Lindsey Graham says the Senate Judiciary Committee will investigate 'all credible allegations of voting irregularities and misconduct' after all major outlets projected Biden the winner

Lindsey Graham 2020 — South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham at a campaign event in October.
Logan Cyrus/AFP via Getty Images

Sen. Lindsey Graham, who won his race for re-election, said Saturday the Senate Judiciary Committee would investigate "all credible allegations of voting irregularities and misconduct" not long after major news outlets called the race for President-elect Biden.
Despite claims from President Donald Trump and his allies, there is no evidence that widespread voter fraud occurred in the 2020 election.
Insider and its election partners, Decision Desk HQ, called the race for Biden on Friday, and major outlets, including CNN, Fox News, and The Associated Press, called it for the former vice president earlier Saturday.
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Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who recently won his race for reelection to the Senate, said Saturday that the Senate Judiciary Committee would investigate "all credible allegations of voting irregularities and misconduct."

According to a Saturday report from The Hill, Graham made the comments in a press release after the Trump campaign sent him an affidavit by a postal service worker in Erie, Pennsylvania, named Richard Hopkins, who alleged that he overheard discussion about backdating mail-in ballots.

Graham's statement came after news outlets, like CNN, Fox News, and the Associated Press, called the race for Joe Biden on Saturday morning after Biden pulled ahead of Trump in Pennsylvania by more than 30,000 votes. Insider and its election partner, Decision Desk HQ, called the race in Biden's favor Friday morning.

In the affidavit, Hopkins alleged that he overheard Erie Postmaster Robert Weisenbach tell a USPS supervisor he was "back-dating the postmarks on the ballots to make it appear as though the ballots had been collected on November 3, 2020 despite them in fact being collected on November 4 and possibly later," according to the report.

Hopkins' allegations first surfaced on Friday after being pushed by the right-wing activist organization Project Veritas, as the Erie Times-News reported. Project Veritas is known for deceptively filmed videos often presented out of context in an effort to smear liberal targets, and there has been no evidence so far to substantiate Hopkins' allegations beyond his affidavit.

In a statement to Business Insider, a USPS spokesperson said it became aware of these allegations on Friday and referred them to the US Postal Inspection Service and the Office of Inspector General for investigation.

"The presidential election remains close in multiple states, and as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, all credible allegations of voting irregularities and misconduct will be taken seriously," Graham said Saturday. "I will not allow credible allegations of voting irregularities or misconduct to be swept under the rug."

Graham said he'd also be in contact with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to request he also investigate the allegations and "ones that may follow."

In a blow to the Trump campaign and its lawyers, the US Supreme Court ruled in October that Pennsylvania could process ballots received by Friday so long as they were postmarked by November 3, Election Day.

While President Donald Trump has expressed anger and confusion that some state vote totals turned away from him and toward Biden after Election Day, he had long told his supporters to avoid mail-in ballots, which comprised the bulk of votes counted after Election Day in states like Pennsylvania.

Trump has increasingly argued, without evidence, that the 2020 election is being "stolen" as it became increasingly clear he would fail to reach 270 electoral votes. So far, there have been no credible or proven reports of widespread voter fraud, which is rare in US elections.

"Every American should want our election processes to work accurately, and given the recency of such a large volume of mail-in voting, that will require oversight," Graham added. "Election outcomes are not determined by media outlets but certified, accurate vote counts."

Trump has so far refused to concede the race.

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