After 36 hours of denials, the campaign moved to put the matter to rest Wednesday, releasing a statement from a speechwriter who took blame for including lines from a Michelle Obama speech in the remarks. This was my mistake, and I feel bad for the chaos I have caused.
Advertisement
“In writing her lovely speech”, Miller, said, “Melania’s team of writers took notes on her life’s inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking”.
Meredith McIver, an in-house speech writer, has offered a new account of how Ms Trump’s Monday night speech was remarkably similar to one given by Michelle Obama.
The speech from the ex-model, watched by millions on television on Monday night, amounted to a nightmarish start for the convention and subjected her husband’s presidential campaign to withering scrutiny.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson on Tuesday flatly denied any plagiarism took place, claiming the values Obama espoused were in fact lifted from the conservative catalog.
On Tuesday, documents obtained by NBC News showed that the original draft of the speech didn’t include the section apparently cribbed from Michelle Obama, raising suspicions that the passage had come from someone in the Trump campaign.
“Because of [Pence’s] popularity within the grassroots of the Republican Party … we feel that he helps accelerate the unification of the party in a really meaningful way”, Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort told NPR.
So far, many convention speakers have devoted more time to denouncing presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton than talking about Trump.
Cruz arrived in Cleveland with an eye on his own political future, holding the rally with hundreds of supporters who greeted him with chants of “2020” – the next presidential election.
Trump planned to make a display of solidarity on Wednesday with his running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, a social conservative who is at odds with the NY businessman on many issues.
“I’m convinced what begins in Cleveland will end in the White House”, Pence said.
Her bio shows she’s been working for Donald Trump since 2001 – and they’ve co-authored numerous books together for several publishers, including the 2004 hit “Trump: How to Get Rich”.
McIver’s statement revived persistent questions about Trump’s campaign operation and distracted anew from his attempts to reshape his image.
In an odd twist for a prime-time convention speaker, Cruz hasn’t endorsed the NY businessman, who called him “Lyin’ Ted” on the campaign trail.
The Indiana governor was chosen by Trump to be his running mate explicitly for the conservative credentials he’s proven over six terms in the U.S. House and in the governor’s mansion.
Advertisement
After emerging, Trump only spoke briefly: “We’re going to win Ohio”. Even as it was dying down, Trump himself stoked it anew with a defiant tweet saying Melania Trump’s address had earned “more publicity than any in the history of politics”. Trump said on Twitter. When the interviewer asked if Clinton should get the same wiggle room on her own vote for the war when she was a USA senator, Trump said, “No”. “I’m comfortable that it’s a less awkward situation than I’ve seen in many marriages”.
