Fact Check

Melania Trump Copied Statement from Hillary Clinton

A Facebook image falsely suggested that Melania Trump had copied her statement regarding her husband's offensive statements about women from Hillary Clinton.

Published Oct. 10, 2016

 (FLICKR)
Image courtesy of FLICKR
Claim:
Melania Trump had copied her statement regarding her husband's offensive statements about women from Hillary Clinton.

On 8 October 2016, Melania Trump released a statement concerning the release of a tape containing offensive remarks her husband Donald Trump had made about women back in 2005:

The words my husband used are unacceptable and offensive to me. This does not represent the man that I know. He has the heart and mind of a leader. I hope people will accept his apology, as I have, and focus on the important issues facing our nation and the world.

Shortly after Melania Trump released her statement, an image began circulating on Facebook suggesting that her remarks were a near verbatim copy of a statement released by Hillary Clinton in 1998 concerning her husband Bill Clinton's relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky:

melania clinton

While the statement from Melania Trump is real, the one from Hillary Clinton is not. We found no record of the former First Lady's issuing such a statement on 8 December 1998, or at any other time.

This image was simply a political barb aimed at mocking Melania Trump over an earlier plagiarism scandal and/or mocking Hillary Clinton by suggesting that her husband had engaged in the same type of behavior as Melania Trump's husband had.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.