Ivanka Trump Used Private Emails With Treasury Officials

Source: Newsweek Magazine




BY NINA BURLEIGH ON 11/2/17 AT 2:31 PM

As Republicans unveiled their tax reform plan Thursday, Newsweek learned that months after Ivanka Trump took an official White House position, she was still using a private email account to communicate with the U.S. Treasury Department, discussing national economic programs, her meetings with global leaders and the child care tax credit, one of her signature projects.

The correspondence also indicates that Ivanka and Jared Kushner were among a select group of regulars, including Cabinet secretaries and actual budget experts and economists, to attend a weekly “Economic Principals Lunch” hosted by National Economic Council head Gary Cohn in his office. Ivanka and Jared, whose White House portfolios are undefined, were invitees to several of Cohn’s lunches, along with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and former White House strategist Stephen Bannon.

Ivanka and Jared were also included in a larger meeting of “NEC Principals” that was to be held on May 9, six weeks after she took an official White House position. That meeting, in the White House Situation Room, was canceled. On the invitee list, “Ivanka Kushner” again appears to not have a White House email address, while others do.

The email tranche was obtained via Freedom of Information Act request by the nonprofit American Oversight. “After Ivanka Trump was exposed using a personal email account for government business, the White House assured the American people that the use was rare and limited to a short period of time before she officially started on staff," the organization's director, Austin Evers said. "The facts, however, show us that the Trump administration has misled the public yet again. The hypocrisy of Ivanka Trump and her father’s administration should be surprising, but now sadly comes as no shock after months of evasive and shifting answers from the White House."



Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/ivanka-trump-private-emails-treasury-700104