The Washington Post may have gotten to the bottom of why USPS board chairman Ron Bloom mysteriously continues to support corrupt Postmaster Louis DeJoy, even after he awarded a $120 million contract to a company where he still has financial ties.

As the Post reported earlier in August, DeJoy’s family businesses lease four office buildings in North Carolina to his former company, XPO Logistics, which just got the $120 million contract. That could result in as much as $23.7 million in rent payments for DeJoy’s businesses.

While the deal doesn’t pass the smell test, it was somehow cleared by ethics officials at the Postal Service, even as DeJoy remains under investigation by the FBI for his political contributions and company activities involving XPO.

DeJoy is overseen by the U.S. Postal Service’s governing board, which means President Biden can’t fire him. But Postmaster DeJoy got some surprising and key support from the board’s chair.

Ron Bloom, the chair of the board of governors and Trump's only Democratic appointee, is sticking by DeJoy and this plan for who knows what reasons. "We do not and will not always agree," Bloom said, but insists everyone "has the best interest of the Postal Service at heart." He defended DeJoy's 10-year plan, saying it "further embeds the Postal Service as a critical part of this nation's infrastructure, providing reliable and affordable mail and package delivery to 161 million American households six and seven days a week."

WaPo may have found the answer, as Rachel Maddow explained last night:

Hey, Congress, maybe you should make DeJoy do some ‘splaining on the record and in front of TV cameras.