President Trump on Monday claimed to be unaware of a report that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy reimbursed employees of his former company for political contributions, saying that DeJoy should be fired if he had violated campaign finance law.
“I don’t know too much about it, I read something about it this morning,” Trump told reporters Monday at a White House press conference.
The president went on to call DeJoy a “very respected man,” but, asked if he supported an investigation into the allegations, said “sure.”
“I think he’s a very honest guy, but we’ll see,” the president added.
Asked if DeJoy should lose his job if he is found to have run afoul of campaign finance law, Trump responded “Yeah, if something can be proven that he did something wrong, always.”
The Washington Post reported Sunday that during his tenure as CEO of North Carolina-based company New Breed Logistics, DeJoy had strongly encouraged employees to contribute to Republican candidates and compensated them for doing so.
“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,” David Young, who served as director of human resources for New Breed Logistics under DeJoy, told The Washington Post. “When we got our bonuses, let’s just say they were bigger, they exceeded expectations — and that covered the tax and everything else.”
“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 spokesperson for DeJoy, told the Post.
So-called straw donor schemes are illegal under federal and state law. The statute of limitations at the federal level is five years but there is no statute of limitations at the state level.