Katrina Pierson, a spokeswoman for Donald Trump’s campaign, defended Melania Trump against allegations of plagiarism by pointing to her difficulty with speaking English.
“English is not her native language,” Pierson said during an appearance on MSNBC Tuesday.
Donald Trump’s wife has come under intense fire over passages of her speech that bore stark similarities to the remarks Michelle Obama delivered at the Democratic convention in 2008.
“[Melania Trump] did write the speech with help,” Pierson said Tuesday. “But what she did was give a speech from her heart.”
Neither Pierson nor any other Trump campaign staffer has specified who helped Melania Trump write her convention address.
Faced with the suggestion that someone within the campaign should be held responsible for botching Melania Trump’s highly-anticipated speech, Pierson said “the media does not dictate what the campaign does.”
Pierson said earlier Tuesday that Michelle Obama did not “invent the English language” and dismissed the overlap between the two convention addresses as purely coincidental given the universal nature of the values described in the pair of speeches.
“Michelle Obama does not own the words ‘hard work’ and ‘dedication,'” Pierson said.
