US law prohibits  companies from directly contributing to political campaigns, or from making “in-kind” donations of staff or other resources. But Trump has blurred that line by paying roughly 25% of his campaign expenditures to his own companies.

Yesterday, the New York Times characterized McIver as “a New York City-based former ballet dancer and English major who has worked on some of Mr. Trump’s books.” In her statement, McIver calls herself an “in-house staff writer at the Trump Organization.”

It’s unclear if McIver was separately paid by the Trump campaign for her work on Melania’s speech. The Trump campaign has paid numerous Trump Organization staffers and disclosed it accordingly.

McIver’s admission comes only a day after Trump’s campaign, led by campaign manager Paul Manafort, repeatedly denied that any wrongdoing took place. He called the allegations of plagiarism “just really absurd,” instead blaming Hillary Clinton and the media for manufacturing a controversy.

The New York Times noted that this is the first time anyone associated with Trump’s presidential campaign has apologized for, well, anything.

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