Speechwriter takes the fall for plagiarism controversy
Writer admits she used parts of Michelle Obama’s speech in Melania Trump’s speech
CLEVELAND— Seeking to put out a political fire, a Trump Organization staff writer took the blame Wednesday for the plagiarism controversy that has threatened to overshadow Donald Trump’s triumphant Republican National Convention.
The nation is to get its first good look Wednesday night at Trump’s vice-presidential pick, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, as he addresses the convention. But the noise surrounding Melania Trump’s Monday night speech was all but drowning it out.
After the campaign spent 36 hours dismissing the dust-up as absurd — and any similarities with a 2008 Michelle Obama speech as coincidence — Meredith McIver said Wednesday she had included passages from Michelle Obama’s speech in Melania Trump’s address. McIver said she offered her resignation over the incident, but Donald Trump rejected it.
“This was my mistake and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as Mrs. Obama. No harm was meant,” McIver said in a statement released by the Trump Organization. “Mr. Trump told me people make innocent mistakes and that we learn and grow from experiences.”
McIver identified herself as a staff writer at the Trump Organization, not a campaign employee. But her statement was the first sign of the Trump campaign acknowledging the similarities between the speeches as more than just coincidence. The campaign spent much of Tuesday dismissing the plagiarism charges as politically motivated and overblown.
But there’s another problem. The letterhead of the statement: The Trump Organization, which is to say Donald Trump’s personal business. And McIver describes herself as an employee of the Trump Organization, not the campaign.
If Trump used corporate resources to write a political speech, that could be illegal.
“On the face of it, this looks like a corporate violation,” explained Lawrence Noble, general counsel for the Campaign Legal Center. And that is “a violation of federal law. It can result in civil penalties to the corporation and the campaign.”
If the campaign used corporate resources “willingly and knowingly,” the offence is a criminal one. Trump arrived in Cleveland Wednesday afternoon, in his helicopter on the shore of Lake Erie. He was greeted with handshakes from Pence and hugs from his grown children. Melania Trump, who flew back to New York after her speech, was due to return Thursday, along with the youngest Trump, 10-year-old Barron.
McIver’s statement revived persistent questions about Trump’s campaign operation and distracted anew from his attempts to reshape his image. Melania Trump’s remarks were the first of several planned family testimonials aimed at recasting the celebrity showman as a seriousminded family man.
It’s a project proving harder than uniting Republicans behind their distaste for another brand they know well: the Clintons.
Trump, the real estate mogul and reality television star, secured the GOP mantle Tuesday night in a rollcall vote that officially brought the outsider into the heart of American politics. The tallying of the votes was followed by a display of Trump’s twotrack persuasion effort: Testimonials vouching for his character — delivered by his family — and searing indictments of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s character — delivered by the rest of the party.
Trump adviser Paul Manafort acknowledged both elements Wednesday, noting the campaign is “trying to show other parts of his personality.”
“We feel the America people don’t know all of Donald Trump,” he said on ABC’s Good Morning America.