Trump's convention speech leaked to Clinton camp by a Republican
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Thursday could very well be the most important night of Donald Trump's life to date as he is set to give his first speech since being named the Republican presidential nominee. But on an evening his campaign needs to be perfect, there is already chaos as Trump's speech was leaked hours early to a Hillary Clinton super PAC, reportedly by a Republican source.
"As if this convention hasn't been enough of a failure for Trump, somehow he let U.S. get ahold of his full remarks before the speech," the Clinton-backing super PAC Correct the Record wrote when they published the speech just after 6 p.m., hours before Trump was set to deliver the remarks. Trump's campaign scrambled to get sections of the speech posted online in response to the leak, leading to awkward and obviously-rushed formatting:
Correct the Record founder David Brock told Politico the drafts came from "a Republican source who had access to it and they sent it to us." Brock added that his ability to get ahold of the speech proved Trump's team was "loose and disorganized."
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"If I were them, I would be a little freaked," he said.
One Republican operative who spoke with Politico called the leak a "disaster" and said it proved Trump's campaign staff "just aren't ready for prime time."
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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