Ivanka Trump 'sent hundreds of messages from personal email for government work'
Ivanka Trump, a senior White House adviser, violated rules by sending hundreds of emails to government officials from a personal email account last year.
Emails were sent to White House aides, Cabinet members and Ivanka Trump’s assistants, many in violation of public records rules, The Washington Post has reported.
Donald Trump mercilessly criticised his 2016 Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, for using a private email server during her time as secretary of state, labelling her "Crooked Hillary" and saying she belonged in jail.
The White House did not respond to questions about the email use, but a spokesman for Ivanka Trump’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, did not dispute the report.
"While transitioning into government… Ms Trump sometimes used her private account, almost always for logistics and scheduling concerning her family," said spokesman Peter Mirijanian.
The emails the group uncovered include correspondence between Ivanka Trump and Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
Mr Mirijanian stressed no classified information was transmitted in the messages, no emails were deleted and the emails have since been "retained" in conformity with records laws.
"When concerns were raised in the press 14 months ago, Ms Trump reviewed and verified her email use with White House Counsel and explained the issue to congressional leaders," he said.
The discovery was prompted by public records requests from the liberal watchdog group American Oversight.
The group’s executive director, Austin Evers, said in a statement: "The president’s family is not above the law", and called on Congress to investigate.
He added: "For more than two years, President Trump and senior leaders in Congress have made it very clear that they view the use of personal email servers for government business to be a serious offence that demands investigation and even prosecution, and we expect the same standard will be applied in this case."