--- title: Melania Trump: Staffer Takes Responsibility for Speech description: A staffer working for the Trump Organization has apologized and offered to resign over Melania Trump's plagiarized speech canonical: https://time.com/4415101/melania-trump-speech-meredith-mciver-rnc/ author: Emma Ockerman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-20T16:58:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:24:09.155Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Staffer Takes Responsibility for Melania Trump's Plagiarized Speech og:description: She offered to resign, but Trump didn't accept it og:url: https://time.com/4415101/melania-trump-speech-meredith-mciver-rnc/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcf7f2f3d73c391b3/69889cc72dce0135019e9ed9/donald-trump-rnc-republican-national-convention-landon-nordeman-lightbox-0004.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Donald-Trump-RNC-Republican-National-Convention-Landon-Nordeman-Lightbox-0004 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Staffer Takes Responsibility for Melania Trump's Plagiarized Speech twitter:description: She offered to resign, but Trump didn't accept it twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcf7f2f3d73c391b3/69889cc72dce0135019e9ed9/donald-trump-rnc-republican-national-convention-landon-nordeman-lightbox-0004.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Staffer Takes Responsibility for Melania Trump's Plagiarized Speech > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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. by [Emma Ockerman](https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/) ## Emma Ockerman Jul 20, 2016 4:58 PM UTC  Melania Trump speaks at the Republican National Convention, July 18, 2016 in Cleveland. Melania Trump speaks at the Republican National Convention, July 18, 2016 in Cleveland. Landon Nordeman for TIME by [Emma Ockerman](https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/) ## Emma Ockerman Jul 20, 2016 4:58 PM UTC A staffer working for the Trump Organization has apologized and offered to resign over[ Melania Trump’s plagiarized Monday night speech](http://time.com/4412175/republican-convention-melania-trump-michelle-obama/?iid=sr-link1) at the Republican National Convention. Meredith McIver, a writer for Trump, said in a letter Wednesday that Melania [had read passages from Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic National Convention Speech](http://time.com/4413098/melania-trump-speech/?iid=sr-link5), telling McIver over the phone that “as a person,” she had always admired the First Lady. McIver said she wrote the passages down, and failed to check them against Obama’s prior speeches for potential plagiarism. She offered her resignation Tuesday, though it was rejected by the Trump family. McIver said the GOP presidential nominee told her “people make innocent mistakes and that we learn and grow from these experiences.” > [](https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/755802081395630080) “I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Mrs. Obama,” McIver said in the letter. “No harm was meant.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4415101/melania-trump-speech-meredith-mciver-rnc/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4415101/melania-trump-speech-meredith-mciver-rnc/"},"headline":"Trump Staffer Takes Responsibility for Melania Trump's Plagiarized Speech","datePublished":"2016-07-20T16:58:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:24:09.155Z","description":"'I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Mrs. Obama'","url":"https://time.com/4415101/melania-trump-speech-meredith-mciver-rnc/","keywords":["Republican National Convention","RNC","Donald Trump","Melania Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcf7f2f3d73c391b3/69889cc72dce0135019e9ed9/donald-trump-rnc-republican-national-convention-landon-nordeman-lightbox-0004.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Emma Ockerman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcf7f2f3d73c391b3/69889cc72dce0135019e9ed9/donald-trump-rnc-republican-national-convention-landon-nordeman-lightbox-0004.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald-Trump-RNC-Republican-National-Convention-Landon-Nordeman-Lightbox-0004","caption":"CLEVELAND - JULY 18: Melania Trump speaks to the crowd. 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