Elise Stefanik alleges USPS workers stole her campaign mail, up to $20,000 in donations

New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik on Friday alleged that United States Postal Service workers stole up to $20,000 in campaign contributions and illegally opened her mail to do so.

"On four separate occasions between June 2022 and November 2022, packages sent by Elise for Congress containing campaign contributions were ripped open and the contents stolen while in the custody of USPS or its contractors," her lawyers wrote to Postmaster General Louis Dejoy in a letter the Daily Wire obtained. "Three of these incidents occurred in a single week."

"In each case, the evidence indicates that Elise for Congress’s packages were plundered by a USPS employee or contractor while the packages were in transit," they continued. "These repeated security failures by USPS have not only resulted in the loss of nearly $20,000 in campaign contributions, but also—and more alarmingly—have exposed hundreds of Congresswoman Stefanik’s campaign supporters to potential identity theft or financial fraud."

They further acknowledged that the USPS Office of the Inspector General was investigating the thefts and that the campaign was told to expect a report that has not yet materialized.

Stefanik's lawyers set a Dec. 8, 2022 deadline for the USPS to provide them with a list of actions taken to investigate the thefts, an outline of steps taken to protect her campaign mail in the future, and a list of actions the USPS will take to better tackle mail theft nationwide.

They further highlighted the threat that mail theft poses to ordinary Americans, saying "[m]ail thieves often specifically target packages they believe contain cash or checks, which are then 'washed,' re-written, and cashed. Thieves also target the personal information of the individual who wrote the check, selling that information or using it themselves to facilitate identify theft."

"We hope that you and USPS are taking these systemic issues as seriously as they deserve to be taken," the concluded.