A self-styled “whistleblower” who filed an affidavit claiming he witnessed ballot fraud at his Erie, Pennsylvania post office has been shown to have been in a room with at least one other man since identified as right-wing activist James O’Keefe.
Richard Hopkins‘ video recorded an affidavit alleging that he heard a U.S. Postal Service supervisor say he “was back-dating the postmarks on the [mail-in] ballots to make it appear as though the ballots had been collected on November 3.”
Hopkins’ claim was supported and publicized by Project Veritas, the right-wing organization that O’Keefe founded. It was then promoted by Sen. Lindsey Graham and President Donald Trump, who called Hopkins “a true patriot.”
Hopkins, who said he voted for Trump, made the claims on Nov. 6.
He later walked them back in an interview with USPS investigators, admitting that he had only heard supervisors discussing one ballot that was postmarked Nov. 4.
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“My mind probably added the rest,” he said, confessing he never heard any discussion of changing the date, according to Business Insider.
Hopkins said he was influenced to make exaggerated claims under the influence of Project Veritas.
“I was in so much shock — I wasn’t paying that much attention to what they were telling me,” he said.
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The organization said they provided Hopkins with “a starter text,” and he completed the rest.
According to Salon, Hopkins also expressed remorse for the fact that the supervisor he accused of wrongdoing has been the subject of death threats.
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, an election law expert at Stetson University, told Salon that both Hopkins and Project Veritas could be charged with perjury.
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Despite the potential consequences, Hopkins has reasserted his initial allegation on a Project Veritas fundraising website, where he wrote, “I am willing to testify under oath that my supervisors ordered workers including myself to deliver ballots received after November 3rd in order to ‘backdate’ so they would still be accepted in the 2020 Presidential Election.”
Project Veritas had previously offered up to $25,000 in reward money for “tips related to election, voter and ballot fraud in Pennsylvania.”
They have not confirmed or denied giving Hopkins a reward.
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