Now Trump's wife trumps her copycat controversy

31 July 2016 - 02:00 By The Daily Telegraph, London

Melania Trump's website mysteriously disappeared from the internet this week after she was accused of exaggerating her biography by claiming to hold a university degree. The wife of presidential candidate Donald Trump had already been caught up in a high-profile plagiarism row last week, after it emerged that whole paragraphs of her address to the Republican national convention were taken, with only minor modifications, from a 2008 speech by Michelle Obama.Then, on Wednesday, her personal website was taken down after reporters noted that a section which claimed she had a received a degree from the University of Ljubljana in her native Slovenia was inaccurate."After obtaining a degree in design and architecture at University in Slovenia, Melania was jetting between photo shoots in Paris and Milan, finally settling in New York in 1996," it said.story_article_left1The claim also appeared in the Republican convention programme.In fact, Melania never got a degree. According to her unauthorised biography, she left university after her first year, a fact she acknowledged in a GQ interview published in April.Melania took to Twitter to address the disappearance of her website. "The website in question was created in 2012 and it has been removed because it does not accurately reflect my current business and professional interests," she wrote.Would-be visitors to the site are now redirected to the Trump Organisation website.As a former model who has graced the covers of Vogue and GQ, Melania is no stranger to the spotlight. But as the wife of the Republican presidential nominee, she has been facing much more unfamiliar levels of scrutiny.She spent most of the early campaign in New York, living in her penthouse apartment in Trump Tower with Barron, her 10-year-old son, while her husband campaigned in Iowa and New Hampshire.She did appear occasionally at his rallies, and in sporadic TV interviews, but was a far less visible presence than other members of the Trump family.Her speech on the opening night of the Republican national convention was therefore an opportunity to introduce herself to Americans, but it quickly evolved into an embarrassing scandal.full_story_image_vleft1As videos spread virally showing her speech side by side with near-identical portions fromObama's address at the 2008 Democratic national convention, Melania retreated to New York, and did not appear with her husband during his triumphant helicopter arrival in Cleveland.A speechwriter working for the nominee came forward two days after the speech, taking responsibility for the apparent plagiarism. Meredith McIver said Melania had read her passages she admired from Obama's speech, and she had mistakenly included them in the final draft.However, amid increased scrutiny, the lingering allegations that Melania had exaggerated her biography on her website came to light...

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