A new report by Newsweek is suggesting that Ivanka Trump used a personal email address for White House correspondence.
Newsweek cites documents obtained by nonprofit American Oversight through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
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According to the documents, U.S. President Donald Trump‘s daughter and senior adviser used the email on February 28 to communicate with Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon. The email discussed opportunities for small businesses to collaborate with “women’s entrepreneurship.”
The exchange occurred one month before Trump became an official, but unpaid, White House staffer in March.
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In a statement following the news, American Oversight director Austin Evers took aim at the entire Trump clan.
“Yet again we see that there’s one rule for the Trump family and another for everyone else,” Evers said.
“It’s simply breathtaking that both Ivanka and Jared Kushner would conduct government on a personal email account after running a campaign centered on that very issue. The fact that they would brazenly ignore rules governing email use raises even more questions about their judgment and fitness to hold positions in the White House.”
Trump’s husband and White House aide, Jared Kushner, is embroiled in a similar controversy following a Politico report that he used a private email server for White House communications. According to an article published Sunday, Kushner uses the email alongside an official address for White House purposes.
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Politico reported that Kushner has exchanged emails with senior White House officials such as chief of staff Reince Priebus and former chief strategist Steve Bannon.
Kushner’s lawyer Abbe Lowell responded to Politico’s report by saying that his client used a personal email for fewer than 100 emails involving White House officials.
Lowell added that the email exchanges were typically initiated when someone else emailed Kushner on his personal email, rather than his official one.
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White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggested Monday that personal email use in the White House is rare. She added that staff are regularly instructed to use only government emails for official business, but didn’t elaborate on whether the White House would release Kushner’s emails.
Meanwhile, House Democrats are launching an investigation into Kushner’s use of personal emails.
The news of the president’s key adviser and aide using private emails comes in wake of his repeated attacks on Democrat opponent Hillary Clinton, who set up a private email server as secretary of state.
— With files from The Associated Press
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