Trump on Melania’s speech uproar: Publicity is good news

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday addressed the uproar over his wife's convention speech, complaining of unfair media coverage yet saying the publicity was still to his benefit.

“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!” Trump tweeted two days after the speech, after a top aide urged the media move on from the story on Wednesday morning.

“The media is spending more time doing a forensic analysis of Melania’s speech than the FBI spent on Hillary’s emails,” Trump added.

Trump’s comments have the potential to frustrate Republicans who want to shift as much attention as possible to the final two days of the convention – a nationally televised event intended to project strength heading into the general election against presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has said Melania Trump’s speech – which used some of the same language as a 2008 convention address by Michelle Obama – wasn't a case of plagiarism, arguing the phrases were common and sincere. He told CNN host Chris Cuomo to “move on” in an interview on Wednesday. “I can’t move on, because you keep lying about it,“ Cuomo retorted.

After plagiarism claims marred the convention's opening- night program, Tuesday went more smoothly, as delegates voted to formally nominate Trump and two of his adult children paid tribute to him in prime-time speeches.

The Trump campaign has announced no speechwriter firings, but the incident has set off a fresh round of infighting between loyalists in Cleveland.

Ousted Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said Tuesday that the person who approved the speech should be held accountable. “I think if it was Paul Manafort, he would do the right thing and resign,“Lewandowski said on CNN.

Manafort on Wednesday said it wasn't him.”I wasn’t involved in the process. It was a collaborative process, what came in where, I don’t know,” he said on Fox News.

Trump’s son Donald Jr. then piled on Lewandowski too.

“Corey’s been a great surrogate but I’m not going to allow nonsense to be perpetuated because someone’s looking to get on TV,” Donald Jr. said Wednesday at a Wall Street Journal Breakfast.

This story was originally published July 20, 2016 at 11:56 AM with the headline "Trump on Melania’s speech uproar: Publicity is good news."