‘They Weren’t Deleted.’ President Trump Defends Ivanka’s Use of Personal Email Account

President Trump defended his daughter’s use of a personal email account Tuesday, the day after news broke that Ivanka Trump had used a personal account to send hundreds of emails to fellow Trump Administration officials last year.

“She wasn’t doing anything to hide her emails,” Trump said, speaking to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House as he prepared to depart Washington to spend the Thanksgiving holiday at his club in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump claimed the emails Ivanka sent were preserved in presidential records databases, as required.

“They weren’t deleted like Hillary Clinton did,” Trump said.

When House Democrats take control of a key oversight committee in January, they plan to investigate whether Ivanka appropriately used her personal email account while she was working as a senior adviser to her father in the White House. Last year, Republicans and Democrats in the House requested records about White House officials’ use of private email accounts for official business, but the White House didn’t provide the information needed.

“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, ” Elijah E. Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said in a statement Tuesday.

Democrats will have the power to subpoena records from the Trump administration when the newly elected Congress gavels into session in January. “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,” Cummings said.