MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Trump's son-in-law and Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, presidential Counselor Kellyanne Conway, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon have rnchq.org email accounts on a Republican National Committee (RNC) email system, the Newsweek magazine reported on Wednesday, citing its own research.
The use of private email servers for official White House business entails the danger of violating the 1939 Hatch Act, which prohibits executive branch employees from conducting some forms of political activity. Employees are thus required to disclose their private communications involving official business.
The rule has been a source of embarrassment for Barack Obama and his predecessor George Bush, with both administrations accused of losing thousands of privately hosted emails involving official business.
The new administration's rnchq.org emails are hosted by the Tennessee-based smartechcorp.net company, the same commercial server that the Bush administration used, according to the publication.
It is, however, unclear what the addresses are currently being used for, the magazine added.
During his election campaign, Trump accused his rival Democrat Hillary Clinton of using a private email server during her time in the White House as state secretary as well as raising suspicions on why she had deleted over 30,000 emails over that period. Trump said he would appoint a special prosecutor to probe Clinton over her use of a private server, but toned down after winning November's election.
