Washington (WBAP/KLIF) – White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Sunday that the US Postal Service will not dismantle any mail-sorting machines between now and Election Day.
“Sorting machines between now and Election Day will not be taken off line,” Meadows told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”
Meadows first told Tapper that sorting machines being taken offline was “not happening” and that claims to the contrary were simply the product of Democrats trying to “stoke fear” with a “political narrative.”]
Meadows was pressed to explain why sorting machines have been taken offline recently under new rules, Meadows said:
“Get your producer to share where exactly those sorting machines were taken offline. Let them whisper in your ear, because what I’m telling you is you’re picking up on a narrative that’s not based on facts.”
Mark Meadows pressed on Trump’s false claims of mail-in voter fraud https://t.co/4WxharTPqR via @YouTube
— bad puss (@666oldnick) August 16, 2020
The postal service has come under criticism lately for dismantling some mail sorting machines across the country and planning on more.
Chris Bentley, president of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union Local 297, which covers Kansas and part of Missouri said postal management had already taken out four machines in Kansas City, two machines in Springfield, Missouri, and one machine in Wichita, Kansas.
Several states say they are considering legal action against the Trump administration and the USPS to stop them from using new operational changes that could slow mail service leading up to the presidential election, which will rely heavily on mail-in voting.
https://twitter.com/daft_editor/status/1294815199942152192
Internal USPS planning documents obtained by CNN indicate nearly 95% of the mail sorting machines that had been set for removal during the last few months were already scheduled to be taken out of service by now.
Can someone pls explain who is removing mailboxes from our streets? This is voter suppression! #USPS pic.twitter.com/2ZVF3pXB0g
— Morgan J. Freeman (@mjfree) August 14, 2020
Meantime, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling lawmakers back and several states considering legal action. Top Democrats in Congress called on Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and another top postal official to testify this month at a hearing on a wave of cuts that has slowed mail delivery across the country, alarming lawmakers ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
Weekend protests saw scores of people demonstrating outside the North Carolina home of new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
(Copyright 2020 WBAP/KLIF 24/7 News. This report contains material from the Twitter)
