Private email row: Trump defends Ivanka, Democrats seek investigation

US President Donald Trump, who campaigned in 2016 by aggressively criticising Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, dismissed as “fake news” the questions about a similar practice by his daughter Ivanka Trump during her early days working in the White House.

A White House review showed that Ivanka sent dozens of government-related emails from a private account, and hundreds related to her West Wing schedule, in the first half of 2017.

The review caught the attention of several House lawmakers. Elijah Cummings, who is expected to lead the House committee on oversight and government reform next year, said on Tuesday he planned to probe the matter, and the outgoing chairman, Trey Gowdy, asked for details about the review’s findings.

“Ivanka can handle herself,” Trump said. “These are all in the historical records.” He said his daughter’s use of a personal email address was “unlike Hillary Clinton” because of the private server that Clinton had in her house.

“This was just early on when she came in,” Trump said of Ivanka’s emails. “And it’s all fake news,” he added.

Democrats accused the US president of hypocrisy, saying that while the volume of emails was much greater in Clinton’s case, the basic alleged violation of law was the same. NYT

WASHINGTON: