Documents Show DeJoy Hired Staff with Ties to His Businesses

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy brought in staff connected to his business ventures when he took over the United States Postal Service this summer, according to resumes and employment records obtained by American Oversight.

The documents, first reported by CNN Tuesday night, show that during the first two weeks of his tenure at the agency, DeJoy hired four staffers — his chief of staff, two senior executive advisers, and his senior executive administrative assistant — with ties to his private-sector work. 

Cost-cutting measures implemented by DeJoy, a major fundraiser for President Donald Trump with investments in companies that have business interests in USPS operations, have caused widespread mail delays even as the pandemic made the country more dependent than ever on delivery services. 

Those controversial changes and the president’s own unsupported claims about vote-by-mail fraud spurred an ongoing congressional investigation into whether the Trump administration is seeking to use the agency to undermine the upcoming election, although DeJoy denies the changes are politically motivated. 

“This is the story we’ve seen over and over in the Trump administration: One set of rules for the president and his closest allies, and another for everyone else,” said American Oversight Executive Director Austin Evers. “DeJoy’s cost-cutting initiatives that have caused delivery delays across the country don’t seem to apply to his own staff.”.

DeJoy started as postmaster general on June 15. His base salary was $303,460, according to the documents, which were obtained from a Freedom of Information Act request American Oversight filed August 27 as part of our ongoing investigation into political interference at the U.S. Postal Service. 

On June 20, Heather Clarke and Emily Saunders joined the agency. Clarke was hired as DeJoy’s chief of staff at a base salary of $184,900, per the documents. 

While much of the content of the resumes were redacted by USPS, they do reveal general job histories. Clarke’s resume lists her as having most recently worked both at LDJ Global Strategies, DeJoy’s real-estate investment and consulting firm, and at DeJoy’s family foundation. Prior to that, she worked for 20 years at New Breed Logistics and XPO Logistics Supply Chain. XPO Logistics acquired DeJoy’s firm New Breed in 2014, after which DeJoy joined XPO’s Board of Directors. 

Saunders was an administrative assistant at LDJ Global Strategies before joining USPS, according to her resume. 

She was hired at USPS with a base salary of $85,000, the documents show.

Senior Executive Advisers Kelly Abney and Patrick Fiorentino both started on June 27, with base salaries of $195,000 and $180,000, respectively. Both previously worked at XPO Logistics. 

American Oversight is currently suing USPS to compel the release of DeJoy’s calendar, which the agency in August claimed was a “personal record” not subject to release under FOIA — despite its being accessed by agency staff and kept on a government computer. 

Calendars used by senior government officials are frequently produced in response to FOIA requests and American Oversight has already obtained and published dozens of similar documents. Similarly, USPS also recently denied American Oversight’s FOIA request for the calendar entries of DeJoy’s senior staff.