First Lady Michelle Obama’s support for then-Senator Barack Obama’s run for president was unwavering and she hopes the spouses of this year’s presidential election are doing the same.
Michelle made an appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” on Sept. 20, where she discussed the importance of some of the details of First Lady life. When asked if she has any sympathy for spouses of elected officials, she said, “No, not really.”
“You have to be in it if you’re in it. And if you don’t agree, you should’ve agreed before they ran,” she said. “If I didn’t agree with what Barack was saying, I would not support his run. So I stand there proudly, and I hope they are too—so no sympathy.”
Obama was then asked about the allegations that Melania Trump plagiarized her previous speech.
“Melania Trump was so criticized for using what turned out to be a portion of your speech, but do you have any sympathy [for her] because there are people around her creating things? ...and, you know, I have some sympathy for her, do you understand how that might be… sympathetic for what happened to her?” Colbert asked.
“Yeah, that was tough,” Obama replied with a smile.
Following day one of the Republican National Convention, Melania Trump faced major backlash as it was discovered that she plagiarized portions of Obama’s 2008 speech, which the Trump campaign vehemently denied.
“There’s no cribbing of Michelle Obama’s speech. These were common words and values. She cares about her family,” Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on “New Day.“ ”To think that she'd be cribbing Michelle Obama’s words is crazy.”
Shortly after, in-house staff writer Meredith McIver took responsibility for the blunder and wrote a letter of apology.
“I did not check Mrs. Obama’s speeches. This was my mistake, and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Mrs. Obama. No harm was meant,” McIver wrote.
It wasn’t all conversations about politics for Colbert and Obama. The pair also talked about Beyonce (“she’s a special person”), her feelings on the end of presidential tenure (“it’s definitely bittersweet”), faux pas as a First Lady (“pronouncing somebody’s name wrong”), and an OMG moment as First Lady (“sleepover at Buckingham Palace”)
Watch the rest of Obama’s interview with Colbert below.
