Meadows signals DeJoy will cooperate with congressional investigation

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Tuesday argued that a House investigation into Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is politically motivated but signaled that DeJoy will cooperate with the probe nonetheless.

“Never underestimate Congress’s ability to ratchet up an investigation 60 days out from a presidential election,” Meadows told reporters at the White House.

“The political rhetoric gets heated and accusations get thrown away, and then many times right after the presidential election, voilà, they go away,” he added.

Meadows said he believes DeJoy will “cooperate completely,” calling him an “honorable man.”

“We serve in a great country where you’re innocent until proven guilty, especially when that guilt is thrown your way by members of Congress,” he said.

DeJoy has come under scrutiny in the lead up to the November elections amid bipartisan outcry over changes at the Postal Service that could hinder the delivery and return of mail ballots. Last week, he was the subject of a Washington Post investigation over reimbursements in the form of bonuses for political donations his employees made prior to his time in government.

House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) last week issued a subpoena for DeJoy for documents related to recent reforms at the Postal Service.

Maloney this week launched a probe into the allegations that DeJoy pressured employees of his former company to make campaign contributions, which he later reimbursed via bonuses.

Maloney said in a statement that her committee will investigate whether DeJoy lied under oath. She also called on the Postal Service’s board of governors to suspend DeJoy, saying “they never should have hired [him] in the first place.”

President Trump told reporters on Monday he would support an investigation into the campaign donations and that DeJoy should lose his job “if something can be proven that he did something wrong.”