Donald Trump Keeps Hiring People Accused Of Plagiarism

President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch is facing criticism over allegations that he plagiarized parts of his 2006 book.

Experts told Politico, which first noticed the issue, that the similarities between the book and a 1984 article in the Indiana Law Journal were too stark to be merely coincidental. Politico also pointed out possible plagiarism in one of Gorsuch’s academic articles.

It’s a startling claim― which the White House denies― but it’s not entirely shocking if you’ve been closely watching Trump’s other nominees. Gorsuch is actually the third Trump hire to be accused of plagiarism.

In one of the cruelest ever twists of irony, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos appeared to have cribbed parts of a questionnaire she filled out during the confirmation process. And Monica Crowley, who had been tapped for a job on the National Security Council, appeared to have plagiarized in both her Ph.D. dissertation and her 2012 book.

Crowley didn’t end up taking the position. DeVos is in charge of America’s public schools.

Plagiarism allegations have dogged Trump’s personal life too. His wife Melania Trump’s 2016 Republican National Convention speech mirrored the one that former first lady Michelle Obama gave at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Melania Trump’s speechwriter took the blame for that misstep.

The president’s oldest child, Donald Trump Jr., was also accused of plagiarism, but it turned out that his speechwriter was actually the same person who wrote the article from which he was accused of stealing. The question of whether or not you can plagiarize yourself is still up in the air.