Ivanka Trump Used a Personal Email to Send Hundreds of Emails About Government Business: Report
Ivanka Trump reportedly broke federal records rules when she allegedly used a personal email account to send a number of emails discussing government business in 2017, a year after her father Donald Trump’s harsh criticism of Hillary Clinton for using a private email server during the 2016 presidential campaign.
According to The Washington Post, the White House conducted an investigation after emails released by the watchdog group American Oversight revealed that Ivanka, 37, who serves as a White House adviser to her father President Donald Trump, sent nearly 100 emails to White House aides, Cabinet members and her personal assistants from the private email account with a domain she shares with her husband Jared Kushner.
Some of the conversations Ivanka had involved exploring “opportunities to collaborate” with Small Business Administration chief Linda McMahon and discussions on “locational/workforce development and K-12 STEM education with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, The Post reported. The others messages were reportedly about scheduling and logistics.
When questioned about the findings, Ivanka allegedly claimed she wasn’t aware of the rules and that the emails were sent before she was officially a White House employee and given an official White House email.
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“While transitioning into government, after she was given an official account but until the White House provided her the same guidance they had given others who started before she did, Ms. Trump sometimes used her personal account, almost always for logistics and scheduling concerning her family,” Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Abbe Lowell, Ivanka Trump’s ethics lawyer told The Washington Post.
Ivanka’s team also alleged that she wasn’t receiving the proper alerts that advised against using private emails. Trump’s ethic’s lawyer also claimed the emails were in response to people who contacted Ivanka first.
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However, according to the report, Ivanka became a White House staffer in March 2017 and continued to use her personal email after that point.
Mirijanian also compared the findings to that of Clinton, who was accused of using a private email server while acting as secretary of state under President Barack Obama‘s Administration. Clinton’s email use was a focal point throughout Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, in which he referred to her as “Crooked Hillary.”
“Ms. Trump did not create a private server in her house or office, no classified information was ever included, the account was never transferred at Trump Organization, and no emails were ever deleted,” Mirijanian said according to The Post.
The White House did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
