Letter to Tammy Whitcomb, Inspector General of the U.S. Postal Service - Comer, Hice seek answers from USPS Inspector General regarding investigation into whistleblower allegations

Letter

Dear Ms. Whitcomb:

On the morning of Tuesday, November 10, your staff requested a meeting with Oversight Committee staff to discuss an "important case update." During a meeting that afternoon, we learned the case was regarding Richard Hopkins, a United States Postal Service (USPS) employee in Erie, Pennsylvania who blew the whistle on some potential malfeasance he overheard regarding mail-in balloting.

During the meeting, the Deputy Inspector General told our staff he thought it was "important to set the record straight" since a public statement from Hopkins had "gotten traction." The Deputy Inspector General's update was highly unusual, as he noted your office, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), "typically does not brief investigations as they progress." Nevertheless, the Deputy Inspector General told Committee staff Hopkins had "essentially recanted everything he provided" and provided a subsequent sworn statement to OIG agents recanting his prior testimony.

Later that evening the Oversight Committee Democrats launched a Twitter thread that publicized facts learned during the Deputy Inspector General's briefing. One of the Majority's tweets noted "Hopkins RECANTED HIS ALLEGATIONS yesterday and did not explain why he signed a false affidavit." The Washington Post, among other outlets, subsequently reported this information. This was a surprising tactic--undermining an apparent whistleblower before all the facts have been discovered--and in stark contrast to both the insistence of Democrats and the media last year that Adam Schiff's whistleblower, who had no first-hand knowledge of any events, be trusted regarding the President's impeachment. It seems Democrats and the media only give deference to whistleblowers whose allegations support their own narrative.

Nevertheless, shortly after the Democrats' tweets, multiple videos surfaced containing what appear to be recordings of part of Hopkins' interview with OIG agents. Portions of the recording show OIG agents pressuring Hopkins into clarifying his statement by reviewing his recollection of events he witnessed. In Hopkins' new statement, as documented in the recording and apparently amended with the assistance of the OIG agents, he did not witness any explicitly illicit activities--a story more favorable to Democrats and the news media's broad dismissal of the public's valid concerns about the integrity of mass mail-in voting.

As a result, we need to obtain a fuller understanding of your current investigation. Therefore, please provide all notes, materials, emails, and other source documents regarding your investigation thus far to the Committee no later than 5:00 p.m. on Monday, November 16, 2020. This includes any and all recordings of interviews with Hopkins, the postmaster, and others during the course of the investigation.

In addition, please provide an updated briefing to the Committee staff regarding your investigation no later than Thursday, November 19, 2020. Please contact my staff at (202) 225-5074 to schedule this briefing.

Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter.

Source