Trump: Media Spent More Time Analyzing Melania’s Speech Than FBI Did Hillary’s Emails

On Wednesday, Republican nominee Donald Trump weighed in on the media firestorm surrounding his wife Melania’s speech at the Republican National Convention.

Trump tweeted, “Good news is Melania’s speech got more publicity than any in the history of politics especially if you believe that all press is good press!”

Good news is Melania's speech got more publicity than any in the history of politics especially if you believe that all press is good press!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 20, 2016

He quickly followed up with a second tweet blasting the media’s obsession with one passage in his wife’s speech that was cribbed from First Lady Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech at the Democratic National Convention.

“The media is spending more time doing a forensic analysis of Melania’s speech than the FBI spent on Hillary’s emails,” Trump tweeted.

The media is spending more time doing a forensic analysis of Melania's speech than the FBI spent on Hillary's emails.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 20, 2016

On Wednesday, Meredith McIver, an in-house staff writer at the Trump Organization, issued a statement taking responsibility for drafting Mrs. Trump’s speech, which included the passage inadvertently copied from Michelle Obama.

McIver wrote, “Yesterday, I offered my resignation to Mr. Trump and the Trump family, but they rejected it. Mr. Trump told me that people make innocent mistakes and that we learn and grow from these experiences.”

McIver explained how the cribbed passage ended up in the speech:

In working with Melania Trump on her recent First Lady speech, we discussed many people who inspired her and messages she wanted to share with the American people. A person she has always liked is Michelle Obama. Over the phone, she read me some passages from Mrs. Obama’s speech as examples. I wrote them down and alter included some of the phrasing in the draft that ultimately became the final speech. I did not check Mrs. Obama’s speeches. This was my mistake, and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Mrs. Obama. No harm was meant.