Photo via Flickr user Michael Vadon
After about 36 hours of absurd excuses and wild conspiracy theories, the Trump camp finally copped to what everyone pretty much already knew and admitted that, yeah, it did rip off Michelle Obama when writing Melania Trump's speech, the New York Times reports.Campaign staff writer Meredith McIver—who identifies herself as a "long-time friend and admirer of the Trump family" in a statement—took the fall for the whole thing. McIver said that she worked with Melania on drafting her RNC address and that Melania had read her passages of speeches from people she admired, one of whom was Michelle Obama."Over the phone, Ms. Trump read me some passages from Mrs. Obama's speech as examples. I wrote them down and later included some of the phrasing in the draft that ultimately became the final speech," McIver says in the statement. "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."The staff writer apparently offered her resignation, but said that Donald Trump rejected it and told her "people make innocent mistakes and we learn and grow from these experiences."All that chaos that McIver caused doesn't seem to be bothering the Republican nominee, though. Trump is basking in the publicity the whole mess brought him, tweeting, "Good news is Melania's speech got more publicity than any in the history of politics especially if you believe that all press is good press!"Read: The Trump Campaign Swears Melania Didn't Plagiarize Michelle Obama