The first night of the RNC featured a heavy dose of Benghazi, many utterances of “radical Islamic terrorism,” and huge cheers about another cop being cleared of culpability for Freddie Gray’s death. Watching the proceedings in real time, Melania Trump’s speech about her family and experience as an immigrant stood out as one of the night’s relatively low key, unremarkable moments (aside from her husband’s flashy entrance).
But after Melania finished, journalist Jarrett Hill noticed something strange about her speech — a part of it was lifted almost word-for-word from Michelle Obama’s 2008 address to the Democratic National Convention.
Compare:
So that's pretty blatant, right? pic.twitter.com/EPnHME7afV
— Mike Hearn (@mikehearn) July 19, 2016
And there was more:
I spliced Michelle and Melania together. Judge for yourself. pic.twitter.com/8hCZeoXH4q
— Andy Baio (@waxpancake) July 19, 2016
As the controversy swirled on social media, Trump Senior Communications Advisor Jason Miller — the guy who deleted a number of anti-Trump tweets after he was hired by the campaign last month — released a statement that didn’t address the apparent plagiarism, but merely indicated Melania’s speech was written by writers who included “fragments” of her own thinking:
Trump campaign issues statement: pic.twitter.com/zgfOMmgGr3
— Robert Costa (@costareports) July 19, 2016
But former Barack Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau noted the irony of Melania Trump lifting material from Michelle Obama while putting the plagiarism allegation in the broader context of an evening where no attack on Hillary Clinton seemed off limits.
Sarah Hurwitz, Michelle's head speechwriter, used to be Hillary's. So the Trump campaign plagiarized from a Hillary speechwriter.
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) July 19, 2016
Tbh, I was more offended by just about every other speech than Melania's plagiarized paragraphs.
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) July 19, 2016
Update:
Tuesday morning, Trump officials took to TV to deny that Melania plagiarized Michelle, with Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort saying Melania did nothing more than use “common words.”
The Trump campaign explains Melania's plagiarism. pic.twitter.com/Qzd7sRNr0G
— deray mckesson (@deray) July 19, 2016
Trump surrogate Chris Christie, meanwhile, made a case that no plagiarism had occurred because 93 percent of Melania’s speech was original.
Plagiarism?
"Not when 93% of the speech is completely different than Michelle Obama’s speech." –@GovChristie https://t.co/C280sUME33— TODAY (@TODAYshow) July 19, 2016