--- description: The White House copied a portion of its statement praising ExxonMobil's announcement title: The White House Copied Exxon's Press Release in a Statement Praising Exxon image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b5584687d0d5c54/6988bd3ef887dc53f4e9954e/exxon-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [White House](/tag/white-house/) ## White House Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The White House Copied Exxon's Press Release in a Statement Praising Exxon by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 13, 2023 11:07 AM CUTPublished: Mar 7, 2017 12:26 AM CUT  A monitor displays Exxon Mobil Corp. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Monday, Jan. 23, 2017. A monitor displays Exxon Mobil Corp. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Monday, Jan. 23, 2017.Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 13, 2023 11:07 AM CUTPublished: Mar 7, 2017 12:26 AM CUT The White House copied a portion of its statement praising [ExxonMobil’s announcement](http://fortune.com/2017/03/06/donald-trump-exxonmobil-jobs/ "undefined") on Monday that it would invest in manufacturing projects in the U.S. from Exxon. The [White House statement](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/03/06/president-trump-congratulates-exxon-mobil-job-creating-investment "undefined"), released about 34 minutes after Exxon [put out its announcement](http://news.exxonmobil.com/press-release/exxonmobil-plans-investments-20-billion-expand-manufacturing-us-gulf-region "undefined"), copied a full paragraph from Exxon’s statement that explained the company’s investment plans. > [](https://twitter.com/%5Fcingraham/status/838874217852567552) Through the statement and subsequent tweets, President Trump heavily complimented Exxon, which was most recently run by Trump’s [Secretary of State Rex Tillerson](http://time.com/4629505/rex-tillerson-exxon-working-class/ "undefined"), for promoting job growth in the U.S. A spokesman for Exxon said the company shared information about the announcement with the White House. Plagiarism has cropped up among Trump’s team before — First Lady Melania Trump [used phrases](http://time.com/4412175/republican-convention-melania-trump-michelle-obama/?iid=sr-link3 "undefined") from Michelle Obama’s 2008 convention speech during the 2016 Republican National Convention and pundit Monica Crowley turned down a job offer in the Trump administration after being accused of [plagiarizing parts of her book and Ph.D dissertation](http://time.com/4635841/monica-crowley-donald-trump-plagiarism/ "undefined"). The White House and did not immediately respond to requests for comment. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4692972/white-house-exxonmobil-copy-statement/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4692972/white-house-exxonmobil-copy-statement/"},"headline":"The White House Copied Exxon's Press Release in a Statement Praising Exxon","datePublished":"2017-03-07T00:26:49.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T11:07:12.000Z","description":"The White House statement copied a full paragraph from Exxon's press release","url":"https://time.com/4692972/white-house-exxonmobil-copy-statement/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b5584687d0d5c54/6988bd3ef887dc53f4e9954e/exxon-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b5584687d0d5c54/6988bd3ef887dc53f4e9954e/exxon-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Trading On The Floor Of The NYSE As U.S.Stocks Fall With Industrials On Trump Border Tax Comments","caption":"Trading On The Floor Of The NYSE As U.S.Stocks Fall With Industrials On Trump Border Tax Comments","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images","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":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4692972/white-house-exxonmobil-copy-statement/","name":"The White House Copied Exxon's Press Release in a Statement Praising Exxon"}}]}] ```