House Democrats said Tuesday they will investigate whether Postmaster General Louis DeJoy encouraged employees at his business to contribute to Republican candidates and then reimbursed them in the guise of bonuses, a violation of campaign finance laws.
Five people who worked for DeJoy's former business, New Breed Logistics, say they were urged by DeJoy's aides or by DeJoy himself to write checks and attend fundraisers at his mansion in Greensboro, North Carolina, The Washington Post reported. Two former employees told the newspaper that DeJoy would later give bigger bonuses to reimburse for the contributions.
It's not illegal to encourage employees to contribute to candidates but it is illegal to reimburse them as a way of avoiding federal campaign contribution limits.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who chairs the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement Tuesday that if the allegations are true, "DeJoy could face criminal exposure — not only for his actions in North Carolina, but also for lying to our Committee under oath."
She was referring to DeJoy's testimony before her committee last month when he forcefully denied that he had repaid executives for contributing to Trump's campaign.
Maloney urged the Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service to immediately suspend DeJoy, whom "they never should have selected in the first place."
Monty Hagler, a spokesperson for DeJoy, told the Post that DeJoy was unaware that any workers felt pressure to make donations. Hagler also said DeJoy believes he has always complied with campaign fundraising laws and regulations.
President Donald Trump said Monday that DeJoy, a major donor to Trump and other Republicans, should lose his job if campaign finance irregularities are uncovered.
DeJoy already faces unrelated scrutiny from Congress for U.S. Postal Service changes that some fear will slow delivery of mail-in ballots for the Nov. 3 elections.
DeJoy was put in charge of the Postal Service in June after a career in logistics and set in motion a series of policy changes that have delayed mail and sparked concern over the agency's ability to process a flood of mail-in ballots expected this fall due to coronavirus fears.
The House Oversight Committee recently subpoenaed DeJoy for records about widespread mail delivery delays that have pushed the Postal Service into the political spotlight.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced Thursday that the U.S. is investing more than $100 million in the Caribbean region to crack down on weapons trafficking, help alleviate Haiti’s humanitarian crisis and support climate change initiatives.
At Cleveland's Urban Kutz Barbershop, customers can flip through magazines as they wait, or help themselves to drug screening tests left out in a box on a table with a somber message: “Your drugs could contain fentanyl. Please take free test strips.”
President Joe Biden on Thursday condemned a wave of “cruel” and “callous” state legislation curbing the rights, visibility and health care access of LGBTQ+ people, while causing the community to feel under attack for being who they are.
Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster who turned a tiny Virginia station into the global Christian Broadcasting Network, tried a run for president and helped make religion central to Republican Party politics in America through his Christian Coalition, has died. He was 93.
The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a surprising 5-4 ruling in favor of Black voters in a congressional redistricting case, ordering the creation of a second district with a large Black population.
Mike Pence opened his presidential bid with an unusually forceful critique of former President Donald Trump over Jan. 6, his temperament and abortion on Wednesday as he became the first vice president in modern history to challenge his former running mate.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wasted no time going after Donald Trump while launching his presidential campaign on Tuesday, calling the former president and current Republican primary front-runner a “lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog" and arguing that he's the only one who can stop him.
Saying gender identity is real, a federal judge temporarily blocked portions of a new Florida law that bans transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers, ruling Tuesday that the state has no rational basis for denying patients treatment.
With concerns about misinformation spreading online, European Union officials want to more closely regulate artificial intelligence, and they're asking the world's biggest tech companies for help.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, Ed Markey, and Mazie Hirono sent a letter to top officials at Twitter expressing their concerns over the platform's privacy policy.
