Melania Trump Blames 2016 RNC Speech Echoing Michelle Obama’s Words On Sabotage, Book Claims


First Lady Melania Trump received a lot of scrutiny over her speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention (RNC), with critics claiming it sounded a lot like a speech that former first lady Michelle Obama gave in 2008. The incident came up again last week when the first lady returned to the convention to provide the keynote address for the event’s second evening. Now, a new book has out forth the claim that Trump believes she was the victim of sabotage, according to a Business Insider report.

Shortly after Trump spoke in 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio, comparisons popped up between her words and those that Obama spoke in 2008, according to The Hill. At the time, there were plenty of seemingly embarrassing headlines, but a formerly close friend and advisor of Trump from that time revealed that she didn’t seem flustered over the scandal.

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff recently published a memoir called Melania and Me detailing her relationship with Trump over several years. In it, Wolkoff indicated that the accusations of plagiarism that resulted from Trump’s speech at the RNC four years ago did not serve as a source of embarrassment. However, according to Wolkoff, Trump did suspect that she had been set up by somebody who may have had something to gain from the snafu.

“She was suspicious that the plagiarism had been left in on purpose,” Wolkoff wrote. “Someone in Trump World didn’t want Melania to shine. We talked about who that might be. Who stood to gain by making Melania look bad? Our conversations were guarded, and she kept it light, as always. But it seemed to her, and to me, that the plagiarized speech was like drawing first blood between rivals. Or was it a warning that Melania should stay in the background?”

Ultimately, the official explanation about the address from the president’s administration was that the first lady found inspiration in Obama’s 2008 words, and Trump Organization staff writer Meredith McIver took responsibility for the accidentally plagiarized passages. Portions that Obama spoke in 2008 were inadvertently left in Trump’s version four years ago. McIver attempted to resign over the scandal, but the group did not accept her resignation.

Last week, Trump addressed the RNC from the newly renovated White House Rose Garden. She said words that were crafted over several weeks and described as forward-looking and authentically from her heart, according to spokesperson Stephanie Grisham. No accusations of plagiarism resulted from her impassioned message this year.

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