The right-wing "guerrilla journalist" James O'Keefe announced he and his former organization Project Veritas settled a lawsuit brought by a Pennsylvania postmaster for propping up claims from a mail carrier that he overheard election fraud statements, according to NBC News.
On Monday, O'Keefe, who parted ways as head of Project Veritas in February 2023, officially acknowledged Hopkins' gaping holes in his story.
"In November 2020, I reported that election fraud had occurred in Erie, Pennsylvania during the 2020 Presidential Election," wrote O'Keefe in a statement he posted on Twitter/X. "This story was based on Richard Hopkins’ claim that he had overheard Robert Weisenbach, the Erie Postmaster, direct another USPS supervisor to illegally backdate mail-in ballots."
"With this update, I am aware of no evidence or other allegation that election fraud occurred in the Erie Post Office during the 2020 Presidential Election."
Hopkins, the Pennsylvania postal worker referenced by O'Keefe, accused Erie Postmaster, Robert Weisenbach, of tampering with mail ballots — an accusation that had been embraced by some Republicans as a gross example of tipping the scales of the election.
"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 late," according to his sworn affidavit.
Former President Donald Trump, a week after the election, praised Hopkins as a “brave patriot” and his campaign cited the accusations in litigation.
Hopkins then recanted his statements.
Project Veritas then countered with a video of Hopkins sticking with his original statements of fraud.
"I'm here to say I did not recant my statements," Hopkins said in the video. "That did not happen."
The next day, Project Veritas posted a two-hour audio clip of Hopkins' interview with U.S. Postal Service investigators.
Hopkins confirmed he was culpable.
“As I have now learned, I was wrong. Mr. Weisenbach was not involved in any inappropriate behavior concerning the 2020 Presidential Election," Hopkins said in the statement, according to NBC News. "I apologize to Mr. Weisenbach, his family, the employees of the Erie Post Office, and anyone that has been negatively impacted by my report.
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