The FBI is investigating controversial Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over campaign contributions connected to his former business, his spokesperson confirmed to The Washington Post on Thursday.
The Post was the first to report on the probe and spoke to people familiar with the matter, who said FBI agents had recently interviewed current and former employees of DeJoy and his former business, New Breed Logistics.
“Mr. 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,” DeJoy spokesperson Mark Corallo said. “He has always been scrupulous in his adherence to the campaign contribution laws and has never knowingly violated them.”
Last September, the Post published a report that DeJoy and his aides pressured employees of his North Carolina-based supply chain company into attending political fundraisers or making financial contributions to Republican candidates and then paid them back through bonuses. Such a scheme would likely violate federal law.
The Post’s analysis found a suspicious pattern of donations made by New Breed Logistics employees going back to 2000, in which multiple employees would donate the same amount on the same day. Many of them had never made political donations before. Five former employees confirmed to the Post that DeJoy essentially funneled money through them by forcing them to attend fundraisers at his house.
DeJoy, a Republican, was tapped for his role in May 2020 by the Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service, whose members were all selected by former President Donald Trump. His appointment immediately raised concern about conflicts of interest. He is the first person in decades to lead the agency without having served as a mail carrier, and he has been heavily invested in private USPS competitors.
He also has been a major donor to Trump and the Republican Party, and he oversaw fundraising for the Republican National Convention until shortly before becoming postmaster general.
His tenure quickly became mired in controversy when he directed USPS to dismantle mail sorting machines and removed mail collection boxes ahead of the 2020 election, which Trump baselessly claimed would be defiled by mail-in voting.
President Joe Biden has nominated new members of the USPS Board of Governors, which must be approved by the Senate. However, it’s unlikely they will have enough votes to oust DeJoy, who still has the support of Trump-nominated members.
Corallo said he fully anticipates the investigation will clear DeJoy’s name.
“He expects nothing less in this latest matter and he intends to work with DOJ toward swiftly resolving it,” he told the Post.