Donald Trump Calls Uproar About Melania's Speech 'Very Unfair'

— -- Donald Trump shot back at the firestorm that erupted after his wife Melania's convention speech was discovered to contain passages that were similar to a 2008 speech by Michelle Obama, saying that the uproar was "very unfair."

"And now that cloud is lifted off her which is terrific because it was very unfair," Trump told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview today in the wake of a Trump employee taking the blame. "I think it was very unfair. Although I will say the media did not think she actually had anything to do with it, which is nice."

Meredith McIver, an in-house writer and Trump family friend, issued an apology today for her involvement in the preparation of Melania Trump's address at the Republican National Convention Monday night.

McIver said she offered her resignation, but the Trump family rejected it. McIver said that she'd never crosschecked the text for duplicated lines from the first lady's speeches.

Trump told Stephanolopoulos today that McIver was a "terrific" person who'd simply made a mistake.

"She's been with me a long time," Trump said of McIver. "She's a very good person. She came to see me because she hated to see the conflict. ... People make mistakes. You've made mistakes. We all make mistakes.

"And I guess maybe if she weren't with me for a long time and if I didn't know how good she was -- I've done books with her that have been best-sellers. ... She came forward and just said, 'Look, it was a mistake that I made' and she thought it was very unfair to Melania."