Melania Trump Steals From Michelle Again
Story highlights
- Melania Trump was the chief speaker at the Republican National Convention Mon
- Parts of Melania Trump's speech carry similarities to a similar spoken communication given by Michelle Obama in 2008
(CNN)Donald Trump's presidential entrada doesn't plan to fire anybody or to take disciplinary action over the controversy surrounding Melania Trump's plagiarism of Michelle Obama, CNN learned Tuesday.
Trump'due south campaign hopes to but move on without further addressing questions near the speech.
Aides to the presumptive Republican nominee are scrambling to motility by the imbroglio after a passage in Melania Trump'due south speech Monday night, which headlined the Republican National Convention'southward opening night, closely mirrored a portion of Michelle Obama's address to the Democratic National Convention in 2008.
It'southward set up off infighting and finger-pointing within Trump'southward campaign, and ii sources told CNN that Donald Trump himself is furious about it.
Trump'southward aides chalked the controversy upwardly to media bias and blamed Hillary Clinton'due south campaign -- even though the credible plagiarism was discovered by an contained journalist and had gone viral before Clinton'due south allies and Democrats fifty-fifty weighed in.
In an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Twenty-four hours," entrada chairman Paul Manafort denied the allegations of plagiarism.
"To recall that she would practice something similar that knowing how scrutinized her speech was going to be last night is merely actually absurd," Manafort said.
Manafort said the words Melania used were non "cribbed" just are common words.
"There's no cribbing of Michelle Obama's spoken communication. These were common words and values. She cares nigh her family unit," Manafort said. "To call back that she'd be cribbing Michelle Obama's words is crazy."
Sean Spicer, the Republican National Committee'southward master strategist, invoked "My Little Pony" in defending the speech in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
"Melania Trump said, 'the strength of your dreams and willingness to work for them.' Twilight Sparkle from 'My Petty Pony' said, 'This is your dream. Anything you can do in your dreams, you lot can do now,' " Spicer said.
He likewise compared passages of Trump's speech with phrases from musicians John Legend and Kid Rock.
"I mean if nosotros want to take a bunch of phrases and run them through a Google and say, 'Hey, who else has said them,' I tin can exercise that in five minutes," Spicer said. "And that's what this is."
Nevertheless, Trump's campaign faced criticism even from allies, who largely blamed staffers -- not Melania Trump.
Old Trump campaign director Corey Lewandowski said Tuesday that whoever is responsible for writing the should exist fired.
"Whoever was the staff person who wrote this speech should be held answerable and should exist fired," Lewandowski told CNN'southward John Berman and Kate Bolduan.
Lewandowski, who is a CNN correspondent, was fired from the Trump entrada last calendar month.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said at a Bloomberg Politics effect Tuesday morning he'd "probably" fire whoever was responsible for including plagiarized quotes, though he added: "Information technology all kinda depends on the circumstances and how these things are written."
The controversy quickly overshadowed the spoken communication, which was to have been her introduction to voters. Information technology focused on her immigration to the United States and her love for her husband.
The Trump campaign released a statement on the speech after the similarities were uncovered, just it did not mention the plagiarism accuse.
"In writing her beautiful speech, Melania's squad of writers took notes on her life's inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her ain thinking. Melania's immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it such a success," according to Jason Miller, the senior communications adviser.
New Jersey governor and Donald Trump ally Chris Christie defended the speech, proverb, "There's no style that Melania Trump was plagiarizing Michelle Obama'southward spoken language."
"I just don't run across information technology," Christie told CNN's Jamie Gangel in an interview Tuesday, adding later, "If nosotros're talking about 7% of a spoken language, that was really, universally considered to be a expert performance by Melania. I know her. There's no way that Melania Trump was plagiarizing Michelle Obama's speech."
Who wrote the speech?
Side-by-side comparisons of the transcripts prove the text in Trump'due south address following, nearly to the word, the would-exist time to come first lady's own from the first night of the Democratic convention in Denver virtually eight years agone.
There were a lot of questions virtually who wrote the speech communication -- merely little clarity.
Sources familiar with the campaign's treatment of Melania Trump's speech place top Manafort deputy Rick Gates as the person inside the entrada who oversaw the unabridged speech process for Melania Trump.
Gates is denying he oversaw the process of putting together the speech.
When CNN'south Jim Acosta asked Gates if he oversaw the Melania Trump oral communication procedure, he said "absolutely non."
Miller also denied Gates' involvement.
"Rick'due south not a speechwriter and he doesn't have a office in the campaign's speechwriting process -- we accept other people for that," he said. "Anybody saying differently is being intentionally misleading."
Democrats' role
Manafort, on CNN'south "New Day," said the scrutiny over Melania Trump's speech was the work of Clinton's campaign.
"This is once once more an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, she seeks out to demean her and accept her downwards. It'due south not going to work," he said.
However, Trump's aides haven't pointed to whatsoever evidence of Democrats' involvement in fanning the controversy.
The Clinton campaign's communications director Jennifer Palmieri said Manafort's comments most Clinton'southward involvement were untrue.
"Nice try, not true. @PaulManafort, blaming Hillary Clinton isn't the answer for ever Trump campaign problem," Palmieri tweeted.
Clinton's campaign on Tuesday focused instead on bashing Republicans for other speeches Monday night, including the mother of a Benghazi attack victim saying she'd like to see Clinton imprisoned and the crowd chanting at another indicate, "Lock her upwards!" In a fundraising e-mail to supporters, Clinton's campaign said "there's a departure between drawing a dissimilarity and baselessly maxim your opponent belongs in jail."
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Tuesday that President Barack Obama did not lookout man Monday nighttime's speeches.
"Equally it relates to Mrs. Trump's voice communication, I'll let all of yous counterbalance in on all of that and try to learn more than about how exactly it was written," Earnest said. "What I can say that in 2008, when Mrs. Obama spoke, she received an enthusiastic reception and strong reviews because of her words, her life story, and the values that she and her husband deeply believe in and try to instill in their kids."
Earlier in the day, Melania Trump told NBC'due south Matt Lauer: "I read once over information technology, that's all, because I wrote information technology ... with (as) little help as possible."
Hither is Trump, on Monday:
"From a immature age, my parents impressed on me the values that you lot work hard for what y'all desire in life, that your word is your bail and y'all do what you say and keep your promise, 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. Because 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 here 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 desire in life; that your word is your bail and you practise what you say you're going to do; that you care for people with nobility and respect, even if you don't know them, and fifty-fifty if you don't agree with them.
And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values, and to pass them on to the adjacent generation. Because we want our children -- and all children in this nation -- to know that the only limit to the elevation of your achievements is the achieve of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."
The reaction:
"(To be honest), I was more offended by just about every other speech than Melania's plagiarized paragraphs," erstwhile Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau jokingly tweeted as the accusations went viral hours later Trump's accost.
Journalist Jarrett Loma seems to accept been one of the beginning to detect the similarities on Twitter.
He'due south a big fan of the Obamas, and told CNN over the phone that i particular line from Michelle Obama'south 2008 speech really spoke to him: "To know that the just limit to the peak of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."
When he heard Melania Trump start saying "the only limit to your achievements," he knew something was wrong.
Colina said he and then Googled Michelle Obama's spoken communication and saw the similar lines.
"Information technology was kind of a total recall moment," he said.
After he posted the comparison on Twitter, his tweet garnered sixteen,000 retweets.
"Um. This is becoming a matter," 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 hubby. "And most importantly, he will never, ever let you downwards."
The chorus of the 80s classic sounds very similar: "Never gonna requite you up/ Never gonna permit yous down/ Never gonna run around and desert you."
A bit of groundwork -- Rickrolling is where yous get someone to unwittingly click on a link to the video of the Astley song "Never Gonna Give Y'all Upward."
So, for example, if someone were to tell you lot to click hither, saying it's another article about Melania Trump, and yous click on that link, you would be 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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