John Bolton's new book claims President Donald Trump defended Saudi Arabia's grisly murder of a journalist to distract from daughter Ivanka Trump's wrongdoing.
Ivanka Trump, a White House adviser, conducted government business from a private email account, according to public records obtained in 2017, but they're getting fresh new attention after excerpts of Bolton's book were reported in the media, reported the Huffington Post.
Walter Shaub, former head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, highlighted two messages obtained through the Freedom of Information Act showing Ivanka Trump conducting government business with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos weeks before she had an official government role.
In another conversation, one month before joining her father's administration, with White House officials Linda McMahon, Julie Radford and Dina Powell, Ivanka Trump referred to White House official Anne Bradfield as her own chief of staff.
The president made private email use for government business a centerpiece of his 2016 campaign against Hillary Clinton, whom Trump's supporters still chant "lock her up" at the mention of her name at rallies.
Trump released a puzzling statement in November 2018 defending Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.
“The world is a very dangerous place!” Trump said in the statement. “Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!”
Bolton, the former national security adviser, said the president issued the statement to draw attention away from reports about his daughter's use of personal emails for government business.
“This will divert from Ivanka,” Trump reportedly said. “If I read the statement in person, that will take over the Ivanka thing.”
