White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump reportedly moved their email accounts to computers run by the Trump Organization amid a growing controversy surrounding their use of personal email accounts in conducting White House business.
USA Today reports that “Javanka” moved their accounts just days before reports began to emerge last week about the couple’s use of at least one private email account. It was later revealed that the couple has their own private domain — not just private addresses.
On Monday, Politico reported that they had used a third joint account in relation to White House business, and “hundreds” of emails had been sent to it. The revelation came on the back of scrutiny from both the House Oversight Committee and Senate Intelligence Committee in response to that reporting.
According to USA Today, Kushner and Trump switched to the Trump Organization server just as scrutiny intensified and after Kushner’s lawyer Abbe Lowell confirmed he had occasionally used a personal email account, but that the communications were mostly initiated by someone else and were usually news clips or political commentary. Lowell had also stated that the emails had been forwarded to the White House account, in line with regulations.
Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, told USA Today that while the emails Kushner and Trump sent and received could well have been innocuous, locating them on computers run by the Trump Organization “certainly creates the appearance of potential impropriety.” It also raises questions about who at the Trump Organization could have access to the emails.
The couple — reportedly dubbed “the royal family” by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — is already under scrutiny over Kushner’s dealings with a Russian bank during the transition, as well as his presence at a meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer at Trump Tower during the campaign. The Senate Intelligence Committee, which is looking into the interference, wrote to Kushner, unhappy that they had learned of the first private account from the media, not from him during his closed-door testimony.
The House Oversight Committee, meanwhile, has asked the White House for a list of all officials who have used a private email account for White House business.
Axios reported Monday that the couple is planning to scale back their presence at the White House amid increasing scrutiny, as well as reports that they had upset key members of the administration with their ubiquitous influence.
Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY