Former Trump rivals Haley, DeSantis back him at Republican convention

Donald Trump's former leading rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, offered full-throated endorsements of his candidacy at the party's convention on Tuesday, a display of unity three days after Trump survived an assassination attempt.

Haley, who had described Trump as unelectable and unfit for office during her campaign, nevertheless urged her supporters to vote for him over Democratic President Joe Biden "for the sake of our nation."

"You don't have to agree with Trump 100 percent of the time to vote for him," the former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor said, after taking the stage to a mixture of cheers and boos. "Take it from me."

DeSantis, the conservative Florida governor whose campaign sputtered early in the year, received a warm welcome from the crowd as he attacked Biden as too old for the job.

Trump smiled and applauded from his box in the arena, where he sat alongside the running mate whose selection he unveiled on Monday, US Senator J.D. Vance, himself a former fierce Trump critic who has become a staunch supporter.

The show of harmony was intended to contrast with the Democratic Party, which has spent weeks mired in intraparty tensions over whether Biden should abandon his reelection bid after his halting June 27 debate performance against Trump, 78, raised fresh questions about his age and mental acuity.

Many of the evening's speeches in Milwaukee - centered on the theme of law and order - were infused with Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric, with speakers angrily denouncing Biden's southern border policies as putting the country's security at risk.

Reuters