Melania Trump‘s speechwriter Meredith Melver released a statement explaining how lines from Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech ended up — with very slight alterations — in Mrs. Trump’s 2016 RNC speech. Melver said the mix-up began when she and Mrs. Trump were discussing people “who inspired her” and “messages she wanted to share with the American people.”
“A person she has always like is Michelle Obama,” Melver said, explaining that Mrs. Trump admired Obama’s 2008 speech so much that she read passages of it to her over the phone. Melver took notes, and that’s how the Obama vegetables got into the Trump soup. Melzer’s brief and grateful statement — she explained that the compassionate Mr. Trump would not fire her — did not mention by name any of the other people who Mrs. Trump held up as examples of inspiration and communicative power.
