House Oversight leaders want answers on White House email

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, wants answers on the reported use of private email accounts to conduct official business by White House advisor and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.)
 

Rep. Elijah Cummings has questions about White House use of personal email accounts.

The top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee wants answers on White House officials' reported use of private email accounts to conduct official business.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) wrote a letter Sept. 25 to senior adviser to the president Jared Kushner asking about his use of a personal email account to conduct official government business.

Cummings also joined Oversight chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) in a Sept. 25 letter to White House Council Don McGahn seeking information on the use of personal email accounts by non-career officials, as well as the use of encrypted message applications. The letter also seeks any updates to White House policies on electronic messaging, social media and the preservation of records created on electronic platforms.

Politico first reported Kushner's use of a personal email account. The report also stated Kushner, along with his wife and presidential adviser Ivanka Trump, set up a private family domain for personal email use shortly before moving into the White House.

In response, Kushner's attorney, Abbe Lowell, acknowledged to the New York Times the president's son-in-law had used the private account between January and August.

"Before requesting copies or calling for the public release of all official emails you sent or received on your personal email account, I first request that you preserve all official records and copies of records in your custody or control," writes Cummings.

This is not the first instance a member of Congress has sought answers regarding senior Trump White House officials allegedly using private accounts for government work.

In Feb., Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) asked about the use of email accounts, run on a system maintained by the Republican National Committee, by four senior White House officials, including Kushner.

In March, Cummings and former committee Chairman and current Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) inquired whether White House officials had used non-official email accounts to conduct official business.

White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short responded a month later, stating, "There are no senior officials covered by the [Presidential Records Act] with multiple accounts." In that letter, Short did note that the White House IT system creates multiple addresses for users "for security and other reasons."

Use of a private email account is not necessarily improper, so long as staff comply with the Presidential Records Act guidelines, which compel covered White House officials who use a non-official email account for government business to copy those messages to a government system within 20 days to preserve recordkeeping.

Cummings requested Kushner to "exercise reasonable efforts" to identify, preserve and recover any records, and to make sure records are not deleted or altered in the future.

He also requested Kushner provide the email addresses for any accounts used to conduct White House business, the email addresses of anyone with whom he corresponded, as well as information on who set up and maintains security on the private family domain.

This article was updated Sept. 25. 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.