NEW YORK — Melania Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention became the talk of the town after it appeared she plagiarized sections of it from Michelle Obama’s 2008 address.

Republicans staunchly denying the accusation have since defended her by saying similar lines have been uttered by numerous famous people in the past. Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort even managed to pin the blame on Hillary, reported the New York Times.

It comes as a surprise, then, that a Trump employee came out on Tuesday with a written statement admitting responsibility for the plagiarism. The culprit, Meredith McIver, was brought in after Melania decided to change parts of a draft written by two professional speechwriters.

According to McIver’s statement, posted on the Trump campaign’s website, she and Mrs. Trump had been discussing the contents of the speech over the phone. Since Melania admired Michelle Obama, she read McIver passages from the first lady’s 2008 speech as examples of what to include in hers.

McIver says the passages made it to the final draft, and her mistake was not checking Michelle Obama’s speech. The Trump staff writer tried to tender her resignation, but it was rejected by Donald Trump himself, who benevolently said people make innocent mistakes.