By Perekeme Odon
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Melania & Michelle- Photo Credit: Google- |
Melania
Trump was the main speaker at the Republican National Convention on Monday, and
Parts of Melania Trump's speech bear similarities to a similar speech given by
Michelle Obama in August 25,2008. Two days ago Melania Trump's speech writer
apologises for plagiarising Michelle Obama.
Former Trump
campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said Tuesday that whoever is responsible for
writing the should be fired."Whoever
was the staff person who wrote this speech should be held accountable and
should be fired,".Lewandowski told CNN's John Berman and Kate Bolduan. Lewandowski, who is a CNN
contributor, was fired from the Trump campaign last month. Trump's presidential
campaign doesn't plan to fire anybody or to take disciplinary action over the
controversy surrounding Melania Trump's plagiarism of Michelle Obama.It's set
off infighting and finger-pointing within Trump's campaign, and two sources
told CNN that Donald Trump himself is furious about it.
Republican National Committee
Chairman Reince Priebus said at a Bloomberg Politics event Tuesday morning he'd
"probably" fire whoever was responsible for including plagiarized
quotes, though he added: "It all kinda depends on the circumstances and
how these things are written."
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Jarrett Hill - Photo Credit: Twitter |
Trump's aides chalked
the controversy up to media bias and blamed Hillary Clinton's campaign -- even
though the apparent plagiarism was discovered by a 31-year-old out-of-work
independent journalist, Jarrett Hill sitting in a Starbucks in Los Angeles.
Hill tweeted about the resemblance, and his tweet soon went viral. before
Clinton's allies and Democrats even weighed in.
The Trump campaign released a
statement on the speech after the similarities were uncovered, but it did not
mention the plagiarism charge.Who wrote the speech?Sources familiar with the
campaign's handling of Melania Trump's speech identify top Manafort deputy Rick
Gates as the person inside the campaign who oversaw the entire speech process
for Melania Trump.Gates is denying he oversaw the process of putting together
the speech.
Here is
Melania Trump, on Monday:
"From
a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what
you want in life, that your word is your bond and you 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 continue to
pass along to our son," Trump said.
And we
need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow. Because we
want 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."
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Michelle Obama Photo Credit: Google Meliana Trump |
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And here
is Michelle 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 want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say
you're going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you
don't know them, and even 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
next generation. Because we want our children -- and all children in this
nation -- to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the
reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."
Meanwhile, the 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 point, "Lock
her up!" In a fundraising email to supporters, Clinton's campaign said
"there's a difference between drawing a contrast and ceaselessly saying
your opponent belongs in jail."
White House
Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Tuesday that President Barack Obama
did not watch Monday night's speeches."As it
relates to Mrs. Trump's speech, I'll let all of you weigh in on all of that and
try to learn more 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's Matt Lauer: "I read once over it, that's
all, because I wrote it ... with (as) little help as possible."