According to officials, Richard Hopkins, an Erie Pennsylvania postal worker admits to making up claims of ballot tampering.
A U.S. Postal Service employee in Erie, who made claims last week that his superiors were back-dating ballots that were sent after Election Day, recanted his statements in interviews with investigators, according to reports.
The Washington Post reports that Richard Hopkins’ claim that a postmaster in Erie instructed postal workers to backdate ballots mailed after Election Day was fabricated.
On Tuesday, Richard Hopkins admitted to fabricating the allegations while being interviewed by Postal Service investigators in recent days. The Post cited three people briefed on the investigation and a statement on Twitter from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.
The claim was cited by Sen. Lindsey Graham in a letter to the Justice Department calling for a federal investigation.
However, on Monday, the postal worker told investigators from the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General that the allegations were not true, and recanted his signed affidavit reports the Washington Post.
The postal worker recanted
In a tweet, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said that “the whistleblower completely recanted.”
BREAKING NEWS: Erie, Pa. #USPS whistleblower completely RECANTED his allegations of a supervisor tampering with mail-in ballots after being questioned by investigators, according to IG.
THREAD:
— Oversight Committee Democrats (@OversightDems) November 10, 2020
Democrats said about the postal worker that “investigators informed Committee staff today that they interviewed Hopkins on Friday, but that Hopkins recanted his allegations yesterday and did not explain why he signed a false affidavit.”
But hours later, Hopkins denied he had recanted his allegations, stating that “I’m here to say I did not recant my statements.”
You can read: Al Schmidt: Philadelphia election officials have received death threats
The postal worker’s allegations, though, were already beginning to fall apart before news broke that he had recanted his statement.
Twitter flagged the video, saying “this claim about election fraud is disputed.”
Meanwhile, the legal battle over the presidential election in Pennsylvania intensifies. The latest results show that Biden is leading in the state by nearly 48,000 votes. However, Donald Trump’s team claims the election is not over.
The Trump campaign is trying in court to delay the certification and conduct a review of hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots. The President´s campaign argues they have been processed and tabulated in secrecy.
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