First daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump defended the use of a personal email account when transitioning to an active role in the Trump administration, telling ABC News in an exclusive interview that “there’s no connection between” her use and Hillary Clinton’s classified email scandal.
In an interview with Deborah Roberts of ABC News, Ivanka said that all of her emails were lawfully archived and contained no classified information. She insisted that they bear no resemblance to Hillary Clinton’s email scandal, which President Trump frequently condemned during the 2016 presidential campaign.
“All of my emails are stored and preserved. There were no deletions. There is no attempt to hide,” she told Roberts, adding, “There’s no equivalency to what my father’s spoken about.”
“There is no restriction of using personal email,” she continued, adding, “In fact, we’re instructed that if we receive an email to our personal account that could relate to government work, you simply just forward it to your government account so it can be archived.”
In a letter last week, House Democratic said that they “want to know if Ivanka complied with the law” and plan to investigate the administration’s compliance with the Presidential and Federal Records Acts.
When asked if she was worried about the Mueller investigation, relating to her family, Ivanka said “I know the facts as they relate to me and my family, and so I have nothing to be concerned about.” She added that “I think it should reach its conclusion. I think it’s been a long time that this has been ongoing, but I want it to be done in a way in which nobody could question that it was hurried or rushed,” adding, “And I think after this long period of time, we’re well beyond that point, so I think it absolutely should reach its conclusion.”
When asked if she has a good relationship with her father, Ivanka said “He is my father, and he’s my boss. And one of the reasons that I have such a good relationship with him in both a personal and professional capacity is because I’m incredibly candid with him.”
She did, however, say that she sometimes disagrees with him — “frequently,” in fact.
“He knows exactly where I stand on any issue,” she said, adding “I’ll always tell you what I’m for, but it is not my place as somebody working within a White House to tell you what I’m against. The only person who knows that is one person, and he knows it.”
When asked about the situation at the southern border, Ivanka said “I think, like any other person with a heart, it’s devastating to see the images and seeing children put at risk. Running towards the border is heartbreaking,” adding, “But there are people in the caravan who are not so innocent … [the president] has to protect our country’s security.”
