Melania Trump’s speechwriter admits mistake, offers resignation

A Trump Organization staff writer says she made a “mistake” in including passages from a Michelle Obama speech in Melania Trump’s convention speech.

Meredith McIver says she offered her resignation, but Donald Trump rejected it.

McIver explained her role in the Trump plagiarism controversy in a statement issued Wednesday.

McIver says Mrs. Trump read passages of Mrs. Obama’s 2008 convention speech during the writing the process. She says her notes from that conversation made it into the final version.

She says she feels terrible for the “chaos” she caused.

The Trump campaign has said denied accusations of plagiarism, saying the similarities were coincidence.

Sen. Bob Corker says the controversy over passages in Melania Trump’s convention speech has been “aggravated by the response” from the Trump campaign.

The Tennessee Republican tells The Associated Press that he “can’t imagine that from her part there was anything nefarious under way.” Corker adds that he thinks the campaign should have found “a better way” to handle the situation “so that it’s not kept alive. She’s got to be mortified.”

Two passages of Mrs. Trump’s speech Monday night were nearly identical to passages from Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention eight years ago. But rather than acknowledge any error, Trump’s campaign is in denial mode, blaming the media for creating a controversy and suggesting Hillary Clinton bore some responsibility.