Trump to Postal Chief: Do What I Say With Amazon

Turns out President Trump isn't just attacking the Postal Service on Twitter. In off-the-book meetings, he's been urging US Postmaster General Megan Brennan to hike package-delivery charges for Amazon and other companies by 100%—a change that could add billions to their bills, insiders tell the Washington Post. Brennan has refused, saying the deals benefit the Postal Service, but Trump is building pressure with his Twitter attacks and a government review of the contracts. Meanwhile, the Postal Service is still losing money ($2.7 billion net loss last year, per Business Insider) and borrowing from the Treasury Department's Federal Financing Bank to stay afloat.

But the Postal Service says hiking their package contracts (which remain private) would only help competitors. "Some of our competitors in the package delivery space would dearly love for the Postal Service to aggressively raise our rates higher than the marketplace can bear—so they could either charge more themselves or siphon away postal customers," a Postal Service spokesman wrote in the Hill. Adding further confusion, Trump's aides disagree on whether Amazon is paying enough or keeping the Postal Service in business. And some White House officials say Trump is only attacking Amazon because of articles published in the Post, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeffrey Bezos. (More US Postal Service stories.)