Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) has asked the White House to supply him with more information regarding Ivanka Trump's use of a private email while working in President Trump's — her father — administration.
A White House review has found that Ivanka used an email account from a private domain owned by her and her husband, Jared Kushner, for official administration business for most of 2017. She reportedly stopped using this email account after she was told that it was against the rules. By this time she has sent hundreds of emails, including to administration officials like Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
Ivanka has insisted that she was not aware that she was breaking any rules by using a private email.
Gowdy is currently the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He did not seek re-election and will leave Congress at the end of this year.
In a letter addressed to White House chief of staff John Kelly, Gowdy wrote:
Ms. Trump's use of a personal email account for official communications may implicate the Presidential Records Act and other security and recordkeeping requirements. In light of the importance and necessity of preserving the public record and doing so in a manner that is reflective of relevant statuatory and regulatory requirements, the Committee must assess whether the White House took adequate steps to archive Ms. Trump's emails and prevent a recurrence.
Gowdy asked the White House to supply the Oversight Committee with the exact number of emails Ivanka had sent and received from her personal account, “whether and how each of those emails was preserved,” whether any of those emails contained personal information, as well as proof that the White House was informing members of the administration that they shouldn't use personal email.
Gowdy copied Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who is expected to take over leadership of the committee after Gowdy leaves Congress.
