Donald Trump’s campaign aide Rick Gates has been named as the man responsible for approving Melania Trump’s speech infamous RNC speech that seemed to copy Michelle Obama’s speech from 2008, sources have told The Guardian and other media outlets.
Although Donald Trump’s office has said that they won’t fire anyone over the gaff, it’s hard to believe that a man like Rick won’t be punished in some way. That goes against what Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager said should happen. Obviously, he’s taking shots at the man who took his job, but he told CNN that “When you are looking at and scrutinizing the GOP nominee’s wife to give the largest speech, in front of 35 million people, there is no detail that you should overlook… I think if it was Paul Manafort, he’d do the right thing and resign.”
Corey shares the same sentiments that a lot of other Republicans and members of the GOP have: that the party responsible should be let go.
What Happened?
During Melania Trump’s 20-minute-long speech to the 2016 Republican National Convention, it was discovered that some of her words might have been plagiarized from a Michelle Obama speech given in 2008 at the Democratic National Convention. You can watch the comparison below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcbiGsDMmCM
There’s little doubt in anyone’s minds that Melania Trump had some help in writing the speech. She even told NBC News that, “I read it once over, and that’s all because I wrote it with as little help as possible.” That’s why people aren’t upset at her, they’re upset at Trump’s campaign.
John McCain’s 2008 campaign manager, Steve Schmidt, told RollCall that “this is a plagiarized speech, hands down, game, set, match on that. What an outrageous disservice to Melania Trump by the speechwriters on that campaign… This is not a good first night, and now you have brought scandal to a prospective first lady in the form of her convention speech.”
But the ghostwriters of the speech aren’t the only ones to blame. Trump is blaming his campaign manager, Paul Manafort, for the gaffe. And apparently sources close to the situation have revealed that Paul is doing whatever he can to protect his man, Rick, from Trump–including trying to blame Mrs. Trump.
Who Is Rick Gates?
Rick Gates is a campaign aide for Donald Trump. Gates used to work as a lobbying partner for Paul Manafort, Trump’s current campaign manager.
Here’s a description of Rick from RollCall.com, the first site to have broken the news that Mike Pence would be named as Trump’s VP.
Gates is a former lobbying partner of Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, and does not have experience in presidential campaigns. He has been described as a Trump delegate wrangler and a top aide to the campaign.
According to sources, Rick is the person who signed off on Melania’s speeches. It’s more than a little strange that he wouldn’t have had Melania’s speech read by convention experts who go through everything with a fine-tooth comb, but that might speak to Gates’ inexperience.
We think it’s pretty valiant of Paul to stick up for his business partner, but we’re not a member of the GOP. Many Republicans want Rick gone.