SAVANNAH GUTHRIE (CO-HOST): Let's keep this in perspective, OK? It's not Watergate. There's no evidence that [Melania Trump] herself is responsible for any plagiarism, but to you, Mike, what does this signal about the campaign? What do you think this does to the convention?
MIKE MURPHY: Well, if you look at the first 24 hours, the opening move was a war with the governor of Ohio who's hosting the convention, followed by the Colorado steamroller and tough tactics on the floor, and then we rolled into the speech writing team of Xerox and Conoco who I don't think are going to be with the campaign anymore. It was a very bad first day. But what counts in one of these conventions is Trump's speech later. That's the big moment. If they do good, it'll help them. If not, they're in trouble.
MATT LAUER (CO-HOST): And if that begins with “ask not what your country can do for you,” we're in very big trouble. Let's talk about what Paul Manafort said --
NICOLLE WALLACE: Not a joke in this cycle, though.
LAUER: Let's talk about what Paul Manafort said this morning. He said, “There's no cribbing, there was no copying.” He doubled down basically. Do you agree with that strategy?
WALLACE: I do not agree with that strategy. There clearly aren't press folks at the table making strategic decisions because you never subject a spouse to that. You get a spouse in and out of political controversy as quickly as possible because a spouse is largely immune from the kinds of partisan attacks that come at a political figure. People root for a wife or a kid of a politician, and instead of letting her sort of get in and out of this scandal quickly, they're going to guarantee that the campaign spends all day talking about whether or not she plagiarized Michelle Obama's speech, which it certainly looks like she did.
