The House Oversight Committee announced Richard Hopkins admitted to fabricating claims that a Pennsylvania postmaster ordered workers to backdate ballots.
A United States Postal Service worker has reportedly recanted his claims about ballot tampering in Pennsylvania.
According to The Washington Post, the House Oversight Committee was informed on Tuesday that Richard Hopkins admitted to fabricating the highly publicized claims, which many GOP lawmakers cited as "evidence" of election fraud. Hopkins made headlines this week after accusing an Erie postmaster of ordering USPS workers to illegally backdate mail-in ballots sent after Election Day.
Far-right outlet Project Veritas was the first to publish Hopkins' allegations, which came shortly before Attorney General Bill Barr authorized an investigation into "substantial allegations" of voter irregularities.
Hopkins signed a sworn affidavit claiming Erie Postmaster Rob Weisenbach "directed my co-workers and I to pick up ballots after Election Day and provide them to him . I heard Weisenbach tell a supervisor at my office that Weisenbach was back-dating the postmarks on the ballots to make it appear as though the ballots had been collected on November 3, 2020 despite them in fact being collected on November 4 and possibly later."
Weisenbach has denied the allegations, calling them "100 percent false."
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said investigators from the U.S. Postal Service confirmed Hopkins had signed the aforementioned affidavit and was interviewed this past Friday. Officials reportedly conducted a second interview with Hopkins on Sunday, when he allegedly recanted his initial claims. The committee shared the news via Twitter on Tuesday, stating the 32-year-old postal worker "did not explain why he signed a false affidavit."
