The 250 seats were filled with invited guests, including members of the Manhattan Republican Club and of Trump's golf courses, and one surprised vacationing Nebraska family invited to attend while milling in the lobby.

Trump, a newcomer who has ruffled too many feathers to count, could rely on Pence's seasoned experience as a politician.

In an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News, Pence downplayed or reversed past differences he has had with Trump. Pence did so while suggesting Hillary Clinton's policy proposals would weaken the nation's economy and its security. The next morning, Trump's family flew in from NY to spend time with the governor at his residence. When he brought Pence to the stage, the celebrity businessman shook his hand and patted his forearm before quickly exiting. He did return for a brief photo-op at the end.

Pence is next headed to IN for a "welcome home" rally Saturday evening-unaccompanied by his fellow candidate.

Trump tweeted his ultimate running mate decision Friday and announced the Saturday event, saying he was "pleased" to have the IN governor join him on the ticket.

He says he was "honored" to accept the offer to join the ticket, because the country needs "strong Republican leadership" and because presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton can never be president.

"Religion's voice has been taken away and we're going to change that", Trump said.

The presumptive Republican nominee spoke for almost a half-hour Saturday as he introduced his pick for vice president, calling Pence onto the stage at the end. "What will be interesting if Pence can play the attack dog role - and maybe the answer is, you don't really need that because Trump himself is such an aggressive attacker". Pence had to withdraw officially as the Republican candidate for governor by noon, as IN state law forbids running for two offices at once. He even noted that while Pence endorsed GOP rival Ted Cruz in Indiana's primary, the governor also praised Trump as he did so.

To be fair, the coupled letters in the earlier logo do imply an interest in unity, and that idea - specifically, party unity - seems to have been important to Trump in making the pick.

He brags that they've been "crushed".

In his first-ever press conference as Donald Trump's Vice President pick, Mike Pence took aim at their opponent, Hillary Clinton, in a scathing rant about her politics. "Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's foreign policy of leading from behind, moving red lines, feigning resets with a resurgent Russian Federation and the rise of ISIS is a testament to this truth of history and we must bring a change to America's stand in the world", Pence said.

The two men are scheduled to formally become their party's nominees at next week's Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

Trump added that his potential administration would be far tougher on both foreign and domestic terrorism than would Clinton.

As Pence arrived for a private meeting with Trump on Friday, he told reporters he "couldn't be more happy for the opportunity to run with and serve with the next president of the United States".

Roll Call first reported the news that Pence was Trump's selection, and soon after Pence's local newspaper the Indianapolis Star reported that it had confirmed the choice.

The event - the culmination of a vice presidential rollout that featured mixed signals, second-guessing and a 24-hour delay - was meant to assert that Trump and Pence would stand up to America's enemies while being "the law-and-order candidates" at home.

Standing behind a podium that bore only one name-"Trump"-the presumptive Republican nominee spoke without the aid of a teleprompter, which he has used in formal settings in recent months". He said he would champion "law and order" in the wake of this week's terror attack in France.

"All right, back to Mike Pence", Trump said at one point after a long tangent talking about the Republican Party's efforts to overturn rules that limit church leaders' political involvement.

"What a difference between crooked Hillary Clinton and Mike Pence", Trump said, saying that the IN governor would never be afraid to say the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". "Not so decisive", read the ad's tagline. Paul Manafort, Trump's campaign chairman, strongly rejected suggestions that the candidate considered changing his mind about Pence.

Trump and Pence are scheduled to make their first joint appearance Saturday morning in NY. The article reads, "Trump's vice-presidential sweepstakes, which finally wrapped up with a Friday announcement via Twitter that Pence was the pick, was classic Trump in certain ways".

Finally, almost 20 minutes into his speech, Trump returned to Pence, lauding his record in IN on job creating, cutting taxes and education - to cite reasons why he chose Pence. The two men appeared together just briefly.