Page 28 - AHATA

A4 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 21 May 2019

Feds: Betsy DeVos used personal

emails for work in 'limited' cases

By COLLIN BINKLEY spector General, which except in rare circum-
AP Education Writer was investigating at the stances when their work
Education Secretary Bet- request of House Demo- accounts are unavailable.
sy DeVos has sometimes crats, said it searched the In those cases, employees
used her personal email department's email system are required to forward the
accounts for government and found a "limited" num- messages to their work ac-
business and has not al- ber of messages to or from counts within 20 days. But
ways properly saved the DeVos' personal accounts. in DeVos' case, the report
messages, according to In total, it said there were said, that never happened.
an internal investigation re- "fewer than 100" emails "We did not identify any
leased Monday. linked to four personal ac- instances where the secre-
In this April 10, 2019, file photo, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos The agency's Office of In- counts. tary forwarded emails from
testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Most of the emails were her personal accounts to
from the first six months her department email ac-
of 2017, soon after DeVos counts," the report said. It
took office, and most were added that "the secretary's
from a single person, the emails related to govern-
inquiry found. The person, ment business were not
who was not identified in always being properly pre-
the report, was writing to served."
recommend candidates The inspector general's of-
for agency jobs. Other fice urged the department
emails were from people to improve its training on
who congratulated DeVos the issue. It said there was
on her confirmation or of- no other evidence of irreg-
fered other job advice. ularities around the use of
In total, investigators said personal emails.
they identified six emails During his 2016 campaign,
sent by DeVos on private President Donald Trump re-
accounts, including five peatedly attacked Demo-
that involved official agen- cratic rival Hillary Clinton
cy business. The inquiry over findings that she used
concluded that there was a private email server for
no evidence of "active or work while she was sec-
extensive" use of DeVos' retary of state. At rallies,
personal accounts. Trump often called for her
The secretary's office told prosecution and led sup-
investigators it was taking porters in chants of "lock
"additional steps to identify her up!"
and preserve" emails in her The Education Department
personal accounts. A de- review was requested in
partment spokeswoman October 2017 by Rep.
declined to comment for Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.
this story. The inspector general's of-
Under department rules, fice said it was unable to
employees are forbidden begin work until "well into
from using personal emails 2018" because of staffing
for government business challenges.q