Did Melania Plagiarized Michelle Obama Again
Story highlights
- Melania Trump was the main speaker at the Republican National Convention Monday
- Parts of Melania Trump's speech bear similarities to a similar oral communication given by Michelle Obama in 2008
(CNN)Donald Trump'south presidential campaign doesn't plan to fire everyone or to take disciplinary activity over the controversy surrounding Melania Trump'due south plagiarism of Michelle Obama, CNN learned Tuesday.
Trump's campaign hopes to simply motion on without further addressing questions about the speech.
Aides to the presumptive Republican nominee are scrambling to motility past the imbroglio subsequently a passage in Melania Trump's speech communication Monday dark, which headlined the Republican National Convention's opening nighttime, closely mirrored a portion of Michelle Obama's accost to the Democratic National Convention in 2008.
Information technology'south ready off infighting and finger-pointing within Trump's campaign, and two sources told CNN that Donald Trump himself is furious nearly it.
Trump'south aides chalked the controversy up to media bias and blamed Hillary Clinton's campaign -- even though the apparent plagiarism was discovered by an contained journalist and had gone viral before Clinton's allies and Democrats fifty-fifty weighed in.
In an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day," campaign chairman Paul Manafort denied the allegations of plagiarism.
"To call back that she would do something similar that knowing how scrutinized her oral communication was going to be last night is only actually absurd," Manafort said.
Manafort said the words Melania used were not "cribbed" but are common words.
"There'due south no cribbing of Michelle Obama's speech. These were common words and values. She cares nigh her family," Manafort said. "To recall that she'd be cribbing Michelle Obama'due south words is crazy."
Sean Spicer, the Republican National Committee'southward master strategist, invoked "My Petty Pony" in defending the speech in an interview with CNN'south Wolf Blitzer.
"Melania Trump said, 'the forcefulness of your dreams and willingness to work for them.' Twilight Sparkle from 'My Piffling Pony' said, 'This is your dream. Anything you tin do in your dreams, you can do now,' " Spicer said.
He also compared passages of Trump'southward spoken language with phrases from musicians John Legend and Kid Rock.
"I mean if we want to accept a bunch of phrases and run them through a Google and say, 'Hey, who else has said them,' I can do that in five minutes," Spicer said. "And that's what this is."
However, Trump'southward campaign faced criticism even from allies, who largely blamed staffers -- not Melania Trump.
Former Trump entrada manager Corey Lewandowski said Tuesday that whoever is responsible for writing the should be fired.
"Whoever was the staff person who wrote this speech should be held accountable and should be fired," Lewandowski told CNN's John Berman and Kate Bolduan.
Lewandowski, who is a CNN correspondent, was fired from the Trump campaign last month.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said at a Bloomberg Politics event Tuesday morning he'd "probably" fire whoever was responsible for including plagiarized quotes, though he added: "It all kinda depends on the circumstances and how these things are written."
The controversy chop-chop overshadowed the speech communication, which was to accept been her introduction to voters. It focused on her immigration to the United States and her dearest for her husband.
The Trump campaign released a statement on the speech communication after the similarities were uncovered, merely it did non mention the plagiarism charge.
"In writing her beautiful speech, Melania's team of writers took notes on her life'due south inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking. Melania's immigrant experience and dear for America shone through in her spoken communication, which made it such a success," co-ordinate to Jason Miller, the senior communications adviser.
New Jersey governor and Donald Trump ally Chris Christie dedicated the speech communication, saying, "There's no way that Melania Trump was plagiarizing Michelle Obama's speech."
"I but don't meet information technology," Christie told CNN'southward Jamie Gangel in an interview Tuesday, adding afterward, "If we're talking about 7% of a spoken communication, that was actually, universally considered to be a good performance past Melania. I know her. There's no way that Melania Trump was plagiarizing Michelle Obama'due south voice communication."
Who wrote the voice communication?
Side-by-side comparisons of the transcripts evidence the text in Trump's address following, nearly to the word, the would-be future first lady's own from the first dark of the Democratic convention in Denver nearly 8 years ago.
There were a lot of questions about who wrote the speech -- but little clarity.
Sources familiar with the campaign'due south handling of Melania Trump'south speech identify acme Manafort deputy Rick Gates equally the person inside the campaign who oversaw the entire speech procedure for Melania Trump.
Gates is denying he oversaw the process of putting together the speech.
When CNN's Jim Acosta asked Gates if he oversaw the Melania Trump speech process, he said "absolutely not."
Miller also denied Gates' interest.
"Rick's not a speechwriter and he doesn't have a role in the campaign's speechwriting process -- nosotros have other people for that," he said. "Everyone saying differently is being intentionally misleading."
Democrats' role
Manafort, on CNN'due south "New Day," said the scrutiny over Melania Trump's speech was the piece of work of Clinton'southward entrada.
"This is once over again an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, she seeks out to demean her and have her down. It's not going to work," he said.
Yet, Trump'due south aides haven't pointed to any evidence of Democrats' involvement in fanning the controversy.
The Clinton campaign'due south communications director Jennifer Palmieri said Manafort'due south comments almost Clinton's involvement were untrue.
"Squeamish attempt, not true. @PaulManafort, blaming Hillary Clinton isn't the answer for ever Trump campaign trouble," Palmieri tweeted.
Clinton'southward campaign on Tuesday focused instead on bashing Republicans for other speeches Monday nighttime, including the mother of a Benghazi attack victim maxim she'd similar to run into Clinton imprisoned and the oversupply chanting at another signal, "Lock her up!" In a fundraising e-mail to supporters, Clinton's campaign said "there's a deviation between drawing a contrast and baselessly saying your opponent belongs in jail."
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Tuesday that President Barack Obama did not lookout man Mon night'due south speeches.
"Equally it relates to Mrs. Trump's spoken language, I'll let all of you weigh in on all of that and endeavour to learn more than about how exactly it was written," Hostage said. "What I can say that in 2008, when Mrs. Obama spoke, she received an enthusiastic reception and strong reviews considering of her words, her life story, and the values that she and her husband deeply believe in and attempt to instill in their kids."
Earlier in the day, Melania Trump told NBC's Matt Lauer: "I read once over it, that's all, because I wrote it ... with (as) footling help as possible."
Here is Trump, on Monday:
"From a immature age, my parents impressed on me the values that yous work hard for what y'all desire in life, that your discussion is your bond and you lot do what you say and keep your hope, that you treat people with respect. They taught and showed me values and morals in their daily lives. That is a lesson that I go on to pass along to our son," Trump said.
And we need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow. Considering we desire 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."
And hither is Obama, on August 25, 2008:
"And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you lot want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do; that you care for people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them.
And Barack and I set out to build lives guided past these values, and to pass them on to the next generation. Because we want our children -- and all children in this nation -- to know that the only limit to the summit of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."
The reaction:
"(To be honest), I was more offended by just virtually every other spoken communication than Melania's plagiarized paragraphs," erstwhile Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau jokingly tweeted as the accusations went viral hours later on Trump's address.
Journalist Jarrett Hill seems to have been one of the first to notice the similarities on Twitter.
He's a big fan of the Obamas, and told CNN over the telephone that one particular line from Michelle Obama's 2008 voice communication really spoke to him: "To know that the simply limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."
When he heard Melania Trump start proverb "the only limit to your achievements," he knew something was wrong.
Hill said he and so Googled Michelle Obama's speech and saw the similar lines.
"It was kind of a full recall moment," he said.
After he posted the comparison on Twitter, his tweet garnered 16,000 retweets.
"Um. This is becoming a thing," he afterwards tweeted.
Never gonna let you down?
In an even stranger twist, some on social media posited that Trump surreptitiously Rickrolled -- a common Internet meme involving singer Rick Astley -- everyone in the middle of her speech.
"He will never give up," she said of her married man. "And most chiefly, he will never, ever permit y'all down."
The chorus of the 80s classic sounds very similar: "Never gonna requite you up/ Never gonna let you downwards/ Never gonna run effectually and desert you."
A chip of background -- Rickrolling is where you lot get someone to unwittingly click on a link to the video of the Astley song "Never Gonna Give Yous Up."
So, for example, if someone were to tell you to click here, maxim it's another article almost Melania Trump, and you click on that link, you lot would exist taken to an Astley video and thus accept been Rickrolled.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/19/politics/melania-trump-michelle-obama-speech/index.html
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