Betsy DeVos Approved By Senate Committee Following 'Plagiarism' Revelation

Betsy DeVos, President Trump's pick to run the Department of Education, appears to have plagiarized answers she submitted to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions as part of her confirmation process.

DeVos was facing a committee vote on Tuesday afternoon as The Washington Post and CNN first reported on her lifting the quotes without attribution. She was eventually approved by one vote and will go before the full Senate for a confirmation vote.

The original quotes first appeared in a press release from an Obama administration official, department materials and a trade magazine and were not cited by DeVos in her answers to the committee.

The Washington Post first reported on her statements. CNN has confirmed the Post's findings.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, the committee's chairman, had limited her Jan. 17 hearing to one round of questions from the committee's members, so Democratic senators submitted a list of questions to DeVos in writing.

In response to one question about bullying LGBT students, she wrote: "Every child deserves to attend school in a safe, supportive environment where they can learn, thrive, and grow."

Nearly the exact same quote appeared in a May 2016 press release from Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Guptac, an Obama appointee who ran the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, on the same subject.

"Every child deserves to attend school in a safe, supportive environment that allows them to thrive and grow," Guptac's press release said.

The quote is also similar to one that appears in a prominent magazine geared for educators. “You — as an educator and an ally — can dramatically shift the school climate to one that is safe, supportive, and inclusive: a place where all students can learn, achieve, and thrive," says the magazine, published by The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, according to the Post.

DeVos also did not attribute a quote about publishing a list of schools under Title IX investigations.

“Opening a complaint for investigation in no way implies that the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has made a determination about the merits of the complaint," she wrote to the committee.

The Education Department website says: "Opening a complaint for investigation in no way implies that OCR has made a determination with regard to the merits of the complaint."

She is not the first Trump administration nominee to be accused of plagiarism. Monica Crowley, a conservative author and pundit, was tapped for a top communications post on the National Security Council. Crowley announced that she would not work for the White House after reports she had plagiarized parts of her book and Ph.D. dissertation.

This summer, at the Republican National Convention, Melania Trump's speech included quotes from Michelle Obama with no attribution. A Trump Organization in-house staff writer took the fall for that plagiarism.

"A person she has always liked is Michelle Obama," Meredith McIver, the writer, said about Melania.

Image via Keith A. Almli, Wikimedia, used under Creative Commons