Louis DeJoy's GOP campaign donations scandal, explained

Louis DeJoy testifying
(Image credit: TOM WILLIAMS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

President Trump's new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, has been in hot water lately. First, the North Carolina businessman and Trump donor set in motion sweeping policy changes within the USPS in the crucial months leading up to a presidential election that is expected to see unprecedented levels of mail-in voting. He suspended those changes after reports of delays and management problems within the postal service, but Democrats say he has yet to provide the House Oversight Committee with documents related to his proposed changes. He also apparently doesn't know how much it costs to mail a postcard.

That's all bad, but it's not illegal. The latest scandal, unearthed by The Washington Post, regards DeJoy's financial contributions to GOP politicians. In short: "He may have violated campaign finance laws," says the Post's Paul Waldman.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"With the facts presented, it's a run-of-the-mill but very illegal corporate straw donor scheme," Adav Noti, a former top lawyer with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and now with the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, told the Post's Amber Phillips.

If the allegations are true, what will happen to DeJoy? As Phillips explains, chief executives have faced prison time in similar circumstances, but that's unlikely in this case thanks to statute of limitations laws, and because the Justice Department "has a long-standing policy of not opening election-related investigations this close to an election."

Read more about the allegations at The Washington Post.

Explore More
Jessica Hullinger

Jessica Hullinger is a writer and former deputy editor of The Week Digital. Originally from the American Midwest, she completed a degree in journalism at Indiana University Bloomington before relocating to New York City, where she pursued a career in media. After joining The Week as an intern in 2010, she served as the title’s audience development manager, senior editor and deputy editor, as well as a regular guest on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. Her writing has featured in other publications including Popular Science, Fast Company, Fortune, and Self magazine, and she loves covering science and climate-related issues.