REVEALED: GOP mega-donor Louis DeJoy gave $685,000 to the Republican National Convention before Trump named him to head the postal service
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who has been accused by Democrats of sabotaging the US Postal Service to help President Trump win re-election, donated more than $685,000 to help stage the recent Republican convention.
New filings that were first reported by CNN show that DeJoy, a North Carolina businessman, was one of the leading Republican fundraisers for the convention before he was named head of the US Postal Service.
The filings released on Friday by the Federal Election Commission show that between December 2018 and March 2020, DeJoy donated $685,230 to the Charlotte Host Committee.
In total, the committee raked in more than $44million and spent more than $38million.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy donated more than $685,000 to a committee that staged the Republican National Convention, according to election filings. DeJoy is a prolific Republican fundraiser and supporter of President Trump
Host committees are nonprofit organizations that solicit donations from corporations and individual supporters of political parties.
That money is then used to stage elaborate conventions usually in large arenas that hold up to 20,000 people.
This year, however, the coronavirus pandemic forced both parties to hold more scaled-down versions of their conventions.
After North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, imposed limits on mass gatherings due to the pandemic, the Republicans planned to shift some parts of the event to Jacksonville, Florida.
But the logistical aspects proved to be untenable, and the plans for Jacksonville were canceled as well.
The GOP ended up conducting some parts of the convention in a smaller venue in Charlotte while the major speeches were held elsewhere.
Trump accepted the GOP nomination in a speech from the South Lawn of the White House.
Democrats have accused DeJoy of putting in place policies that sabotage the US Postal Service as it prepares to handle millions of ballots for the upcoming November 3 election. A postal worker is seen above in Los Angeles on August 22
Among the other major donors to the convention host committee were software giant Oracle, which gave $500,000; the American Petroleum Institute, which gave $1.5million; and Bank of America, which donated $5.2million.
Before he was named postmaster general, DeJoy headed New Breed Logistics, a North Carolina-based company that he led from 1983 to 2014 when it was acquired by XPO Logistics.
Last month, The Washington Post reported that DeJoy, who is a major Trump donor, had asked employees at the company to make political contributions and then reimbursed them later with company funds.
The Post reported that five former New Breed employees, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they were urged by DeJoy's aides or by the chief executive himself to write checks and attend fundraisers at his mansion.
They told the newspaper that DeJoy later reimbursed them through bonuses.
'Louis was a national fundraiser for the Republican Party. He asked employees for money. We gave him the money, and then he reciprocated by giving us big bonuses,' said David Young, the company's longtime director of human resources, who is now retired but had access to payroll records at New Breed from the late 1990s to 2013.
Directly or indirectly reimbursing employee campaign contributions violates federal election laws.
The arrangement is sometimes used to evade limits on campaign contributions.
It's not known whether an investigation is under way or being considered.
DeJoy 'was never notified by the New Breed employees referenced by the Washington Post of any pressure they might have felt to make a political contribution, and he regrets if any employee felt uncomfortable for any reason,' his spokesman said.
Josh Stein, the North Carolina attorney general, said in a statement that he could not comment on specific cases but that 'any credible allegations of such actions merit investigation by the appropriate state and federal authorities'.
The Washington Post last month published a story about New Breed Logistics, a North Carolina-based company that DeJoy led from 1983 to 2014, on Sunday (file photo). DeJoy is accused of pressuring his employees to donate money to political candidates
A spokesman for XPO Logistics said that the company 'stays out of politics' and that staff have the same 'right as anyone else to support candidates of their choosing in their free time,' according to the Post.
The president said last month that he would support an investigation into DeJoy.
'Let the investigations go,' Trump told reporters at a White House news conference.
Trump said the postmaster general is a 'very respected man,' and that if it can be proven that he did something wrong, he should lose his job.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called for the North Carolina attorney general to probe allegations against DeJoy.
DeJoy has been in the political spotlight after ordering operational changes and a clampdown on overtime in a bid to fix the financially troubled US Postal Service.
Democrats have accused him of deliberately disrupting the Postal Service just as millions of Americans consider whether to cast their ballots by mail in the November 3 presidential election.
Trump has claimed that the mail-in voting system is vulnerable to widespread fraud.
Last month, a federal judge blocked some of DeJoy's policy changes, calling them 'a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service' before the November election.
Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Washington, issued a nationwide preliminary injunction sought by 14 states that sued the Trump administration and the US Postal Service.
The states challenged the Postal Service's so-called 'leave behind' policy, where trucks have been leaving postal facilities on time regardless of whether there is more mail to load.
They also sought to force the Postal Service to treat election mail as first class mail.
The judge noted after a hearing that Trump had repeatedly attacked voting by mail by making unfounded claims that it is rife with fraud.
Many more voters are expected to vote by mail this November because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the states have expressed concern that delays might result in voters not receiving ballots or registration forms in time.
'The states have demonstrated the defendants are involved in a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service,' Bastian said.
He also said the changes created 'a substantial possibility many voters will be disenfranchised.'
Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, questioned DeJoy during a hearing before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on August 24 over his controversial policies at the US Postal Service
This past summer, DeJoy was subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee for 'witholding' documents about mail delays and communications with the Trump campaign.
The subpoena sought documents related to operational changes that have slowed mail, and the agency's plans for the presidential election.
The request comes after the Democrat's committee chair Rep Carolyn Maloney said DeJoy has not sufficiently answered the panel's requests for more information.
'It is clear that a subpoena has become necessary to further the Committee´s investigation and help inform potential legislative actions,' Maloney, a Democrat from New York, said last week.
De Joy's appointment in June set in motion a set of policy changes that have delayed mail and sparked concern over the agency's ability to process mail-in ballots this fall.
He has appeared before Congress twice in recent weeks to testify about the removal of the agency's blue collection boxes and mail sorting machines, as well as changes to trucking operations and overtime hours that postal workers say are resulting in delays.
Amid a public outcry, DeJoy said he halted some of the changes until after election.
Democrats have been pushing for increased oversight of the Postal Service following DeJoy's operational changes and Trump's baseless claims that mail-in voting will lead to widespread fraud.