Melania Trump 's speech " almost immediately came under scrutiny when striking similarities were discovered between her speech " and Michelle Obama 's speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention . The Trump campaign at first denied allegations of plagiarism . Campaign manager Paul Manafort argued that the speech contained " not that many similarities " and the words used are not unique words " that belong to the Obamas . " Following Mrs. Trump 's speech , various media outlets reported similarities as alleged plagiarism . Chris Harrick , Vice President of Marketing at the plagiarism prevention service Turnitin , discovered that Trump used about 6 % of Michelle Obama 's words and found two types of plagiarism , " clone " and " find and replace " . Various media outlets suggested that members of Donald Trump 's presidential campaign should respond to the accusations , which they did a few hours after the speech in the form of the following statement by the campaign 's senior communications advisor , Jason Miller : " In writing the speech , Melania 's team of writers took notes on her life 's inspirations , and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking . Melania 's immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech , which made it a success . " Reince Priebus , chairman of the Republican National Committee , described the speech as " inspirational " but said if plagiarism were found , he thought " it certainly seems reasonable " to fire the person who wrote the speech . Paul Manafort , Donald Trump 's campaign chairman , called it a " great speech " and said " obviously Michelle Obama feels very similar sentiments toward her family " . He later said " to think that she would be cribbing Michelle Obama 's words is crazy " , adding " This is once again an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton , she seeks out to demean her and take her down . It 's not going to work against Melania Trump . " Sean Spicer , director of communications for the Republican National Committee , defended the speech by saying that similar statements have existed before her speech such as quotes by John Legend , Kid Rock , and Twilight Sparkle from '' My Little Pony : Friendship is Magic ''
2008 Democratic National Convention
2008 Democratic National Convention
2016 Republican National Convention