US Postal Service 'whistleblower,' cited by Republicans and right-wing activists as evidence of election tampering, retracts his claims, officials say

GettyImages 1266150848 — A USPS "whistleblower" has recanted their claims about electoral fraud.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

A US Postal Service employee whose claims of electoral fraud were circulated by Project Veritas, a right-wing activist group specializing in disinformation, has recanted, The Washington Post reported.
Richard Hopkins, a USPS employee in Pennsylvania, admitted to investigators that he lied when claiming his boss had ordered him to collect mail-in ballots after Election Day, according to The Post and the House Oversight Committee.
The original claim had been cited by Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, who called for a federal investigation.
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To Sen. Lindsey Graham, the allegations were credible, troubling, and deserving of a federal investigation. A Pennsylvania postal worker, in a signed affidavit lending it the appearance of legitimacy, alleged that his boss directed him "to pick up ballots after Election Day" and "make it appear as though the ballots had been collected on Nov. 3."

In a statement last week, Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, said it was "imperative" to investigate the charge, and that he would be asking the Department of Justice to do just that.

The claim, however, was false, The Washington Post reported. On Monday, the purported whistleblower, Richard Hopkins, told the US Postal Service's Office of Inspector General "that the allegations were not true, and he signed an affidavit recanting his claims," The Post reported, citing sources involved in the investigation.

The House Oversight Committee confirmed the revelation on Twitter, saying that the Inspector General's office had informed the panel that Hopkins, who was interviewed last Friday, had admitted to making the story up, though he "did not explain why he signed a false affidavit."

—Oversight Committee (@OversightDems) November 10, 2020

After providing his affidavit to Project Veritas, a right-wing activist group specializing in distorted videos and other disinformation, a GoFundMe page set up in Hopkins' name raised over $135,000.

That page was removed soon after The Post's story went live. GoFundMe did not immediately return a request for comment. Hopkins also posted a YouTube video on Tuesday denying that he recanted his claims.

A spokesperson for Graham, who won another six-year term earlier this month, did not respond to a request for comment.

Over the weekend, Erie, Pennsylvania's postmaster, Robert Weisenbach, called Hopkins' initial claims of voter fraud "100% false."

"Good evening my friends," Weisenbach wrote on Facebook, according to local news outlet GoErie.com. "There has been awful things posted about the USPS and here is my statement. The allegations made against me and the Erie Post Office are 100% false made by an employee that was recently disciplined multiple times."

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