Melania Trump's Explanation For Copying Michelle Obama Speech Doesn't Cut The Mustard

In her memoir, Melania Trump opened up about the time she plagiarized Michelle Obama's speech. For a refresher, the incident occurred during Donald Trump's campaign run in 2016 when Melania spoke at the Republican National Convention. "My parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond," Melania said, per BBC. As pointed out at the time, this was eerily similar to Obama's speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. "[We 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," Obama said. There were many examples of this wholesale plagiarism throughout. Melania addressed the media moment she wished she could erase in her self-titled memoir "Melania" and placed the blame on others.

Recalling her infamous RNC speech, the former model said that she had simply referenced Obama's speech when speaking to Trump administration's in-house writer, Meredith McIver. "While I relied on Meredith to help me with the speech and the campaign to review it, I was pleased with the final result," she wrote (via the Independent). "Looking back, I realized that I had relied too much on others in this crucial endeavor," Melania wrote, while almost taking some of the blame for the snafu. 

Even though she could have read the prepared speech beforehand and noticed the similarities in Obama's speech — which she said inspired her — Melania believes the fault fell on Trump staffers. "Discovering the team's failure to perform their duty filled me with a profound sense of betrayal," she wrote. These sentiments echoed the approach Team Trump took at the time of the speech to deflect blame from Melania.

When similarities between Melania Trump and Michelle Obama's speeches were first pointed out following the 2016 Republican National Convention, members of Donald Trump's campaign team originally went on the defensive. "These were common words and values," Trump campaign chair, Paul Manafort, said while appearing on CNN in July 2016. "To think that she'd be cribbing Michelle Obama's words is crazy."

Trump's team backtracked shortly after and went into damage-control mode. The writer that Melania Trump mentioned in her memoir, Meredith McIver, fell on the sword for the plagiarism debacle. "This was my mistake and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Mrs. Obama," McIver wrote in a statement released in July 2016, per NPR. According to McIver, she tried to resign in the aftermath of the speech-writing controversy, but Donald would not accept the resignation. "She's been with me a long time. She's a very good person ... And she made a mistake," Donald said on "Good Morning America" (via The Hollywood Reporter). Usually, it was Melania who had to publicly defend Donald, but roles were reversed this time around. Donald was able to protect his wife by letting McIver take the brunt of the blame. "Interestingly, the press treated Melania very well because they didn't think it was her," he added.

A couple months later, Obama appeared on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and was asked about seeing Melania outed for ripping off her speech. "Yeah, that was tough," Obama answered as the crowd laughed.