White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Tuesday suggested that the congressional investigation into whether the postmaster general violated campaign finance laws was politically motivated.
“Never underestimate Congress’s ability to ratchet up an investigation 60 days out from a presidential election,” Meadows told reporters Tuesday, as quoted by The Washington Post. “I think you would acknowledge, covering Congress as much as you have, the political rhetoric gets heated and accusations get thrown away, and then many times right after the presidential election, voila, they go away.”
He said Postmaster General Louis DeJoy would cooperate with the investigation, from the House Oversight Committee, but that “we serve in a great country where you’re innocent until proven guilty, especially when that guilt is thrown your way by members of Congress.”
Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) announced Monday night that the committee would investigate whether Postmaster General Louis DeJoy had reimbursed employees at his former company, New Breed Logistics, in exchange for them making donations to Republicans.
The reported arrangement, which was first reported by the Post on Sunday, appeared to violate campaign finance laws. In her announcement, Maloney noted the potential criminality of both the reported reimbursements and lying to Congress about them.
DeJoy testified twice before congressional committees last month after policy changes he put in place at the Postal Service led to widespread mail delays. Those delays, coupled with comments from the President implying he favored starving the Postal Service in order to suppress mail-in voting, sparked fears of disenfranchisement.
The Post spoke to several former employees of DeJoy’s. David Young, the director of human resources at New Breed until 2013, told the paper that DeJoy “asked employees for money. We gave him the money, and then he reciprocated by giving us big bonuses.”
