Trump staffer fesses up: I took from Michelle Obama speech
It took two days, but Donald Trump’s presidential campaign on Wednesday acknowledged cribbing from First Lady Michelle Obama's speech — unintentionally, the campaign said — when writing Melania Trump's own speech.
Meredith McIver, an “in-house staff writer” for the Trump Organization, said in a statement that Melania Trump read her some of Obama's lines over the phone as inspiration.
“I wrote them down and later included some of the phrasing in the draft that ultimately became the final speech,” McIver wrote. “I did not check Mrs. Obama’s speeches. This was my mistake, and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Mrs. Obama. No harm was meant.”
McIver said she offered her resignation Tuesday but it was rejected: “Mr. Trump told me that people make innocent mistakes and that we learn and grow from these experiences.”
The statement, printed on Trump corporate letterhead and disseminated by his political campaign, concluded with an apology from McIver “for the confusion and hysteria my mistake has caused.”
What remains unclear is why it took the Trump camp so long to take responsibility for the plagiarism, especially if it was inadvertent.
Trump himself wrote about the controversy earlier Wednesday on Twitter.
Good news is Melania's speech got more publicity than any in the history of politics especially if you believe that all press is good press!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 20, 2016
The media is spending more time doing a forensic analysis of Melania's speech than the FBI spent on Hillary's emails.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 20, 2016
This story was originally published July 20, 2016 at 12:13 PM with the headline "Trump staffer fesses up: I took from Michelle Obama speech."