Stacks of boxes holding mail are seen at a U.S. Post Office sorting center. Photo by Justin Sullivan | Getty Images.
Erie Pa. – An Erie postal worker whose claims of election tampering have been cited by Republicans seeking evidence of election fraud, has been recanted.
Richard Hopkins, U.S. Postal Service employee, raised claims of election tampering in Erie County last week.
In a video interview with conservative activist group Project Veritas, Hopkins said that he overheard Erie Postmaster Robert Weisenbach discussing with another postal worker about what to do with numerous ballots that arrived after the Tuesday cut-off for mail-in ballots.
Hopkins, in the video, suggested that those ballots were given earlier post-dates and dropped off at ballot boxes.
The accusations were cited in a letter to the Justice Department by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham, R-S.C., calling for a federal investigation.
In an interview with the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, Erie County Election Board Supervisor, Carl Anderson, said, “It really comes down to about 130 out of the 135,000 cast.”
According to Anderson, 65 of the ballots went to Trump, and 60 went to Biden.
In a since removed GoFundMe campaign, Hopkins said, “I am willing to testify under oath that 2020 Presidential Election ballots are being backdated to November 3 by my supervisors. I made the difficult decision to risk everything in my life to come forward with this information of extreme wrongdoing by the post office.”
According to the U.S. house oversight committee, tasked with investigating the accusations, Hopkins signed an affidavit with allegations of ballot tampering and fraud.
In a series of tweets last night, the house oversight committee, stated that Hopkins, “Recanted his allegations yesterday, and did not explain why he signed a false affidavit.”
In a YouTube video released Wednesday night, Hopkins denied recanting his oath, which have been cited by House Republicans to be the most reliable of allegations made post-election because he swore under oath.
Hopkins did not respond to requests for comment from the Capital-Star after several attempts to reach him via e-mail and social media.
As of 7:00 p.m. Wednesday night the GoFundMe Campaign raised $134,000 over the course of four days, before the website pulled it down. According to Project Veritas, GoFundMe has prevented Hopkins from withdrawing funds from the campaign.
On the GoFundMe description Hopkins said that he has not been fired, or placed on a suspension from work, and that he wanted to use the funds, “In case I’m wrongfully terminated from my job or forced to resign due to ostracization by my co-workers.”
United States Postal Service spokesperson, Tad Kelley told the Erie Times-News on Monday that, ““the U.S. Postal Service is aware of the video, which has been referred to the U.S Postal Inspection Service and the Office of the Inspector general.”
The Postal Service did not respond to requests for comment from the Capital-Star on the current status of the investigation.
Hopkins’ statements were cited in a federal lawsuit by the Trump Campaign against the state of Pennsylvania Monday.
Weisenbach, said in a Facebook post, that the allegations are, “100 percent false,” he continued to say that Hopkins had been disciplined multiple times, and that, “The Erie Post Office did not back-date ballots.”
These allegations play out as President Donald Trump refuses to concede to Democratic President-Elect Joe Biden, citing widespread fraud, and a conspiracy to have him lose the election.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.
Related News
