Photo 
 
 PHILADELPHIA — Melania Trump’s cribbing last week of Michelle Obama’s lines was not the first time she claimed something that was not hers. 
 
 For months now, reporters have noted that Ms. Trump, who grew up in the small Slovenian town of Sevnica, did not obtain an undergraduate degree in architecture from the University of Ljubljana, as her professional website claimed she did. Instead, she left after her first year to pursue a modeling career in Milan. 
 
 As recently as a week ago, Ms. Trump’s website stated that she had obtained a degree before going on to become a philanthropist and skin care entrepreneur. 
 
 On Wednesday, The Huffington Post noticed that the site had been entirely scrubbed of its content. People clicking on its address are now redirected to the Trump Organization’s website. 
 
 In a Twitter post, Ms. Trump said the website had been removed “because it does not accurately reflect my current business and professional interests.” 
 
 Last week, Ms. Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention contained a few lines from Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic convention in 2008. The Trump campaign initially denied that she had plagiarized the lines. Eventually a Trump employee who had helped write the speech, Meredith McIver, acknowledged using Ms. Obama’s lines and apologized, saying it was unintentional. ||||| Melania Trump, the wife of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, speaks during the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on July 18. (Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post) 
 
 It was late July when voters last heard from the potential first lady of the United States. Melania Trump delivered her speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, and then later stood with her husband, balloons dropping, waving to the crowd in what is starting to feel like a premature farewell to the campaign trail. 
 
 Since then, she has not spoken publicly and has largely vanished from view, leaving a trail of questions and voids in her personal biography. 
 
 It was only Wednesday night — after a seven-week absence — that Melania Trump appeared at a campaign event, sitting in the audience as her husband addressed a national security forum. 
 
 Melania Trump’s speech at the GOP convention in Cleveland is drawing comparisons to Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. Here’s a side-by-side look at both. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post) 
 
 Her long silence followed the fiasco over her convention speech, parts of which turned out to have been plagiarized. Then she took her website down after revelations that there was no record she had obtained a college degree, as her site had claimed. And while the issue of illegal immigration is central to her husband’s platform, neither Melania Trump nor the Trump campaign has produced documentation to prove how the Slovenian immigrant got a visa to work in the United States or how she obtained her green card in 2001. Melania Trump has said she has been “at all times in full compliance” with immigration laws; Donald Trump has said his wife is “so documented.” 
 
 Even as the campaign declines to fill in details of her life story, Melania Trump has deployed an attorney to beat back news reports probing her past. Last week, the former fashion model filed a libel suit against a blogger and a British newspaper for reports, since retracted, suggesting that she once worked as an escort. 
 
 Otherwise, the woman who could oversee a White House staff and command a global platform on behalf of the United States has said almost nothing. A news conference at which her husband promised to address immigration questions has yet to happen. And there is no sign that Melania Trump will play a significant role in the final stretch of her husband’s campaign — a striking departure from tradition in which candidates’ spouses serve as key surrogates in the effort to turn out voters. 
 
 The Trump campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment, nor did it respond to specific questions about her past, or her future involvement in the campaign. 
 
 In many ways, Melania Trump’s approach to campaigning is in keeping with a paradoxical pattern in her life — one in which she has both sought the spotlight and recoiled from its glare. The 46-year-old has been comfortable with public exposure on her own terms, posing nude at times and once even talking on Howard Stern’s radio show about her sex life with Donald Trump. And yet, as a model and as a political spouse, she has also remained private to the point of reclusiveness. 
 
 Her official Twitter account — once a stream of Manhattan sunrises, Dover sole lunches at the Ralph Lauren Polo Club, and Melania lounging on a piano, a beach or a private jet — has become a series of statements pushing back against what is being written about her. 
 
 “Not a lot of people know me,” she told The Washington Post in an interview in April. “Only I know my story, and I see people who want to have maybe five, 15 minutes of fame, and they say, ‘Oh, I met her for five minutes.’ . . . I read a lot of stories, and they are not correct stories.” 
 
 Several people who have known Melania over the years say she has often been a solitary figure, cultivating few close friendships outside of her immediate family as she moved from the concrete apartment blocks of the former Yugoslavia in the late 1980s to Trump’s gold-leafed penthouse in Manhattan in the late 1990s. 
 
 She left Slovenia as communism crumbled, joining a wave of young Eastern European women headed for Milan and Paris. It was a startling change for many young women who grew up in small and rural areas, according to people who worked in fashion. 
 
 “It was like, ‘Wow!’ It was a chance to go out with a guy with a Porsche,” said Vincenzo Di Sarli, an Italian working in the international fashion business. “Many of them got married with these guys.” 
 
 Melania, born Melanija Knavs, began calling herself Melania Knauss as she started her modeling career. She kept trying to make a name for herself, albeit with limited success at first, according to people familiar with her career at the time. 
 
 Bernarda Jeklin, who ran a Slovenian women’s magazine, met Melania when she was 22 and entered the magazine’s Face of the Year contest. Jeklin said Melania did not stand out in the crowd of so many promising models. 
 
 “She was really quite anonymous,” said Jeklin. “She was very, very introverted. She didn’t talk to other competitors. She preferred to be in her own world.” 
 
 Melania placed as a runner-up, which helped her get more work when she returned to Milan. For several years, she modeled for catalogues and walked runways in Paris and other European capitals. During that time, she also met a wealthy Italian businessman, Paolo Zampolli, who said he saw enough potential in Melania to invite her to join a modeling agency he was financing in New York. Zampolli said he arranged Melania’s work visa and she said she moved to New York in 1996. 
 
 By then, she was 26 and stood out from other recruits, who were typically 18- or 19-year-olds dressed in jeans and T-shirts, according to others who worked at Zampolli’s Metropolitan agency. By contrast, Melania showed up at the agency already polished, always dressed exquisitely and expensively and carrying herself with a certain remove. 
 
 Michele August, a former booking agent for Metropolitan, said that she was a “very kind, gentle soul” and was “nothing but professional.” Still, August said, it was difficult to rebook her because she was “kind of icy looking, not approachable.” 
 
 “She was sexy, she wasn’t high fashion,” August said. “You didn’t book her for Vogue. She was more commercial lingerie.” 
 
 The 1990s nightlife of New York models was full of parties and invitations to nightclub openings where booze, cocaine and wealthy men were plentiful. According to August and others who worked at Metropolitan at the time, Melania was ambitious about making a name for herself but largely stayed away from the party scene. Her roommate from those days said that Melania often just stayed home. 
 
 “She would come out in her bathrobe and her glasses and slippers and watch ‘Friends,’ ” said Matthew Atanian, a photographer who shared a Union Square apartment with her in Manhattan. “She kept pretty quiet and to herself,” he added. He also said she talked by phone to her mother and sister in Slovenia every day. 
 
 An exception came in 1998, when she attended a Fashion Week event hosted by Zampolli — and met Donald Trump. 
 
 The same year, when she was 28, Melania made another leap into the spotlight by holding her own news conference in Paris. Journalists from Slovenia were flown in for free for the day to meet her, according to two of the journalists who made the trip. 
 
 The journalists said they had never heard of Melania Knauss before, but Dusan Nograsek, one of the journalists at that meeting, recalls her describing herself as one of the world’s top 50 international models. 
 
 “It was very unusual for models to do such a thing,” said Nograsek, who, along with others, wrote about Melania. “She was beautiful, likable, nice, natural. She acted as if she’d be standing on the red carpet in no time.” 
 
 At the same time, Melania’s association with Trump was leading to higher-profile assignments, including the January 2000 cover of British GQ, where she famously posed nude on a fur rug in a photo shoot on Trump’s plane. She was in the 2000 swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated, and when she married Trump in 2005, she was photographed wearing a $200,000 gown on the coveted cover of Vogue. 
 
 The transition to political wife was clearly not easy. 
 
 
 
 Donald Trump gives a thumbs up as his wife, Melania Trump, right, and his daughter Ivanka Trump, left, stand on stage during a South Carolina primary election night rally in Spartanburg, S.C., on Feb. 20. (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg) 
 
 Earlier this year, Melania Trump had seemed willing to give campaigning a try — and got good reviews. In February, she surprised people when she took the microphone at a primary victory party in South Carolina and told cheering supporters in her accented English that her husband “will be the best president.” 
 
 She went on MSNBC and CNN and addressed a crowd in Milwaukee after Donald Trump heralded the “exciting” presence of his wife on the campaign trail, saying, “She’s never done this before.” 
 
 At the same time, she seemed reluctant, telling The Post in April, “I am not part of the campaign” and that her 10-year-old son, Barron, was her main priority. 
 
 Recently, Melania Trump’s absence has become conspicuous enough to spawn such Twitter hashtags as #WhereisMelania and #FreeMelania as people tried to figure out where she was and how she was doing. 
 
 On Wednesday night, she finally appeared, sitting in the crowd at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York as her husband spoke at an NBC forum. Television viewers could only catch glimpses of her as cameras panned across the audience. 
 
 1 of 14 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × The most memorable moments from the Republican and Democratic conventions View Photos From a tender moment between President Obama and Hillary Clinton to Trump’s flashy entrance, here’s a look at top moments from the conventions. Caption From a tender moment between President Obama and Hillary Clinton to Trump’s flashy entrance, here’s a look at top moments from the conventions. Democratic National Convention President Obama embraces presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia after endorsing her and imploring the public to “reject fear, to summon what’s best in us.” Melina Mara/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 Rosalind S. Helderman, Alice Crites and Nejc Trusnovec contributed to this report. ||||| (CNN) Donald Trump's presidential campaign doesn't plan to fire anybody or to take disciplinary action over the controversy surrounding Melania Trump's plagiarism of Michelle Obama, CNN learned Tuesday. 
 
 Trump's campaign hopes to simply move on without further addressing questions about the speech. 
 
 Aides to the presumptive Republican nominee are scrambling to move past the imbroglio after a passage in Melania Trump's speech Monday night, which headlined the Republican National Convention's opening night, closely mirrored a portion of Michelle Obama's address to the Democratic National Convention in 2008. 
 
 It's set off infighting and finger-pointing within Trump's campaign, and two sources told CNN that Donald Trump himself is furious about it. 
 
 Trump's aides chalked the controversy up to media bias and blamed Hillary Clinton's campaign -- even though the apparent plagiarism was discovered by an independent journalist and had gone viral before Clinton's allies and Democrats even weighed in. 
 
 In an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day," campaign chairman Paul Manafort denied the allegations of plagiarism. 
 
 "To think that she would do something like that knowing how scrutinized her speech was going to be last night is just really absurd," Manafort said. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Side-by-side of Melania Trump, Michelle Obama speeches Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Side-by-side of Melania Trump, Michelle Obama speeches 01:42 
 
 Manafort said the words Melania used were not "cribbed" but are common words. 
 
 "There's no cribbing of Michelle Obama's speech. These were common words and values. She cares about her family," Manafort said. "To think that she'd be cribbing Michelle Obama's words is crazy." 
 
 Sean Spicer, the Republican National Committee's chief strategist, invoked "My Little Pony" in defending the speech in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. 
 
 "Melania Trump said, 'the strength of your dreams and willingness to work for them.' Twilight Sparkle from 'My Little Pony' said, 'This is your dream. Anything you can do in your dreams, you can do now,' " Spicer said. 
 
 He also compared passages of Trump's speech with phrases from musicians John Legend and Kid Rock. 
 
 "I mean if we want to take a bunch of phrases and run them through a Google and say, 'Hey, who else has said them,' I can do that in five minutes," Spicer said. "And that's what this is." 
 
 However, Trump's campaign faced criticism even from allies, who largely blamed staffers -- not Melania Trump. 
 
 Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said Tuesday that whoever is responsible for writing the should be fired. 
 
 "Whoever was the staff person who wrote this speech should be held accountable and should be fired," Lewandowski told CNN's John Berman and Kate Bolduan. 
 
 Lewandowski, who is a CNN contributor, was fired from the Trump campaign last month. 
 
 Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said at a Bloomberg Politics event Tuesday morning he'd "probably" fire whoever was responsible for including plagiarized quotes, though he added: "It all kinda depends on the circumstances and how these things are written." 
 
 The controversy quickly overshadowed the speech, which was to have been her introduction to voters. It focused on her immigration to the United States and her love for her husband. 
 
 The Trump campaign released a statement on the speech after the similarities were uncovered, but it did not mention the plagiarism charge. 
 
 Photos: The Republican National Convention Photos: The Republican National Convention Donald Trump, the Republican Party's presidential nominee, delivers a speech Thursday at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. "I have had a truly great life in business," he said. "But now, my sole and exclusive mission is to go to work for our country -- to go to work for you. It's time to deliver a victory for the American people." Hide Caption 1 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Trump is seen on screen as balloons fall from the ceiling of Quicken Loans Arena. Hide Caption 2 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Trump's family joins him on stage along with the family of his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. Hide Caption 3 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Confetti falls at the end of Trump's acceptance speech. Hide Caption 4 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Trump and Pence acknowledge the audience after Trump's speech. Hide Caption 5 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Trump claps on stage with his wife, Melania. Hide Caption 6 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention The Trumps embrace on stage. Hide Caption 7 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Trump hugs his son Barron after his address, which lasted well over an hour. Hide Caption 8 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Trump, like many of the convention's speakers this week, went after Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee. "Big business, elite media and major donors are lining up behind the campaign of my opponent because they know she will keep our rigged system in place," he said. "They are throwing money at her because they have total control over everything she does. She is their puppet, and they pull the strings." Hide Caption 9 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Trump delivers his speech. Hide Caption 10 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Trump said the United States will be a nation of "generosity and warmth" and "law and order." Hide Caption 11 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention A delegate listens to Trump's speech. Hide Caption 12 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention "Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it," Trump said. "My message is that things have to change -- and they have to change right now." Hide Caption 13 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Trump accepts the party's nomination as he begins his speech. Hide Caption 14 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Trump's daughter Ivanka takes the stage Thursday before giving a speech introducing her father. Hide Caption 15 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention "This is the moment, and Donald Trump is the person to make America great again!" Ivanka Trump said to a big cheer. She called her father a fighter, saying now he will "fight for his country." Hide Caption 16 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, became the first openly gay person to speak the Republican National Convention. "I am proud to be gay," he told the crowd Thursday. "I am proud to be a Republican. But most of all I am proud to be an American." Hide Caption 17 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, delivers a speech on Thursday. "We are the party of new ideas in a changing and faster world than ever before," he said. Hide Caption 18 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Legendary basketball coach Bob Knight delivers a video message to the crowd at Quicken Loans Arena. Hide Caption 19 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Motivational speaker Brock Mealer was among those who spoke on Thursday. Hide Caption 20 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention A delegate dressed as Hillary Clinton is accosted by another delegate on Thursday. Hide Caption 21 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Delegates stand for the national anthem Thursday. Hide Caption 22 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Young singer Heavenly Joy performs. Hide Caption 23 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Trump gives a thumbs-up Wednesday after Pence gave his speech. Hide Caption 24 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Trump gives an "air kiss" to Pence after Pence's speech. Hide Caption 25 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Pence receives a kiss from his mother, Nancy, as his family joins him on stage after his speech. Hide Caption 26 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Pence acknowledges the crowd as he walks on stage to deliver his speech. Hide Caption 27 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention "I'm a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order," Pence told the crowd. Hide Caption 28 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich delivers a speech on Wednesday. Hide Caption 29 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Trump smiles on the floor of the convention on Wednesday. Hide Caption 30 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Eric Trump, one of Donald Trump's sons, walks on stage to deliver a speech Wednesday. Hide Caption 31 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Trump listens to his son's speech along with other members of his family on Wednesday. Hide Caption 32 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Delegates shout on the floor of the arena on Wednesday. Hide Caption 33 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Trump's main adversary in the primaries, was booed at the end of his speech when it was clear he wasn't endorsing Trump. Cruz told people to "vote your conscience." Hide Caption 34 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention People react to Cruz's speech. Hide Caption 35 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Cruz gives a thumbs-up as he walks off stage. Hide Caption 36 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, another one of Trump's primary opponents, delivers a video message. Hide Caption 37 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention A delegate checks his phone at the arena. Hide Caption 38 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker delivers a speech Wednesday. "A vote for anyone other than Donald Trump in November is a vote for Hillary Clinton," the former presidential candidate said. Hide Caption 39 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Delegates hold up signs Wednesday. Hide Caption 40 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Retired astronaut Eileen Collins waves to the crowd before delivering a speech Wednesday. Hide Caption 41 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Trump addresses the crowd on Tuesday. "We're going to make America great again," he said in a video message shortly after winning the nomination. "Have a fantastic evening. I'll see you tomorrow night, I'll see you Thursday night, and we will win in November." Hide Caption 42 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon and former presidential candidate, speaks on stage Tuesday. He said Trump skeptics who would vote for Hillary Clinton are "not using their God-given brain to think about what they're saying. ... She'll be appointing people who will have an effect on us for generations. And America may never recover." Hide Caption 43 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention A member of the activist group Code Pink protests inside the arena during Carson's speech. Hide Caption 44 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Donald Trump Jr. delivers a speech Tuesday. "We need to elect a man who has a track record of accomplishing the impossible," he said of his father. Hide Caption 45 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Members of the Trump family watch as Donald Trump Jr. gives his speech. Hide Caption 46 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Donald Trump's daughter Tiffany addresses the crowd at Quicken Loans Arena. "Whatever (my father) does, he gives it all and does it well," she said on Tuesday. "His desire for excellence is contagious. He possesses a unique gift for bringing that out in others." Hide Caption 47 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst waves as she stands with other first-term senators on Tuesday. Hide Caption 48 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie delivers a speech that was heavily critical of the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee. "It is our obligation to stop Hillary Clinton now and never let her within 10 miles of the White House again," Christie said of the former secretary of state. "It is time to come together and make sure that Donald Trump is our next President. I am proud to be part of this team. Now let's go win this thing." Hide Caption 49 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Delegates fill the floor of the arena on Tuesday. Hide Caption 50 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Four of Donald Trump's children -- from left, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump -- celebrate on the floor of the convention, where Donald Trump Jr. announced the New York delegates that clinched the nomination for his father. Hide Caption 51 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention A delegate shows support for Donald Trump's wife, Melania, on Tuesday. Hide Caption 52 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention A delegate whistles as roll call votes are cast on Tuesday. Hide Caption 53 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Delegates take a photo with Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, center, on Tuesday. Hide Caption 54 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention A Florida delegate holds a "Hillary for prison" sign on the floor of the arena. Hide Caption 55 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention A convention attendee wears American-themed shoes on Tuesday. Hide Caption 56 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention House Speaker Paul Ryan bangs the gavel to open the second day of the convention on Tuesday. Hide Caption 57 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Melania Trump kisses her husband, Donald, after she spoke Monday on the first day of the convention. "If you want someone to fight for you and your country, I can assure you, he's the guy," she said of her husband. "He will never, ever give up. And most importantly, he will never, ever let you down." Hide Caption 58 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Donald Trump walks to his wife after she delivered her speech. Hide Caption 59 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Melania Trump claps during her speech. Hide Caption 60 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Donald Trump comes out to the song "We Are the Champions" before introducing his wife. Hide Caption 61 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani delivered a fiery speech before Melania Trump. Among his topics was the fight against terrorists. "We know who you are, and we're coming to get you!" he said. Hide Caption 62 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention A protester flashes a peace sign on the floor of the convention on Monday. Hide Caption 63 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. salutes the crowd before speaking Monday. He got huge applause when he started off his speech by saying, "Blue lives matter!" Hide Caption 64 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Patricia Smith, mother of Benghazi victim Sean Smith, told the crowd in Cleveland, "I blame Hillary Clinton personally." Clinton, the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee, was secretary of state when the attack occurred in Libya in 2012. Hide Caption 65 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention President Barack Obama is seen on a screen as Smith leaves the stage Monday. Hide Caption 66 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Marcus Luttrell, a former Navy SEAL who was awarded the Navy Cross for his service in Afghanistan, spoke about the need for an elite military. The convention's theme for Monday was "Make America Safe Again." Hide Caption 67 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Actor Scott Baio gives two thumbs up during his speech on Monday. "Let's not just make America great again," he said, referring to Trump's campaign slogan. "Let's make America America again!" Hide Caption 68 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Willie Robertson, star of the hit TV show "Duck Dynasty," promised the crowd that Trump "will have your back." Hide Caption 69 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, the GOP's presidential nominee in 1996, waves after listening to a speech on Monday. Hide Caption 70 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Marlana VanHoose performs the national anthem prior to Monday's evening session. Hide Caption 71 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, center, was among the delegates shouting for a roll call vote Monday on the rules of the Republican National Convention. GOP officials dismissed the move, saying there were not enough signatures to force a roll call vote. While it's unlikely a roll call vote would have rejected the rules package, it could have been an embarrassing protest vote against Trump and the Republican National Committee. Hide Caption 72 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Virginia delegate Waverly Woods protests on the floor of the convention. Hide Caption 73 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Delegates from Texas protest. Hide Caption 74 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, bangs a gavel as resolutions are adopted at the start of the convention. Hide Caption 75 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention Delegates stand and turn toward the camera for an official photo on Monday. Hide Caption 76 of 77 Photos: The Republican National Convention People walk in front of a screen displaying the American flag. Hide Caption 77 of 77 
 
 "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. Melania's immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it such a success," according to Jason Miller, the senior communications adviser. 
 
 New Jersey governor and Donald Trump ally Chris Christie defended the speech, saying, "There's no way that Melania Trump was plagiarizing Michelle Obama's speech." 
 
 "I just don't see it," Christie told CNN's Jamie Gangel in an interview Tuesday, adding later, "If we're talking about 7% of a speech, that was really, universally considered to be a good performance by Melania. I know her. There's no way that Melania Trump was plagiarizing Michelle Obama's speech." 
 
 Who wrote the speech? 
 
 Side-by-side comparisons of the transcripts show the text in Trump's address following, nearly to the word, the would-be future first lady's own from the first night of the Democratic convention in Denver nearly eight years ago. 
 
 There were a lot of questions about who wrote the speech -- but little clarity. 
 
 Sources familiar with the campaign's handling of Melania Trump's speech identify top Manafort deputy Rick Gates as the person inside the campaign who oversaw the entire speech process for Melania Trump. 
 
 Gates is denying he oversaw the process of putting together the speech. 
 
 When CNN's Jim Acosta asked Gates if he oversaw the Melania Trump speech process, he said "absolutely not." 
 
 Miller also denied Gates' involvement. 
 
 "Rick's not a speechwriter and he doesn't have a role in the campaign's speechwriting process -- we have other people for that," he said. "Anybody saying differently is being intentionally misleading." 
 
 JUST WATCHED Manafort: Plagiarism accusations are crazy Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Manafort: Plagiarism accusations are crazy 01:30 
 
 Democrats' role 
 
 Manafort, on CNN's "New Day," said the scrutiny over Melania Trump's speech was the work of Clinton's campaign. 
 
 "This is once again an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, she seeks out to demean her and take her down. It's not going to work," he said. 
 
 However, Trump's aides haven't pointed to any evidence of Democrats' involvement in fanning the controversy. 
 
 The Clinton campaign's communications director Jennifer Palmieri said Manafort's comments about Clinton's involvement were untrue. 
 
 "Nice try, not true. @PaulManafort, blaming Hillary Clinton isn't the answer for ever Trump campaign problem," Palmieri tweeted 
 
 Clinton's campaign on Tuesday focused instead on bashing Republicans for other speeches Monday night, including the mother of a Benghazi attack victim saying she'd like to see Clinton imprisoned and the crowd chanting at another point, "Lock her up!" In a fundraising email to supporters, Clinton's campaign said "there's a difference between drawing a contrast and baselessly saying your opponent belongs in jail." 
 
 White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Tuesday that President Barack Obama did not watch Monday night's speeches. 
 
 "As it relates to Mrs. Trump's speech, I'll let all of you weigh in on all of that and try to learn more about how exactly it was written," Earnest said. "What I can say that in 2008, when Mrs. Obama spoke, she received an enthusiastic reception and strong reviews because of her words, her life story, and the values that she and her husband deeply believe in and try to instill in their kids." 
 
 JUST WATCHED Christie on Melania plagiarism: 'I just don't see it' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Christie on Melania plagiarism: 'I just don't see it' 01:05 
 
 Earlier in the day, Melania Trump told NBC's Matt Lauer : "I read once over it, that's all, because I wrote it ... with (as) little help as possible." 
 
 Here is Trump, on Monday: 
 
 "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," Trump said. 
 
 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." 
 
 And here is Obama, on August 25, 2008: 
 
 "And 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 to 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." 
 
 The reaction: 
 
 "(To be honest), I was more offended by just about every other speech than Melania's plagiarized paragraphs," former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau jokingly tweeted as the accusations went viral hours after Trump's address. 
 
 Tbh, I was more offended by just about every other speech than Melania's plagiarized paragraphs. — Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) July 19, 2016 
 
 Journalist Jarrett Hill seems to have been one of the first to notice the similarities on Twitter. 
 
 He's a big fan of the Obamas, and told CNN over the phone that one particular line from Michelle Obama's 2008 speech really spoke to him: "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." 
 
 When he heard Melania Trump start saying "the only limit to your achievements," he knew something was wrong. 
 
 Hill said he then Googled Michelle Obama's speech and saw the similar lines. 
 
 "It was kind of a total recall moment," he said. 
 
 After he posted the comparison on Twitter, his tweet garnered 16,000 retweets. 
 
 Um. This is becoming a thing. — Jarrett Hill (@JarrettHill) July 19, 2016 
 
 "Um. This is becoming a thing," he later tweeted. 
 
 Never gonna let you down? 
 
 In an even stranger twist, some on social media posited that Trump surreptitiously Rickrolled -- a common Internet meme involving singer Rick Astley -- everyone in the middle of her speech. 
 
 "He will never give up," she said of her husband. "And most importantly, he will never, ever let you down." 
 
 The chorus of the 80s classic sounds very similar: "Never gonna give you up/ Never gonna let you down/ Never gonna run around and desert you." 
 
 A bit of background -- Rickrolling is where you get someone to unwittingly click on a link to the video of the Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up."
– Negative headlines about a cribbed speech have died down, but now Melania Trump is facing a spate of new ones about the accuracy of a bio on her newly shuttered website. The wife of the GOP nominee said via Twitter on Thursday that www.melaniatrump.com was made in 2012 and "has been removed because it does not currently reflect my current business and professional interests." Visitors are instead redirected to her husband's site, www.trump.com. The public acknowledgement comes after the Huffington Post reported that the site had disappeared amid questions over a college degree. On the site, she claimed to have earned "a degree in design and architecture at University in Slovenia" before embarking on a modeling career. But the New York Times notes that reporters have been pointing out for months now that she actually left the school after her first year. An unauthorized biography echoes the one-year-of-school story, reports CNN. The Trump campaign hasn't addressed the apparent discrepancy.