CLAIM: U.S. President Donald Trump is “trying to sabotage our postal service to keep people from being able to vote.”
VERDICT: FALSE
Former Acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates, while addressing the 2020 Democrat National Convention (DNC) on Tuesday, accused President Donald Trump of trying to cripple the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to prevent people from voting in the upcoming presidential election.
Her accusations echo claims by other Democrats, including the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Joe Biden.
In recent days, Democrats have been pushing the false “mailbox conspiracy” theory that Trump is trying to sabotage the USPS so that it cannot handle votes by mail in November.
Democrats have alleged Trump is forcing the federal agency to remove mailboxes.
However, the USPS has been removing mailboxes for years, mainly from areas where few people use them.
Under the Obama-Biden administration, at least 14,000 were removed, Breitbart News recently noted.
Democrats have also accused the president of trying to cripple mail-in voting by denying funding to USPS in the potential economic coronavirus stimulus package that lawmakers are currently debating.
Nevertheless, Trump recently said he is open to including additional funding for USPS in the potential bill.
“The President is very clear he is willing to provide money for the post office,” White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters Monday.
That day, President Trump said he had directed his administration to “speed up” mail delivery.
“I have encouraged everybody to speed up the mail, not slow the mail,” Trump told reporters outside the White House.
Early this month, Trump indicated that he opposed funding for the USPS in the potential stimulus package, citing concerns that the cash-strapped federal agency would not be able to handle mail-in voting proposed by Democrats.
Trump believes mail-in voting would result in widespread election fraud.
USPS recently sent letters warning 46 states and the nation’s capital that it could not guarantee that all mail-in ballots cast for the presidential election would arrive on time for the election.
Amid criticism from outraged Democrats about cost-cutting changes to the post office as the nation gets ready to choose the next president, Trump expressed support for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Saturday.
“He’s a fantastic man, he wants to make the Post Office great again,” the commander-in-chief told reporters.
DeJoy has announced that he is delaying the Post Office changes until after the election, but that has not stopped Democrats from complaining.
Leftist protesters, enraged, at least partly, by the conspiracies disseminated by Democrats recently gathered at DeJoy’s home, accuse him of voter suppression.
On Saturday, Trump described DeJoy as “a very efficient operator” and said it was not true that he was trying to hinder vote by mail.
“He’s a fantastic man He wants to make the Post Office great again,” Trump told reporters.
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