US Postal Service, Facing Attacks By Donald Trump, Arrested His Former Campaign Adviser Steve Bannon
Donald Trump has leveled a number of attacks against the U.S. Postal Service in recent weeks, calling it a “joke” and publicly opposing funding increases to help the agency weather the impact of the coronavirus and handle an expected surge in mail-in voting in this fall’s presidential election.
On Thursday, it was the service’s inspections unit that helped to carry out the arrest of Steve Bannon, the former chief strategist for Trump’s 2016 campaign and a major architect of many of his key focus areas. As Bloomberg noted, the Postal Service’s role in Bannon’s arrest on a series of mail fraud charges intensified the debate over what critics see as improper attacks on the agency by Trump and his allies, with a goal of hindering its ability to handle mail-in voting, which Trump has attacked as ripe for fraud.
As The Inquisitr reported, Bannon was arrested on Thursday while aboard a 150-foot yacht off the coast of Connecticut, an operation that involved not only post office investigators, but also the U.S. Coast Guard. Bannon is charged with a series of crimes related to a private fundraiser to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border — a key pledge of Trump’s 2016 campaign.
As the report noted, many of Trump’s critics took to social media to note the irony of the post office — which has faced attacks by the president — carrying out an investigation that led to the detainment of his former top adviser. Others saw the investigation as proof of the important contributions of an agency that had been described by Trump earlier this week as “failing for many decades.”
The U.S. Post Office (System) has been failing for many decades. We simply want to MAKE THE POST OFFICE GREAT AGAIN, while at the same time saving billions of dollars a year for American Taxpayers. Dems don’t have a clue! @USPostOffice911
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2020
Some of the president’s more vocal critics appeared to take a measure of gloating regarding the post office nabbing Trump’s former top strategist.
“The fact that the Postal Service played a part in this Bannon arrest is f*cking GLORIOUS,” tweeted Republican strategist-turned-Trump critic Rick Wilson.
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was indicted for defrauding millions for a privately-funded border wall.
And in a third-act twist only found in 2020, he was arrested by agents from the U.S. Postal Service. pic.twitter.com/99EZBFapeI
— The Recount (@therecount) August 20, 2020
Prior to Bannon’s detainment, Trump had come under sharp criticism for what opponents saw as attempts to undermine the post office and hinder its ability to allow voting by mail in the November election — charges that he has denied. He has repeatedly claimed that the election would not be legitimate if states were allowed to widely expand this form of voting, though opponents say he has not offered any evidence to back his claims and that prior evidence shows mail-in balloting is safe.
Trump distanced himself from Bannon on Thursday, saying he did not approve of the private fundraiser to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and had no involvement in the campaign that led to Bannon facing charges.
