NEW YORK, Jan. 16 (UPI) — Monica Crowley announced Monday she won’t take a position in Donald Trump‘s administration, one week after it was revealed she plagiarized portions in her book and Ph.D. thesis.
Crowley, who was a conservative commentator for Fox News, won’t take a position as senior director of strategic communications for the National Security Council in the White House, the Trump transition team confirmed.
“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 Washington 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.”
Last week, CNN’s KFILE reported that Crowley had plagiarized more than 50 times in her 2012 book “What the Bleep Just Happened.” Her publisher, HarperCollins, pulled the book from sales until it could be updated with proper attribution. About 23,000 copies have been sold since its release.
Later, CNN’s KFILE later found 40 plagiarized passages and Politico counted more than a dozen passages lifted in Crowley’s Ph.D. 2000 dissertation at Columbia University. And The Washington Times also found plagiarism in seven columns.
Crowley has not commented on the plagiarism reports.
“The NSC will miss the opportunity to have Monica Crowley as part of our team. We wish her all the best in her future,” Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s incoming national security adviser, said in a statement.
Trump’s transition team originally painted the plagiarism claims as attempts to discredit the incoming GOP administration.
“Any attempt to discredit Monica is nothing more than a politically motivated attack that seeks to distract from the real issues facing this country,” it said in a statement.
