The name Meredith McIver, which suspiciously rhymes with McGyver, was unrecognizable before Tuesday. Then everything changed.
The New York Timespublished a story claiming McIver was in part responsible for the plagiarized speech of Donald Trump's wife Melania, which she gave at Monday night's Republican National Convention.
SEE ALSO: No one believes Trump speechwriter Meredith McIver is realThe speech, which included verbatim lines from Michelle Obama's 2008 speech, created havoc across the internet as the scandal unfolded. Trump's camp ignored, denied and blamed the media for the claims, before finally releasing a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
The statement, which will now go down in U.S. history, is on Trump letterhead but written by a woman named Meredith McIver. In the apology letter, McIver admits it is all her fault that parts of the speech were pretty much written by the current First Lady's speechwriter. Melania had read Obama's speeches, she said, and McIver put them in the final speech.
The letter ends with McIver declaring her love and respect for the Trump family. But that, as we know now, is not the end of McIver. Since the statement was posted on Trump's website, the Twittersphere has been hunting the poor woman down.
That is, they ask, if she really is a person at all. Cue tinfoil hats.
To keep things on the straight path to the truth, here's a collection of everything we know so far about the woman with next to no online identity. "WHYYYY???" you may ask. She isn't a millennial, people. She has a busy life and clearly has no time for such things as Twitter.
McIver's limited online profile
Yes, her internet presence isn't thriving. From a bunch of online searches, we can ascertain that McIver is 65 years old and is an author. Her writing work has mainly centered on documenting Donald Trump's life as his ghostwriter. It is worth noting, this information was online moments after the Timesstory broke, so if faked, it was well prepared.
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable McIver was a ballerina in a past life
A blurb on a corporate speaking website (deleted but cached) states she was born in San Jose, California, and at 14 years old started her career as a ballerina at George Balanchine's School of American Ballet. In an emailed statement to Mashable, a spokesperson confirmed McIverattended the school in the summer of 1965 and 1966, before enrolling full-time from September 1966 to June 1970.
Following the ballet career, a spokesperson confirmed to Mashable, McIver graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in English in 1976. Since then, she has worked as an editor and writer.
The corporate speaking website states McIver has been working for Trump since 2001, following a stint on Wall Street. According to information in online directories, she appears to live in New York City while working at Trump Tower.
Since the statement came out Wednesday, many have filled the void of the woman's apparent lack of digital savviness and created fake profiles under her name. Take this beautiful Facebook profile to show that McIver has no friends.
Does Meredith McIver (Melania speechwriter) exist? She has a FB page with no friends that was created today. pic.twitter.com/DS9SIIPUwY
— Cheryl G (@steakhousegirl) July 20, 2016
How close was McIver with the Trump family?
In the apology statement, McIver made note that she was an in-house staff writer with the Trump organization and a longtime friend of Melania's. She also mentioned she was a longtime admirer.
McIver is listed as author on a number of books, including Trump: How to Get Rich, which she co-authored. It shares lessons learned from Trump about how he built his billion-dollar empire. She has been referred to as Trump's ghostwriter and has contributed to titles including Trump: Think Like a Billionaire: Everything You Need to Know About Success, Real Estate, and Lifeand Trump: Never Give Up.
It seems Trump's team employed her regularly for help with written work and that she was a trusted member of his staff. This is also clear in the apology statement she issued in which she notes she is "grateful for [Trump's] understanding."
The Trump campaign has been contacted for confirmation of her role within the company and further comment.
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Questions still remain
The conspiracy theorists are out in force, with many believing McIver either sabotaged the campaign (there was a Rickroll in the speech, after all) or she is a figment of Trump's imagination. It isn't out of the realm of possibility for Trump to create a fictional character for a specific purpose -- he once had a spokesperson, John Barron, that turned out to be Trump himself.
In this case, the amount of information available on McIver and the fact she has definitely attended the institutions she listed steers us away from that conclusion. The next step is for McIver to show her face or perhaps do a speech at the convention tonight. Anything to make the internet stop the wild goose chase.
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