GOP donors paid $130,000 in GoFundMe to postal worker claiming voter fraud
With a Biden lead of nearly 15,000 ballots, 180 have been challenged in Arizona and a claim of postal interference in Pennsylvania debunked as an employee recants.
Richard Hopkins’s claim that a postmaster in Erie, Pa., instructed postal workers to backdate ballots mailed after Election Day was cited by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) in a letter to the Justice Department calling for a federal investigation. Attorney General William P. Barr subsequently authorized federal prosecutors to open probes into credible allegations of voting irregularities and fraud, a reversal of long-standing Justice Department policy.But on Monday, Hopkins, 32, told investigators from the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General that the allegations were not true, and he signed an affidavit recanting his claims, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe an ongoing investigation. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee tweeted late Tuesday that the “whistleblower completely RECANTED.”Hopkins did not respond to messages seeking comment.The reversal comes as Trump has refused to concede to President-elect Joe Biden (D), citing unproven allegations about widespread voter fraud in an attempt to swing the results in his favor. Republicans held up Hopkins’s claims as among the most credible because he signed an affidavit swearing that he overheard a supervisor instructing colleagues to backdate ballots mailed after Nov. 3.
$130,000 buys a lot of things. A GoFundMe page for Hopkins accumulated $136,000 before being suspended. Everything is bigger in Texas.
“Whistleblowers and tipsters should turn over their evidence to local law enforcement. Anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest and final conviction of voter fraud will be paid a minimum of $25,000,” said Lt. Gov. Patrick in a news release.
“I support President Trump’s efforts to identify voter fraud in the presidential election and his commitment to making sure that every legal vote is counted and every illegal vote is disqualified. President Trump’s pursuit of voter fraud is not only essential to determine the outcome of this election.
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) November 11, 2020
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) November 11, 2020
— Mueller, She Wrote Podcast (@MuellerSheWrote) November 10, 2020
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