Report: 6 White House Advisers Used Private Email Accounts

Ivanka, Bannon, Priebus are among them, sources say
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 26, 2017 2:04 AM CDT
Report: 6 Trump Advisers Used Private Email
In this March 17, 2017, file photo Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, senior adviser to President Donald Trump, attend a White House news conference.   (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Jared Kushner was far from the only White House adviser doing the same thing President Trump hammered Hillary Clinton for on the campaign trail, insiders say. The New York Times, citing "current and former officials," reports that at least six aides, including Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus, used private email addresses to handle White House-related matters. Ivanka Trump also used a personal email account for government business, according to the nonprofit American Oversight group, though she did so while serving her father's administration in a nonofficial capacity, Newsweek reports. Kushner's lawyer has admitted that "fewer than 100 emails" from Kushner's private account dealt with White House matters.

There is no sign that any sensitive information was leaked—and the scale of private email use is not in the same league as Clinton's use of a private server—but Democrats are accusing the Trump advisers of "stunning" hypocrisy. Some aides used their private email accounts to communicate with reporters. Richard W. Painter, a White House ethics lawyer during the George W. Bush administration, says that while there are "gray areas" involved, if communication "has anything to do with the president’s policy, including defending the president’s policy to the press, it’s very difficult to escape that being official." He adds: "I think Kushner was sloppy to do this. I think Hillary was sloppy. I don't think any of it was criminal." (More White House stories.)

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