Rep. Trey Gowdy on overcoming political divide in America
South Carolina Representative Trey Gowdy, co-author of 'Unified: How Unlikely Friendship Gives Us Hope for a Divided Country,' on the decline of political discourse in America.
Outgoing House Oversight Committee chair Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly demanding information on Ivanka Trump’s reported use of personal email.
The letter, obtained by Fox News, follows the Washington Post report claiming that Trump sent hundreds of emails about White House business to contact “White House aides, Cabinet officials and her assistant," an apparent violation of the Presidential Record Act. The report does not indicate if the emails contained any classified or sensitive government information.
Gowdy said in the letter that Trump’s use of personal email may “implicate the Presidential Records Act and other security and recordkeeping requirements,” and set a Dec. 5 deadline to respond to the request for more information.
“In light of the importance and necessity of preserving the public record and doing so in a manner that is reflective of relevant statutory and regulatory requirements, the Committee must assess whether the White House took adequate steps to archive Ms. Trump’s emails and prevent a recurrence,” Gowdy wrote in the letter.
The Republican’s letter may give a heads up to the incoming Democratic majority in the House that is gearing up to investigate both the daughter of the president and his close advisor Jared Kushner.
HOUSE DEMS TO PROBE IVANKA TRUMP, JARED KUSHNER AND USE OF PERSONAL EMAIL ACCOUNTS
Committee Ranking Member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who is expected to become the chairman of the committee in January, said Tuesday he also wants more information about Trump’s use of personal email.
“We launched a bipartisan investigation last year into White House officials’ use of private email accounts for official business, but the White House never gave us the information we requested,” Cummings said in a statement to Fox News.
“We need those documents to ensure that Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, and other officials are complying with federal records laws and there is a complete record of the activities of this Administration,” he added.
Trump’s lawyer criticized the media for peddling “misinformation” and pointed out the difference between Trump’s and Hillary Clinton’s use of personal email.
“To address misinformation being peddled about Ms. Trump’s personal email, she did not create a private server in her house or office, there was never classified information transmitted, the account was never transferred or housed at Trump Organization, no emails were ever deleted, and the emails have been retained in the official account in conformity with records preservation laws and rules,” said Peter Mirijanian, the spokesperson for Trump's ethics lawyer Abbe Lowell, in a statement to Fox News.
“When concerns were raised in the press 14 months ago, Ms. Trump reviewed and verified her email use with White House Counsel and explained the issue to congressional leaders,” he added.
President Trump echoed the lawyer on Tuesday as well, saying that “Ivanka did some emails” but they “weren't classified like Hillary Clinton, they weren't deleted like Hillary Clinton.”
He added that Ivanka “wasn't' doing anything to hide her emails. They're all in presidential records.”
Fox News’ Jason Donner, Brooke Singman and Gregg Re contributed to this report.
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