This morning, Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort defended last night’s speech by Melania Trump against claims that she plagiarized it from Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. But, as countless news outlets have pointed out, the evidence is pretty overwhelming that at least a portion of Trump’s speech is essentially identical to Obama’s remarks.
Even former Trump campaign manager and current CNN commentator Corey Lewandowski acknowledged the similarities, saying that whoever was responsible for the wording of the speech should be “held accountable” and that if it was Manafort, he should resign.
The video mash-up you've been waiting for: Michelle Obama in 2008 vs Melania Trump in 2016. https://t.co/T2OvkmVp6Mhttps://t.co/7wZn7o5eeQ
— CNN (@CNN) July 19, 2016
But Manafort, who was famously at odds with Lewandowski when they were both on the campaign, pushed back on the ridicule and criticism today, telling CNN’s Chris Cuomo, “To think that she would do something like that knowing how scrutinized her speech was going to be last night is just really absurd.”
Admittedly, before she delivered the speech, Melania herself implied that she was largely responsible for the wording. But that’s likely a significant exaggeration, as her speech was almost surely looked over and likely written by members of the Trump campaign.
Today at a Bloomberg Politics breakfast, RNC chair Reince Priebus said that he would “probably” sack the speechwriter responsible.
https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/755255314107162624
In the meantime, Twitter has exploded with famous quotes being sarcastically attributed to Melania. And to add insult to injury, former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau pointed out that the speechwriter who worked with Michelle Obama on the copied remarks used to work for Hillary Clinton.
Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort: Melania Trump's speech used "common words and phrases." https://t.co/lkuwa1KM6O
— CNN (@CNN) July 19, 2016
Some are speculating that the plagiarism was purposeful, an attempt to undermine the Trump campaign. Further proof that this might be the case: Melania “Rickrolled” the entire country right in the middle of her speech.
Photo: CNN.
