Writer apologises for copying phrases for Melania Trump's speech
Washington,
July
21:
An
aide
for
Republican
presidential
nominee
Donald
Trump
took
responsibility
for
copying
portions
of
First
Lady
Michelle
Obama's
2008
address
for
Melania
Trump's
convention
speech
on
Monday.
[Melania
Trump
plagiarised
Michelle
Obama's
2008
speech:
Report]
A
statement
distributed
on
Wednesday
by
the
campaign
featured
an
apology
from
Meredith
McIver
and
an
offer
of
resignation.
The
statement
attributed
to
McIver
said
the
Republican
presidential
nominee
had
rejected
her
offer
to
resign,
The
Wall
Street
Journal
reported
on
Thursday.
[Most
Americans
oppose
Donald
Trump's
immigration
proposals]
Staff writer Meredith McIver, who called herself "a longtime friend and admirer of the Trump family," said in a statement released by the Trump campaign that while working with Melania Trump on her First Lady speech, the two discussed many people who inspired Melania Trump. [See the two speeches in the video below]
"A person she (Melania Trump) has always liked is Michelle Obama," Xinhua quoted McIver as saying.
"Over the phone, she read me some passages from Mrs. Obama's speech as examples. I wrote them down and later included some of the phrasing in the draft that ultimately became the final speech," she said.
According to McIver, she did not check Michelle Obama's 2008 speech.
"This was my mistake and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Michelle Obama," said McIver.
The statement came two days after embarrassing similarities were revealed between parts of Melania Trump's speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention on Monday night and Michelle Obama's 2008 convention speech.
The plagiarism charges threatened to overshadow Trump's official ascent to the standard-bearer of a major US political party and came just hours after the Trump campaign fiercely denied the overlap.
Shortly after the release of the statement, Trump pointed out one positive side of the episode in his twitter post that his wife's speech "got more publicity than any in the history of politics especially if you believe that all press is good press".
In another twitter post, Trump criticized the US media for spending more time "doing a forensic analysis of Melania's speech than the FBI spent on Hillary's emails".
IANS