Trump campaign defends Melania on plagiarism accusations

Donald Trump’s campaign is defending Melania Trump from allegations that parts of a speech she delivered on the first day of the Republican National Convention were plagiarized from Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic convention speech.

{mosads}“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,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said in a statement early Tuesday morning.

“Melania’s immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it a success,” he added.

Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, explicitly denied the plagiarism accusations, saying that Melania Trump’s speech simply employed language that is frequently used. The two speeches shared some exact phrasing.

“Well, there’s no cribbing of Michelle Obama’s speech. These were common words and values,” Manafort said in an interview early Tuesday on CNN’s “New Day.”

“I wrote it with as little help as possible,” Melania Trump told NBC’s “Today” show in an interview on Monday before delivering the speech.