House Democrats to investigate accusations DeJoy reimbursed former employees for GOP contributions

House Democrats have launched a probe into allegations Postmaster General Louis DeJoy pressured employees of his former company to make campaign contributions he later reimbursed.

House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said in a statement the panel will investigate whether DeJoy lied under oath. She also called on the U.S. Postal Service’s Board of Governors to suspend DeJoy, saying “they never should have hired [him] in the first place.”

The Washington Post reported Sunday that as CEO of North Carolina-based New Breed Logistics, DeJoy and aides pressured employees to contribute to GOP candidates and compensated them in the form of bonuses. Such an arrangement would be illegal under federal and state law, it added, noting that the federal law has a five-year statute of limitations but there is no statute of limitations at the state level.

If the allegations are true, Maloney said, DeJoy would face “criminal exposure,” both for the payments and “for lying to our committee.”

DeJoy denied reimbursing employees for contributions to Trump’s campaign in testimony before the committee last month.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has also called for an investigation by the North Carolina attorney general.

“These are very serious allegations that must be investigated immediately, independent of Donald Trump’s Justice Department,” Schumer said in a statement on Sunday.

The Post, which first reported the House Oversight committee investigation, analyzed federal and state campaign finance records and found 124 employees donated over $1 million to GOP candidates between 2000 and 2014.

“Mr. 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,” Monty Hagler, a spokesman for DeJoy, told the newspaper .

President Trump said on Monday that he was not familiar with the allegations against DeJoy but said he should lose his job “if something can be proven that he did something wrong.”

–Updated at 8:58 a.m.