[WATCH] Melania Trump accused of plagiarising Michelle Obama's speech

Donald Trump’s current (and third) wife Melania was the headline speaker on the opening day of the Republic national convention on Monday and her speech seemed to very well received by the crowd, who applauded and shouted support for her husband.

But a number of lines in her speech seem to have been copied verbatim from a speech Michelle Obama delivered at the 2008 Democratic convention, when she presented her husband Barack as the then Democratic candidate for the presidency.

Journalist Jarrett Hill was among the first to point out that lines Donald Trump’s wife spoke about the necessity of hard work and strong family values seemed familiar.

Trump told GOP delegates on Monday: “From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise.

“That you treat people with respect. They taught and showed me values and morals in their daily life. That is a lesson that I continue to pass along to our son, and we need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow, because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.”

“Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do,” Obama told the gathering of Democrats in 2008.

Melania Trump said the speech includes "fragments that reflected her own thinking"https://t.co/p6fSNiXx3J

— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) July 19, 2016

“And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values, and pass them on to the next generation. Because we want our children – and all children in this nation – to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.”

The Trump campaign later sent out a statement on the speech, though it did not directly answer accusations of plagiarism.

Plagarism scandals have periodically haunted American politics. Infamously, the 1988 presidential campaign of the current vice-president, Joe Biden, was ended over allegations that the then senator from Delaware had plagiarised Neil Kinnock, the leader of the British Labour party at the time.

In an interview with Matt Lauer of NBC, Melania Trump said of her speech: “I wrote it with a little help as possible.”

Jason Miller, a senior communications adviser for the Trump campaign, said: “In writing her beautiful speech, Melania’s team of writers took notes on her life’s inspirations and, in some instances, included fragments that reflected her own thinking.

“Melania’s immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it such a success.”