Donald Trump's senior staff 'have private email accounts on RNC system'

President repeatedly said Hillary Clinton should be 'locked up' for using personal email account to handle classified information

Kellyanne Conway (L) and Steve Bannon (R) are both said to have active private email accounts on an RNC system (Reuters)

Senior White House staff hold private Republican National Committee (RNC) email accounts, reports have said.

Donald Trump's top advisers Kellyanne Conway, Steve Bannon, Sean Spicer and Jared Kushner all have active accounts on the private rnchq.org server, according to Newsweek.

It is not illegal for members of the President's administration to use separate political email accounts, which can be used to arrange party politics away from state business.

Engaging in political activity on Government time is illegal in the US under the Hatch Act, and some believe having multiple accounts can help effectively divide conversations.

However, during the US election campaign, Mr Trump repeatedly threatened to jail Hillary Clinton if he was elected President for her use of a personal email account while she was Secretary of State.

He later backtracked saying he would not pursue charges however, according to a poll released ahead of the election, the scandal dominated what Americans had heard about Ms Clinton.

Republican chiefs say there is nothing wrong with having an RNC account if it is not used for any official government business.

According to the RNC, in this case the officials previously employed by the Trump Campaign - such as Ms Conway, Mr Bannon, Mr Kushner - never had functional email accounts with the RNC.

They say the RNC has various distribution lists to communicate with state parties or campaigns and as a by-product these contact groups are assigned RNCHQ.org addresses that only forward to external accounts at their respective organisations.

In 2007, it was revealed members of the George W Bush administration used RNC accounts for official communications, in a possible violation of transparency laws.

Between 2003 and 2009, the Bush administration was accused of violating the Presidential Records Act after it reportedly “lost” 22 million emails.

However, the correspondence was later recovered on "back-up tapes" and the Obama Administration reportedly reached a settlement with two watchdog groups who had sued to obtain the email, CNN reported in 2009.

In 2014, the "Disclosure Requirement for Official Business Conducted Using Electronic Messaging Accounts" law was passed, which states any messages sent by White House staff from a private account must copy in an official account or be forwarded to an official account within 20 days.