Ivanka Trump sent hundreds of emails last year to White House aides, Cabinet officials and her assistants using a personal account, many of them in violation of federal records rules.
White House ethics officials learned of Trump’s repeated use of personal email when reviewing emails gathered last fall by five Cabinet agencies to respond to a public records lawsuit.
That review revealed that throughout much of 2017, she often discussed or relayed official White House business using a private email account with a domain that she shares with her husband, Jared Kushner.
The discovery alarmed some advisers to President Trump, who feared that his daughter’s practices bore similarities to the personal email use of Hillary Clinton, an issue he made a focus of his 2016 campaign.
He attacked his Democratic challenger as untrustworthy and dubbed her “Crooked Hillary” for using a personal email account as secretary of state.
Some aides were startled by the volume of Ivanka Trump’s personal emails — and taken aback by her response when questioned about the practice.
She said she was not familiar with some details of the rules, according to people with knowledge of her reaction.
That is the same excuse Clinton used while defending the use of a personal server.
The White House referred requests for comment to Ivanka Trump’s attorney and ethics counsel, Abbe Lowell.
In a statement, Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Lowell, acknowledged that the president’s daughter occasionally used her private email before she was briefed on the rules, but he said none of her messages contained classified information.
Many on social media have pointed out the hypocrisy of the first daughter’s alleged actions after her father made Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server a key focal point of his presidential campaign.
Crowds chanting “lock her up” became a frequent occurrence during Trump’s 2016 rallies, who would refer to his Democratic opponent as “Crooked Hillary.”
Ivanka Trump pleading ignorance of the email usage rules is such a crock considering her father’s election campaign took great pains to explain what Clinton had done wrong. However, in the grand scheme of things, Ivanka still can’t touch dad in the volume of ethics violations.
— Steve Redmond (@sjredmond) November 20, 2018
What about her (Ivanka Trump) emails? #lockherup pic.twitter.com/0i2Yu5sXBS
— Deep State Sha-Doh! (@easyovereggs) November 20, 2018
– Donald Trump still uses a personal email account and an unsecured phone
– Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner used a personal email account
– John Kelly used a personal email accountBut when Hillary did this, the media vilified her.
— Denizcan Grimes (@MrFilmkritik) November 20, 2018
Ivanka Trump will be coming out with a new line of clothing soon. #LockHerUp pic.twitter.com/0Ho6pAyLI5
— Deep State Sha-Doh! (@easyovereggs) November 20, 2018
The reason Ivanka Trump didn’t know that using her personal email for government business was illegal? She never listened to any of her father’s campaign speeches criticizing Hillary Clinton for doing the same. Ivanka was too busy emailing.
— Tony Schwartz (@tonyschwartz) November 20, 2018
I have 3 words for Ivanka Trump:
“But her emails”#Lockherup https://t.co/GuQqS8cQj0— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) November 20, 2018
Members of the Trump administration who have used personal email to conduct official business:
1) Ivanka Trump
2) Jared Kushner
3) Steve Bannon
4) Stephen Miller
5) Reince Priebus
6) Gary CohnThe shameless hypocrisy of these people never ceases to amaze me.
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) November 20, 2018
Hmmm…. Ivanka Trump used a private email to discuss government business. #LockHerUp?? https://t.co/ofC3HEafZB
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) November 20, 2018
Important to keep in mind: back when Hillary Clinton used private email for government business, there were no rules against it. By the time Ivanka Trump did the same thing several years later, there were hard and fast rules against it. There’s only one scandal here: Ivanka.
— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) November 20, 2018
The reasoning behind Ivanka Trump using a private email for government business is that she hadn’t been briefed on the rules yet. Her father ran a campaign that had a large focus on Hillary Clinton using a private email for government business. https://t.co/qzChSk71zB
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) November 20, 2018
The democrats should do wildly insane fundraising emails over feckless Ivanka Trump’s emails just like Trump & the GOP did over Hillary’s emails
— Roland Scahill (@rolandscahill) November 20, 2018
Who knew karma could be sent via email.#IvankaTrump
— Aisha Sultan (@AishaS) November 20, 2018
Trump: Hillary’s Emails
The GOP: Hillary’s Emails
Fox News: Hillary’s Emails
Wikileaks: Hillary’s Emails
KARMA: Ivanka Trump’s Emails
— Ryan Knight ?? (@ProudResister) November 20, 2018
She knew the rules. She broke them. Over and over, because she thought she could.https://t.co/Q0BFmvi10l
— Karoli (@Karoli) November 20, 2018
Looking forward to Melania Trump’s statement tomorrow stating that Ivanka Trump “no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House”
— Roland Scahill (@rolandscahill) November 20, 2018
(•_•)
<) )╯but
/ \\(•_•)
( (> her
/ \(•_•)
<) )> emails
/ \https://t.co/YaewCFUNeO— David Roberts (@drvox) November 19, 2018
Trump attacks HRC for private emails, Ivanka Trump does the same thing.
Trump attacks HRC for Goldman Sachs connections, hires Goldman Sachs people.
Trump attacks HRC for Clinton Foundation, Trump Foundation is the corrupt one.
Gee, it’s almost like there’s a pattern here.
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) November 20, 2018
I’m truly surprised that the NYT reporters who breathlessly covered Hillary’s emails haven’t managed to tweet on Ivanka’s emails.
— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) November 20, 2018