NEW DELHI: Before the
Republican National Convention
, presumptive Republican nominee
Donald Trump 's wife Melania was filmed telling NBC's Matt Lauer that she had written the speech she would make to delegates at the convention with "as little help as possible." In that case, she may have to explain the astonishing similarities between a passage in her address, and an excerpt from
Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2008.
Here is a tweet with the video, posted by Brad Jaffy, senior news editor and writer at NBC.
And here are transcriptions of the excerpts from Melanie Trump's and Michelle Obama's speeches (which you can watch/read
here (Start at 2m4s), and
here), and identical portions are in bold, italic font.
Melania Trump"From a young age, my parents impressed upon me
the values that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond, and you do what you say, and keep your promise,
that you treat people with respect. They taught and showed me
values and morals in their daily life. That is a lesson that I continue to pass on to our son. And we need to
pass those lessons
on to the many
generations to follow, because
we want our children and
this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams, and your willingness to work for them.Michelle Obama (Translation from National Public Radio)
"And Barack and I 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 and you do what you say you're going to do;
that you treat people with dignity and
respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them.
And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these
values, and
pass them
on to the next
generation. Because
we want our children — and all children in
this nation —
to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."
Trump campaign issues statementABC News tweeted the
Trump
campaign's first response the controversy. The brief statement made by Jason Miller, the campaign's senior communications advisor, called the speech "beautiful" and a "success." It said that Mrs. Trump's "team of writers" had "included fragments that reflected her (Mrs. Trump's) own thinking", and that "Melania's immigrant experience and love for America shone through" in it.