"Now," Says AOC, "Where's His Unaltered Calendar?" House Dems Subpoena Postmaster General Louis DeJoy

September 3, 2020

 
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Matt Johnson)

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Matt Johnson)

By Jon Queally

Common Dreams

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena on Wednesday requesting documents from U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy—including unredacted copies of his official government calendar—as a way to compel the head of the USPS, also a major GOP and Trump donor, to come clean about possible conflicts of interest or communications with the White House related to controversial changes made under his leadership at the Postal Service in recent months.

Accusing DeJoy of "withholding from Congress" the key documents it has requested as part of its oversight authority, the committee had made clear repeatedly that it would issue a subpoena if non-compliance continued.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), the Oversight chair, has said failing to produce the documents was unacceptable. As CNN reported Monday:

During DeJoy's testimony last week, the Committee on Oversight and Reform requested documents on the changes made to the postal service that caused widespread delays across the country by August 26. According to a statement from the committee, no documents were produced and two days after the deadline, DeJoy sent a letter to the committee that said, "I trust my August 24 testimony before the Committee on Oversight and Reform clarified any outstanding questions you had."

The committee's request include a lengthy schedule (pdf) of documents and information for DeJoy to hand over, including his "complete, unredacted calendar from June 15, 2020, to the present."

During a hearing before the Oversight Committee on Aug. 24, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) grilled Dejoy over possible DeJoy's meeting calendar—including whether it might contain records of any conflicts of interest—and the congresswoman remarked aloud about the possibility of a subpoena if the Postmaster General would not provide such information voluntarily:

On Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez said on social media that DeJoy, given adequate and repeated warnings, had no reason to be surprised the subpoena was issued:

 "They knew the consequences of stalling," she stated. "Now, where's his unaltered calendar?"


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