President Donald Trump blamed Republicans on Twitter on Wednesday – tagging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in a rare move – for “allowing Democrats to hold ridiculous Post Office hearings on Saturday and Monday, just before and during our Convention”, then. Democrats reconsider questions about the selection process of Trump’s controversial postmaster pick.
Amid mounting concerns over mail-in voting and increased scrutiny in recent weeks for the introduction of a series of measures intended to streamline the Postal Service, Postmaster-General Louis DeJoy has agreed to testify at a GOP-controlled First Chamber on Friday and a Democratic House hearing on Monday – the first day of the Republican National Convention.
“Let them hold on now (during their convention) or after our convention is over. Always play directly into their hands,” Trump said in a tweet, with McConnell tagging.
However, it is sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., Who chairs the House of Representatives for Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, who calls on DeJoy to testify after Democrats demanded he do so.
In a statement Tuesday, Johnson said DeJoy “should have had a chance to describe those realities before he went before a hostile House committee decided to hold a trial.”
Ahead of the two hearings on the blockbuster, DeJoy announced Tuesday that he would submit several of the cost-cutting initiatives he made until after the election in an effort “to prevent even the appearance of an election post.”
Although intended to reduce pressure, the announcement has provoked more questions about transparency among Democrats seeking not only to investigate DeJoy’s actions as postmaster, but the decision to put him in the position.
Second Chamber member Nancy Pelosi said she spoke to DeJoy on Wednesday morning and told him incorrectly that his announcement to temporarily suspend operational changes at the Postal Service was “not a solution and is misleading.”
She said in a statement on her call that DeJoy ‘honestly acknowledged that he had no intention of replacing the sorting machines, blue mailboxes and other key mail infrastructure that had been removed and that there were plans for adequate overtime, which is critical to timely delivery. of mail, are not in the works. “
In a letter to DeJoy on Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer outlined specific questions he hopes DeJoy will answer after DeJoy warned over the phone Tuesday of his immediate request for specific, written information about what policy he intended to conclude. .
Questions include whether election mail will be treated as first class mail and whether blue mailboxes and email sorting equipment that have already been removed will be returned.
Earlier Wednesday, Schumer also sent a letter to United States Postal Service Board Chairman Robert Duncan reiterating his request for disclosure of information related to the selection of DeJoy, a longtime Republican donor.
His letter to Duncan describes confidentiality claims made by the Postal Service and the search engine used to select DeJoy, named Russell Reynolds, that Schumer said overseeing the congressional postal service has hindered and called for Russell Reynolds to be released from office. agreement with non-disclosure that they have said they prohibit disclosing information about DeJoy’s selection to Congress.
It also raises renewed concerns Schumer has expressed about the role that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin may have played in DeJoy’s selection.
“The council’s response was silent about the role that White House and Treasury officials are playing in the search process. Recent reports have highlighted President Trump’s personal obsession and grievances against the Postal Service and his desire for the former. To replace postmaster, “Schumer wrote. “As part of my inquiry, my office learned of the role that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had with the Postal Board of Governors, including through meetings with individual governors, as well as making phone calls with groups of governors who had not previously has been made public by the council. ”
Despite Democrats’ concerns about post-vote millions of Americans trusting in the midst of the pandemic, Trump continued to attack the practice Wednesday, tweeting “IF YOU CAN PROTEST IN PERSON, YOU CAN STOT IN PERSON” – less than 24 hours ago Facebook page posted a video of him singing his absent mood on Facebook.
His persistence comes as more than 20 state attorneys general advance lawsuits with at least two lawsuits against the Trump administration and the U.S. Postal Service, among others, claiming the service broke the law by making operational changes without seeking the approval of the Postal Regulatory Commission and that the changes prevented the state from conducting free and fair elections.
Pelosi said on Tuesday that the House of Representatives will also vote on Saturday on a bill aimed at reversing those operational changes. DeJoy says he is quitting now and providing $ 25 billion in support.
At a briefing Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said it was a “farce” that there was a need at the Postal Service and accused Pelosi and Democrats of pursuing a “produced crisis” by returning over the weekend come for the issue.
“This idea that there is this need, for which Nancy Pelosi has to run back to Capitol Hill to solve it is a farce,” McEnany said. ‘It’s false. The real thing that is happening here is that Nancy Pelosi is feeling under pressure from her members, from her constituencies, because she has not provided relief for Americans. ”
She said the White House is open to additional funding for the Postal Service and would not put a cap on the number, adding that they are willing to consider the $ 25 billion by Democrats.
While McEnany raged against what she argued was an unnecessary emergency sitting in the House this weekend, she also called Pelosi “reckless” and said the White House was waiting for her to “come back and do her job” in achieving a deal for direct payments for Americans, the Democrats are trying to place full blame for the inconvenience between the two parties.
ABC Thomas’ Elizabeth Thomas contributed to this report.
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