CLEVELAND -- Donald Trump's presidential campaign on Tuesday dismissed criticism that Melania Trump directly lifted two passages nearly word for word from the speech that Michelle Obama delivered in 2008 at the Democratic National Convention, calling the complaints "just absurd."

The plagiarism accusations came after the first night of the convention in Cleveland.

"In writing her beautiful speech, Melania's team of writers took notes on her life's inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking," senior communications adviser Jason Miller said in a statement. "Melania's immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it such a success."

Melania Trump had previously indicated that she wrote the speech herself.

On Tuesday morning, Trump campaign Chairman Paul Manafort denied that there had been any plagiarism, despite clear similarities between the two speeches. Some parts of the speeches appeared to be the same, word for word.

"There's no cribbing of Michelle Obama's speech. These were common words and values that she cares about, her family, things like that," Manafort said Tuesday morning on CNN's New Day. "She was speaking in front of 35 million people last night, she knew that, to think that she would be cribbing Michelle Obama's words is crazy."

He added that he does not believe that "Trump feels that there's anything to fire someone about" during an interview on CBS.

Later, The Daily Show highlighted on Twitter similarities between two lines in Donald Trump Jr.'s convention address Tuesday night and an article by F.H. Buckley in The American Conservative. The passages in both Trump's speech and Buckley's writing compare American schools to Soviet-era department stores run for the benefit of the clerks, not the customers.

Buckley told The Associated Press, however, that he was a "principal speechwriter" for Trump Jr.'s address, "so it's not an issue."

A comparison

The passages in question came near the beginning of Mrs. Trump's nearly 15-minute speech.

• Melania Trump, Monday night:

"From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise, that you treat people with respect. They taught and showed me values and morals in their daily lives. That is a lesson that I continue to pass along to our son. And we need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow. Because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."

• Michelle Obama, in her 2008 speech:

"Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them. And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values, and pass them on to the next generation. Because we want our children -- and all children in this nation -- to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."

mMelania Trump:

"I was born in Slovenia, a small, beautiful and then-communist country in central Europe. My sister, Ines, who is an incredible woman and a friend, and I were raised by my wonderful parents. My elegant and hardworking mother, Amalija, introduced me to fashion and beauty. My father, Viktor, instilled in me a passion for business and travel. Their integrity, compassion and intelligence reflects to this day on me and for my love of family and America."

• Michelle Obama:

"And I come here as a daughter -- raised on the South Side of Chicago by a father who was a blue-collar city worker and a mother who stayed at home with my brother and me. My mother's love has always been a sustaining force for our family, and one of my greatest joys is seeing her integrity, her compassion and her intelligence reflected in my own daughters."

Melania Trump's address was otherwise distinct from the speech that the first lady gave when her husband was being nominated for president.

The White House declined to comment. Spokesman Josh Earnest said he would leave the "color commentary" to reporters. He said President Barack Obama did not watch the convention but is aware of the news coverage of Melania Trump's remarks.

Sarah Hurwitz, a White House speechwriter who composed Michelle Obama's 2008 address, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The first lady herself did not address the topic Tuesday during an appearance before reporters at a White House gathering for college-bound students.

speechwriting help

Melania Trump, an immigrant from Slovenia and a former fashion model, has been a generally silent presence at her husband's side. Her remarks were seen as an opportunity to soften the image of her husband, whose bombastic style and penchant for feuds has at times emerged as a political liability.

Her dislike of and discomfort with public speaking are well known, making her well-received address a high moment of the night. She has rarely appeared on the campaign trail and does not often speak to journalists.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for helping to craft Melania Trump's remarks since the Trump campaign speechwriting operation has one main speechwriter, Stephen Miller, and relies on other Trump associates for input.

In recent days, for example, Manafort has consulted with two former Reagan speechwriters, Ben Elliott and Peter Robinson, on Trump's nomination acceptance speech but that pair is not formally part of the campaign.

Trump's son, Donald Jr., faulted outside speechwriters: "Those are the people that did this, not Paul [Manafort]," he said in an interview with CBS News and other reporters.

An adviser to Trump, who has assisted in the drafting of some of the businessman's speeches, acknowledged that Melania Trump used words that were not her own.

"I'm sure what happened is the person who was helping write this plucked something in there and probably an unfortunate oversight and certainly Melania didn't have anything to do with it," said Sam Clovis, a Trump campaign co-chairman, in an interview on MSNBC.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus defended Melania Trump, but added that he'd "probably" fire the speechwriter if it were his decision.

"I don't blame her," Priebus said of Melania Trump at a breakfast with journalists, hosted by Bloomberg, on the second day of the convention. "Some of these things are pretty common types of themes."

When asked if someone should be fired, he responded that it "seems reasonable to me."

"But it all depends on the circumstances," he said.

Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour called the controversy a "nothingburger." He defended Melania Trump and said the speech appeared heartfelt. "If I took the 10 most significant things that happened last night, I would not include this in the list," he said.

Nebraska delegate J.L. Spray, a member of the Republican National Committee, said the part of the speech that matched Mrs. Obama's "was such nonsubstantive stuff. The media and the Democrats needed something to focus on, so they came up with this. If you say 'God bless America' at the end of your speech, are you plagiarizing Ronald Reagan?"

Accusations of plagiarism are not unheard-of in political speeches.

In 2008, Clinton criticized Barack Obama for appearing to lift a passage from Deval Patrick, then the governor of Massachusetts, in a speech about how words matter. Obama, then a senator, said that he could have credited Patrick but that he did not consider it a case of plagiarism.

When Joe Biden, then a senator, was running for president in the 1987, he faced questions about plagiarizing speeches from Robert F. Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey and Neil Kinnock, a British Labor Party leader. Biden said at the time that it was "ludicrous" to expect a politician to attribute everything he said. He later withdrew his name from the Democratic presidential race before the start of primary voting.

Arkansans react

An educator in Arkansas' delegation said she doesn't like people using other people's words without attribution.

"Being here in this little bubble, I haven't gotten to see much of it. I think plagiarism and politics goes well before Joe Biden's famous plagiarism," said delegate and former state. Rep. Ann Clemmer, who served as a political science faculty member at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for 23 years. "I'm a faculty member and I hate plagiarism. You ought to be able to find your own words, but stuff happens."

Other Arkansans concurred.

"I don't think she plagiarized," Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge told CNN. "She used common words and phrases."

Arkansas GOP Chairman Doyle Webb said the dispute was overblown.

"From my view, I think that Melania explained herself very well," he said. "I don't think any issue about copying other work will affect this race at all. It's much to do about nothing."

Those making a fuss over the issue, Webb said, "could be trying to undermine the true message and the message was a positive message. It gave us a clear insight of who Donald Trump is from someone very close to him."

Eddie Arnold, a Trump delegate from Arkadelphia, said Melania isn't the one who should be held accountable for any copying.

"You know, I'd probably fire the speechwriter. I doubt if she had seen what she had done," he said.

Efforts to dissect the speech were over the top, he said. "They're blowing everything out," he said. "Everything's been negative about Trump from the media from day one and they're continuing to do that and I think they'll continue to do that," he said.

Republican National Committeeman Jonathan Barnett of Siloam Springs expressed sympathy for the candidate's wife.

"I'm sure she did the best she could. I'm sure they didn't mean to plagiarize. I mean, they've got speechwriters out there. I'm sure they're all doing the best they can. I'm sure she meant what she said in the sense that she spoke from her heart," he said. "They picked two lines out of the whole speech. Heck, I've probably said something before that came from somebody and didn't realized I was doing it so, anyhow, I don't make a big deal out of it."

Information for this article was contributed by Karen Tumulty, Philip Rucker and Jose DelReal, David Nakamura of The Washington Post; by Erica Werner, Jill Colvin, Stephen Ohlemacher and Grant Schulte of The Associated Press; by John McCormick, Justin Sink and Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg News; by Maggie Haberman, Alan Rappeport, Patrick Healy and Jonathan Martin of The New York Times; and by Frank Lockwood of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

A Section on 07/20/2016