Meanwhile, nbc news has obtained an internal u. S. Postal Service Document which reveals plans to remove 671 high volume Mail Processing machines from postal facilities across the country. The agency told nbc news in a statement that these are simply part of normal business adjustments. Of course this is all happening amid escalating fears that the president and the postmaster general, louis dejoy, a trump donor and political ally, are political sizing the agency to help trump win the election or at a minimum, to sow doubt about the results if he loses. President trump has acknowledged he is blocking funding to the post office in an attempt to halt mailin voting. He does not pretend its something else. Two sources confirmed to nbc news that dejoy met with the president in the Oval Office Last week which means President Trump misled reporters two days ago when he claimed he hadnt spoken to dejoy. How often do president s and postmaster generals have oneonones in the oval office in previous administrations . Just ask yourself that. A recent memo from the post mastery acknowledged that cutbacks have resulted in, quote, unintended consequences that impacted our Overall Service levels although he vows that the Postal Service should be able to handle the election. They process and deliver 472 million pieces of mail every single day. So over 3 billion a week. And with numbers that big, its hard to see how a few million, you know, even 100 million of mailin ballots would somehow overload the system over the span of a couple of weeks unless you want your system overloaded which only raises questions about these warning letters. Are you really telling me the post office, which handles over 400 million pieces of mail a day, cannot handle an extra 120 million mailin ballots over a month . The math doesnt compute, folks. Meanwhile, democrats on capitol hill have grown increasingly uneasy. Pelosi and schumer put out a joint Statement Today calling the president s handling of the post office an aabuse of power although its unclear what democrats on capitol hill can do about it. Abuses of power is one of those things that raises the i word. The white house has confirmed that President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have requested to vote, you guessed it, by mail. Joining me now my nbc news geoff bennett, the one tasked with following every angle of the Postal Service story for us. Leigh ann caldwell is on capitol hill, and chipeter baker, chief political analyst for the new york times. Geoff, these letters to state, now it turns out, basically looks like almost every state got one. The post has it at 46. Were surprised that wisconsin for some reason has not gotten one, for instance. And now were learning about this decision to get rid of these mail sorting machines. What more are we learning today from the purview of the Postal Service . I can tell you based on my conversations with postal workers, union reps, and postal officials, to the point you made at the opening of the show, chuck, youre right, this is not a capacity issue. Mail is down some 30 . As you mentioned, the post office handles some 50 million pieces of mail a day. There were some 140 million americans who voted back in 2016. So its not an issue of capacity. It has to do with the delays that have been caused by the policy changes put in place by the new postmaster general. As you mentioned, that internal memo i obtained that was circulated yesterday, louis dejoy admits his policy changes have had the unintended consequences of creating delays. But people who know him tell me that he views the Postal Service as a business. He does not view it as a service, even though service is contained in its name. So hes focused on making sure the agency is solvent. That is why, he says, hes taken these drastic steps to cut overtime, to cut staffing, that have resulted in two to threeday delays, in some places its been a weeklong delay. Thats what has led to the usps now warning some 46 of 50 states that even American Voters who follow their state guidelines could end up having their ballot disqualified if they choose mailin balloting. In pennsylvania, for instance, the pennsylvania election officials, theyre expecting a 50 uptick in mailin balloting due to the coronavirus. Writ large, you have Officials Say they at least expected 10 uptick. Now you have the Postal Service saying in these states, if people request, complete, and send back a ballot, with the deadlines and delays, they may not and likely wont show up in time. Let me ask you this, geoff. The president today seemed to hint that hes fine if the Postal Service gets more resources to handle this if democrats come their way on a whole bunch of issues. Is the president serious about that or, you know, are they that concerned now that he now realizes that if youve got something late in the mail, meme are going to blame him and hes now realizing that might not be a good idea . Well, theres been bipartisan backlash, because Everyone Needs the Postal Service. It has more than just ballots, but checks and stuff. I would file it under believe it when it happens, because the president has given conflicting signals, as you know, about what he will accept in any sort of coronavirus deal. Theres no signal that the talks will resume anytime soon. A word about the cash infusion, though, the Postal Service says they have the capacity to handle election mail even without the roughly 4 billion that democrats are calling for. But the reason why the money is important is because it would take off the table the rationale, the explanation that louis dejoy has given for these cuts. If the Postal Service gets anywhere between 4 to 10 billion in the next Coronavirus Relief bill, then you have a convincing argument that hey, you dont have to cut overtime, you dont have to remove nearly 700 high volume sorting machines, as i learned today in a document i obtained. So thats one of the reasons why the cash, Postal Service workers and union reps tell me, is important. Leanne call leanne caldwell, elizabeth Warrens Office says the Inspector General is now on the beat and the investigation into dejoy has begun. But whats capitol hill going to do . Yeah, chuck, theres a lot of outrage on capitol hill. With no clear path forward on how theyre going to deal with this. You referenced Speaker Pelosi and democratic leader schumers statement where they called on President Trump to stop sabotaging the Postal Service ahead of the election. Representative connolly of virginia, the head of the subcommittee in the house, was the first person to call on the postmaster general to resign. Then theres republican discontent as well. Senator Susan Collins of maine sent her own letter calling on these policies to be reversed. And even House Republican leader mccarthy said that the Postal Service is going to get the money it needs. So while there is bipartisan, as geoff said, outrage on both sides, you know, congress is still in this position of trying to do oversight and trying to rein in the administration. And the Postal Service, which is, you know, this weird tangential part of the government, without a clear path. All this money is caught up, this 10 billion, 25 billion that the democrats want, is caught up in these covid relief talks that are completely stalemated. Ive asked parties if they are perhaps pelosis office or schumers office, if perhaps theyre going to move forward on standalone legislation to fund the post office or to invoke some sort of policy changes there. And they keep pointing to the covid relief talks. There doesnt seem to be a lot of incentive at this point to move unilaterally on that one issue. But, you know, congress is gone for at least three more weeks anyway, so this is going to just continue to be an issue where people are yelling about it without any clear path on what congress can do. So if nothing happens in the next three weeks, were past the point of no return of them being able to unless the Postal Service magically changes its policies, right, leanne . Yeah, i mean, for example, North Carolina, september 4 is when theyre starting to mail out their first batch of absentee ballots. Were getting extremely close to all these really critical deadlines leading up to this election. And so it could be too little, too late if Congress Even decides to do anything. Peter baker, lets take a step back here. Is this domestic ukraine . I mean, is this the president meddling in the same way, he thought he had a great idea to meddle with biden and he ended up getting himself impeached by what he did in ukraine. I feel like hes doing the same thing, hes sort of using his power in ways that no ones ever tried before for political benefit, going through the Postal Service, i mean, again, is this domestic ukraine . Its an interesting comparison. Hes not acting like somebody who doesnt have a stake in this. Hes not acting like somebody whos simply concerned about the capacity of the Postal Service and the integrity of the system. Hes acting like somebody who is trying to damage credibility in an election that hes currently losing according to the polls, right . If somebody is really concerned about the integrity of the mailin voting process, then you would think he would be moving all out to try to do something to shore it up, to make sure it was going to be safe, make sure it was going to be efficient, make sure it was going to be effective, make sure it was going to be things he says he wants. And instead, what you mostly hear is him saying its all going to be rigged, its all corrupt, and dont believe it. Even some of his own people who advise him have told us, look, this is his way of setting the narrative on the chance that he loses to joe biden, so he has something to point to, it wasnt that i lost, its that they stole the election. Well hear that more loudly in the weeks to come. Where it leaves the republicans, though, is in a difficult position because they actually want people to vote mailin. They have a lot of senate races, house races where theyre depending on their own voters to vote mailin as well. Theyve won races in part on mailin voting and they dont want to see the president undercutting their own efforts to get the vote out. And peter, it does seem to be, talk about taking on political baggage, so now if somethings late in the mail, people are going to blame the president. Exactly. No president wants to own the Postal Service because of course its been problematic for many years, long before President Trump came along. Its not the first time people have complained about the Postal Service. But youre right, now he has certain ownership of it. Unless they come up with some sort of deal in the near future to try to shore it up, infuse it with money, to take the politics away from this, people are going to look at him and say what the democrats said today, which is that hes trying to sabotage the election, fairly or not, theyre also setting a narrative at this point. And hes providing them ammunition to do it. I want to in fact, you know, as were here drilling down on the Postal Service, peter, but just look at the last couple of weeks. You have the Postal Service, you have Jared Kushner assisting and republican lawyers clearly working with kanye west, which as some pointed out, it is not clear what Jared Kushner is doing with kanye west. He may be breaking some sort of law if hes not careful there on that. Youve got what hes doing with bill barr where he basically said to barr, you better get it the way i want to get it or youre going to go down as an average guy. He seems to be trying to aggressively use whatever trapping of power he thinks can assist him in his election. Thats right, and hes probably going to give his acceptance speech for the nomination in a week and a half from the white house itself, the ultimate symbol of american power, not the normal place for a president to engage in that partisan politicking. Other president s have delivered political speeches from the white house, so its not the first time. But it will symbolize i think what youre talking about, which is a president who is, you know, seen as least as using the apparatus around him for his advantage. Thats what he was accused of doing with the ukraine, using the power of his office to go after his political opponents by leveraging a foreign power with money that was approved by the taxpayers. And, you know, it fits into i think a larger pattern of concern about where the line is drawn, where its not, with this administration. The prosecution of that fbi agent isnt that big a step. What a lot of people are concerned about is what if there are more prosecutions coming this fall, and will they have integrity or will they be seen as just the use of his administration to take on his enemies the way the president himself has been badgering the Justice Department to do. And the final question for you, is the president s decision to essentially allow the qanon conspiracy to be connected to him, he refuses to disown it, he refuses to discredit it. This is a very dangerous sort of political virus that seems to be making its way inside the republican party. Any insight as to why the president refuses to distance himself from qanon . Were just seeing the return of the conspiracy theorist president , right . Weve seen it at various points over the last four years. Just yesterday he floated this idea in the Briefing Room of the white house that Kamala Harris was born in california and is somehow not qualified to run for Vice President because her parents were immigrants, birtherism reduction from the obama days. Its the fringe, its the conspiracy theories. You watch the briefings lately, its been stacked with not just regular reporters but some from alternative, lets say, outlets, not even really very news oriented, but asking questions and advancing theories and suggestions and nonfacts that may confuse the public but for some reason the president is embracing and putting into the mainstream. Hes clearing some people into the press room that have no business having a press credential, thats for sure. Geoff bennett, leigh ann caldwell, peter baker, thank you for getting us started. Up ahead, well talk with one former post Office Insider who understands what these cutbacks really mean. Plus West Virginia senator joe manchin and what hes try to do to stop these cuts. Well be right back. These cuts. Well be right back. [ action music throughout ] every box has a mission to protect everything inside from everything outside. When whats inside matters, count on boxes. [ doorbell rings ] paper and packaging. How life unfolds. Simon pagenaud takes the lead at the indy 500 coming to the green flag, racing at daytona. Theyre off. In the kentucky derby. Rory mcllroy is a two time champion at east lake. He scores stanley cup champions touchdown only mahomes. The big events are back and xfinity is your home for the return of live sports. Welcome back. As we noted earlier in the show, democrats have grown increasingly uneasy about the president s efforts to Block Post Office funding in what he says is an attempt to halt mailin ballots. Remember, its the president suggesting this. As his postmaster general moves to cut resources at the agency. Democrats say the president is trying to cheat but its unclear what they intend to do about it. Senator joe manchin is vice chair of the relevant subcommittee. Senator manchin, tell me why you felt the need to visit various post offices in your home state. The post office is a lifeline to many West Virginians. They get medicine, checks, a lifeline. A lot of areas in rural West Virginia do not have good connectivity so broadband is not available. Thats the only lifeline they have. If they think theyre going to discredit it and turn it over to the private sector, it will be one heck of a fight from me and my fellow democrats. I wish my fellow republicans would speak up. I can see right now, i dont think its permeated down, chuck, but i got a phone call from a dear friend of mine, hes been a sheriff of a county, hes a veteran, hes a diabetic, and he hasnt gotten his medication. In my state six post offices have postings that theyre going to close. I called about that and they say it was a mistake. I accept a human error, but i guarantee, not one of those people did it on their own, it had to come from up above. Its showing me their true intent. It sounds like youre skeptical. Do you feel as if right now, do you have confidence in the postmaster general . Not at all, chuck, not at all. Okay. No, no. Should he be fired, should he resign . Oh, he shouldnt even be there to begin with, and any way you can get rid of him, please do so. He wont even talk to us, chuck. We represent our states respectively. I understand hes not talking to anybody. The answer we got from one of his top people was, hes not going to talk to anybody in congress probably signal september when h