After initially having been given no role at next week’s Republican National Convention, Ron DeSantis — the governor of Florida and past rival of former President Donald Trump — has now been added to the speaking schedule.
“I will confirm a change in schedule that means he will now be speaking,” a source familiar with the decision who is helping plan convention activities told NBC News.
The source would not confirm which night of the convention DeSantis would speak. CNN first reported Tuesday that would not have a speaking role.
A source close to DeSantis said his team had never been told he would not be speaking at the convention.
"We have been told for a while we had a speaking slot and have never been told we do not," the source said.
Trump — who can control RNC programing as much as he likes — and DeSantis have had an up-and-down relationship over the past few years.
Trump’s endorsement of DeSantis in 2018 helped him become governor, but the two spent months attacking each other during the 2024 Republican primary campaign, a race DeSantis got out of in January after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses.
DeSantis has since pledged to tap into his donor network to help raise money for Trump’s campaign; a handful of events are being planned, the first of which was an event Friday at the Jackson Hole, Wyoming, home of retired Florida doctor Peter Lamelas and his wife, Stephanie. The couple have given more than $600,000 so far this election cycle, half of which has gone to the Republican National Committee. Peter Lamelas gave another $100,000 to the Trump 47 Committee, a joint fundraising committee that has helped pay Trump's legal bills.
DeSantis also plans a September fundraiser in Texas to help, but no details of the event are available yet. The money DeSantis raises for Trump will go to pro-Trump super PAC Right for America.
There is still no speaking slot for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was the final Republican to drop out of the GOP primary campaign. She and Trump ran a bruising primary campaign against each other, and when she got out, said she would not “kiss the ring.”
But in May she confirmed she would be voting for Trump, and on Tuesday, she released her 97 delegates so they could support him at the convention.
The release, however, has not yet resulted in a role for her at the convention.
“No Haley as of now,” the source helping plan convention activities said.
Chaney Denton, a longtime senior aide to Haley, confirmed that Haley "was not invited" to the convention and said that "she's fine with that."
"Trump deserves the convention he wants," Denton said. "She's made it clear she's voting for him and wishes him the best."
In 2016, Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida, who finished second and third in the Republican primary campaign, were both given speaking slots at the convention where Trump was nominated for president.
