Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner shared private email account that received hundreds of White House messages

Email account is believed to have been used by the couple's personal staff for scheduling and travel arrangements

Caroline Mortimer
Tuesday 03 October 2017 11:11 EDT
Comments
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have come under scrutiny for using personal email accounts in office
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have come under scrutiny for using personal email accounts in office (Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

White House officials are examining a third, previously unknown, email account belonging to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump during their investigation into the Trump administration’s use of personal email servers.

In an echo of the scandal which dogged the presidential campaign of Donald Trump’s rival Hillary Clinton, hundreds of emails have reportedly been sent from White House addresses to an account the couple and their personal staff had access to for personal scheduling.

The emails, which include travel documents, internal scheduling and some official White House materials, were in many cases sent from Ms Trump, her assistant Bridges Lamar and other people who work with the couple in the White House.

An unnamed source told Politico said the some of the emails sent included work related “data” appeared “daily”.

“They’ve pretty much been using it since they got here,” he added.

The revelation of a third email account comes after several members of the Trump administration, including the couple, have been criticised for their use of personal email accounts for White House business.

Concerns have been raised about the vulnerability of these personal emails' servers as they are handling potentially sensitive government documents.

At least half a dozen White House officials, including former aides Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon, are believed to have used their own emails since Mr Trump entered the Oval Office.

Officials are supposed to use their government emails for their official work so their non-classified conversations will be available to the public or people conducting oversight at a later date.

It is not illegal to use a personal account so long as the information is forwarded to an official account so it is visible.

But many have raised concerns on security grounds in recent years after many commercial email clients and websites have been successfully infiltrated by hackers.

During the campaign, Mr Trump repeatedly attacked Ms Clinton for her use of a private email account during her time as Secretary of State under Barack Obama.

He accused her of criminal deception and at one point appeared to ask Russian hackers to find her “30,000 emails that are missing” at a press conference in July 2016.

The repeated haranguing of “crooked Hillary” eventually led to Trump supporters chanting “Lock her up!” at campaign rallies.

A spokesman on behalf of Ms Trump said: “Her White House assistant did not and does not work on these matters.

“Her personal and work obligations, schedule, travel arrangements and contacts were and are coordinated in accordance with this separation, as she was advised to do.”

Mr Kushner’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said that he “uses his White House email address to conduct White House business” and claimed he exchanged fewer than 100 messages with government officials on the account.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in