WASHINGTON: Ivanka Trump defended her use of a private email account as she was moving into an adviser’s position in her father’s administration, saying it cannot be compared to the flap over former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

“All of my emails are stored and preserved. There were no deletions,” President Donald Trump’s elder daughter and adviser told ABC News in an interview broadcast on Wednesday.

The Washington Post reported this month that Ivanka sent hundreds of emails about government business from a personal email account last year to White House aides, cabinet members and her assistant, many in violation of public records rules.

“There is no restriction of using personal email,” she said. “In fact, we’re instructed that if we receive an email to our personal account that could relate to government work, you simply just forward it to your government account so it can be archived.”

Clinton used a personal email account linked to a private server at her home in Chappaqua, a New York City suburb, during her time as the top US diplomat under President Barack Obama. The FBI found classified information in some of the emails that were sent or received through her private server.

Donald Trump harshly criticised Clinton, his 2016 Democratic presidential rival, for her use of the private email server. Trump dubbed her “Crooked Hillary” and repeatedly said, including to her face, that she belonged in jail. At his campaign rallies, chants of “Lock her up!” rang out.

Ivanka Trump was asked by ABC News, “So the idea of ‘Lock her up!’ doesn’t apply to you?” “No,” she replied.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2018