Lindsay Graham Promises Senate Judiciary Committee Will Investigate Voter Fraud
Less than two hours after the Associated Press officially called the presidential election for Joe Biden, Republican Senator Lindsay Graham released a statement detailing his plans to dispute the results. "It is imperative that all credible allegations of voting irregularities and misconduct be investigated to ensure the integrity of the 2020 elections."
"The presidential election remains close in multiple states, and as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, all credible allegations of voting irregularities and misconduct will be taken seriously. I will not allow credible allegations of voting irregularities or misconduct to be swept under the rug."
In this case, the "credible allegation" Graham is referring to is a sworn affidavit from Richard Hopkins, a postal worker in Erie, Pennsylvania, who alleges USPS officials discussed a plan to backdate and count late arriving ballots. In September, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that mail-in ballots arriving up to three days after Election Day would be counted, so long as they were postmarked by November 3rd.
In the affidavit, Hopkins claims Erie Postmaster Robert Weisenbach "directed my co-workers and I to pick up ballots after Election Day and provide them to him ... I heard Weisenbach tell a supervisor at my office that Weisenbach [sic] 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 later."
According to the affidavit, Hopkins submitted his story anonymously to Project Veritas, a controversial, conservative media organization that is known for attempting to conduct stings on major news outlets that it perceives to have anti-Trump biases. Hopkins then publicly revealed his idenity after USPS inspectors interviewed him about his allegtions.
In response to Hopkins' allegations, Graham wrote: "I will be calling on the Department of Justice to investigate these claims. I’ll also be in contact with the Postmaster General, requesting he to look into these allegations, ones that may follow, and help secure the testimony of Mr. Hopkins. Mr. Hopkins is entitled to all whistleblower protections, and I will ensure they extend to other postal workers who may come forward with claims of irregulates, misconduct, fraud, etc. The expanded use of mail-in voting is making the post office the administrator of elections, not the local election officials. This change in mission requires there to be further scrutiny to ensure the system is beyond reproach."
According to the statement, Graham received the affidavit from President Trump. If so, that would fit neatly into the president's strategy of litigating his way into a second term. His campaign has recently unleashed a litany of lawsuits and allegations in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Michigan in an attempt to undermine the results of the election. On Saturday afternoon, Trump released a statement vowing to bring more lawsuits in Pennsylvania, claiming his "legal observers" weren't granted access to watch the ballot counting process. "Beginning Monday, our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated."
Unfortunately for the president, many similar lawsuits his campaign filed have already been dismissed by judges in Georgia and Michigan and President-elect Biden's lead is projected to keep growing as results are certified. At this point, it seems unlikely Trump will be able to litigate his way out of this one.
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