Who knew Melania Trump and Michelle Obama had so much in common?
At the Republican National Convention in Cleveland Monday, Melania, 46, delivered a speech that bore striking similarities to a speech Michelle, 52, gave at the Democratic National Convention in 2008. But, after she arrived in Ohio earlier that day, Melania told NBC News' Matt Lauer, "I read once over it, that's all, because I wrote it...with (as) little help as possible."
Donald Trump's campaign released a statement regarding the speeches' resemblances; it did not address the plagiarism charge. "In writing her beautiful speech, Melania's team of writers took notes on her life's inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking," Jason Miller, senior communications adviser, said. "Melania's immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it such a success."
That didn't stop Twitter from mocking Melania, as #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes trended all night. Actor and social justice activist Jesse Williams invented the hashtag, and he jokingly attributed Sojourner Truth's famous "Ain't I A Woman" speech to Melania. Soon, dozens of other celebrities—including Kandi Burruss and Anna Kendrick—were following Jesse's lead.
Donald's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, addressed the plagiarism accusations Tuesday morning. "To think that she would do something like that knowing how scrutinized her speech was going to be last night is just really absurd," he told Chris Cuomo on CNN's New Day. "There's no cribbing of Michelle Obama's speech. These were common words and values. She cares about her family. To think that she'd be cribbing Michelle Obama's words is crazy." Paul then blamed Donald's rival. "This is once again an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, she seeks out to demean her and take her down," he argued. "It's not going to work."
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former prosecutor, argued Tuesday that Melania's speech has been blown out of proportion. "I know Melania. I think she worked very hard on that speech. A lot of what I heard last night sitting on the floor sounded very much like her and the way she speaks about Donald all the time," he told Today's Lauer and Savannah Guthrie. Chris also predicted the controversy will blow over soon. "What's important is the American people gets a picture about what she feels about her husband and what their relationship is like," he said.
Hours later, Paul hosted a press conference in Cleveland in Melania's defense. "Obviously Michelle Obama feels very similar sentiments towards her family. The fact that the speech itself is being focused on for—somebody at CBS I think told me, 50 words, and that includes 'ands' and 'thes' and things like that—is totally ignoring the facts of the speech itself. The speech was a poignant speech. She was well received by the American people. We don't believe there is anything in that speech that doesn't reflect her thinking. We're comfortable that the words that she used are words that were personal to her," he told reporters. "The fact that they're things like 'care' and 'respect' and 'compassion,' those are not extraordinary words, and certainly when you're talking about family, they're normal words. I would note that she did know that she was speaking before 40 million people yesterday, and that her speech would be noticed by a lot of people. To think that she would be doing anything that would be unnoticed is absurd."
"She knew that people were going to be paying attention to her words, and the American people did focus on what her message was. You all are focusing on trying to distort that message in some respects. But again, there's a political tit to this whole issue. Certainly we've noted that the Clinton was the first to get it out there in trying to say that there was something untoward about the speech that Melania Trump gave," Paul alleged. "It's just another example, as far as we're concerned, that when Hillary Clinton is threatened by a female, the first thing she does is try to destroy the person."
Meredith McIver, an in-house staff writer who works for the Trump Organization, apologized in a statement sent out by the campaign Wednesday. "In working with Melania Trump on her recent First Lady speech, we discussed many people who inspired her and messages she wanted to share with the American people. A person she has always liked is Michele Obama. 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. I did not check Mrs. Obama's speeches. This was my mistake, and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Mrs. Obama. No harm was meant," Meredith wrote. "Yesterday, I offered my resignation to Mr. Trump and the Trump family, but they rejected it. Mr. Trump told me that people make innocent mistakes and that we learn from these experiences...I apologize for the confusion and hysteria my mistake has caused. Today, more than ever, I am honored to work with such a great family. I personally admire the way Mr. Trump has handled the situation and am grateful for his understanding."
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(Originally published on Tuesday, July 19, 2016, at 4:52 a.m. PDT.)