Yes they lied all the way down:
U.S. Postal Service investigators found no evidence to support a Pennsylvania postal worker’s claim that his supervisors had tampered with mail-in ballots, according to an inspector general’s report — allegations cited by top Republicans to press baseless claims of fraud in the presidential election.
Richard Hopkins, a mail carrier in Erie, alleged in November that he overheard the local postmaster discussing plans to backdate ballots received after the Nov. 3 vote and pass them off to election officials as legitimate. Working with Project Veritas, a nonprofit entity that seeks to expose what it says is bias in the mainstream news media, Hopkins publicly released a sworn affidavit recounting those allegations.
That should have been a tip off from the get. James O’Keefe is dirty trickster, character assassin. And he’s not very good at what he does.
But some people will use any excuse to fluff Donald Trump:
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) cited Hopkins’s claim in a letter to the Justice Department in Novembercalling for a federal investigation into election results in Pennsylvania, where Joe Biden beat President Donald Trump by more than 81,000 votes, and Democratic candidates outperformed GOP challengers in votes submitted by mail.AD
Graham and many other congressional Republicans refused to accept the outcome of the election for weeks, even after states audited and certified results.
Then-Attorney General William P. Barr subsequently authorized federal prosecutors to open investigations into credible allegations of voting irregularities and fraud before results were certified, a reversal of long-standing Justice Department policy.
But Hopkins soon recanted, officials from the Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General told members of Congress on Nov. 10, and the new investigation confirmed. In an interview with federal agents, Hopkins “revised his initial claims, eventually stating that he had not heard a conversation about ballots at all — rather he saw the Postmaster and Supervisor having a discussion and assumed it was about fraudulent ballot backdating,” the report states.
Hopkins “acknowledged that he had no evidence of any backdated presidential ballots and could not recall any specific words said by the postmaster or supervisor,” according to the report, which was published by the inspector general’s office in late February and posted Monday to the blog 21st Century Postal Worker.
The Erie postmaster, Rob Weisenbach, called the allegations “100% false” in a Facebook post in November and said they were made “by an employee that was recently disciplined multiple times.”
“The Erie Post Office did not back date any ballots,” Weisenbach wrote.
Hopkins’s name is redacted in the investigative report, but the document refers extensively to his claim and involvement with Project Veritas and the group’s founder, James O’Keefe.
Hopkins has been suspended without pay since Nov. 10, according to a person with knowledge of the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential personnel matters. A disciplinary letter to Hopkins from a Postal Service supervisor states that Hopkins’s “actions may have placed employees and yourself as well as the reputation of the U.S. Postal Service in harm’s way,” the person said.AD
In a statement through Project Veritas, Hopkins called the investigative report “vague and deceptive” and said it “underscores the importance of recording conversations. I wish I hadn’t stopped recording.”
They’re still working together.
Representatives from Graham’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Agents of the inspector general visited the Erie County Courthouse to interview election officials and review ballots processed at the local post office. “Both the interview of the Erie County Election Supervisor and the physical examination of ballots produced no evidence of any backdated presidential election ballots at the Erie, PA Post Office,” the report states.
On Nov. 11, Project Veritas published a two-hour recording of Hopkins’s interview with investigators. Hopkins in that recording said he made “assumptions” based on overheard snippets of conversation and said he never heard his supervisors utter the word “backdate.”
Hopkins and Project Veritas asserted that agents pressured the postal worker into backtracking. O’Keefe, in a statement on Wednesday, said agents “coerced and twisted Hopkins to water down his allegations.” The claims, however, are not supported by their recording. Hopkins did not respond directly to requests from The Washington Post for comment.
It’s just fodder for the delusional wingnuts and it doesn’t matter whether it’s true. Clumsy lies, easily disproved, are O’Keefe’s specialties.