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Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Declares Ivanka Trump's Email Use a 'Non-Issue'

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Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz contended on Tuesday that first daughter Ivanka Trump’s use of a private email account during the opening months of the new administration is a “non-issue.”

Fox News host Bill Hemmer asked Dershowitz what he thought of congressional Democrats promising to investigate the matter.

“Well, I think it’s hypocrisy on parade. Each side uses whatever argument they can to help and bolster their partisan position,” the legal scholar replied. “Look, everybody uses private emails. We now have a list of probably a dozen people in public life who have used emails.”

Dershowitz then made a distinction between Trump’s limited use of a private email account and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private, unsecured email server while she was head of the State Department.

“Apparently, Ivanka Trump used the emails only for scheduling purposes,” he said. “There was no classified material. The emails were all preserved. It’s a non-issue. It’s just partisan bickering.”

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“We should not be criminalizing the use of private emails, whether by Hillary Clinton or by Ivanka Trump. We should put that issue behind us,” Dershowitz added.



In announcing that Clinton would not be charged for mishandling classified information in July 2016, former FBI Director James Comey nonetheless characterized her actions as “extremely careless.”

“Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information,” he said.

Do you think Ivanka Trump's use of a private email account was different from Hillary Clinton's?

Comey further revealed the FBI “discovered several thousand work-related e-mails” that Clinton did not turn over to the State Department, seemingly in clear violation of the Federal Records Act. Thousands were deleted, but retrieved by FBI investigators.

The Washington Post reported that Trump sent hundreds of emails in 2017 using her private email account with a domain she shares with husband Jared Kushner.

White House spokesman Peter Mirijanian told The Post that Trump never used her email to send classified information, but for family scheduling and logistics.

“While transitioning into government, after she was given an official account but until the White House provided her the same guidance they had given others who started before she did, Ms. Trump sometimes used her personal account, almost always for logistics and scheduling concerning her family,” he said in a statement.

Mirijanian added that she turned over her government-related emails months ago, so they could be stored permanently with other White House records.

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“Ms. Trump did not create a private server in her house or office, no classified information was ever included, the account was never transferred at Trump Organization, and no emails were ever deleted,” he further pointed out.

Before departing the White House for Florida on Tuesday, President Donald Trump told reporters his daughter’s use of a private email account was very different than Clinton’s.

“They weren’t classified like Hillary Clinton. They weren’t deleted like Hillary Clinton, who deleted 33,000,” he said of the emails in question.

Trump continued, “She wasn’t doing anything to hide her emails. I looked at it just very briefly today and the presidential records — they’re all in presidential records. There was no hiding.”

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Randy DeSoto has written more than 2,000 articles for The Western Journal since he joined the company in 2015. He is a graduate of West Point and Regent University School of Law. He is the author of the book "We Hold These Truths" and screenwriter of the political documentary "I Want Your Money."
Randy DeSoto is the senior staff writer for The Western Journal. He wrote and was the assistant producer of the documentary film "I Want Your Money" about the perils of Big Government, comparing the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. Randy is the author of the book "We Hold These Truths," which addresses how leaders have appealed to beliefs found in the Declaration of Independence at defining moments in our nation's history. He has been published in several political sites and newspapers.

Randy graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a BS in political science and Regent University School of Law with a juris doctorate.
Birthplace
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Nationality
American
Honors/Awards
Graduated dean's list from West Point
Education
United States Military Academy at West Point, Regent University School of Law
Books Written
We Hold These Truths
Professional Memberships
Virginia and Pennsylvania state bars
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Entertainment, Faith




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