Melania Trump

Donald Trump’s wife, Melania, took centre stage on the first day of the Republican National Convention but faced accusations that a portion of her speech plagiarised Michelle Obama.

Commentators noticed similarities with Mrs Obama’s 2008 convention speech.

Mrs Trump’s speech also praised her husband as a “compassionate” man who would “fight for the country”.

But Mr Trump’s team said Mrs Trump used “common words” and blamed Hillary Clinton for the row.

“There’s no cribbing of Michelle Obama’s speech,” said Paul Manafort, Mr Trump’s campaign manager.

“I mean, this is, once again, an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, how she seeks out to demean her and take her down,” he added.

It was Mrs Trump’s first speech of the campaign and she had the help of a speechwriting team.

Republican National Committee Chairman Renice Priebus said he did not blame Mrs Trump, but added he would “probably” fire the speechwriter over the controversy.

Earlier, Mr Trump’s communications adviser Jason Miller issued a statement saying a “team of writers” used her life’s “inspirations” as source material.

Meanwhile Mr Trump himself described her speech as “absolutely incredible”.

(BBC)