Ivanka's email misuse was discovered during a recent public records lawsuit — ethics officials discovered she'd often used a private email account to contact senior officials and White House aides in 2017, on a domain she shares with her husband Jared Kushner.
"While transitioning into government, Ms Trump sometimes used her private account, almost always for logistics and scheduling concerning her family…no classified information was transmitted in the messages," a spokesperson for Ivanka said.
Ethics officials disagree, stating the first daughter "discussed or relayed official White House business" using the account, a potential violation of the Presidential Records Act, which requires all official White House communications and records be preserved as a permanent archive of each administration. Ivanka now has 20 days to stump up the communications to officials.
The mainstream media have been quick to make comparisons with Clinton's email fiasco, with some outlets including "lock her up" in their headlines, which Trump frequently encouraged crowds at rallies to chant about Clinton. CNN said her explanation was "beyond ridiculous" and the case must be investigated as intensely as Clinton's was — Bloomberg claimed the episode proved Ivanka believed rules only applied to others, not her.
#Ivanka sent hundreds of emails re gov’nt business on her personal server! We’re scandalized! All I can do is repeat what her father said when Hillary did something not unlike what his First Daughter did!! LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!!! LOCK HER UP!! How do you like it now, putz?
— Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) November 20, 2018
However, there are as yet little grounds to make such a comparison. Donald Trump dubbed the Clinton email scandal "bigger than Watergate" and a threat to the security of the US. Before becoming secretary of state, she set up an email server at her home in Chappaqua, New York, that she used for all work and personal emails during her four years in office, not using or even activating as state.gov email account. Clinton claimed this was for convenience and none of the messages she sent or received voa the server were "marked classified" — claims the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) determined to be untrue.
The investigation did not recommend criminal charges for Clinton and was only mildly condemnatory of the farrago — rendering Democrats' invoking of the scandal when discussing Ivanka all the more bizarre. After all, despite her actions, Clinton wasn't reprimanded in any way, or precluded from running for President.
