Michelle Obama on Melania Trump's Controversial Convention Speech: 'That Was Tough'

— -- First lady Michelle Obama has reacted publicly for the first time to the controversy over Melania Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland earlier this summer, when the GOP presidential nominee’s wife was accused of using parts of Obama’s 2008 Democratic National Convention speech.

Appearing on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” Obama was pressed by the comedian whether she feels any sympathy for the spouses of presidential candidates.

While she initially signaled she did not have any sympathy for Trump or Bill Clinton, Colbert pressed Obama by citing the example of the criticism surrounding the plagiarism episode.

“Melania Trump was so criticized for using what turned out to be a portion of your speech. But do you have any sympathy? Because there are people around her creating things, and I have some sympathy for her,” Colbert said. “Do you understand how that might be sympathetic for what happened to her?”

“Yeah,” Obama finally admitted, clearly not amused by the continued questioning. “That was tough.”

Colbert picked up on Obama’s evident irritation, as she was not smiling, and quickly moved on to discuss her signature project, Let Girls Learn, which aims to educate girls around the globe who do not have access to education.

Earlier in the interview, the first lady called her family’s final days in the White House “bittersweet.”

“Everything’s, like, the last, and I find myself choking up because we have raised our kids in the White House,” she said. “We’ve had so many amazing experiences. We have a phenomenal staff. We live in a house where people love us and care about us, and, you know, we’re going to be walking away from all of that.”