Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill will be scrutinizing Ivanka Trump’s personal email use in the White House in light of new revelations that she sent hundreds of messages about government business from that account last year.
On Tuesday, the Republican chairmen of Senate and House oversight committees – as well as a top House Democrat who will be wielding a gavel when his party takes power in January – called for the White House to provide more information about the email account and the nature of the messages President Donald Trump’s daughter exchanged.
The moves renewed Republican-led congressional probes that had languished since last year when reports by Politico revealed that Ivanka Trump’s husband, Jared Kushner, and other White House officials had been using private email for government purposes in possible violation of the Presidential Records Act and other federal record-keeping laws.
The issue resurfaced this week when The Washington Post reported that the president’s daughter, while a top White House adviser, sent hundreds of emails about government business from a personal email account last year. The emails were sent to White House aides, Cabinet members and Ivanka Trump’s assistants, many in violation of public records rules, according to The Post.
The report prompted Sen. Ron Johnson, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, and Rep. Trey Gowdy, the outgoing chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, to send letters to the White House requesting a written response and briefing. They are asking for the White House to provide an accounting of the official emails exchanged on Ivanka Trump’s personal account and to certify that the emails had been preserved according with federal law.
Gowdy is also asking the White House to disclose whether any emails contained sensitive or classified information.