Melania Trump Plagiarism Accusations Dismissed by Trump Campaign
Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, have yet to personally address the controversy surrounding the primetime speech she delivered at the Republican National Convention on Monday night, amid all the chatter that parts of her speech bore a striking resemblance to passages from Michelle Obama's 2008 Democratic National Convention speech.
Despite the firestorm, Trump's presidential campaign insists it has no plans to fire anybody or take any disciplinary action against anyone for the speech controversy, CNN reports.
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Trump's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, also publicly denied that any plagiarism occurred.
"There's no cribbing of Michelle Obama's speech. These were common words and values that she cares about, her family, things like that," Manafort said on CNN's New Day on Tuesday morning. "She was speaking in front of 35 million people last night, she knew that, to think that she would be cribbing Michelle Obama’s words is crazy."
Hours before giving her speech, Melania spoke with Today's Matt Lauer and claimed to having penned the speech herself.
"I read it once over, and that's all because I wrote it with as little help as possible,'' she said.
During her speech on Monday night, Melania shared: "From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise; that you treat people with respect."
In 2008, Michelle said the following: "Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect."
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Soon after these and other similarities were uncovered, the Trump campaign released a statement regarding Melania’s speech, which seemed to somewhat contradict her statements made on the Today show. It also did not address the plagiarism accusations.
"In writing her beautiful speech, Melania's team of writers took notes on her life's inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking,” wrote senior communications advisor Jason Miller. "Melania's immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it such a success."
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