The Trump administration denied a report that President Donald Trump will dismantle the controlling board of the U.S. Postal Service and mount a "takeover."
The original report from the Washington Post said the Postal Service would be moved move to the control of the Commerce Department under Secretary Howard Lutnick.
The Post reported information from several unnamed sources who provided the information anonymously because of "fears of reprisal."
"This is not true. No such EO (executive order) is in the works, and Secretary Lutnick is not pushing for such an EO," an unnamed White House official said, CNN reported.
The report prompted a call of alarm from Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.
"If President Trump moves forward with this action to take over and privatize the Postal Service – not only will it be completely illegal – it will harm veterans, small business owners, rural communities, and all Americans who depend on the Postal Service for timely and reliable mail delivery," Peters said in a statement. "President Trump is clearly only interested in boosting private companies and leaving Americans without the critical lifeline the Postal Service provides. I call on the President to take the needs of everyday Americans seriously and reverse course."
Reports last fall during the presidential campaign claimed that Trump, if reelected, would radically alter the postal service, which brought an immediate critical response at the time from the American Postal Workers Union, which also responded to the new report.
"Any attack on the Postal Service would be part of the billionaire oligarch coup, directed not just at the postal workers our union represents, but the millions of Americans who rely on the critical public service our members provide every single day," the union said in a statement.