Gowdy requests info on Ivanka Trump’s personal email use

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) sent a letter to the White House Tuesday asking for information on Ivanka Trump’s usage of her personal email to discuss government business.

Gowdy, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, requested that White House chief of staff John Kelly provide information on the basis that using that email “implicate[s] the Presidential Records Act and other security and recordkeeping requirements.”

The letter also set a Dec. 5 deadline for a response to the inquiry and asked that the committee be kept up to date on the internal White House investigation on record-keeping, including any findings related to Trump’s email usage.

{mosads}The Washington Post first reported early Tuesday that Trump sent hundreds of emails about White House business and her official schedule to administration aides, Cabinet officials and her personal assistants during 2017.

President Trump dismissed the story as “fake news,” despite making a similar potential violation by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, a centerpiece of his campaign against her.

A spokesperson for Abbe Lowell, Ivanka Trump’s attorney, told the Post that Trump “sometimes used her personal account, almost always for logistics and scheduling concerning her family” while she was entering government and stopped once she was informed of rules surrounding email use. 

House Democrats on the committee that Gowdy heads announced earlier Tuesday that they would look into the personal email account to determine whether Trump violated federal law.

The Hill has reached out to Trump’s lawyer for comment.