The Trump campaign has
dismissed criticism that Melania Trump directly lifted two passages
nearly word-for-word from the speech that first lady Michelle Obama
delivered in 2008 at the Democratic National Convention, calling the
complaints "just absurd."
Melania Trump, wife of Republican
Presidential Candidate Donald Trump waves as she speaks during the
opening day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Source: Associated Press
Trump campaign chairman Paul
Manafort insisted no mistakes had been made with the speech and said the
issue was "totally blown out of proportion."
He told The Associated Press "There were a few words on it, but they're not words that were unique words".
"Ninety-nine percent of that
speech talked about her being an immigrant and love of country and love
of family and everything else" he said.
Mrs. Trump's star turn at the
Republican National Convention Monday night captivated a GOP crowd that
had rarely heard from the wife of Donald Trump.
The passages in question
focused on lessons that Trump's wife says she learned from her parents
and the relevance of their lessons in her experience as a mother.
Mr
Manafort told CNN Mrs. Trump was aware of "how her speech was going to
be scrutinized" and said any notion that she picked up portions of Mrs.
Obama's convention talk was "just absurd."
He also tried to blame Hillary Clinton.
"I mean, this is, once again,
an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, how she seeks out
to demean her and take her down," Mr Manafort said.
"It's not going to work."
Melania Trump stuns viewers with impassioned speech as Trump launches surprise Convention move.
Source: Nine Network
Source: Nine Network
The White House declined to comment
on similarities between the two prime-time speeches, but the issue is
likely to arise at the daily White House briefing.
The passages in question came near the beginning of Mrs. Trump's roughly 10-minute speech.
Her address was otherwise distinct from the address that Mrs. Obama gave when Barack Obama was being nominated for president.
In an interview with NBC News
taped ahead of her convention appearance and posted online, Mrs. Trump
said of her speech, "I wrote it".
She added that she had "a little help".
