Project Veritas Claim on Backdated Ballots Blows Up
A Pennsylvania postal worker whose claims have been cited by top Republicans as potential evidence of widespread voting irregularities admitted to U.S. Postal Service investigators that he fabricated the allegations, according to three officials briefed on the investigation and a statement from a House congressional committee.
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 Graham, R-S.C., in a letter to the Justice Department calling for a federal investigation. Attorney General William Barr subsequently authorized federal prosecutors to open probes into credible allegations of voting irregularities and fraud before results are certified, a reversal of long-standing Justice Department policy.
The Erie postmaster, Rob Weisenbach, called the allegations “100% false” in a Facebook post and said they were made “by an employee that was recently disciplined multiple times.”
Hopkins’s allegations, without his name, were first aired last week by Project Veritas, an organization that uses deceptive tactics to expose what it says is bias and corruption in the mainstream media. Hopkins agreed to attach his name to the allegations late last week. He was instantly celebrated by Trump supporters.
Surprised? I’m Not
The idea that a postmaster would instruct employees to backdate ballots is smacks of a lie right from the start.
Project Veritas ran with it anyway.
When you randomly throw enough sh*t into the wind some of it is bound to stick in your own face.
Addendum
The entire story was obviously doubtful from the beginning. The postmaster told low level employee to backdate ballots. Really?
Now the worker recants his recant or denies recanting in the first place.
This is like a murderer recanting his confession except this time 40% of the country believes it.
Addendum II
This courtesy of a reader.
How do you “backdate” postmarks on an automated system where letter whiz through the processing equipment.
Modern mail handling relies on very few hand “touches”, is a highly automated and industrialized material handling process and that to do something like this would have been as odd and obvious as a orange three-dollar bill.
This ain’t Elmer the Sorter with a hand-stamp whacking each bit of mail, first the ink pad and then the mail.
Mish
It gets real when you go to jail for perjury. Can we disbar these lawyers who are filing these fraudulent lawsuits based on coerced false claims? Aren’t there some rules that lawyers have to follow?
Mish: Which story is dead? The claim of wrongdoing or the recantation?
Anyone care to comment?
Only time will tell if these incidents are real. I doubt the election will be over turned. Is Guiliani correct? Maybe.
Speaking with Fox Business’ Lou Dobbs, Giuliani claimed that “almost none” of the hundreds of thousands of ballots were observed by Republican poll watchers. State election law requires the presence of poll watchers from all parties.
Uh-Huh.
Yessir, Giuliani and Dobbs – two names that just RING with non-partisan fairness.
But I think I’ll believe the myriad election officials on both sides of the political divide that have said that there was no fraud. If they change their tune, then I’ll change my mind.
As numerous other posters have shown, the Mish claim is false, fake news, The UPSA worker is on unpaid administrate leave, certainly different treatment than for the Eric the whistleblower Caramella. He was careful to tape the interview, did not recant under intense intimidation by the FBI. The Swamp is up to its usual unsavoury tactics. MISH has become very Swampy.
Is this the subject matter we visit mishtalk for? What hath Street.com wrought?
I know this is a longshot, but what would it take to get libertarian endorsement of dems in Georgia? What are the main barriers?
I don’t buy into the common view that Dems = big government and higher taxes = reduced liberty. A small government is less likely to be able to protect and help maximize freedom and opportunity for all Americans. What is needed is the right government.
I like libertarian views on war, science, trade and borders, drugs, and think these are generally consistent with Democratic party values.
Would Libertarians have more influence if they mainstreamed some of their policies a bit more? For example when I look at Shane Hazels’s website (Georgia Libertarian Senate Candidate that forced run-off), the following policies don’t make sense to me:
Just like the far left is in la-la land, I think libertarians like Shane are also in la-la land in some respects. I see this as a great opportunity though.
Let’s face it. Trump called fraud weeks before Election Day. Do you really think he and his sycophants would not claim fraud after they lost the election. Trump is throwing all of his toys out of the crib. Won’t make a difference. His only hope now is to go rogue.
Is this the best they can come up with? I personally called the Trump voter fraud hotline to complain about illegal aliens. I told them there were some aliens I saw going to vote and that they were obviously Reptilians and the Earth Reptile agreement of 2007 said they were supposed to stay off planet. Yet those scalely bastards were in there voting for Biden. Still waiting for the call back.
Grow up America. Fake news is just that – fake news. So while
America ties itself in knots of self-deception the rest of the world moves on.
What a clown show this country has become, it’s like “The Young and the Restless” writ large. Meanwhile the Fed keeps printing and the bankers keep looting.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/they-were-grilling-hell-out-me-usps-whistleblower-stands-backdated-ballot-claim-after
You and Klaus keep dreaming that we will never return to normal…
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/globalist-klaus-schwab-world-will-never-return-normal-after-covid
I say let the process proceed and reach a conclusion which hopefully will be convincing enough for most of the population. Recounts are normal in a contested election and Trump has the legal right to ask for one as did many Democrats and Republicans who asked for recounts in their contested elections. If you want the election to seen as just and fair then let the process go to its conclusion. If you are sure there was no corruption then you should not be worried.
Trump is legally entitled to a recount in Georgia, if he wants one. I don’t see the point, though, as it won’t change the outcome.
The same project veritas
I don’t know project veritas from any other similar site, and I’m saying this coming in without any knowledge of the case except what is presented in your link…and all that comes across to me is how dodgy the accusations and withdrawals of the defendant are, i.e. to me the article actually sheds a negative view on him rather than veritas ! I guess it depends who you believe, but I have no reason to believe either :/ .
Long story short. For the MN primaries only, people could deliver 300 ballots to polls. Have to sign affidavit. Veritas accused Omar of ballot harvesting.
Minneapolis police investigating still? 4 months later, think it’s a dead issue.
Project veritas is shady and discredited. They only play to conservative media
Post scheduled for 5:30 PM Central
Going hiking for a few hours
Mish
Some have it wrong above, from what I read.
So, you are all waiting for evidence that he recanted, plus what he has to say about all this.
Amazing. ONE, just one guy out of all the yeas and nays, who simply establishes a timeline. ..and I look all around the world: thousands, not hundreds, of so-called leaders and just ONE country with ONE health pro who gets it right (Sweden, of course), the only ONE expert who actually apologized for errors he made.
Sounds like some decanting is needed here.
If you’re too eager to believe something, double check the story and apply a little logic.
How do you “backdate” postmarks on an automated system where letter whiz through the processing euaipment at hundreds of feet per second.
And was the post master, all by himself, shuffling through the gigantic piles of incoming mail to find late ballots, gathering them up and taking them to one guy who had the secret date-changing stamp? How was it determined through the envelope whether his actions were helping Biden or Trump?
You have to realize that modern mail handling relies on very few hand “touches”, is a highly automated and industrialized material handling process and that to do something like this would have been as odd and obvious as a orange three-dollar bill.
This ain’t Elmer the Sorter with a hand-stamp whacking each bit of mail– first the ink pad and then the mail.
Don’t be such a low info tool to believe this type of crap.
Or else, just buy the bridge I have for sale. I’ll feel better then.
Republican city official in Philadelphia is standing by the results of the election. It just isn’t playing out for Trump in another wacky game of 4D chess.
How much did he get paid ?
All purpose “answer” to anything. Stop projecting. This guy is a Republican! Almost universally, election officials are honest and want to do a good job.
There’s no such thing as 4D chess.
I’m really tired of baseless allegations. Show me physical proof or GTFO.
Trump said after his 2016 election that it there was fraud because he lost the popular vote. His own sponsored investigation found no evidence of fraud.
Before the 2020 Trump said the election that hadn’t even taken place was rigged. After the election he said HE WON BY A LOT!, but that there was voter fraud.
If there was fraud it would need to be in the thousands or tens of thousands to make a difference. Surely if there was fraud of that magnitude there would be some PHYSICAL EVIDENCE.
But no, all we get are vague accusations, no physical evidence.
I was driving today and felt a bit masochistic, and turned on right wing talk radio. The guy was absolutely certain the election was stolen, that it was fraudulent, and then called upon his listeners to fight the steal and FIND the evidence. If you have evidence, you don’t have to tell people to FIND evidence.
I submit that if you make allegations before you have evidence, you are acting and bad faith and lying.
Trump has no credibility. He’s had no credibility since he lied about his inauguration crowd size on day 1. I don’t know why people believe anything he says.
Trump claimed Ted Cruz cheated and the GOP fixed the 2016 Iowa Caucus so that he wouldn’t win. I don’t know how you fix a caucus, but Trump claimed fraud.
Any time he lost in the 2016 GOP primary, he claimed fraud.
Interestingly enough, in 2020, the GOP fixed the primary to keep challengers out.
You made a good point in saying “If you have evidence, you don’t need to tell people to FIND evidence.” And now there’s the lieutenant governor of Texas offering 1 million dollars for evidence. That’s 1 million dollars of absolute proof that no evidence has been uncovered, anywhere. And he offered this bribe after the investigation of Hopkins was completed which proves he actually did recant his affidavit.
It amazes me in this age of technology and having a camera on your person at nearly all times every day, how does this guy not have a video or some type of photographic proof to back up his claim.
Forgot to post the video.
The story is dead
Apparently this postal worker has a history and his supervisor flagged it immediately. The postal worker has recanted in a signed affidavit and yet project veritas is saying this never happened. Conservative social media is buying the project veritas line , hook line and sinker so even if the postal worker’s claim is dead legally the base is receding up.
Doesn’t really matter that he recanted. Trump and his enablers will find someone else. Trump’s lawsuits and claimed whistleblowers are feeling like a game of whack-a-mole. When does it end?
I was harrassed by my government supervisor. Actually he locked me in a room. When I complained the dear sweet government sent an agent to talk to me..the first words out of her mouth..’What the hell are you bitching about?’. Not sure why its so hard to believe that his supervisor, of course, is going to make something up to save his own ass. What is wrong with you people?
(Washington Post) — In an interview this week with federal agents, a Pennsylvania postal worker walked back his allegation that a supervisor had tampered with mailed ballots, saying he had made “assumptions” based on overheard snippets of conversation, according to an audio recording of the interview posted online Wednesday by activists who have championed his cause.
The two-hour recording shows that Richard Hopkins recanted claims he had made in a sworn affidavit that top Republicans cited over the weekend as potential evidence of widespread election irregularities and fraud.
Hopkins told federal investigators on Monday his allegations were based on fragments of conversation among co-workers in a noisy mail facility in Erie, Pa., according to the recording.
When an agent from the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General asked Hopkins if he stood by his sworn statement that a supervisor “was backdating ballots” mailed after Election Day, Hopkins answered: “At this point? No.”
He also agreed to sign a revised statement that undercut his earlier affidavit.
For the past several months, Donald Trump has pushed this idea of a fake election that coincides with over four years of conditioning people than any story that is negative about him is fake news. Here we are with Trump getting his but handed to him on election night continuing to push this everything that doesn’t work out to his favor as “fake.” Talk about a movement of sheep!
Unlike you Trump KNEW about the COLLUSION that was being concocted against him ! and he was right
He’s a victim like Jesse Jackson…
Why would a postal worker jeopardize his job by lying ?
Why did a postal worker shoot a bunch of his coworkers? They’re postal!
There is a long history of unethical US postal employees.
need to be in the spot light and sound important jumps to the top of the list
Hmmmm. Apparently he signed an affadavit….this is from the investigating committee in congress.
Don’t believe everything you hear from Veritas and Zero Hedge. Apparently Hopkins changes his stories a lot.
Project veritas may be getting money from Trump
Bull shit he came out and said it was not and willing to state it in court!
So, did he file paperwork recanting his statement?
Mish, you used to be more reasonable. I’m disappointed in your one-sidedness now. You might take a close look at Matt Taibbi and Glenn Greenwald for the valued blogger you used to be.
There are no two sides. Signed affidavit he recanted. Obvious reason. Perjury charges
don’t let the door hit you in the ass
RIGHT ON..LEANING OUT OF THE LEFT SIDE OF THE CANOE
This postal worker appears mentally unstable at a minimum.
Needs to recant the recant to avoid prosecution.
The entire story was obviously doubtful from the beginning. The postmaster told low level employee to backdate ballots. Really?
Mish, you very well may be right. Next thing you know we may find out he likes to bathe with a plugged in toaster or has a p-rn collection of the diznee kids.
Sounds like a fantastic witness
So now you are a doctor making prognosis via the web without visiting the patient. I get it now. All those shrinks out there might as well tear up their diplomas.
MISH..you make a mish mash of the truth
MONEY …tends to be a decisive element in similar events….So the real truth will be hard to discover, if ever ….
Fake news
Ok, so where can I get the real news? Do you have a link to a source?
Two legs bad!
Four legs good!
Two legs bad!
Four legs good!
I’m confused. I thought the guy came out last night and said he didn’t recant his claims. What the heck is going on?
It’s recantings all the way down.
I don’t get this story on several levels:
Where is the evidence? Overhearing someone telling others to do it is not evidence. It doesn’t mean that you heard the conversation correctly, or that people actually did what they were told to do.
If it were true, how many potential “bad” ballots are out there? “Bad” ballots would have to be postmarked Nov 3, arrive after Nov 3, and be postmarked from that branch. Are we talking about 30 ballots, or maybe 300 ballots? How does this affect the outcome where the difference is currently 50,000 votes?
Is any judge going to throw out the votes of 6.7 million people based on potentially 300 “bad” votes that has no chance of changing the outcome?
I’ll admit that I haven’t been following the story closely, but this makes no sense.
Hopkins said he didn’t recant.
So, where are you hearing he didn’t recant? Please give a source. If a source gives you false information repeatedly, best to start looking for other sources.
google it: “i’m here to say i did not recant my statements. that did not happen”
So is he lying to Congress or to the camera? House oversight Committee says he filed a recant of his statement.
Whole thing stinks…gonna wait till this dust clears
Who cares what he says now. There is a signed affidavit disallowing the claim. Legally he can no longer make the charge. To pretend otherwise is preposterous
Pfew! What a relieve !
He is making it up. For example, coerced signature (of recant) would invalidate the recant, if he even did recant.
Link it, or mention of it:
“signed affidavit disallowing the claim”
Here’s his the video statement of his recant denial:
THANKS. THE FBI interrogated him for 3 hours without a lawyer and suborned perjury….
HE DIDNT RECANT