A staff writer in Donald Trump's organization who worked with Melania Trump on her convention speech says she made a "mistake'' in including passages from a Michelle Obama speech.

Many of the lines in Melania Trump's speech that she delivered at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on Monday night were very similar to the one the first lady gave at the Democratic National Convention in 2008.

Meredith McIver says she offered her resignation, but Donald Trump rejected it. In a statement issued Wednesday, McIver explained her role in the speech plagiarism controversy.

McIver says Melania Trump read passages of Obama's 2008 convention speech during the writing the process. She says her notes from that conversation made it into the final version. She says she feels terrible for the "chaos'' she caused.

"No harm was meant," she wrote.

McIver said Donald Trump rejected her resignation, telling her "people make mistakes and we learn and grow from these experiences."

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.