DAMAGE CONTROL

Monica Crowley Backs Out of White House Job Amid Plagiarism Accusations

Amid allegations of widespread plagiarism.

Monica Crowley on Monday announced that she would give up the position she was slated to take in Donald Trump’s White House. Crowley, Trump’s pick to be senior director of strategic communications at the National Security Council, announced her decision amid allegations of widespread plagiarism in her work. “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 said 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,” she said. Incoming National Security Adviser Michael T. Flynn, with whom Crowley would have worked, said in a brief statement that the council would “miss the opportunity” to work with her. Reports by CNN this month pinpointed dozens of passages in her Columbia University Ph.D. dissertation and 2012 bestselling book that it said were plagiarized from news outlets, think tanks, and even Wikipedia.