Author of Mrs. Trump's speech takes responsibility for 'plagiarism'

(Baonghean.vn)- A long-time employee of the “Trump Organization” has accepted responsibility for “plagiarizing” two paragraphs from a speech by Mrs. Michelle Obama in 2008, to compose a speech for Mrs. Melania Trump, wife of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, at the National Party Convention on July 18.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump walks with his wife Melania on stage during the opening day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on July 18, 2016. Photo: AP

Staffer Meredith McIver, who has written several books about Mr Trump, was the first to publicly apologize for making mistakes during Mr Trump's campaign.

The New York Times confirmed on July 20 that Ms. McIver played a role in Ms. Trump's speech, although it was unclear to what extent Ms. McIver's involvement was.

“While working with Melania on the first lady’s speech, we discussed who inspires her and the message she wants to share with the American people,” Ms. McIver wrote on Mr. Trump’s campaign website.

Melania Trump speaks at the Republican National Convention. Photo: New York Times.

“Someone she always admired was first lady Michelle Obama,” McIver added. “On the phone, Mrs. Trump read me some passages from Mrs. Obama’s speech as an example. I wrote them down, then took some of the sentences and put them in a draft, which ended up being the final speech. I didn’t proofread Mrs. Obama’s speech. That was my mistake, and I feel terrible about the incident I caused Melania, Mr. Trump, and Mrs. Obama. I didn’t mean to embarrass anyone.”

Ms. McIver said she submitted her resignation to Mr. Trump and his family, but it was rejected. Mr. Trump said that “people make innocent mistakes, and we learn and grow from those experiences.”

Just an hour before Ms. McIver’s apology was published, Mr. Trump criticized the media for wasting more time analyzing his wife’s speech than the FBI spent investigating Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

Mr. Trump defended his wife against media criticism that two passages in her speech were "plagiarized" from Michelle Obama's speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Lan Ha

(According to New York Times)