Katrina Pierson Defends Melania Plagiarism: ‘English Is Not Her Native Language’

Donald Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson defended Melania Trump from accusations that she plagiarized passages in her Monday convention speech, arguing at one point that English was not Melania’s first language.

MSNBC host Craig Melvin asked Pierson about comments from her former boss Corey Lewandowski saying that whoever okayed the plagiarized speech should be fired, even if it was campaign manager Paul Manafort. “I say that anyone can have an opinion based upon what they think happened,” she responded. “Paul Manafort was right; this is not something that Melania Trump did.”

“She did write the speech with help as she has said herself, but what she did was give a speech from her heart,” she continued. “This is a woman where English is not her native language–”

“But that’s not an excuse,” interrupted an incredulous Craig Melvin.

“Oh, absolutely,” Pierson agreed. “She did a phenomenal job.”

“No one’s disputing that,” Melvin said. “ But I think we can all acknowledge that at least a paragraph of that speech was copied, it was plagiarized.”

“It was not copied, and even [in] reporting on it, it wasn’t verbatim,” Pierson insisted. “I will say, yes, there were similarities to that speech. And again, these were also platitudes and values even that you can find in any motivational speaker book.”

Watch the exchange above, via MSNBC.

[Image via screengrab]
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