CLEVELAND — Ex-Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski appears to have abandoned his call for accountability within the Trump campaign now that the speechwriter behind Melania Trump’s convention speech has been revealed.
“I think that’s an issue for the campaign,” Lewandowski told the Washington Examiner outside a Cleveland bar Wednesday afternoon, hours after speechwriter Meredith McIver said the Trump campaign had refused to fire her over the speech, which contained uncredited excerpts from first lady Michelle Obama’s convention speech in 2008.
“Yesterday, I offered my resignation to Mr. Trump and the Trump family, but they rejected it,” McIver wrote in a statement. “Mr. Trump told me that people make innocent mistakes and that we learn and grow from these experiences.”
”Meredith doesn’t work for the campaign so that’s a decision for the campaign and the organization,” Lewandowski repeated when pressed further on the matter. “She’s a very, very good person. I know her very well so I’ll leave that to the capable hands.”
Lewandowski declined to comment when asked if surrogates had done the Trump campaign a disservice by defending Melania Trump’s remarks only to have McIver later admit that portions were taken from the 2008 speech by Obama.
“I didn’t see her letter, but Meredith’s a very good lady,” he told the Examiner. “I’ve known her for a long time and she’s a very honorable person.”
Lewandowski had previously told reporters that if parts of Melania’s speech were plagiarized it was a mistake made “at the staff level and staff should be held accountable.”
He specifically named campaign chairman Paul Manafort, suggesting the top Trump aide would likely have had to resign if he’d been made aware of the similarities in both speeches before Trump’s wife took the stage Monday night.
Manafort was largely involved in the effort to dismiss Lewandowski from his position as campaign manager late last month. The two men are said to have frequently had their differences.
