Kushner Used Private Email for White House Business

[Ben]

Even as his father in law was dissing Hillary for the same thing. Freakin' moron.

https://twitchy.com/jacobb-38/2017/09/24/looks-like-jared-kushner-learned-from-hillary-on-how-to-communicate-as-a-top-govt-official/

[MechAg94]

Does he have an official position in the Trump's administration?  He hasn't been appointed to anything I believe.  He certainly isn't a cabinet member.  Just an advisor is all they call it. 

Sounds like one more in a long list of things people are trying to come up with to dump on Trump and his administration that are really about nothing.

There is no indication that Kushner has shared any sensitive or classified material on his private account, or that he relies on his private email account more than his official White House account to conduct government business. Aides say he prefers to call or text over using email.

I believe the classified information sent to an unsecured server was the major crime involved with Clinton's private email server. 

[MechAg94]

Other than appearances, is there anything wrong with this?  Just wondering if I am missing something.

[Ben]

Other than appearances, is there anything wrong with this?  Just wondering if I am missing something.

Yes. Government business to be done over government email servers using government hardware. The regulations have been in place for some years, and for good reason.

[RoadKingLarry]

Yes. Government business to be done over government email servers using government hardware. The regulations have been in place for some years, and for good reason.

Concur, and he should get the same penalty clinton received.

[Perd Hapley]

Concur, and he should get the same penalty clinton received.

For the news media to cover it as if it were a scandal? Enough with these cruel and unusual punishments!

[makattak]

This is yet another situation where I'm completely against what the White House is doing.

However, I'm not going to accept second class citizen status for non-leftists. So my outrage meter hasn't moved.

IF the left starts actually caring when their side breaks the law and prosecuting them/holding them accountable*, I'll return to caring when non-leftists break the law with impunity. Until then, this gets a big "meh" from me.

You break down respect for the law to the detriment of us all, leftists.



*And not that "I take full responsibility" crap where they SAY they take full responsibility and then suffer no consequences. That's not how it works. That's not how any of this works.

[Ben]

This is yet another situation where I'm completely against what the White House is doing.

However, I'm not going to accept second class citizen status for non-leftists. So my outrage meter hasn't moved.

I agree on this. To go off what RKL said - more precisely, Clinton should get the punishment Kushner gets (well, more because of the classified stuff), because he's the guy they'll go after while Hillary "did nothing wrong". I'm mostly irked because this is just another basic  and easily avoided stumble the Trump admin has done.

The Hillary email crimes were/are a big deal that Trump talked about a lot, so you make sure that your administration comes nowhere close to doing the same thing, and you follow proper gov procedures.

[TommyGunn]

BAD KUSHNER!   BAD!   


How DUMB can one individual be?

Trump would stomp this if he's smart.....

[Chester32141]

From what I've read this is a classic nothing burger .... those in charge of setting up email addresses weren't inclined to give the president's transition team their .gov email address prior to inauguration ... in order to do business and not use his actual personal email address he set this one up w/ all emails forwarded to the national archives to avoid the appearance of impropriety.  Could it be the press is only telling us half the story ...
  

[Scout26]

I wondered if it was something like that.  Obama's Transition Team dragging their feet and make it hard for the incoming Trump Administration....Do I have to show you my shocked face once again ??

[DittoHead]

Kushner's one true talent seems to be finding his way into situations with very bad optics. The "adoption" meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya, the "secret back channel" with Russia, and now using private email for government business. Pretty much every time I see an article on Kushner the conclusion is the same: not illegal, just really dumb.

[Ben]

From what I've read this is a classic nothing burger .... those in charge of setting up email addresses weren't inclined to give the president's transition team their .gov email address prior to inauguration ... in order to do business and not use his actual personal email address he set this one up w/ all emails forwarded to the national archives to avoid the appearance of impropriety.  Could it be the press is only telling us half the story ...
  

That would change my opinion on the matter a good deal.

[RevDisk]

Other than appearances, is there anything wrong with this?  Just wondering if I am missing something.

Same reason why it was wrong when Clinton did it.

There's legal requirements for archiving data. This is done to intentionally evade that archiving. One should presume that they're intentionally hiding data or activities. Even if allegedly they are forwarding the information to the National Archives. Because they could not be forwarding everything. Or they could be insecure.

That would change my opinion on the matter a good deal.

Na. Looks better. Isn't any better.

Don't slam Clinton for something and let someone on your own side slide. Both are wrong, both deserve to be punished. Granted, Clinton intentionally destroyed evidence and that is a more significant crime.

[Ben]

Na. Looks better. Isn't any better.

Well, it might depend on whatever facts come out. If they were in fact stonewalled on being issued .gov addresses, that would be mitigating circumstances and archiving the non-gov emails in an open fashion seems like a good workaround to being denied gov email servers. If they just chose not to get .gov addresses, even during transition, then I'm back to my original complaint, which is basically the same as yours.

[Perd Hapley]

Don't slam Clinton for something and let someone on your own side slide. Both are wrong, both deserve to be punished. Granted, Clinton intentionally destroyed evidence and that is a more significant crime.

Another difference, I hope, is that Clinton put classified information on her server. That was the worst part. I hope that isn't true in Kushner's case.

[MechAg94]

Another difference, I hope, is that Clinton put classified information on her server. That was the worst part. I hope that isn't true in Kushner's case.

This is where I was coming from. 

When I first heard of Clinton's personal email server, I heard it said that the punishment for the violation was minor.  It was always the classified information being sent over her personal email that was the problem.  It was magnified by her refusal to release those emails, dragging her feet when a court ordered them released, and the extra effort put into deleting the emails and destroying the evidence.  If all Clinton did was use a personal email occasionally with no other wrongdoing coming up, it would probably never have been a story at all. 

IMO, unless something else comes up, the only negative from this will be whiny liberals saying "but Kushner did it" when it is noted that Clinton should be in jail over the emails.  The whiny leftists will try to forget that in her case there was in fact a mountain behind the mole hill.

[Hawkmoon]

Na. Looks better. Isn't any better.

Don't slam Clinton for something and let someone on your own side slide. Both are wrong, both deserve to be punished. Granted, Clinton intentionally destroyed evidence and that is a more significant crime.

But Clinton not only had a private, non-governmental e-mail address, she had her own, private, non-governmental server. And she didn't forward copies of any of her private, official-but-not-governmental e-mails to the national archives. If Jared did, indeed, copy the archives, then in my book he's clean. The question is, did/does he continue to use a non-government e-mail address for government business, or has he been using the .gov address since getting it?

And how many classified e-mails did he transmit or receive on his non-gov address? How many classified documents did he remove the classification from and then forward?

[Perd Hapley]

But Clinton not only had a private, non-governmental e-mail address, she had her own, private, non-governmental server. And she didn't forward copies of any of her private, official-but-not-governmental e-mails to the national archives. If Jared did, indeed, copy the archives, then in my book he's clean. The question is, did/does he continue to use a non-government e-mail address for government business, or has he been using the .gov address since getting it?

And how many classified e-mails did he transmit or receive on his non-gov address? How many classified documents did he remove the classification from and then forward?

I don't care how many. One and you're done. I mean, he's not in the Obama administration or anything.

[French G.]

Big difference in an unofficial advisor doing business pre inauguration and 5th in line to the presidency doing official diplomatic business of the state hiding a server in her closet.

[HankB]

Concur, and he should get the same penalty clinton received.

You mean he should be the Democratic Party's nominee for POTUS in the next election?

[Hawkmoon]

Concur, and he should get the same penalty clinton received.

You mean he should be the Democratic Party's nominee for POTUS in the next election?

That, or the head of the FBI should call a press conference and announce that no prosecutor would ever bring charges for the alleged infraction.

[DittoHead]

But Clinton not only had a private, non-governmental e-mail address, she had her own, private, non-governmental server.

Is it better somehow that Kushner is using someone else's private, non-governmental server instead his own like Hillary did? While I don't think the private server itself was the biggest issue (classified info was), I just don't see how it's better if he's not even the one in charge of it. 

[MechAg94]

Is it better somehow that Kushner is using someone else's private, non-governmental server instead his own like Hillary did? While I don't think the private server itself was the biggest issue (classified info was), I just don't see how it's better if he's not even the one in charge of it. 

If he is not transmitting classified information......if he is copying the national archives so his work for the administration is documented.......if he is essentially not hiding anything from information requests and subpoenas........why is this an issue at all?  It is only an issue because leftist Hillary fans are desperate for something they use to justify the felonies that Hillary committed. 

IMO, it would be better to stick with his .gov email, but in comparison to what Hillary did, this is like a traffic ticket versus capital murder. 

[Ben]

IMO, it would be better to stick with his .gov email, but in comparison to what Hillary did, this is like a traffic ticket versus capital murder.  

Given that no classified data was transmitted by Kushner, yes, there is a fairly wide separation of seriousness, though it's more like "insider trading vs murder".

One of the reasons the rules exist is to (try to) keep all government business on the up and up so that, for instance, Kushner can't contact Michael Scott via private email* to circumvent gov purchasing requirements, give him hints on submitting a winning bid, and then give Dunder Mifflin a $1 million paper contract.


*Certainly this can all be done via phone or lunch meeting (or on the tarmac) as well, but the idea is to try and minimize the events, and archive potential evidence if malfeasance does occur.