Reports emerged earlier this year that the United States Postal Service, through its Internet Covert Operations Program, was spying on conservative activists and protesters.

The USPS allegedly sent out bulletins to law enforcement officials that indicated that they were monitoring the movement of protesters who were deemed a threat to Democratic officials.

The Inspector General of the Postal Service conducted an investigation that found that the Postal Service acted outside the bounds of its statutory and constitutional authority.

Still, Congressional Democrats have blocked a Republican inquiry in to the incident.

Democrats have rejected similar inquiries in to surveillance activities of US government agencies since they took the House.

Republicans are expected to use their majority to increase transparency in US government agencies.

FOX News Reports–

House Democrats on Tuesday rejected a Republican request for information about the U.S. Postal Service’s surveillance program that the GOP says has reportedly been used to spy on conservatives.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service operates the Internet Covert Operations Program, or iCOP. The Postal Inspection Service is the security arm of the postal service, and iCOP works to assess threats to its infrastructure, employees and customers by monitoring open source information.

“In order to preserve operational effectiveness, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service does not discuss its protocols, investigative methods or tools,” the Postal Inspection Service told Fox News Digital.

In 2021, however, reports surfaced that iCOP was sending out bulletins to law enforcement officials on the movement of protesters, including one that claimed to have information on militia groups that might be threatening House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

That prompted an inspector general report, released last March, that found iCOP’s actions “exceeded the Postal Inspection Service’s law enforcement authority.”