Trump Camp Reportedly Scrubbing His RNC Speech For Plagiarism

Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump steps to the podium to introduce his wife Melania during the opening day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Monday, July 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
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Donald Trump’s campaign team is reportedly checking and rechecking the speech he will give Thursday at the Republican National Convention to make sure it isn’t plagiarized, The New York Times reported.

Of course, this vetting comes after his wife, Melania Trump, used language in her Monday speech that was lifted from an address Michelle Obama gave at the Democratic National Convention in 2008.

Meredith McIver, a ghostwriter Donald Trump has used for several of his books who works for the Trump Organization, said in a statement Wednesday that she accidentally wrote the lines into the speech after Melania Trump read her some passages from Obama’s address over the phone.

The Times reported that by early Tuesday, passages in Trump’s speech that had been inspired by outside sources had to be rewritten or attributed.

Trump’s chief speechwriter, Stephen Miller, told others on the campaign that the speech was original, two anonymous campaign staffers told the Times. Miller declined an interview with the Times.

Despite this, at least one staffer reportedly downloaded plagiarism software to screen the text. The search came up empty, according to the Times.

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