Jared Kushner, President Trump's adviser and son-in-law, used a private email address to conduct White House business, according to multiple news reports.

Others may have been involved in the practice. At least six of President Trump’s closest advisers – including Kushner, former chief of staff Reince Priebus and former chief strategist Steve Bannon – occasionally used private email addresses to discuss White House matters, according to The New York Times.

The use of private email for government business has inspired some comparisons to the recent controversy over Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State. But the situation isn't that straightforward.

Let's break it down.

First, what did Jared Kushner actually do?

According to Politico, Kushner set up a private email account in December, after President Trump was elected but before he took office. His lawyer, Abbe Lowell, told the news organization that there were fewer than 100 email exchanges between Kushner and other White House officials between January and August – and they largely originated because someone emailed Kushner's private email address instead of his White House address.

The emails were "usually forwarded news articles or political commentary," Lowell said.

Kushner was reported to have traded emails with other White House staff including Priebus, Bannon and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn. According to a later report from the Times, all those aides – plus Stephen Miller – also occasionally sent or received work emails from personal accounts.

Additionally, Politico reported that Kushner's wife, Ivanka Trump, also has an account on the domain. Emails published by watchdog group American Oversight show that Ivanka Trump used that email address to correspond with government officials, including the Small Business Administration's Linda McMahon. But that was before she officially started working at the White House at the end of March.

Is this illegal?

Not necessarily.

The Presidential Records Act dictates the rules for White House employees to preserve their emails. Both acts were amended in 2014 to specify that, if an executive branch employee uses a private email address for official business, they must copy their official government accounts in the exchange – or forward any messages from their private accounts to their official account within 20 days.

Lowell told Politico that Kushner had forwarded the private emails to his official account. Politico reported it could not verify that.

If it's true, "what we're dealing with, at most, is a violation of the Presidential Records Act," said Richard Painter, a law professor at the University of Minnesota and the vice chair of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington board.

Are there penalties for that?

According to the law, disciplinary actions for failing to keep proper records as an employee of the executive branch could include suspension, removal, reduction in pay or furlough.

How does this compare to past email scandals?

Painter, who served as President George W. Bush's chief ethics lawyer, said U.S. government employees have struggled with email protocol for as long as email has existed.

He pointed to the Bush administration's own email scandal, when a number of officials, including Karl Rove, used an email server run by the Republican National Committee to conduct official business. Their use of the private email addresses was uncovered during the investigation into the firing of U.S. attorneys. Back in 2009, computer technicians said they discovered some 22 million emails that Bush staff sent from those servers and could not provide investigators.

"Democrats got all of upset and there was hooting and hollering — but no one ever said it was a crime," Painter said.

What about her emails?

Revelations Kushner used private email drew an outcry on social media given the more recent controversy surrounding Clinton.

The Trump campaign strongly criticized Democratic nominee Clinton during the 2016 presidential election for her use of a private email server when she was secretary of State – and chants of "lock her up" were pervasive at Trump rallies. The FBI investigated Clinton for her use of a private email server for government business and deletion of 33,000 emails. In Clinton's case, some information she sent to and from her private email was later deemed classified (though the information was not classified at the time.)

Even so, the FBI twice cleared Clinton of any wrongdoing: first in July 2016, and then again in November 2016, just days before the presidential election.

Will there be legal action against the Trump administration?

Probably. Various government watchdog groups will file lawsuits over the administration's email practices, predicts Tom Fitton, president of the conservative legal group Judicial Watch.

What about from conservatives?

Judicial Watch, for instance, has repeatedly sued the State Department for documents and emails related to Clinton's email practices while she was secretary of State.

While Fitton didn't say if his group would take legal action after the news of Kushner's emails, he called the use of private email addresses in government "poor practice."

"We need to make sure communications are captured and retained, for archiving purposes," he said.

And what about Congress?

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., wrote a letter to Kushner on Monday, asking that he "preserve all responsive documents, communications and other data" that may be required for oversight and investigations.