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President Donald Trump lambasted Republicans on Twitter Wednesday – marking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in a rare move – for “allowing Democrats to have ridiculous post office hearings on Saturday and Monday, just before and during our convention “as Democrats revisit the issues surrounding the selection process for Trump’s controversial postmaster choice.
Faced with growing concerns over postal voting and closer scrutiny in recent weeks for the adoption of a series of measures to streamline the postal service, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has agreed to testify at a hearing of the GOP-controlled Senate on Friday and a hearing in the Democratic House on Monday – the first day of the Republican National Convention.
“Let them hold them NOW (during their convention) or after our convention is over. Always play in their hands,” Trump said in a tweet, tagging McConnell.
However, it was Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., Who chairs the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, who called DeJoy to testify after Democrats asked him to do so.
In a statement Tuesday, Johnson said DeJoy “should be given an opportunity to describe these realities before appearing before a hostile House committee determined to conduct a show trial.”
Ahead of the two successful hearings, DeJoy announced on Tuesday that he would suspend several of the cost-cutting initiatives he has taken until the end of the election in an effort “to avoid even the appearance of an impact on the electoral mail “.
While meant to ease the pressure, the announcement sparked more transparency questions among Democrats seeking to investigate not only DeJoy’s actions as postmaster, but the decision to put him in office.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she spoke to DeJoy on Wednesday morning and told him bluntly that his announcement to temporarily suspend operational changes to the postal service was “not a solution and was misleading “.
She said in a statement during their call that DeJoy “has candidly admitted that he has no plans to replace the sorting machines, blue mailboxes and other key mail infrastructure that have been removed and that ‘he schedules adequate overtime, which is essential for the speedy delivery of mail, is not being done. “
In a letter to DeJoy on Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described specific questions he hopes DeJoy will answer after warning DeJoy by phone on Tuesday of his imminent request for specific written information on the policies he is taking. he intended to suspend.
Questions include whether election mail will be treated as first class mail and whether blue mailboxes and mail sorting equipment that has already been removed will be returned.
Earlier Wednesday, Schumer also sent a letter to the Chairman of the Board of the Postal Services of the United States, Robert Duncan, renewing his request for the disclosure of information related to the selection of DeJoy, a longtime Republican donor.
His letter to Duncan describes privacy claims made by the Postal Service and the search firm used to select DeJoy, called Russell Reynolds, which Schumer says have obstructed Congressional oversight of the Postal Service and is asking that Russell Reynolds be released. of the non-disclosure agreement. what they said prohibits them from disclosing information about DeJoy’s selection to Congress.
It also rouses concerns that Schumer has expressed about the role Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin may have played in the selection of DeJoy.
The Council’s response was silent on the role played by White House and Treasury Department officials in the research process. Recent reports have raised President Trump’s personal obsession and grievances against the Postal Service and his desire to replace the old postmaster, “Schumer wrote. “As part of my investigation, my office learned of the role Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had in the Post Board of Governors, including through meetings with individual governors as well as phone calls with groups. of Governors, which had not yet been disclosed by the Council. ”
Despite Democrats’ concerns about the postal voting that millions of Americans rely on amid the pandemic, Trump continued to attack the practice on Wednesday, tweeting “IF YOU CAN PROTECT IN PERSON, YOU CAN VOTE IN PERSON” – less than 24 hours ago his Facebook page posted a video of him singing his mail-in ballot on Facebook.
His persistence comes as more than 20 state attorneys general are pursuing at least two lawsuits against the Trump administration and the US Postal Service, among others, claiming the service broke the law by making operational changes without seeking approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission and that the changes hamper the ability of states to conduct free and fair elections.
Pelosi said on Tuesday that the House of Representatives would also vote Saturday on a bill to reverse those operational changes DeJoy says he is now suspending and providing $ 25 billion in support.
In a briefing Tuesday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said it was a “prank” that there was an emergency with the Postal Service and accused Pelosi and the Democrats of suing a “manufactured crisis” by returning to the session this weekend for the question.
“This idea that there is this emergency that Nancy Pelosi has to rush to Capitol Hill to resolve is a farce,” McEnany said. “This is wrong. The real thing happening here is that Nancy Pelosi is feeling the pressure from her members, from her constituents, because she has not brought relief to Americans.
She said the White House was open to additional funding for the postal service and would not cap its number, adding that she would be willing to consider the $ 25 billion proposed by Democrats.
While McEnany denounced what she argued was an unnecessary emergency session this weekend in the House, she also called Pelosi “reckless” and said the White House was waiting for her to “come back and do its job ”to reach an agreement for direct payments. for the Americans, seeking to blame the Democrats entirely for the stalemate between the two parties.
Elizabeth Thomas of ABC News contributed to this report.
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