Thread by @weareoversight

NEW: Through #FOIA, we obtained nearly 10,000 pages of #USPS documents, reports the @washingtonpost.

The documents reveal a scrapped plan to send masks to Americans, a standoff with Amazon, and more.
washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020…

Here’s a breakdown of the key findings.

This 7 page memo—produced by an external law firm—explored whether Treasury could take over USPS. It concluded that was not legally possible.

americanoversight.org/new-post-offic…

There is a draft press release for a plan for “U.S. Postal Service to Deliver Face Coverings to Every American Household.” This release suggests this plan made it pretty far off the ground but never came to fruition.

The documents include many memos on potential loans to USPS from Treasury, including conditions that would be placed on CARES Act funding and Treasury’s ability to impose such conditions.

The documents show that in an April 9 meeting, Amazon executives “stated their concerns” about USPS finances and questioned the Postal Service’s “viability to them as a continued shipping partner.”

The documents also shed light on Trump lawyer Stephan Passantino’s involvement with USPS. The Trump Org hired Passantino last year to help it handle subpoenas from the House. Trump’s reelection campaign has paid him $60,000 since April for legal consulting.

Passantino appears to have given USPS legal advice on Covid-19 and vote-by-mail issues. Passantino worked with Rick Hohlt—a longtime Republican lobbyist.

As the Post writes, “The documents, which mostly span March and April, depict an agency in distress, as its deteriorating finances collided with a public-health emergency and a looming election that would be heavily reliant on absentee ballots.”

“I see President Trump’s fingerprints all over,” said our @AREvers. “It’s clear from the president’s public comments, and the actions of his administration, he has a major agenda for the post office — and we see a lot of it in black and white here.”