frontline workers for their efforts,” according to the official.

The official also pointed to the list of speakers announced earlier today for tonight’s RNC programming, telling reporters, “there may be names, not included on the list, who will in fact speak tonight. And we do anticipate that there will be some surprises that we are not rolling out at this point, and there may be further information about those as we get closer to airtime.”

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, August 20, in Wilmington, Delaware. Andrew Harnik/AP

More than two dozen former Republican lawmakers announced Monday they are endorsing Joe Biden for president.

Former Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona and former Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania are among those throwing their support behind the Democratic presidential nominee through "Republicans for Biden," and the endorsements come on the morning of the first day of the Republican National Convention.

Biden has repeatedly emphasized Republican support as he looks to build a broad coalition in his campaign against President Trump.

While the endorsements offer a symbolic boost to Biden as he seeks to win over persuadable voters, Trump is still overwhelmingly popular among Republicans, a point made by Trump campaign spokesperson Tim Murtaugh, who dismissed the significance of the endorsements.

"Joe Biden has been a failure in the Washington Swamp for a half century, so no one should be surprised when Swamp creatures gather to protect one of their own," Murtaugh said. "President Trump has unprecedented support — over 95% — among real Republican voters and is also making strong inroads in Biden's core Democrat constituencies, like Black Americans, Latinos, and union members. President Trump's record of success for all Americans will carry him to victory in November."

Along with Flake and Dent, former Sens. Gordon Humphrey of New Hampshire and John Warner of Virginia added their support.

Read more about the endorsements here

President Donald Trump speaks during the first day of the Republican National Convention on Monday, August 24, in Charlotte. Chris Carlson/AP

Ahead of the Republican National Convention kicking off today, President Donald Trump said to expect an overall positive message.

“I think the overall is going to be a very positive as opposed to a dark — a very, very positive message," Trump said in an interview on Fox News with “The Next Revolution” host Steve Hilton that was taped on Friday and aired Sunday night.

Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said Republicans would present an "optimistic and upbeat convention this week" in contrast with what he described as last week's "massive grievance fest" of a Democratic National Convention.

Speaking from Charlotte, North Carolina, moments after he was formally renominated as the Republican Party standard-bearer, however, Trump delivered a screed that predicted a legally contested election in November and complained that Democrats were exploiting the coronavirus pandemic — still raging in the United States — to undermine his reelection.

It was hardly the optimistic message that Trump's advisers have been relentlessly previewing ahead of this week's renomination festivities. Instead, Trump's speech was indistinguishable from the meandering, grievance-filled appearances he has been making in the lead-up to his scaled-down convention.