Criminal inquiry urged of postmaster general

House Democrats ask FBI to look into mail delays as election ploy.

Two Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee urged the FBI director on Monday to open a criminal investigation into the role that the postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, played in mail delays that they said threaten to compromise the November election.

The committee members, Reps. Ted W. Lieu of California and Hakeem Jeffries of New York, made the request in a two-page letter to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray. They also called on the bureau to scrutinize the actions of the Postal Service’s Board of Governors.

“Multiple media investigations show that Postmaster DeJoy and the Board of Governors have retarded the passage of mail,” they wrote. “If their intent in doing so was to affect mail-in balloting or was motivated by personal financial reasons, then they likely committed crimes.”

The letter was first reported by MSNBC.

Lieu and Jeffries serve on the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.

“There is overwhelming evidence that Postmaster General DeJoy and the Board of Governors have hindered the passage of mail,” they wrote. “At least 19 mail sorting machines, which can process 35,000 pieces ofmail per hour, have been dismantled and over 671 are slated for reductions later this year.”

The Postal Service did not respond to a request for comment Monday morning.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the majority leader, pushed back Monday on concerns that the Postal Service would not be able to handle as many as 80 million ballots cast by Americans by mail in the November election, telling reporters in his home state that “the Postal Service is going to be just fine.”

“We’re going to make sure that the ability to function going into the election is not adversely affected,” McConnell said at a news conference in Horse Cave, Kentucky.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, in discussions with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, “had already indicated the administration is prepared to spend $10 billion just to make sure the post office is on good terms,” McConnell said.

Pelosi on Sunday had said she would call the House back from its annual summer recess almost a month early to vote this week on legislation to block changes at the Postal Service.

CAROLYN KASTER/AP FILE Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is suspected by House Democrats of efforts to slow mail delivery in an attempt to aid President Trump, a vocal opponent of mail-in ballots.