Postmaster General Louis DeJoy dismissed allegations Friday that the United States Postal Service is instituting any changes that would impact the November 2020 election — calling that “an outrageous claim.”
Appearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Democratic Michigan Sen. Gary Peters asked DeJoy if he had discussed the changes with any officials in President Donald Trump’s administration.
“No, sir. Sir … Our total analysis here in going forward. I’m one new person in the organization with the whole structure around me — an operating structure, an executive team around me that are involved in the decisions … Moving forward, just trying to have any negative impact on the election is an outrageous claim.”
Critics of Trump continue to suggest that the USPS is working in tandem with the president by either locking up or removing mailboxes in order to interfere with mail-in voting. The postal service has responded to these accusations by saying that mailboxes are routinely locked up for security reasons or routinely replaced or removed if no longer regularly used. (RELATED: Postal Service Proposes Removing Some Letter Sorting Machines, Democrats Cry Foul)
Trump has not dampened the conspirator talk by proclaiming last week that he opposes any additional funding for the USPS — because he does not want it to deliver mail-in ballots. “They want three and a half billion dollars for something that’ll turn out to be fraudulent — that’s election money basically. They want three and a half billion dollars for the mail-in votes. Universal mail-in ballots. They want $25 billion, billion, for the Post Office. Now they need that money in order to make the Post Office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,” Trump told Fox News.
DeJoy said Friday, “I have never spoken to the president about the postal service other than to congratulate me when I accepted the position,” adding that he had hadn’t “discussed anything with [Trump Chief of Staff] Mark Meadows.”
When asked if he would “give us your word today under oath that you have not taken any action whatsoever in your capacity as postmaster general for any political reason,” DeJoy responded, “We are very committed, the board’s committed, the postal workers are committed, the union leadership is committed to having a successful election and … the insinuation [to the contrary] is quite frankly outrageous.” (RELATED: Trump Critics Push Conspiracy Theories About Postal Service Mailboxes)
Demonstrators gather outside of the condo of President Donald Trump donor and current U.S. Postmaster General Louis Dejoy on Aug. 15, 2020 in Washington, DC. The protests are in response to a recent statement by President Trump to withhold USPS funding that would ensure that the post office would be unable handle mail-in voting ballots for the upcoming 2020 Election. (Photo by Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images)
DeJoy said Tuesday that he is putting changes at the USPS — designed to reduce costs and increase efficiency — on hold until after the 2020 election.
The postmaster even released a statement saying he wants to “avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail” when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi first announced that she wanted to recall the House of Representatives to investigate the mailbox claims.