Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of the following story misstated where Chris Christie is governor.
CLEVELAND — Donald Trump's campaign denied that Melania Trump intentionally plagiarized first lady Michelle Obama in a Monday night speech and claimed that the media and Hillary Clinton supporters are pushing the flap that roiled the Republican convention on Tuesday.
"There is a political tint to this whole issue," campaign manager Paul Manafort told reporters, declining to comment in detail as to how Melania Trump's speech was put together and indicating that the campaign did not plan to fire anyone over the incident.
Other Republicans expressed concern about the incident that marred the convention's opening night and suggested that consequences are in order. Ex-Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said Melania Trump's speechwriter should be fired, telling CNN: "I know what it's like to be fired by the Trump campaign."
While two paragraphs of Melania Trump's remarks matched the text of Michelle Obama's 2008 convention speech nearly word-for-word, Manafort said Monday's speech used "common words" to discuss family values.
"We don't believe there is anything in that speech that doesn't reflect her thinking," Manafort said.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said that if a speechwriter of his did something, he would "probably" fire him or her, though he added "it all kind of depends on the circumstances and how it was written."
Priebus also told reporters at a Bloomberg Politics breakfast he doesn't know what happened with Melania Trump's speech: "I don't have a view yet."
Trump is reportedly quite angry with the plagiarism claim. Donald Trump Jr. told ABC News that his father is "not thrilled" with what he called the "situation."
Democrats called it an out-and-out case of plagiarism and said heads should roll.
Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton's communications director, dismissed Manafort's accusations on Twitter.
Nice try, not true. @PaulManafort, blaming Hillary Clinton isn't the answer for ever Trump campaign problem. https://t.co/RvZ5GKeDYd
— Jennifer Palmieri (
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Melania Trump gave "a very nice speech" and "comported herself very well," and added that "the Trump campaign is the one that should be held accountable for it."
She disputed Trump claims that Democrats or the Clinton campaign are pushing the story, and said they always blame others for their problems. Wasserman Schultz called the speech flap more evidence "that demonstrates how not ready and unprepared" Trump himself is.
There is no indication that Clinton had anything to do with the speech or the reaction to it. The similarities in wording were first noticed by journalist and interior designer Jarrett Hill.
Trump’s communications adviser, Jason Miller, sent out a statement early Tuesday morning as the controversy first erupted.
"In writing her beautiful speech, Melania's team of writers took notes on her life’s inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking,” he said in a statement. “Melania’s immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it such a success.”
But Trump's wife told NBC's Matt Lauer ahead of the speech: "I wrote it. And with as little help as possible.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the head of Trump's White House transition team, appeared on NBC's Today on Tuesday and said that just a fraction of the speech was similar. He said “93% of the speech is completely different than Michelle Obama’s speech."
But he had a positive spin moving forward: "The distraction gets you off message a little bit this morning, but I think we'll get back to action this afternoon," he said.
Manafort said the concentration on some "50 words" in the speech is "totally ignoring" the entire speech in which Melania Trump talked about coming to America from her native Slovenia and building a successful modeling career.
"Her speech was one of the highlights — if not the highlight — of the convention yesterday," Manafort said.
While not verbatim, the similarity in the statements look higher than being 93% different.
Here's the excerpt from Obama in 2008:
"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 to 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."
And here's the passage from Trump's remarks Monday night that came under scrutiny:
“From a young age, my parents impressed on 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 lives. That is a lesson that I continue to pass along to our son. And we need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow. Because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.”
The Twitter hashtag #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes began trending on Twitter with people attributing famous quotes from people in history and movies to Trump's wife.
Actor Jesse Williams tweeted a series of quotes using the hashtag.
"I have a dream" #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes
— jesseWilliams. (@iJesseWilliams) July 19, 2016