U.S. President Donald Trump has defended his daughter Ivanka Trump amid revelations that she used a personal email account to conduct government business on hundreds of occasions last year.
Emails unearthed by the non-partisan watchdog group American Oversight showed that Ivanka used a personal email account to communicate with White House and cabinet officials, both before and after she became an official member of White House staff.
The revelation sparked accusations of hypocrisy by President Trump’s critics, given that he repeatedly assailed Hillary Clinton over her use of a personal email server when she was secretary of state, lambasting her as “Crooked Hillary” during the 2016 presidential campaign and saying she belonged in jail.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said the panel would look to investigate Ivanka once Democrats take over the U.S. House of Representatives in January.
WATCH: Democrats say they will investigate Ivanka Trump’s use of private email for government business
On Tuesday, President Trump sought to defend Ivanka by claiming that Clinton’s indiscretions were far more serious than his daughter’s.
“They’re all in presidential records, there was no hiding. There was no deleting like Hillary Clinton did, there was no servers in the basement like Hillary Clinton had,” he continued.
“What it is is a false story. Hillary Clinton deleted 33,000 emails, she had a server in the basement, that’s the real story.”
READ MORE: Ivanka Trump used private email account to conduct government business, says watchdog
Ivanka reportedly claimed that she didn’t know some of the rules governing the use of emails in the White House, according to the Washington Post, which cited sources aware of her reaction.
However, Trump’s own former director of communications Anthony Scaramucci, said that Ivanka’s use of a personal email was hypocritical.
“Well certainly I think it’s hypocritical,” Scaramucci told CNN. “Even Ivanka, if she was interviewed about it, she’d have to say it was a mistake. You can’t do that in that position.”
Scaramucci added that he didn’t think the use of personal email accounts by either Ivanka or Clinton was unintentional.
“They both strategically did the same thing. I don’t think think they did it without intention,” he said. “There has to be a reason for it.”
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