Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort said Melania Trump “hit it out of the park” Monday night with her address to the Republican National Convention, remarks that Manafort said were not plagiarized in any way. Priebus says he would likely fire a speechwriter who plagiarized

CLEVELAND — Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Tuesday he would "probably" fire a speechwriter who had inserted plagiarized text into his remarks — a subtle jab at the Trump campaign's response to the plagiarism flap that erupted following Melania Trump's Monday night speech.

The Trump campaign has shrugged off the controversy, and Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on Tuesday denied that any of Melania Trump's remarks had been lifted from Michelle Obama’s 2008 address at the Democratic National Convention. But a side-by-side comparison of the two speeches showed that they included nearly identical passages.


When asked whether he would have fired a speechwriter who had committed plagiarism, Priebus responded "probably."

“The distraction gets you off message a little,” Priebus said wistfully during a breakfast interview hosted by Bloomberg Politics. He said he doesn’t blame Trump and added that he hadn’t yet seen the viral videos showing Trump’s speech side by side with Obama’s.

“I don’t know how these speeches are written,” he added.

Priebus said he thought the flap would fade by Tuesday afternoon and wouldn’t mar the convention. He said he’s heard “very little complaint” from Republican Party leaders.

“It’s one issue, but I don’t think it’s a conclusion about the convention,” he said, adding, “I don’t think anyone left disappointed."

Priebus dismissed concerns that Monday’s turmoil — an attempted insurrection by conservatives and anti-Trump delegates on the convention floor, the plagiarism incident, Trump’s repeated counter-programming by appearing on Fox and the Golf Channel during speeches here — would overshadow the convention.

Priebus also shrugged off the feud between Ohio Gov. John Kasich and the Donald Trump campaign, blaming it on the “hot” rhetoric that comes from campaigns. But he forcefully rejected the critique leveled by Manafort, who described Kasich as an “embarrassment” to the Republican Party on Monday for refusing to endorse Trump.

“I think that John Kasich is a fantastic governor,” Priebus said, “one of the best in the country.”

Priebus said he’d prefer less sniping among Republican leaders, but he also suggested there may be virtue in the Trump campaign’s unorthodox, combative style.

“We’ve tried the buttoned-down Boy Scout approach,” he said.