As one of its key pieces of evidence to challenge the election there, the Trump campaign in Pennsylvania is using the James O'Keefe/Project Veritas-promoted story that a postal worker heard a supervisor tell another worker to backdate ballots. That story was debunked by U.S. Postal Service investigators, who spoke to the worker—Richard Hopkins—who recanted. Then he recanted his recanting again via a video Project Veritas sent out in which they said he had been "interrogated" and "coerced" by agents.
Showing just how unsteady the foundation is that Trump has built his legal challenges on, The Washington Post got the recording Project Veritas is using to try to keep this ridiculous claim alive. It was recorded by Hopkins, who told the investigators he was recording, and they let him keep doing it. Which was smart. Because in it, he says he made "assumptions" about the snippets of the conversation he'd overheard that were the basis of his claim and his false affidavit. He said the Erie, Pennsylvania, facility where he heard the conversation was noisy and all he heard for sure were three phrases: "ballots on the 4th," "all for the 3rd," and "one postmarked on the 4th." He said he never heard the word "backdate," but, "My mind probably added the rest." Then he talked about the affidavit, saying that it was written by Project Veritas and he wasn't sure of everything that was in it because he was in "so much shock I wasn't paying that much attention to what they were telling me." He told the investigators: "They just wanted me to get the affidavit done so they can utilize it in case they need to subpoena me into the court."
Far from being coercive, the recording shows that the investigators "repeatedly reminded Hopkins that his cooperation was voluntary, and Hopkins agreed to sign a document stating that he was not coerced." One also asked him if he had a lawyer, and Hopkins said a Project Veritas lawyer was on retention "in case there's anything that happens." At which point the agent hinted that maybe he should have a personal lawyer and "I would make whatever efforts possible to have that person here." That's about as "coercive" as the interview seems to have been. But Hopkins, clearly in way over his head, later talked to O'Keefe and said he felt like he "got played" by the investigators.
The ones playing him are clearly O'Keefe and his team, and who knows what they're promising Hopkins. Hopkins told inspectors that he's a libertarian who supported Trump. He didn't understand Pennsylvania's rules for the election, i.e., that ballots postmarked Election Day could still be delivered through the following Friday. "It's so weird that we’re picking up ballots because, at this point [after Election Day], they're no longer valid," he told investigators when explaining his concern. He thought it was fraud. "You ever feel like you were doing the right thing but you kind of regret it anyways?" he asked the agent.
One gets the sense that Hopkins isn't the brightest of bulbs, a perfect target for being used by O'Keefe in yet another fraud. It would be sadly hilarious because this guy really is being used, except for the fact that the fraud was used to get Sen. Lindsey Graham to call for a federal investigation, after which Attorney General William Barr authorized federal investigations. It is being used in one of the Trump campaign's challenges to the Pennsylvania vote.
O'Keefe and Project Veritas are an essential part of the Republican Party. Which is again both hilarious and terrifying. Because for the next 60-odd days, they're in charge of the country.