Plagiarism In Melania Trump’s Speech Didn’t Come From Ex-Bush Speechwriter

In this combination of photos, Melania Trump, left, wife of Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump, speaks during the opening day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Monday, July 18, 2016, and... In this combination of photos, Melania Trump, left, wife of Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump, speaks during the opening day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Monday, July 18, 2016, and Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Monday, Aug. 25, 2008. Melania Trump's well-received speech Monday to the Republican National Convention contained passages that match nearly word-for-word the speech that first lady Michelle Obama delivered in 2008 at the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photos) MORE LESS
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A prominent Republican speechwriter didn’t lift language from an address Michelle Obama gave in 2008 for a draft of a speech he was commissioned to write for Donald Trump’s wife, Melania, according to the copy of the draft NBC News obtained.

A “senior Trump aide” told the network that an early draft Matthew Scully, who worked for former President George W. Bush, submitted to the campaign wasn’t part of the final product.

The realization that a chunk of Melania Trump’s Monday night speech to the Republican National Convention used words from Obama’s 2008 speech to the Democratic National Convention forced some on the Trump campaign to deny the plagiarism. Other prominent Republicans said someone on Donald Trump’s staff should be held accountable.

Scully’s role in the matter surfaced after two anonymous sources told the New York Times that he had worked on a draft of Melania Trump’s speech several weeks ago.

NBC News reported that the Scully draft it obtained shows “none of the passages” from Obama’s speech and indicates “the passages that appeared to have been plagiarized from Mrs. Obama were added at some point after Scully turned in his draft.”

The Trump aide told NBC News that Scully’s draft had been rejected.

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