Democrats / Media Smear Melania Trump Speech as "Plagiarism" (Debunked)
CLEVELAND Donald Trumps presidential campaign came under new scrutiny Tuesday after it became apparent that part of Melania Trumps primetime address Monday night at the Republican National Convention bore conspicuous similarities to a speech delivered by first lady Michelle Obama in 2008 at the Democratic convention.
The plagiarism charges have cast a shadow over Trump and his campaign on the second day of the convention here in Cleveland, where Republicans are making the case to a skeptical country that the celebrity billionaire the most unconventional and impulsive major-party standard-bearer in modern history could be a credible and steadfast leader at a time of terrorist threats abroad and senseless tragedies at home.
Trumps campaign and allies rushed to defend Melania Trump on Tuesday morning, even as other Republicans worried that the fresh controversy would eclipse Tuesdays emphasis at the convention on Trumps economic message.
In writing her beautiful speech, Melanias team of writers took notes on her lifes inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking, wrote senior communications advisor Jason Miller in a statement. Melanias immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it such a success.
[Winners and losers from Day 1 of the Republican National Convention]
Melania Trump had previously indicated that she wrote the speech herself.
Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who Trump fired last month, defended Melania on Tuesday but said that the staff should be held accountable for potential plagiarism.
I think Mrs. Trump is a very smart, articulate woman. Her thoughts are her own thoughts. And I think if there was a mistake, it was at the staff level, and the staff should be held accountable, Lewandowski told reporters.
On Tuesday morning, Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort denied that there had been any plagiarism, despite clear similarities between the two speeches. Some parts of the speeches appeared to be the same, word for word. He made the rounds of an empty arena Tuesday morning, going between television sets on the convention floor as he made his case, looking tired and insisting that the plagiarism was being overstated and overplayed.
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Theres no cribbing of Michelle Obamas speech. These were common words and values that she cares about, her family, things like that, Manafort said on CNNs New Day Tuesday morning. She was speaking in front of 35 million people last night, she knew that, to think that she would be cribbing Michelle Obamas words is crazy.
He added that he does not believe Trump feels that theres anything to fire someone about during an interview on CBS.
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Elsewhere within the Republican establishment, however, reaction was starkly different.
Talking to operatives here, the mood is something between grim resignation and the Donner Party, said veteran GOP consultant Mike Murphy on Tuesday morning.
Roger Stone, a Trump friend, called the speech very effective and good. He said he didnt know who wrote the speech or was responsible for what he called the alleged plagiarism.
Stone said he had not spoken to Trump or Manafort yet Tuesday, but intended to speak with the latter sometime later in the day.
Asked whether someone should be fired or reprimanded for the speech, Stone said: Not for me to say other than this is really bad staff work.
Stone added that the campaign is still going through growing pains, an indirect jab at Lewandowski.
[The Trump campaigns brazen bad defenses of Melania Trumps alleged plagiarism]
Sadly, the campaign lost several months under the wrong leadership and they are still in the recruitment phase, said Stone. Theyre not even at full strength and they need to be.
Still other were optimistic that the controversy would blow over soon.
Former Mississippi governor Haley Barbour called the controversy a nothingburger during an interview with The Washington Post. He defended Melania Trump and said that the speech appeared heartfelt. If I took the 10 most significant things that happened last night, I would not include this in the list, he said.
Former Texas governor Rick Perry said during a brief interview in Cleveland that he believes the controversy is being overblown and will soon pass.
I think that in a 24/7 news cycle, you all have to have something to talk about, Perry said when asked about the controversy. My bet is....this will be gone probably by mid-afternoon. There will be something said on the stage that is probably more interesting for you.
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich praised the speech and sought to shift the focus to Democrats.
I think when you have a president who stole from Deval Patrick and a vice president who had to drop out of a presidential race because he had stolen entire passages from a British Labour leader, its a little much, he said of the scrutiny Melania Trump has faced. Gingrich was referring to allegations that Obama borrowed lines from then-Massachusetts governor Patrick in 2008 and that Vice President Biden lifted material from a British politician in 1988.
Details of how the controversy unfolded emerged throughout the morning Tuesday.
[Melania Trump is the least-liked potential first lady since at least 1992]
The mood within Trumps hotel headquarters here quickly turned from ebullient to dark after the convention session ended Monday. Manafort and other campaign officials were seen shaking hands as they left the arena and receiving congratulations from party consultants after the conclusion of the first night and in particular for Melania Trumps speech. Then, once much of Trumps team was back at their hotel, cable news channels began to intensely cover the plagiarism story.
Manafort and spokesman Jason Miller worked together in the post-midnight hours of Tuesday morning to craft the first statement, according to a person close to the campaign who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations. Meanwhile, Trump returned to New York with his wife following her speech, leaving him in reach of his top aides but partly in transit during the initial spate of headlines.
Defiance defined the Trump campaigns response from the start, beginning with closed-door talks and text messages between advisers where they expressed indignation about the news coverage of Melania Trumps speech and immediately began to call plagiarism claims unfair and absurd, as a second Trump person to the campaign said Tuesday. Not close to many establishment Republicans and with chilly relations with some media outlets, Manaforts group of confidants balked at the coverage and the scrutiny, the person said.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for helping to craft Melania Trumps remarks since the Trump campaign speechwriting operation is not like most traditional presidential campaigns with a small staff and a narrow chain of command. Instead, the Trump campaign has one main speechwriter, Stephen Miller, and relies on other Trump associates for input. In recent days, for example, Manafort has consulted with two former Reagan speechwriters, Ben T. Elliott and Peter Robinson, on Trumps upcoming acceptance speech but that pair is not formally part of the campaign.
[Fact-checking the first day of the 2016 Republican National Convention]
Melania Trump, an immigrant from Slovenia and a former fashion model, has been a glamorous but generally silent presence at her husbands side. Her remarks were seen as an opportunity to soften the image of her husband, whose bombastic style and penchant for feuds has at times emerged as a political liability.
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, Melania said, in one part of the speech now being scrutinized. [W]e want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.
Her dislike of and discomfort with public speaking are well known, making her well-received address a high moment of the night. She has rarely appeared on the campaign trail and does not often speak to the press.
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus called the controversy a distraction during a breakfast hosted by Bloomberg Tuesday morning, but he said that he believes the controversy will not eclipse the campaigns message at the convention. He added that he does not blame Melania Trump for the cribbing but said that someone should probably be fired.
But it all depends on the circumstances...It certainly seems reasonable to me [that someone should be fired], he said.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), a staunch Trump ally, defended the campaign Tuesday, saying that 93 percent of the speech is completely different than Michelle Obamas speech. He said that he believes the controversy will die down by Tuesday evening.
The plagiarism controversy capped a tumultuous first convention day.
A particularly emotional moment Monday night came in a speech by Patricia Smith, whose son Sean was one of four Americans who died in the 2012 attacks on a U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, while Clinton was secretary of state.
[The first night of the GOP convention was very Trump and often not in a good way]
As she was speaking, Trump was doing a television interview with Fox Newss Bill OReilly, an unusual counter-programming move that may have drawn many viewers away from what was happening on the convention stage.
Trump also defied many of the norms and expectations surrounding these quadrennial party gatherings, by taking the stage briefly to introduce his wife. He was lit in silhouette as the sound system played the song We Are the Champions by the British rock band Queen.
Afterward, he returned to the stage and gave his wife a kiss.
With their departure, the hall began emptying, even though there were more speakers. The audiences exit did not deter retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who continued to speak for nearly half an hour. U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) spoke to a largely empty convention hall.
The convention opened with a spasm of procedural chaos in which hundreds of rebellious delegates staged one last, futile effort to stop Trump, roiling what is normally a rote procedure to approve party rules. The technical details became a proxy for their larger effort to put one final speed bump between Trump and the nomination.
Meanwhile, Manafort sought to downplay a simmering feud with Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), whose decision not to appear at the convention he called embarrassing on Monday. On Tuesday morning he said that the only point he made was that Kasich should be attending his partys convention in his home state.
Collectively, the drama largely eclipsed the theme of the first night, Make America Safe Again, which was selected a month and a half ago.
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Philip Rucker, Ed OKeefe and Isaac Stanley-Becker contributed to this report.
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