Kushner accused of using WhatsApp, personal email to conduct official business

The House Oversight and Reform Committee has obtained information that senior White House adviser and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has used WhatsApp and his personal email to conduct official government business.

Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) wrote in a letter to White House counsel Pat Cipollone on Thursday that the panel gained confirmation from Kushner’s attorney Abbe Lowell in December of last year that Kushner “continues to use” the encrypted message service for government business.

{mosads}The panel is inquiring whether Kushner, his wife Ivanka Trump, and other members of the Trump administration may have violated the Presidential Records Act. 

Cummings also blasted the White House for failing to provide his committee with documents that he says he has repeatedly requested.

“The White House’s failure to provide documents and information is obstructing the Committee’s investigation into allegations of violations of federal records laws by White House officials,” Cummings wrote. 

“In fact, as you know, the White House has not produced a single piece of paper to the Committee in the 116th Congress—in this or any other investigation,” he continued.

The chairman also claims Lowell confirmed that Ivanka Trump received official work emails on her personal email account that she has failed to forward back to her official email account, something he notes is required by law.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cummings, who flashed the power of the subpoena, says he is asking the White House to confirm by March 28 whether the White House plans to “comply voluntarily with its requests or whether the Committee should consider alternative means to obtain the information it needs to conduct its investigation.”