Chris Christie Doesn't Get How Plagiarism Works

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) attempted to defend Melania Trump Tuesday, saying her apparent plagiarism of Michelle Obama ’s 2008 convention speech doesn’t count because most of Trump’s words were original.

Trump was criticized after it became clear that her Monday night speech at the Republican National Convention repeated, verbatim, several phrases used by the first lady in a 2008 convention speech.

Other than the Obama quotes, and an inadvertent homage to Rick Astley,  Trump’s speech touched on her upbringing in Slovenia, her marriage and her children. And that’s good enough for Chris Christie.

“Ninety-three percent of the speech is completely different from Michelle Obama’s speech,” Christie told the “Today”  show. “They expressed some common thoughts.”

Of course, even if most of a speech is original, that doesn’t change the fact that a person has still committed plagiarism.

Christie added that Trump “worked very hard on that speech, and a lot of what I heard on the floor last night sounded very much like her.”

Take a look at the two speeches and see for yourself: