Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Education, appears to have lifted a quote from an Obama administration civil rights official in written answers to the Senate committee tasked with approving his nomination.
After DeVos’ confirmation hearing was limited to one round of questions by Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Democrats submitted hundreds of questions to the nominee. In response to a question from Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the committee, on bullying of LGBT students, DeVos almost directly — and uncited — quoted Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of Obama’s Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department.
“Every child deserves to attend school in a safe, supportive environment where they can learn, thrive, and grow,” DeVos writes.
Gupta was credited with nearly the same quotes in a May 2016 press release on ensuring the civil rights of transgender students.
“Every child deserves to attend school in a safe, supportive environment that allows them to thrive and grow,” Gupta wrote.
The apparent plagiarism was first reported by The Washington Post.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment on the allegations and has not yet received a response.
DeVos is one of a handful of Trump cabinet nominees that Senate Democrats believe they have a chance of upending.
In the hearing earlier this month, DeVos agreed that Trump described sexual assault in a leaked hot mic video from a 2005 entertainment show and turned a discussion of guns in schools turned on grizzly bears. She also appeared at times unaware of federal law governing education and admitted to a “clerical error” that left her as a vice president on her mother’s foundation for nearly two decades.
She is also not the first Trump staffing pick to face plagiarism allegations since the President’s election.
Conservative author Monica Crowley stepped away from her appointment to a senior communications role in Trump’s then-incoming administration after CNN’s KFile uncovered multiple instances of plagiarism.
Examples of plagiarism were found in her 2012 book, multiple columns for The Washington Times and her 2000 Ph.D. dissertation for Columbia University. The former Fox New contributor was chosen to be the senior director of strategic communications for the National Security Council.
“After much reflection I have decided to remain in New York to pursue other opportunities and will not be taking a position in the incoming administration,” she told the Times in a statement. “I greatly appreciate being asked to be part of President-elect Trump’s team and I will continue to enthusiastically support him and his agenda for American renewal.”