Trump Speechwriter Apologizes For Melania Trump's Speech
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Jul 21, 2016
A Donald Trump employee who helped write Melania Trump's speech at the Republican convention in OH has said she accepts responsibility for the "mistake" that led to claims of plagiarism.
But with another plagiarism scandal brewing over his son's speech to the RNC and apparent concerns about the vast swaths of empty seats in the Quicken Loans Arena mezzanine during primetime speeches, the campaign still has a long way to go to realize the much-ballyhooed "convention bump" in polling that comes after what should be a candidate's crowning achievement.
"A person she has always liked is Michelle Obama", the speechwriter, Meredith McIver, said of Mrs. Trump in a statement Wednesday from the campaign.
A speechwriter for the Trump campaign took the blame Wednesday for including remarks in Melania Trump's speech that sounded nearly identical to those delivered by first lady Michelle Obama. Trump read McIver passages from Obama's speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and McIver included the phrases.
"In working with Melania Trump on her recent First Lady speech, we discussed many people who inspired her and messages she wanted to share with the American people", writes McIver.
She apologized for "the confusion and hysteria my mistake has caused".
Compare that to what Michelle Obama said in Denver, where her husband, then an Illinois Senator, was nominated for president: "Barack and I were raised with so numerous same values: like, you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond; that you do what you say you're going to do". Tiffany Trump, 22, said her dad is a "natural-born encourager" and she recalled the notes he wrote on her report cards.
Earlier Wednesday, before McIver's statement posted, the Trump campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, said in a television interview that it was time to move on.
The Trump campaign has denied accusations of plagiarism, saying the similarities were coincidence.
"We feel the America people don't know all of Donald Trump", he said on ABC's "Good Morning America".
There were similar overlaps in a passage dealing with conveying to children that there is no limit to what they can achieve.
After complimenting his "wife's" delivery for being "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", Fallon Trump went on to pat himself on the back for getting actors like Scott Baio and Antonio Sabato Jr. to speak on his behalf.
McIver identified herself as a staff writer at the Trump Organization, not a campaign employee. One referred to what Mrs. Trump called values impressed upon her by her parents.
