Talking Points Memo: Did Melania's Plagiarizing Speechwriter Mix Trump Biz And Campaign Work?

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For Larry Noble, who served as the general counsel for the Federal Election Commission for 13 years and now is general counsel for the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, McIver’s statement renders the issue pretty cut-and-dry. It's written on Trump Organization letterhead, McIver introduces herself as an “in-house staff writer” at the corporation and she writes that she offered her resignation to Trump and his family, not his campaign.

“Every indication from that letter is that she’s working for the Trump Organization and paid by the Trump Organization,” Noble said in a phone interview. “Unless the campaign paid for it, it is a violation.”

Noble also said one would be hard pressed to construe a speech from a major party nominee’s spouse at a national convention as anything other than a campaign act.

Answers could come in the latest round of FEC monthly filings, which are due by midnight. Noble pointed out the possibility that McIver’s payment could be buried in a bulk “staff services” payment from the campaign to the Trump Organization.

The New York real estate mogul’s campaign has made it particularly challenging to follow the money because of the “unprecedented” coziness Trump has displayed between his business and his campaign, Noble said.

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