The Washington Post reported last week that Ivanka Trump had used a personal email account for official White House business throughout much of 2017.
Predictably, Donald Trump responded by dismissing any concerns about the report, denying any comparison between what Ivanka did and what he railed against Hillary Clinton for during the 2016 campaign.
"You're talking about a whole different -- you're talking about all fake news," Trump said. "There was no deletion, there was no nothing. Hillary Clinton deleted 33,000 emails. She had a server in the basement. That's the real story." The emails Clinton deleted were all personal.
Now, however, two high-ranking Congressional Republicans are pushing back against Ivanka Trump's use of a private email server during her tenure at the White House, seeming to completely ignore the president's dismissal.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (SC), whose tenure as Chairman once Democrats take over in January, said Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation that the president's dismissal of his daughter's breach of the rules is concerning and worthy of investigation.
"I am concerned any time any president prejudges the outcome of an investigation," said Gowdy, who led the GOP's Benghazi and email crusades against Hillary Clinton. "Congress has a responsibility to make sure that the records and the Presidential Records Act is complied with, and that's true no matter who the person is."
Gowdy is also pressing the White House to disclose whether Ms. Trump's emails contained sensitive or classified information.
In a letter to Chief of Staff John Kelly, Gowdy demanded the information be submitted to him by December 5.
"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," wrote Gowdy, "the Committee must assess whether the White House took adequate steps to archive Ms. Trump’s emails and prevent a recurrence."
Additionally, Senator Ron Johnson (WI), chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, sent a letter to the White House last Tuesday in an effort to determine whether Ms. Trump violated federal record keeping laws - specifically, the Presidential Records Act.
According to the report, Ms. Trump employed her personal email to contact Cabinet members and White House staff. Ms. Trump's legal team has said she "almost always" used private email for scheduling matters involving her family.
Social media is mixed on its expectations from Republicans and their willingness to hold the administration accountable - for anything.
It is remarkable how principles shift when politics are no longer a factor.
Example: retiring Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ), who voted for Trump's policies 84 percent of the time despite being a frequent critic of the president.
Democrats' sweep of the House in the midterms should make the Trump family nervous.
Former Congressman Tom Davis (R-VA), who once chaired the House Oversight Committee, told the New York Times: "That you now have Republicans investigating members of the first family is an indication of the perils ahead for the Trumps."
Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Gowdy's likely successor as House Oversight chair, echoed Gowdy's call for accountability.
"My goal is to prevent this from happening again — not to turn this into a spectacle the way Republicans went after Hillary Clinton," Cummings said. "My main priority as Chairman will be to focus on the issues that impact Americans in their everyday lives."
