(PatrioticPost.com)- Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was already the target of Democrats for his cost-cutting moves at the Postal Service. Now, he could be in some serious deep water.
This week, House Democrats announced they’ll be launching an investigation into claims that DeJoy reimbursed some employees for contributions they made to the campaigns of Republican politicians that he preferred. Such a move would be against the law.
House Democrats have called for DeJoy to be immediately suspended while the investigation begins.
The chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Carolyn Maloney from New York, said the committee would begin the investigation immediately. In a statement, she said DeJoy might’ve lied under oath to the committee.
Maloney also urged the U.S. Postal Service’s Board of Governors to suspend DeJoy immediately. She added “they never should have hired [him] in the first place.”
A Washington Post report alleged that aides for DeJoy as well as the postmaster general himself urged employees at a North Carolina logistics company he once owned to attend fundraisers and write checks to specific Republican candidates. Two employees told The Post that DeJoy then boosted those employees’ bonuses as a way to reimburse them for their political contributions.
There is nothing illegal about encouraging employees to donate to political campaigns in general, or even to give money to specific candidates. However, it is against both federal and North Carolina election laws to reimburse people for doing so.
The potential federal violations have a statute of limitations of five years. However, there are no such statute of limitations for felonies in North Carolina, and that includes campaign finance violations.
If the allegations are proven to be true, Maloney said the postmaster general would face “criminal exposure” not just for the act itself, “but also for lying to our committee under oath.”
Last month, DeJoy gave testimony to the House Oversight committee, and denied that he had every reimbursed executives for contributions they made to the campaign of President Donald Trump.
The donations the employees were describing to the Post occurred from 2003 to 2014. That means that none of the donations in question were related to Trump’s first run for the White House. DeJoy sold the company and retired before Trump’s 2016 run.
Following the report published in the Post, many prominent Democrats called for a full-fledged investigation. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, called on the attorney general in North Carolina to start a criminal investigation. In a statement on Sunday, he said:
“These are very serious allegations that must be investigated immediately, independent of Donald Trump’s Justice Department.”
Democrats have attacked DeJoy consistently in recent months. The postmaster general has donated more than $1.1 million to Trump’s campaigns, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Democrats, though, say he’s been working hand-in-hand with the president to cripple the Postal Service in an attempt to rig the November election in Trump’s favor.
This comes at a time when mail-in ballots are expected to play a big role in the election, due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
