'This is disturbing': Former White House ethics chief raises questions about Ivanka Trump's emails

Ex-national security adviser's new book reignites controversy over first daughter's use of private email

The former head of the US Office of Government Ethics has raised questions about controversial emails Ivanka Trump sent before joining her father’s White House administration, after they resurfaced due to John Bolton's upcoming book.

Walter Shaub, who served as the chief ethics czar under former President Barack Obama, described the previously reported emails as “disturbing” after they were posted to Twitter by a government watchdog group, which received them after filing a Freedom of Information Act request in 2017.

Ms Trump, who now serves as a senior White House adviser in President Donald Trump’s administration, was found to have conducted government business over a private server using personal email account “on hundreds of occasions”, according to the watchdog group, American Oversight.

The emails revealed that the first daughter — who had no prior government or political experience prior to serving in her father’s White House — was emailing top cabinet officials like Education Secretary Betsy DeVos prior to officially joining the administration.

Mr Shaub pointed to one email he found “even MORE disturbing” than others, which showed Ms Trump referring to a White House official as her “COS”, or chief of staff. The former ethics chief wrote in a tweet: “Wow! This is really crazy stuff.”

Mr Trump made Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state a key part of his criticism against her in the last presidential election. While it was previously reported that Ms Trump and several others in the White House — including her husband, Jared Kushner — used personal emails to conduct government business in the initial months of the new administration, those revelations have since resurfaced amid explosive reports surrounding the new book by Mr Bolton, the former national security adviser.

The upcoming book, titled The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, claims Mr Trump devised a major distraction to avoid press reports about his daughter’s use of a private email server and personal account after the emails were initially discovered by American Oversight.

He then defended Saudi Arabia and supported Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the government faced mounting criticism over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the book alleges.

Mr Trump has shot down his ex-National Security Adviser as a “liar” after reports of the book emerged, saying in an interview with The Journal: “Everybody in the White House hated John Bolton.”

The Trump administration has also filed a lawsuit against Mr Bolton over the book, claiming it contained “classified information” — even though the president has frequently alleged the revelations in the book were false.

In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Mr Trump said he “used a washed-up guy” while referring to his appointment of Mr Bolton to the critical national security role, adding: “I gave him a chance.”