Trump suddenly doesn't care about emails now that Ivanka's been busted

Trump spent his presidential campaign demonizing Hillary Clinton over her email use and demanding that authorities “lock her up” for no good reason.

But now that Ivanka Trump has been busted for using a private email server for government business, Trump suddenly doesn’t care so much about email policy.

The Washington Post reported Monday that Ivanka Trump improperly used a private email address to conduct official government business in her role as a member of the Trump administration. Democrats have indicated they plan to investigate the practice and the White House’s role in hiding her behavior.

Meeting with reporters outside the White House Tuesday, Trump sought to downplay what had happened.

“For a little period of time Ivanka did some emails,” Trump said. “They weren’t classified like Hillary Clinton. They weren’t deleted like Hillary Clinton, who deleted 33 — she wasn’t hiring, she wasn’t doing anything to hide her emails.”

He continued to baselessly claim that the Post reported “fake news” and “a false story.”

Trump regularly smears journalism as “fake news” simply because it’s unflattering, or because it accurately reports on corruption within his administration.

The truth is, the White House knew about Ivanka Trump’s activities — and tried to cover them up.

And Republicans in Congress helped.

When Congress became aware that both Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, were using these email services, the House Oversight Committee issued a bipartisan request for clarification and documents from the White House.

Instead of complying, however, Trump officials simply asserted they were following the law.

Congressional Republicans simply accepted this and let the whole thing go, giving Trump yet another free pass and skipping out on their oversight responsibilities.

Democrats have continued to push for answers and have said they will investigate after taking over the House majority in the new year.

Trump’s casual dismissal of his daughter’s actions is shockingly hypocritical in light of his obsession with Hillary Clinton’s email server.

During the presidential campaign, Trump led his supporters in chants of “lock her up,” with the implication that Clinton had done something illicit or illegal. An FBI investigation showed that this was false, but that hasn’t deterred Trump.

Years after winning the election (but losing the popular vote), Trump still loves to talk about Clinton’s emails to make himself feel good.

But now we know that Trump’s daughter, acting in the official capacity he handed to her, was using a private account. His son-in-law did the same.

The Trump administration has been covering it all up — but it won’t be able to hide for long once House Democrats start investigating.

Ivanka Trump can no longer hide what she did, and her father’s excuses won’t persuade anyone outside of his inner circle of sycophants.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.