A postal worker in Pennsylvania has recanted claims that a supervisor tampered with mail-in ballots for last week’s election, Congressional Democrats said Tuesday.
In a series of tweets, the majority members of the House Oversight Committee said investigators with the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General told staffers that Richard Hopkins backed off his allegations during an interview on Monday.
Hopkins, 32, “did not explain why he signed a false affidavit,” the committee said.
Hopkins admitted to investigators that he made up his allegations, according to the Washington Post, which cited three people briefed on the investigation.
On Saturday, US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) called on the Justice Department to investigate a sworn affidavit in which Hopkins, who works in Erie, Pennsylvania, said his supervisors planned to backdate ballots that were mailed too late to be counted under Pennsylvania law.
Hopkins’ allegations — first reported by the Project Veritas group — were included in a federal lawsuit filed Monday by President Trump’s campaign.
The suit alleges that Keystone State officials created “an illegal ‘two-tiered’ voting system” that unfairly favors mail-in ballots and “encourages ballot fraud or tampering.”
“It has been reported by Project Veritas, in a release on November 5, 2020, that carriers were told to collect, separate and deliver all mail-in ballots directly to the supervisor,” the suit says.
“In addition, Plaintiffs have information that the purpose of that process was for the supervisor to hand stamp the mail-in ballots.”
During an evening conference call with reporters, campaign lawyer Matt Morgan said that Hopkins’ allegations comprised just one of “243 paragraphs in the complaint.”
“The complaint is primarily focused on our equal access and our violation of equal protection [claims],” Morgan said.
“We use that as but one thing of many and we believe that when we obtain access to the 682,000 ballots in Philadelphia and Allegheny…that will continue to get us closer in Pennsylvania to the re-election of the president.”
Campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said that Hopkins “filed a very detailed affidavit. He named names. He described explicitly what it is that he experienced.”
Murtagh also suggested that Hopkins’ recantation may not have been entirely voluntary.
“Earlier today, we saw our own attorney, in some cases, doxxed on Twitter and public invitations to harass attorneys who have been involved in pursuing the president’s lawful avenues through the courts and also connected to what we will eventually pursue in recounts,” he said.
“So we don’t know what kind of pressure this private citizen has been under.”
Hopkins doesn’t appear to have a phone number listed in his name and the Washington Post said he didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.