Latest news with #2024Primary
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Biden robocall producer found not 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@
Associated Press
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Consultant behind AI-generated robocalls mimicking Biden goes on trial in New Hampshire
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A political consultant who sent voters artificial intelligence-generated robocalls mimicking former President Joe Biden last year goes on trial Thursday in New Hampshire, where jurors may be asked to consider not just his guilt or innocence but whether the state actually held its first-in-the-nation presidential primary. Steven Kramer, who faces decades in prison if convicted of voter suppression and impersonating a candidate, has admitted orchestrating a message sent to thousands of voters two days before the Jan. 23, 2024, primary. The message played an AI-generated voice similar to the Democratic president's that used his phrase 'What a bunch of malarkey' and suggested that voting in the primary would preclude voters from casting ballots in November. 'It's important that you save your vote for the November election,' voters were told. 'Your votes make a difference in November, not this Tuesday.' Kramer, who owns a firm specializing in get-out-the-vote projects, has said he wasn't trying to influence the outcome of the primary election but rather wanted to send a wake-up call about the potential dangers of AI when he paid a New Orleans magician and self-described 'digital nomad' $150 to create the recording. 'Maybe I'm a villain today, but I think in the end we get a better country and better democracy because of what I've done, deliberately,' Kramer told The Associated Press in February 2024. Ahead of the trial in Belknap County Superior Court, state prosecutors sought to prevent Kramer from arguing that the primary was a meaningless straw poll because it wasn't sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee. At Biden's request, the DNC dislodged New Hampshire from its traditional early spot in the nominating calendar, but later dropped its threat not to seat the state's national convention delegates. Biden did not put his name on the ballot or campaign there, but won as a write-in. The state argued that such evidence was irrelevant and would risk confusing jurors, but Judge Elizabeth Leonard denied the motion in March, saying the DNC's actions and Kramer's understanding of them were relevant to his motive and intent in sending the calls. She did grant the prosecution's request that the court accept as fact that the state held its presidential primary election as defined by law on Jan. 23, 2024. Jurors will be informed of that conclusion but won't be required to accept it. Kramer faces 11 felony charges, each punishable by up to seven years in prison, alleging he attempted to prevent or deter someone from voting based on 'fraudulent, deceptive, misleading or spurious grounds or information.' He also faces 11 misdemeanor charges that each carry a maximum sentence of a year in jail accusing him of falsely representing himself as a candidate by his own conduct or that of another person. He also has been fined $6 million by the Federal Communications Commission, but it's unclear whether he has paid it, and the FCC did not respond to a request for comment earlier this week. The agency was developing AI-related rules when Donald Trump won the presidency, but has since shown signs of a possible shift toward loosening regulations. In April, it recommended that a telecom company be added back to an industry consortium just weeks after the agency had proposed fining the company for its role in illegal robocalls impersonating the FCC. Half of all U.S. states have enacted legislation regulating AI deepfakes in political campaigns, according to the watchdog organization Public Citizen. But House Republicans in Congress recently added a clause to their party's signature 'big beautiful' tax bill that would ban states and localities from regulating artificial intelligence for a decade, though it faces long odds in the Senate.
