WASHINGTON — U.S. Postal Service investigators found no evidence to support a Pennsylvania postal worker’s claims that his supervisors had tampered with mail-in ballots, according to an inspector general report — allegations cited by top Republicans to press baseless claims of election fraud.
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 that seeks to expose what it says is bias in mainstream media, Hopkins publicly released a sworn affidavit recounting those allegations.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., cited Hopkins’s claims in a letter to the U.S. Justice Department in November calling for a federal investigation into election results in Pennsylvania, where President Joe Biden beat then-president Donald Trump by more than 81,000 votes, and Democratic candidates outperformed GOP challengers in votes submitted by mail.
Graham and scores of other congressional Republicans refused to accept the outcome of the election for weeks, even after states audited and certified election results.
Then-U.S. Attorney General William 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 claims 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 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.
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.”
Representatives from Graham’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Inspector General agents 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 Post for comment.
Federal agents repeatedly reminded Hopkins that his cooperation was voluntary, the recording shows, and Hopkins agreed to sign a document stating that he was not coerced.
Asked by an agent whether he had legal representation, Hopkins said Project Veritas had a lawyer on retainer “in case there’s anything that happens.” The agent told Hopkins that if he had a personal lawyer, “I would make whatever efforts possible to have that person here.” Hopkins said he didn’t have a lawyer.
Hopkins also repeatedly expressed regret for signing the initial affidavit because it overstated what he knew and had witnessed, according to the recording.
He told agents the affidavit was written by Project Veritas. In an emailed statement to The Post in November, a spokesman for the group said that the “affidavit was drafted with Mr. Hopkins’s input and requested revisions.”
Project Veritas and far-right activist groups have continued to hold up Hopkins’s disproved allegations and those of other postal orkers to support claims of ballot fraud among mail service employees, though no evidence has surfaced to validate those assertions.
Trump amplified that misinformation on his now-suspended Twitter account and called Hopkins “a brave patriot” in a Nov. 10 tweet. He spent the next several weeks filing dozens of lawsuits — losing all but one — to overturn the election results. Trump and other speakers at the Jan. 6 “Save America Rally” in Washington, repeated false claims about mail ballot fraud.
Soon after that speech, his supporters rioted at the U.S. Capitol. Five people were killed, including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick.
Hopkins has raised more than $236,000 on GiveSendGo, a Christian online fundraising platform, in a campaign that falsely describes the nature of his claims. His crowdfunding page says the donations would be used to support him and his family while he is on unpaid leave.
O’Keefe in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February brought Hopkins onstage, along with former employees of Google, Facebook, CNN and Pinterest who have collaborated with Project Veritas, to a standing ovation and chants of “USA!” from attendees.
“I just couldn’t let it happen the way it was going down. It bothered me,” Hopkins said, at times overcome by emotion. “It at least needed to be known. Whether people believe me or not, I wanted you to know. And now you know.”
This story was originally published at washingtonpost.com. Read it here.
Quote:Promoting QAnon-linked Conspiracy, Boebert Says Resignations Will Soon Allow GOP to Control Congress
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6)][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4)]by Erik Maulbetsch[/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4)]posted on[/color]
March 19, 2021 [color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4)]0[/color][/color]
[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8)]Congresswoman Lauren Boebert put a Q-flavored cherry atop an already controversial town hall last Monday night, when she claimed to have insider knowledge of a [color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6)]QAnon-linked[/color][color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6)]conspiracy theory[/color] promoted by [color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6)]The Epoch Times[/color] that secret documents declassified in the final days of the Trump administration will expose wrongdoing by Trump’s enemies and lead to resignations and arrests, allowing Republicans to gain a majority in the U.S. House and Senate prior to the 2022 election.[/color]
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Boebert, a Republican, claims her sources for this are close to Trump.[/color]
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“And this is my opinion with that information that I have, I believe we will see resignations begin to take place. And I think we can take back the majority in the House and the Senate before 2022 when all of this is ended,” Boebert said at the Montrose event.[/color]
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Her startling claim, [color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6)]first reported[/color] by Dennis Anderson of the Delta County Independent, came in response to the last question of the evening. An unidentified man wanted to know if there will ever be “perp walks” for Hillary Clinton and high-level officials like the former heads of the FBI and CIA.[/color]
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Listen to the question at the Montrose town hall and Boebert’s answer, in audio recorded by Anderson, here:
Boebert’s belief that a wave of resignations from Congress will allow Republicans to reclaim power before the next election is sure to raise some eyebrows.[/color]
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The Epoch Times, identified as “a leading purveyor of right-wing misinformation” by the New York Times, exploded in size and influence during the Trump administration both by embracing the President and promoting innumerable conspiracy theories, many of which are linked to QAnon. The narrative referenced by Boebert appears to rooted in the “Spygate” and “Russiagate” conspiracy theories, of which The Epoch Times is a huge proponent of both. Per the New York Times: [/color]
Quote:[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6)]“The publication has been one of the most prominent promoters of [color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6)]“Spygate,” a baseless conspiracy theory[/color] involving claims that Obama administration officials illegally spied on Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign. Publications and shows linked to The Epoch Times have promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory and spread distorted claims about voter fraud…”[/color]
Russiagate is a disinformation campaign denying Russian election meddling and falsely claiming that such accusation of such were created by former President Obama and Hillary Clinton to discredit Trump. Neither it nor “Spygate” is factual.
Full transcript of Boebert’s answer:
Quote:[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6)]“So we are seeing a lot of ugliness uncovered, a lot of corruption exposed. But I believe that we are going to start seeing gifts and callings of righteous men and women exposed to counter all of this. Gifts that have remained dormant on the inside of people are going to start rising up. People are going to start filling these positions that they never saw themselves in, doing their part to serve their country.
Now, I want to tell you, I heard someone who is in very close contact with President Trump and the ins and outs of the White House under that administration. Talk to the owners of Epoch Times. They talk to the owners of Epoch Times and they said: “don’t change anything. You are right over the target.”
So anyone who tries to tell you that this is a fringe newspaper/media don’t listen to them. I have very good sources to say this is really good information. Is it a hundred percent? I don’t know. But it’s really good information. And we all know that there was information that was declassified just a few days before President Trump left office. And I know someone who is involved in declassifying that. And this person is getting very tired of waiting on the DOJ to do something about it. And we will be hearing about it very, very soon. And this is my opinion with that information that I have, I believe we will see resignations begin to take place. And I think we can take back the majority in the House and the Senate before 2022 when all of this is ended.” [/color]
Before this video emerged, Boebert’s event in Montrose had already made headlines, and they haven’t been good.
First, her campaign only announced the meeting to local Republicans and asked them not to share the invite publicly.
Then a video, recorded by the Montrose Daily Press, showed her appearing to [color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6)]defend the extremists who stormed the U.S. Capitol, saying they were trying to petition their government. Boebert’s office denies she was speaking about the Jan. 6 insurrectionists but instead meant that the security fence in place since then, which prevents the public from accessing congressional offices, shows that Democrats believe anyone trying to petition their government is an insurrectionist.[/color]
Warning: Reading signatures may hurt your feelings.
Miami police arrested former Republican state Sen. Frank Artiles on Thursday and charged him with orchestrating a plot to siphon votes from a sitting Democratic state senator by paying a man with a similar last name to run a fake campaign. The scheme seems to have worked: In November, the incumbent, José Javier Rodríguez, lost his seat by the incredibly thin margin of around 30 votes to his Republican challenger, Ileana Garcia. The man Artiles recruited to run as an independent—an auto parts dealer named Alex Rodriguez, who didn’t live in the district—picked up more than 6,000 votes. (In his concession speech, José Javier Rodríguez called for a full investigation into the race.)
According to an arrest affidavit, Artiles paid Rodriguez, who he’d known for more than 20 years, $50,000 to enter the race. Rodriguez didn’t campaign, respond to inquiries from the media, or do anything beyond filling out the required forms for his candidacy. In fact, doing nothing in exchange for the cash was part of the pitch Artiles made to Rodriguez, the affidavit alleges.
NO WAY this could happen if voter ids were required.
And I know someone who is involved in declassifying that. And this person is getting very tired of waiting on the DOJ to do something about it. And we will be hearing about it very, very soon. And this is my opinion with that information that I have, I believe we will see resignations begin to take place. And I think we can take back the majority in the House and the Senate before 2022 when all of this is ended.”
Dino, this is our old friend "breaking news." Perfected during the Benghazi hearings.
(03-20-2021, 02:02 AM)Dill Wrote: Miami police arrested former Republican state Sen. Frank Artiles on Thursday and charged him with orchestrating a plot to siphon votes from a sitting Democratic state senator by paying a man with a similar last name to run a fake campaign. The scheme seems to have worked: In November, the incumbent, José Javier Rodríguez, lost his seat by the incredibly thin margin of around 30 votes to his Republican challenger, Ileana Garcia. The man Artiles recruited to run as an independent—an auto parts dealer named Alex Rodriguez, who didn’t live in the district—picked up more than 6,000 votes. (In his concession speech, José Javier Rodríguez called for a full investigation into the race.)
According to an arrest affidavit, Artiles paid Rodriguez, who he’d known for more than 20 years, $50,000 to enter the race. Rodriguez didn’t campaign, respond to inquiries from the media, or do anything beyond filling out the required forms for his candidacy. In fact, doing nothing in exchange for the cash was part of the pitch Artiles made to Rodriguez, the affidavit alleges.
NO WAY this could happen if voter ids were required.
Ha! I had shared the story of the raid on his home for evidence in the "what will help the GOP thread". That was fast, and not totally unxpected.
Warning: Reading signatures may hurt your feelings.
(03-20-2021, 11:19 PM)BigPapaKain Wrote: So wait...did the office of DJT just admit that his whole election fraud spiel was a fabrication?
Am I reading this right?
They did...but I'm positive that was not what they intended to do. They just can't seem to find anyone who understand the nuances of the English language.
Warning: Reading signatures may hurt your feelings.
Sidney Powell has invoked the Tucker Carlson defense in her defamation suit brought against her by dominion. He has stated that basically no reasonable person would take what she was saying seriously. This begs to question then, if her arguments weren’t serious then shouldnt she be disbarred as it wasn’t in good faith?
(03-22-2021, 06:18 PM)Au165 Wrote: Sidney Powell has invoked the Tucker Carlson defense in her defamation suit brought against her by dominion. He has stated that basically no reasonable person would take what she was saying seriously. This begs to question then, if her arguments weren’t serious then shouldnt she be disbarred as it wasn’t in good faith?
So "Trump won the election" is right up there with "The South will rise again" and "Houston Oilers are number one" when it comes to statements people make knowing full well that they are full of crap?
(03-22-2021, 07:55 PM)Nately120 Wrote: So "Trump won the election" is right up there with "The South will rise again" and "Houston Oilers are number one" when it comes to statements people make knowing full well that they are full of crap?
As this lawsuit relates, it’s specifically around her comments about dominion, however, one could argue that if the parts she is getting sued for are “not serious” then other parts probably are too.
(03-22-2021, 08:01 PM)Au165 Wrote: As this lawsuit relates, it’s specifically around her comments about dominion, however, one could argue that if the parts she is getting sued for are “not serious” then other parts probably are too.
It is a very interesting defense. The fun part is Tucker Carlson and fox news are not bound to the rules of the bar. I am no lawyer, but I thought you are not supposed to make frivolous lawsuits, which is what her defense would imply. Like "my lawsuits were so frivolous nobody could possibly believe they were legitimate." Unless there is something I am missing here. Seems bizarre.
"As noted earlier, the Senate Rules and Administration Committee’s hearing on the For the People Act, which would expand voting rights, had its tense moments, as befits so important a topic. But Mississippi senator Cindy Hyde-Smith lightened things up with some inadvertent comedy while defending efforts in Georgia to restrict early in-person voting on Sundays:
Aside from the chutzpah involved in lecturing Jewish U.S. senator Chuck Schumer about the meaning of the Sabbath as instructed in the Hebrew Scriptures, Hyde-Smith is inviting some follow-up questions by suggesting it is sacrilegious to allow political activity on Sundays. Does that mean she opposes demands from many fellow Republicans and conservative Evangelical ministers to repeal the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits electioneering by nonprofit organizations, so ministers can endorse politicians like Cindy Hyde-Smith from the pulpit? Last I heard, that was a core “religious freedom” issue for the Christian Right.
And if Hyde-Smith’s real objection to entirely voluntary Sunday early voting is that people ought to be worshipping on the Sabbath rather than engaging in nonreligious activities, is she going to support legislation bringing back ancient blue laws restricting commercial or recreational activities on the Lord’s Day? I don’t think so.
The simple truth is that proposed restrictions on Sunday voting in the Deep South are about one thing and one thing only: targeting “Souls to the Polls” events common among Black churches following Sunday worship services. It has zero to do with respect for the Sabbath, which Republicans profane as often as everyone else. It has everything to do with disrespect for churches where the faithful don’t happen to share Cindy Hyde-Smith’s point of view, but nonetheless are bold to insist on opportunities to vote."
Gone were the crowds of thousands, but pop-in guest Trump continued to campaign at a reception that was supposed to be about the just-married couple, John and Megan Arrigo. As TMZ quipped: “Enough about the couple, let’s talk about me.”
“I get all these flash reports, and they’re telling me about the border, they’re telling me about China, they’re telling me about Iran — how’re we doing with Iran? How do ya like that?” Trump told laughing guests, who were presumably waiting for something about the couple.
“Boy, they were ready to make a deal ... they would have done anything. And this guy [Biden] goes and drops the sanctions and then he says, ’We’d love to negotiate now,” he complained.
Trump also complained about the cost of dealing with the border issue. “You’re talking about massive, just incredibly massive amounts. Our school systems, our hospital systems. Everything. It’s a rough thing,” said Trump.
He again dredged up the “Big Lie” of election fraud.
“They said get 66 million votes, Sir, and the election is over [won]. We got 75 million votes ... you saw what happened,” he said, calling it a “strange thing.” Trump won 74.2 million votes to Biden’s 81.3 million votes, so it’s not “strange” Biden is in the White House.
In the most plaintive moment, the former president asked: “Do you miss me yet?”
People cheered.
And at long last: “It’s an honor to have you at Mar-a-Lago. You are a great and beautiful couple.”
Check out the full video obtained by TMZ up top.
Video at the link.
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Michigan Authorities Cite Sidney Powell’s Own Arguments In Disbarment Action
Emily Singer
April 08 | 2021
Former Trump election attorney Sidney Powell
Reprinted with permission from American Independent
Sidney Powell's defense against a $1.3 billion lawsuit over her lies about voter fraud in the 2020 election could come back to bite her.
Powell, a lawyer who supported Donald Trump's claims of election fraud and filed multiple failed lawsuits across the country seeking to overturn the 2020 election, is being sued by Dominion Voting Systems for defamation after she falsely accused the company of conspiring with a dead Venezuelan dictator to rig the election against Trump.
Back in March, Powell argued that Dominion's lawsuit should be dismissed because "no reasonable person" would believe her lies about voting machine rigging.
Now, however, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is using Powell's defense in the Dominion lawsuit to support filings on February 1 made by Nessel, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson with the Attorney Grievance Commission in Michigan and the State Bar of Texas calling for Powell's disbarment.
Nessel is seeking sanctions against Powell and three other attorneys for filing frivolous lawsuits to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the Wolverine State, asking that they be stripped of their licenses to practice law and forced to repay legal fees incurred as a result of their suits.
"Faced with the specter of more than $1.3 billion in damages in the Dominion Action, Ms. Powell has adopted a new litigation strategy to evade Dominion's defamation claim: the truth. Whether that strategy will be advantageous in the Dominion Action remains to be seen, but it strongly underscores why sanctions and attorneys' fees are appropriate here," reads the brief Nessel filed in the sanctions cases, according to the website Law & Crime.
The brief continues, "If there were any doubts about counsel's mindset when filing this action, Ms. Powell has put them to rest. She and her co-counsel knew there was no reasonable basis for the statements they made in this litigation, but they made them anyway."
In seeking to defend herself against the sanctions Michigan is seeking, Powell had said in February that she shouldn't be disbarred because her allegations of fraud could be proved, the Detroit Free Press reported.
But that doesn't jibe with Powell's defense in the Dominion lawsuit, which claimed that "reasonable" people would not have believed her claims.
Nessel tweeted on Wednesday, "As lawyers, fidelity to the law is paramount and these attorneys seemingly made statements they knew were misleading in an effort to further conspiracy theories in an effort to erode public trust in government and dismantle our systems of democracy. Their actions are inexcusable."
Powell is one of a number of people Dominion has sued for the lie that the voting machine company rigged the election against Trump — a lie that was officially debunked in a joint Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security report in March. Dominion has also sued Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Fox News, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
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