Donald Trump has been blaming Melania's speechwriter since 2007

Donald Trump first blamed the woman who plagiarized Melania Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention in 2007 on unrelated charges relating to his books.

(Image credit: Sara D. Davis/Getty Images)

last updated 10 August 2016

A writer named Meredith McIver took the blame for composing Melania Trump's Republican convention speech, which borrowed generously from Michelle Obama. "This was my mistake, and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Mrs. Obama. No harm was meant," McIver wrote in an open letter; she reportedly offered her resignation to Trump, which he denied. "She made a mistake... we all make mistakes," Trump said.

Only, McIver has been "making mistakes" for Trump since at least 2007. Trump was in court that year for a deposition by the lawyers of a reporter Trump was trying to sue. In the two days he was under oath, lawyers found 30 different instances of Trump telling exaggerations or flat-out lies. At one point, Trump got caught inflating the amount of debt he was under in his book, How to Get Rich:

The depth of that financial hole made it seem even more impressive that Trump had climbed out again. But the figure was wrong. His actual debts had been much less."I pointed it out to the person who wrote the book," Trump said, meaning [Meredith] McIver."Right after she wrote the book?""That's correct," Trump said.Then the lawyer showed Trump another book he'd written with McIver, three years later."In fact, I was $9 billion in debt," Trump read aloud. A similar error, repeated. It was McIver's fault again."She probably forgot," Trump said."And when you read it, you didn't correct it?""I didn't see it," Trump said."You didn't see it.""I read it very quickly," Trump said about a book he was credited with writing. [The Washington Post]

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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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