USPS 'Whistleblower' Told Agents Project Veritas Penned His Ballot-Tampering Claim

By Allison Quinn, The Daily Beast

11 November 20

postal worker whose allegation of ballot-tampering was at the center of Republican efforts to challenge the outcome of the presidential election has admitted to investigators that Project Veritas actually penned the affidavit laying out his claims. A two-hour audio recording released by Project Veritas on Wednesday shows Richard Hopkins being interviewed by federal investigators over his claim, first publicized by Project Veritas, that he had overheard a postmaster instructing workers in Erie, Pennsylvania, to backdate mail-in votes to meet the Election Day deadline. The audio had been touted by the conservative group as proof that Hopkins was manipulated by investigators but still stood by his allegations, despite House Democrats saying earlier this week that the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General told them Hopkins admitted to fabricating the claims.

But instead, it captured him doing the very opposite, according to The Washington Post. When he was asked if he wanted to stick with his claim about ballot-tampering, Hopkins said, “At this point? No.” He said his allegation had stemmed from “assumptions” he made after overhearing tidbits of staffers’ conversations in the mail facility. Hopkins told investigators not only that his affidavit was written by Project Veritas but that he wasn’t even entirely sure of what the group had included in it because he was in “so much shock I wasn’t paying that much attention to what they were telling me.” A spokesman for Project Veritas acknowledged having a hand in the affidavit but insisted that the “affidavit was drafted with Mr. Hopkins’ input and requested revisions,” according to the Post.