Ivanka Trump spoke out on the controversy surrounding her use of private email for government business, claiming there’s “no equivalency” between what she did and the Hillary Clinton email scandal.
“There really is no equivalency,” Trump, the president’s eldest daughter and a senior White House adviser, said in an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” that aired Wednesday.
She continued: “All of my emails that relate to any form of government work, which is mainly scheduling and logistics ... are all part of the public record. Everything’s been preserved.”
The Washington Post reported last week that Trump used a personal account to send hundreds of emails last year to White House aides, Cabinet officials and her assistants. Many of the emails apparently were sent in violation of federal records rules, according to the report.
The report casts the president and his family in a hypocritical light, as he made 2016 Democratic opponent Clinton’s misuse of a private email server a constant line of attack. Trump supporters still regularly chant “Lock her up!” at rallies ― a call to send Clinton to prison over the emails.
But Ivanka Trump denied that the idea of “lock her up” applies to her situation.
“People who want to see it as the same, see it as the same,” Trump told ABC. “In my case, all of my emails are on the White House server. There’s no intent to circumvent.”
In the case of Clinton, she claimed, “there were mass deletions after a subpoena was issued.”
“My emails have not been deleted, nor was there anything of substance ― nothing confidential that was within them,” she said.
News of Trump’s apparent email violations prompted bipartisan calls for a congressional investigation. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) announced last week that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee plans to look into the matter.
In her interview with ABC, Trump also addressed mounting tensions at the U.S.-Mexico border, including U.S. Border Patrol’s use of tear gas against hundreds of migrants on Sunday.
“It’s devastating to see the images and seeing children put at risk,” she said. “It makes me angry that we haven’t been able to come together as a nation and change our laws.”
Last week, President Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago country club that he had authorized American troops to “use lethal force” at the border “if they have to.”
But Ivanka Trump appeared confused when asked about her father’s lethal-force comments.
“I don’t believe that that’s what he said,” she told ABC. “But his primary role as commander in chief is obviously to protect the nation’s borders. He has to protect our country’s security. But I don’t ― lethal force in this case would ― that is not, I think, something that anyone is talking about.”
Trump, asked whether her father is creating a “climate for hatred,” said no.
“I reject that,” she said. “I think that he is creating policy that is going to lift all Americans. And that’s what his number one role is.”
She declined to say whether she advised her father on his “tone,” but said she “frequently” disagrees with him.
“He’s my father and he’s my boss,” she said. “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. ... He knows exactly where I stand on any issue.”