Project Veritas, James O’Keefe settle suit over false claims of 2020 voter fraud in Pennsylvania

Project Veritas and conservative activist James O’Keefe have settled a lawsuit in Pennsylvania over false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election that were initially made by a postal worker who backed former President Trump.

A lawyer who represented Erie postmaster Robert Weisenbach, who filed the lawsuit, confirmed to NBC News that it had been settled on undisclosed terms.

Weisenbach — who voted for Trump in 2020 election — said accusations of voter fraud lodged by postal worker Richard Hopkins and spread by O’Keefe and Project Veritas forced him to flee his home after his address was posted online, The Associated Press reported.

Hopkins, a supporter of former President Trump, gained Republican attention over allegations that officials tampered with mail-in ballots in the swing state that President Biden won in 2020.

In a statement posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Project Veritas said Hopkins has “since come to learn that he was wrong,” and that Weisenbach and the U.S. Postal Service did not engage in election fraud. The organization said it is not aware of any other evidence of fraud in the Erie Post Office during the 2020 election.

The group also posted Hopkins’s statement, which said he reported the story to Project Veritas, the conservative media outlet, but now admitted he had “only heard a fragment of the conversation.”

“As I have now learned, I was wrong,” Hopkins’s statement said. “I apologize to Mr. Weisenbach, his family, the employees of the Erie Post Office, and anyone that has been negatively impacted by my report.”

O’Keefe, who was ousted from his position as CEO of Project Veritas in February 2023, said in a statement to NBC News that he was not aware of any other evidence that election fraud occurred in the post office.