Congressional Democrats push for DeJoy investigation

“It now appears that we have a US Postmaster who engaged in campaign money laundering when he was running his logistics company,” Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), a member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, tweeted. “POTUS here’s someone you should actually FIRE.”

“The swamp in action: DeJoy pressures his employees to make political contributions, and allegedly illegally reimburses them,” Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) tweeted. “This report demands a full, independent investigation.”

In a statement, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said: “These are very serious allegations that must be investigated immediately, independent of Donald Trump’s Justice Department.”

In his statement, Schumer suggested that the investigation be left with North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, who tweeted on Sunday that “it is against the law to directly or indirectly reimburse someone for a political contribution. Any credible allegations of such actions merit investigation by the appropriate state and federal authorities.”

Stein said it was inappropriate for him to comment further.

DeJoy’s prolific political fundraising helped make him a power broker in Republican circles, and in May those connections helped lift him to the Post Office leadership.

Since then, however, Democrats have charged that DeJoy is seeking to hobble the Postal Service to help further the president’s campaign against mail voting. With USPS facing lawsuits over some of the cost-cutting initiatives DeJoy had instituted and their potential effect on mailing ballots, DeJoy said he was pausing some of them through the November election. As states have sought to expand the practice to accommodate coronavirus fears, President Trump has attacked it and claimed without evidence that it will enable widespread fraud.

A statement from DeJoy’s spokesman, Monty Hagler, said that as chief executive of New Breed Logistics, DeJoy often encouraged employees to be active in civic activities, including politics, and offered them volunteer opportunities.

“Mr. DeJoy was never notified by the New Breed employees referenced by the Washington Post of any pressure they might have felt to make a political contribution, and he regrets if any employee felt uncomfortable for any reason,” the statement said.

Moreover, it said, DeJoy consulted with an election law attorney to ensure that “he, New Breed Logistics and any person affiliated with New Breed fully complied with any and all laws.”

Speier said that as a member of the House oversight committee, she has called on her colleagues to conduct an inquiry.

“If the article is correct, I think he’s committed two felonies,” she said. “He’s laundered campaign money and he lied to Congress.”