Mark Kauzlarich/Reuters
According to a New York Times report, Melania Trump decided to scrap almost all of the version of the original Republican National Convention speech that was written for her. The address by Trump, the wife of the Republican presidential nominee, apparently plagiarized some portions of the speech Michelle Obama gave at the Democratic National Convention in 2008. The report says Melania Trump “decided she was uncomfortable with the text, and began tearing it apart, leaving a small fraction of the original.” The speechwriters, Matthew Scully and John McConnell, reportedly had no forewarning that the speech was so different from their original version until they watched the address on television. Jared Kushner, top adviser and son-in-law to The Donald, was the one who hired Scully and McConnell, the Times wrote. When the fairer Trump revised it, she requested aid from a woman named Meredith McIver. McIver is a former ballet dancer and English major who wrote a handful of Donald’s books, the newspaper reported. It remains unclear, though, how large of a role McIver played in the speech’s wording, and she didn’t respond to a request for an interview from the Times.