US Postal Service head under probe for fundraising

Washington, June 4 The head of the US Postal Service is under federal investigation over political fundraising made by his employees, a spokesman confirmed.

The investigation aims to find out wrong-doings in political fundraising involving Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's former business, New Breed Logistics, a supply-chain services provider of which he was the Chief Executive for about 30 years until the company was sold in 2014, reports Xinhua news agency.

On Thursday, Dejoy's spokesman Mark Corallo confirmed the investigation is being carried out by the Department of Justice, but stressed that Postmaster General did nothing wrong.

"DeJoy has learned that the Department of Justice is investigating campaign contributions made by employees who worked for him when he was in the private sector. He has always been scrupulous in his adherence to the campaign contribution laws and has never knowingly violated them," Corallo said.

In a report on Thursday, The Washington Post said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in recent weeks interviewed current and former employees of DeJoy and the business, asking questions about political contributions and company activities, adding prosecutors also issued a subpoena to the Postmaster General himself for information.

According to a CNN report, the FBI said they were "neither confirming nor denying the existence of investigations".

A donor to former President Donald Trump and a Republican fundraiser, DeJoy was appointed last year to lead the Postal Service.

His tenure at the Postal Service was problematic, marred by allegations including those that claimed he intentionally slowed down mail delivery during the 2020 presidential election.

DeJoy denied those accusations, saying he was merely pushing for reforms within the agency that were intended to improve mail efficiency.

The House Oversight Committee opened an investigation in September 2020 after allegations emerged that that DeJoy reimbursed company employees after they made campaign contributions to Republican politic, a practice prohibited by federal election law.

"DeJoy fully cooperated with and answered the questions posed by Congress regarding these matters. The same is true of the Postal Service Inspector General's inquiry which after a thorough investigation gave DeJoy a clean bill of health on his disclosure and divestment issues.

"He expects nothing less in this latest matter and he intends to work with DOJ toward swiftly resolving it," Corallo said in his statement on Thursday.

President Joe Biden in February nominated two Democrats and a left-leaning voting-right advocate to fill the three vacant seats on the Postal Service Board of Governors, giving the party a majority on the board that will enable them to oust DeJoy.