Ivanka Trump used a personal account for emails on government affairs
Last year, Ivanka Trump often used a personal email account to discuss or broadcast official White House business, according to emails released Monday by a nonpartisan watchdog group.
According to emails released by American Oversight, Trump used her personal account for much of 2017 to email Cabinet officials, White House aides and her aides. The Presidential Records Act requires that all official White House communications and records be preserved.
The Washington Post was the first to report on the emails. The White House did not comment on Ivanka Trump's email practices.
Trump's use of a private email account will bring comparisons to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose use of a private email server rather than a government email account during her time in office was a part. central to today's President Donald Trump's campaign against her in 2016. Trump supporters often sang, and still do, sometimes, "Lock her up!" at the mention of Clinton, and President Donald Trump has frequently accused Clinton of receiving special treatment because she was not charged with circumventing the Presidential Records Act with her email practices.
The Washington Post reported that Ivanka Trump's attorney, Abbe Lowell, sent all emails that he believed were related to official government business to his government email account. Lowell believed that would rectify any violation of the records law.
Peter Mirijanian, Lowell spokesman and Ivanka Trump's ethics advisor, said in a statement: “Like most people, before entering government service, Ms. Trump used private email. When she entered the government, she received a government email account for official use. During the transition to government, until the White House provided the same guidance as others who started before her, Mrs. Trump sometimes used her private account, almost always for logistical and family-related planning purposes. her ".
Some advisers to President Trump were alarmed when they heard this news, The Washington Post reports, because of the similarities to Clinton's use of email. Trump called Clinton "Crooked Hillary" for using a personal email account when she was secretary of state.
Mirijanian tried to draw a specific contrast between Ivanka Trump's personal email use and Clinton's, noting that she did not have the server set up at her home or her office.
“To address the misinformation being disclosed about Ms. Trump's personal email, she did not create a private server at her home or office, classified information was never transmitted, the account was never transferred or stored at the Organization Trump, the emails were never deleted, and the emails have been kept in the official account in accordance with record keeping laws and regulations, ”Mirijanian's statement continues.
White House officials were first informed of Ivanka Trump's email use through the American Oversight lawsuit, according to The Washington Post.
Austin Evers, the chief executive of American Oversight, said in a statement: “The president's family is not above the law, and there are serious questions that Congress should investigate immediately. Did Ivanka Trump deliver all of her emails for her preservation according to the law? Was she sending classified information through a private system?
Evers added: “For more than two years, President Trump and the highest leaders in Congress have made it very clear that they consider the use of personal email servers for government business to be a serious crime that requires investigation and even prosecution. judicial, and we hope that the same rule will apply in this case.
