--- title: Donald Trump Defends Melania's RNC Speech description: The Republican presidential nominee tweeted his support Wednesday after it was alleged that she cribbed the speech from Michelle Obama. canonical: https://time.com/4415073/donald-trump-melania-trumprnc-speech/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-20T16:42:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-06T09:42:32.199Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Defends Melania's RNC Speech og:description: The Republican presidential nominee tweeted his support Wednesday og:url: https://time.com/4415073/donald-trump-melania-trumprnc-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6c159dfa707cbd5/69889c813c163963cb45e167/landon-nordeman-republican-national-convention-rnc-scenes-0718-12.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2569 og:image:height: 1445 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL RNC og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Defends Melania's RNC Speech twitter:description: The Republican presidential nominee tweeted his support Wednesday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6c159dfa707cbd5/69889c813c163963cb45e167/landon-nordeman-republican-national-convention-rnc-scenes-0718-12.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Defends Melania's RNC Speech > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=83ef1380-630e-472c-a639-9460c56d616e&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Republicans React To Melania Trump's RNC Speech [Watch (HLS stream): Republicans React To Melania Trump's RNC Speech](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/veeYS5HB.m3u8) (1:09)  _Published 2016-07-19. TIME asked Republicans at the Republican National Convention their thoughts on Melania Trump's convention speech, which many says is very similar to Michelle Obama's 2008 convention speech._ by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jul 20, 2016 4:42 PM UTC TIME asked Republicans at the Republican National Convention their thoughts on Melania Trump's convention speech, which many says is very similar to Michelle Obama's 2008 convention speech. by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jul 20, 2016 4:42 PM UTC Donald Trump came to his wife’s defense Wednesday after she was accused of plagiarizing passages from a Michelle Obama speech in 2008. “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!” Trump boasted on Twitter. Melania Trump gave a speech Monday which included parts that [sounded eerily similar to a 2008 speech that Michelle Obama gave](http://time.com/4412175/republican-convention-melania-trump-michelle-obama/) at the Democratic National Convention—it was later found to have used several phrases from the First Lady’s speech. The incident caused a stir, [spawning several internet memes](http://time.com/4412372/melania-trump-speech-criticism-michelle-obama/) and [plenty of fodder for the late night talk shows](http://time.com/4414606/melania-trump-plagiarism-stephen-colbert/). On Wednesday, a Trump Organization staffer [took responsibility for cribbing Obama’s words](https://assets.donaldjtrump.com/MeredithStatement.pdf). > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/755787159735570432) The [newly-minted Republican presidential nominee](http://time.com/4414098/donald-trump-nominee-president-republican-convention/) followed up with a jab at opponent Hillary Clinton. “The media is spending more time doing a forensic analysis of Melania’s speech than the FBI spent on Hillary’s emails,” he said. The investigation, [which just ended](http://time.com/4395960/hillary-clinton-email-investigation-no-charges-justice-department/), into Clinton’s emails lasted about a year, after it was found out that Clinton used a private email server during her time as a Secretary of State, which may have compromised classified materials. ## Transcript [00:02] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Let's get to the heart of that matter. I [00:04] didn't know that there was such a thing as plagiarizing [00:06] a spouse's speech when you talk about their family, [00:10] their dedication to one another as spouses, their [00:13] positive attributes, what they bring as a father and as [00:17] a grandfather. Probably whoever wrote the speech [00:19] isn't working [ TALKING IN BACKGROUND ] For the [00:20] trump campaign anymore. I don't put any of that on [00:24] her. I think the themes of the speeches, I mean we can [00:27] look at different political speeches over the years and [00:30] many of them have the same themes. Of course it did [00:33] sound like there was some similarities. I don't recall [00:36] hearing from Mrs. Obama; s speech was anything [00:38] about being proud to be an American. And I did hear [00:41] that from Mrs. Trump last night. It was two lines in a [00:45] very long speech, and it doesn't concern [00:49] me. It doesn't bother me. The women feel that way [00:53] about their husbands and their family. Quite frankly, I [00:56] would expect her to say those things. Just as I would [00:59] expect. Bill Clinton and Jackie Kennedy and [01:03] Nancy Reagan. Everybody that has come before to talk [01:06] about their spouse in a positive light. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4415073/donald-trump-melania-trumprnc-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4415073/donald-trump-melania-trumprnc-speech/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Defends Melania's RNC Speech","datePublished":"2016-07-20T16:42:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-06T09:42:32.199Z","description":"The Republican presidential nominee tweeted his support Wednesday","url":"https://time.com/4415073/donald-trump-melania-trumprnc-speech/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Donald Trump","Republican National Convention"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6c159dfa707cbd5/69889c813c163963cb45e167/landon-nordeman-republican-national-convention-rnc-scenes-0718-12.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6c159dfa707cbd5/69889c813c163963cb45e167/landon-nordeman-republican-national-convention-rnc-scenes-0718-12.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIMEPOL RNC","caption":"Donald Trump kisses hios wife Melania at the 2016 Republican National Convention on Monday, July 18, 2016, in Cleveland.","creditText":"Landon Nordeman for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4415073/donald-trump-melania-trumprnc-speech/","name":"Donald Trump Defends Melania's RNC Speech"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Republicans React To Melania Trump's RNC Speech","description":"TIME asked Republicans at the Republican National Convention their thoughts on Melania Trump's convention speech, which many says is very similar to Michelle Obama's 2008 convention speech.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/veeYS5HB/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-07-19T20:27:21.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/veeYS5HB.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4415073/donald-trump-melania-trumprnc-speech/","duration":"PT1M9S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4415073/donald-trump-melania-trumprnc-speech/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```