Officials: Pennsylvania postal worker admits making up allegations of ballot tampering
ERIE, Penn. (AP) - House Democrats say a postal worker who alleged a supervisor tampered with mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania has recanted his statements, though the purported whistleblower later doubled down and said he did not make it up.
Richard Hopkins, the Erie, Pennsylvania, worker, previously signed a sworn affidavit saying he overheard a discussion about the backdating of postmarks on ballots that arrived after Election Day.
Hopkins was later questioned by investigators and recanted the allegations, according to the House Oversight committee.
Hopkins made the allegations on a far-right website and later told the same website - Project Veritas - that he did not recant.
Postmaster Robert Weisenbach previously denied Hopkins' claims, the Erie Times-News reported earlier.
The Erie Times-News also reported that Hopkins allegations were starting to fall apart before news surfaced that he recanted.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, received Hopkins' affidavit and previously said he would be in contact with the postmaster general.
The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General declined comment Tuesday with the Washington Examiner.
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President Donald Trump's campaign has filed more than a dozen lawsuits in at least five states. Trump claims that he would have won were it not for “illegal” votes counted in several states that he lost or where he is currently trailing. But Trump and his allies haven't offered any proof and their legal challenges have largely been rejected by the courts.
In Pennsylvania, the campaign has challenged the state Supreme Court ruling allowing election officials to accept mail-in ballots up to three days after the election as long as they were postmarked by Election Day. Trump has also sued over campaign observers allegedly being blocked from witnessing vote tallying in Pennsylvania. And he’s challenged the secretary of state instructing counties that voters whose absentee ballots were rejected could cast a provisional ballot.
Four other lawsuits filed by the campaign have been dismissed. Others are pending.
On Monday, his campaign sued to force Pennsylvania not to certify the results of the election altogether. The 85-page lawsuit itself contained no evidence of voter fraud, other than a smattering of allegations such as an election worker in Chester County altering “over-voted” ballots by changing votes that had been marked for Trump to another candidate.
Trump has won one victory so far: A state court ruled his campaign observers had to be allowed closer to the actual vote counting. That ruling had no impact on the outcome of the race.