Biden robocall producer found inot guilty of criminal charges
A political consultant was found not guilty of 11 felony charges Friday over AI-generated robocalls that mimicked President Joe Biden's voice discouraging Democrats from voting in the 2024 New Hampshire primary.
The charges against Steve Kramer included voter suppression and impersonating a presidential candidate.
AG vows to keep working on voter integrity after target found not guilty
Attorney General John Formella said his office will keep working on efforts to protect voter integrity after a judge found Steven Kramer not guilty of state felonies for making a robocall that mimicked the voice of former President Joe Biden that urged Democrats not to vote in New Hampshire's 2024 primary. On Feb. 6, he identified two Texas companies and one business owner as having placed those robocalls.
After the verdict in Belknap Superior Court, Attorney General John Formella noted that the Federal Communications Commission had already fined Kramer $6 million and two telecommunication companies another $1 million for violations of federal anti-robocall regulations.
Kramer had been paid $150 by a political consultant working for Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips to produce the audio used to call roughly 25,000 likely voters two days before the Jan. 23, 2024 primary.
Judge Elizabeth Leonard allowed Kramer's defense team to claim he didn't commit a crime because New Hampshire's primary was a 'straw poll' as it wasn't sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee.
'That, ladies and gentlemen, was a brazen attack on your primary,' Kramer's lawyer Tom Reid told the jury, referring to the DNC's actions. 'And it wasn't done by Steve Kramer.
'He didn't see it as a real election, because it wasn't,' Reid said.
Kramer's lawyers also argued the use of deepfake technology was protected speech rather than voter suppression.
If convicted, Kramer would have faced decades in prison, with each felony carrying a prison term of up to seven years. He also faced 11 misdemeanor charges that each carried up to a year in jail.
Kramer's lawyers argued he didn't impersonate a candidate because the message didn't include Biden's name and the former president wasn't on the primary ballot.
Former Democratic Party chair testified at recent robocall trial
Former Democratic Party Chairman Kathy Sullivan testified in the criminal trial of Steven Kramer who was found innocent of multiple charges regarding his manufacture of a robocall that mimicked the voice of former President Joe Biden to urge New Hampshire Democrats not to vote in the 2024 primary. All of those calls urged anyone with questions to call Sullivan's home telephone number.
Biden honored the DNC calendar and refused to file to run or campaign in New Hampshire; he won the primary easily with a record write-in vote.
All the calls left the telephone number of former Democratic Party Chair Kathy Sullivan.
During the trial, Sullivan testified that her belief was that Kramer's goal was to suppress the vote.
Kramer was paid $259,946 by Phillips's campaign to help the long-shot presidential candidate get on the ballot in New York and Pennsylvania.
The campaign told media outlets that that work included production and distribution of a robocall that used Phillips's voice.
But the Phillips campaign denied any knowledge of the Biden robocall.
Kramer testified during the trial that he had no regrets even though his actions led to AI regulations in multiple states including New Hampshire.
He said he came up with the stunt as a warning for how AI can be misused. He chose to use it in New Hampshire believing it would have the most impact.
In a statement Friday, Formella said the state 'will continue to work diligently to address the challenges posed by emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, to protect the integrity of our elections.'
klandrigan@unionleader.com
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