Meredith McIver (born 1950/51) is a staff writer for The Trump Organization, an author, and a former ballerina. She is credited with

ghostwriting A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often h ...

multiple books by Donald Trump and was described in 2007 as an "assistant" to him.

Early life

McIver is originally from San Jose, California and moved to New York City at age 14 on a Ford Foundation Scholarship for dance. In New York, McIver trained at

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the most renowned ballet school in the United States. School of American Ballet is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New ...

during the summers of 1965 and 1966, and was enrolled full-time in the advanced division courses at the School of American Ballet 1967–70. She later earned an English degree at the University of Utah, graduating with honors in 1976.

Professional dancer

In 1981, McIver appeared on Broadway in the revival of '' Can-Can'', a production which closed after five performances.

Trump affiliation

In the 2000s, McIver worked with Donald Trump as both an assistant and as a ghostwriter. She co-authored ''Trump: Think Like a Billionaire'' (2005) and several other books, with Trump.

2007 Trump deposition

In 2007, in a deposition in a defamation lawsuit he brought against

Timothy L. O'Brien Timothy L. O'Brien (born 1961) is an American journalist, author and television commentator. Early life and education Born in Illinois, O'Brien is a graduate of Loyola Academy and Georgetown University, where he studied literature. He has three ...

, Donald Trump named McIver as the likely author, in two books they wrote together, of overstated claims of his indebtedness in the midst of the 1990s real estate market crash, making his financial comeback appear more significant.

Speech plagiarism controversy

In July 2016, McIver contributed to a speech for Melania Trump, which Mrs. Trump read at the

2016 Republican National Convention The 2016 Republican National Convention, in which delegates of the United States Republican Party chose the party's nominees for president and vice president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, was held July 18–21, 2016, at Quicken Lo ...

on July 19, 2016. The speech included plagiarized passages from a

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...

speech. McIver later issued a statement explaining that Melania Trump had shared with her a passage from Obama's 2008 convention speech as an example of her feelings. Due to a misunderstanding, McIver thought the passage expressed Mrs. Trump's own thinking, so she included that passage in the speech. In a statement McIver said the following according to the Associated Press; "Over the phone, she 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." The Trump family declined McIver's offer to resign over the incident.

Selected works

* ''Trump: How to Get Rich'' with Donald J. Trump (2004) * ''Trump: Think Like a Billionaire'' with Donald J. Trump (2004) * '' Trump 101: The Way to Success'' with Donald J. Trump (2006) * ''

Why We Want You to Be Rich ''Why We Want You to Be Rich: Two Men, One Message'' is a non-fiction book about personal finance, co-authored by Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki. The book was first published in hardcover format in 2006. The coauthors became familiar with eac ...

'' with Donald J. Trump, Robert T. Kiyosaki, and Sharon L. Lechter (2006) * ''Trump: Never Give Up'' with Donald J. Trump (2008)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McIver, Meredith 1951 births Living people 21st-century American writers 21st-century American women writers American ballerinas Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign Ghostwriters People associated with the 2016 United States presidential election People involved in plagiarism controversies School of American Ballet alumni The Trump Organization employees University of Utah alumni Writers from San Jose, California