Is Corey Lewandowski correct that whoever wrote Melania Trump's speech should be fired?
Before speaking to the Illinois Republican delegation on Tuesday, Donald Trump's former campaign manager said someone should be held "accountable" over passages in Melania Trump's speech that appeared to be plagiarized from a Michelle Obama Democratic convention address.
The remarks by Corey Lewandowski, fired by the campaign in June, underscored tensions between Trump supporters still loyal to the ex-campaign manager and those aligned with Paul Manafort, the top aide to the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
Manafort downplayed the controversy over Melania Trump's opening night speech, saying the plagiarism allegations were "crazy" and that "they're not words that were unique words."
But Lewandowski, now a paid contributor to CNN, told the cable network that if Manafort signed off on the speech, "he would do the right thing and resign."
"Whoever was the staff person who wrote this speech, should be held accountable and should be fired," Lewandowski said.
"When you do something that is so egregious that the story today is not how great Melania Trump was and how successful this convention is going to be, but it's because a staff person didn't do their job properly, there absolutely has to be accountability," he said.
Adding to the controversy were comments Melania Trump made to NBC in which she took credit for largely writing the speech. "I read it once over, and that's all because I wrote it with as little help as possible," she said.
Speaking to reporters before addressing the Illinois delegation, Lewandowski said the Trump campaign should resolve the matter as soon as possible.
"If the staff did not do their job properly, and didn't vet the speech properly based on the larger picture and narrative that she put together, then there should be accountability. No question," Lewandowski said.
"I know about accountability in this election," Lewandowski said, a reference to his firing from the Trump campaign.
Melania Trump's speech was meant to introduce her as a potential first lady and to try to help soften the reputation of her husband, who has been a polarizing figure as he prepares to assume the Republican nomination for president on Thursday.
But it turned into a point of embarrassment for the Trump campaign when she delivered passages that nearly matched a speech Michelle Obama gave in 2008 at the Democratic National Convention when then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama was accepting his party's nomination.
"I think Melania Trump is a very smart, articulate woman. I think her thoughts were her thoughts, and if the campaign staff didn't do their job, then I think there's accountability," Lewandowski said.
"This was a really good night for her. Any distraction from that is unfortunate because it shouldn't have been done," he said.
Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren of Plano sought to tamp down the plagiarism controversy. "There's not a lot of uniqueness in those speeches. I thought she did a fine job," Hultgren said.
Hultgren's colleague, U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam of Wheaton, said he expected the Trump campaign would not admit to making a mistake. "Are you going to get an apology with anyone whose name rhymes with Trump? Not a chance," he said.
During his appearance before Illinois' delegates, Lewandowski recounted his history with the campaign and depicted Trump as a "blue-collar billionaire" fond of eating fast food on his private plane.
He also touched on the reality television star's own controversial remarks when Trump said U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona was not a war hero because he was captured by the North Vietnamese. After that speech, Lewandowski said they went into a private room to talk about the remarks.
"He said, 'What do you think? Pretty good, huh?' I said, 'Well, that was something, yeah. Maybe we, you know, maybe we want to rethink this.' And he looked at me like I had five heads and I was green.
"He said, 'What are you talking about? I don't want to rethink it. I know exactly who I am and I know exactly what I said and I mean what I say and I always say what I mean,'" Lewandowski said.
Lewandowski said it was one of the many times the "pundits got it wrong" when it came to whether Trump would become the party's eventual nominee.
"Some people don't want the ball at the end of the game," Lewandowski said. "Donald Trump is a big game player. He wants the ball … because he wins."
Asked if Trump could carry Illinois given heavily Democratic Chicago, Lewandowski said he planned the pre-March primary rally at the University of Illinois Chicago Pavilion that was canceled following clashes between Trump supporters and protesters.
"That didn't work out so well," Lewandowski said jokingly. "But look, Illinois is really important, you guys know this. Can you imagine in your wildest dreams any other Republican presidential candidate deciding to try to hold a rally in Chicago at a university?"
Lewandowski said Trump won't be deterred by a lack of support from Republican leadership in Illinois or elsewhere, saying the candidate plans to return to Chicago, Springfield and the suburbs.
"Change is coming, people, and the Trump train is big and long and it is a freight train and it's going to run over you," Lewandowski said.
