EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans on Wednesday claimed that leaders of the U.S. Postal Service had been removed and accused of conducting “fabricated attacks” by Democrats on the agency amid the battle over emails.
House Minority Chamber Member Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., And House Oversight Committee, James Comer, RK.Y., sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday , D-Calif., And the faction chair of the Oversight Committee, rep. Carolyn Maloney, and demanded that she “immediately stop promoting irresponsible and unfounded conspiracy theories” about the USPS.
McCarthy, Scalise and Comer said the “personal information of USPS leadership was recently posted online by malicious actors, allowing Protestants to approach and harass them at their homes.”
DEMOCRATS REQUEST POSTMASTER GENERAL, FIXED USPS TESTIFIED ON MAIL-IN BALLOTS
“This conduct is directly motivated by the fabricated attacks on the USPS that you have spearheaded and is now unnecessarily endangering the safety of hard-working officials,” she wrote.
“Recently, Congress Democrats, in a broadly coordinated effort under your leadership, have sought to spread the baseless conspiracy theories across the USPS for political gain,” she continued.
McCarthy, Scalise and Comer addressed the details of “unfounded theories”, which they claimed Democrats are pushing, including USPS “to remove mailboxes to prevent citizens from voting by mail, that the USPS does not have sufficient funding and will rather insolvent the elections in November, and that the USPS lacks the infrastructure to deliver post-in votes to and from voters. “
“As you know, none of these claims actually have a basis,” she wrote. “Once again, Democrats have produced a crisis to undermine President Trump at the expense of America’s institutions.”
McCarthy, Scalise and Comer called on Democrats for “irresponsible” dismissal of USPS costs as “an attempt to sabotage the election.” She added that the USPS is “well equipped to handle the volume of mail required by an expected increase in mail-in voting.”
“Irresponsible tactics used by Democrats destroying the efforts of senior USPS leadership have unfortunately led to malicious actors publishing the personal information of the entire Postal Board and the Postmaster General over the weekend,” she wrote. , noting that it “puts them in danger of those who believe the baseless conspiracy theories promoted by Democratic leaders in Congress.”
“It also hampers the ability of the USPS leadership to conduct business at a time when general election voting will be mailed in a few weeks,” they warned.
“The right to vote is fundamental to our Republic, and all votes must be counted honestly. “Americans need to have the confidence that every vote counts, whether they vote in person or by mail in the 2020 election,” she wrote. “Your completely unfounded and baseless attacks on the USPS not only undermine the confidence and integrity of our electoral system, but also jeopardize the security of USPS officials.”
She added: “You need to stop promoting misinformation campaigns to prevent further serious damage to the reputation and physical security of USPS staff and the integrity of the 2020 elections.”
The letter to Pelosi and Maloney comes on the afternoon of a battle between Republicans and Democrats over post-a-vote for the 2020 presidential election.
Trump and the Republican Party have been warning for months about possible fraud linked to mail-in voting – despite the fact that election experts have said such claims are baseless. The RNC and the Trump campaign have filed lawsuits to retaliate against Democrats’ efforts to make it easier for people to vote during the pandemic. Democrats have said cases of actual voter fraud are extremely rare and that Republicans are trying to suppress voter turnout to improve their chances of winning elections.
DEJOY TO TESTIFY FROM SENATE FRIDAY, HOME MONDAY
The letter also comes as Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is expected to testify before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Friday, and on Monday, August 24, before the House of Oversight Committee.
Congressmen demanded over the weekend DeJoy and U.S. Postal Service Board Chairman Robert Duncan testify about “recent” sweeping and dangerous operational changes “at the bureau that they claim are” delaying “the post and “the integrity of 2020 jeopardizes elections.
On Tuesday, however, DeJoy announced that planned operational changes by the U.S. Postal Service fears fears of delayed mail deliveries will be postponed until after the election.
“To prevent even the appearance of any influence on election post, I suspend these initiatives until after the end of the election,” DeJoy said in a statement.
He continued: “Retail hours at post offices will not change. Email processing equipment and blue storage boxes will remain where they are. No mail processing facilities will be closed. And we confirm that overtime has and will continue, approved as necessary.”
DeJoy also said in the statement that USPS would expand its task force on election post working with state and local election officials.
Meanwhile, Democrats have asked for $ 25 billion, including $ 3.5 billion in election resources, to strengthen the Postal Service in time for the election to be included in the fourth coronavirus incentive package. Trump has said the money from the Postal Service will not come unless Democrats come to the negotiating table on coronavirus relief and give concessions to Republicans.
“Sure, if they give us what we want,” the president said of the post office money during a press conference last week. “And it’s not what I want, it’s what the American people want.”
Trump claimed last week that voting via email would not be possible without the funding.
“It’s her fault,” Trump told FOX Business ” Mornings with Maria. “They want $ 3.5 billion for something that is fraudulent … for the post-vote, universal post-vote. They want $ 25 billion for the post office. They need that money so it can work and they can take those millions and millions of ballots. ”
“But if they do not get those two items, then they can not have email voting,” he said.
The president went on to vote by mail. He cited states such as Virginia, where he said more than “500,000 false ballot applications were sent to voters,” and in New York, where voting by mail caused a week-long delay in announcing results for some races in the primary state of the state.
But former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaigner said sending votes by mail was the ‘safest form of voting’ in the midst of the novel coronavirus.
Meanwhile, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said Dr. Anthony Fauci that “there is no reason” Americans can not vote personally for the presidential election in 2020, as long as voters follow proper social distancing guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think if done carefully, according to the guidelines, there’s no reason I can see why that may not be the case,” Fauci told ABC News this week. ‘If you wear a mask, if you observe the physical distance and do not have a full situation, then there is no reason why [people] would not be able to do that. ”
Fauci added that individuals who are “physically or otherwise compromised” and who are not interested in physically going to the polls on election day can use e-mail voting.
But Fauci doubled down, saying “there is no reason why we should not be able to vote personally or otherwise.”
