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The Democratic political consultant behind the robocalls featuring the AI-generated voice of President Joe Biden during the First in the Nation presidential primary campaign got hit with a federal lawsuit Thursday. It was brought by New Hampshire’s League of Women Voters.

“These deceptive robocalls attempted to cause widespread confusion among New Hampshire voters,” said Liz Tentarelli, president of the League of Women Voters of New Hampshire. “As a nonpartisan organization, the League of Women Voters works to ensure that all voters, regardless of their party affiliation, have the most accurate election information to make their voices heard. We will continue to advocate for New Hampshire voters and fight against malicious schemes to suppress the vote.” 

The lawsuit names as defendants Steve Kramer, a consultant working for former Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), as well as the two Texas companies he used to push out the call, Life Corporation and Lingo Telecom.

Kramer’s fake Biden called thousands of New Hampshire voters two days before the primary, telling them to stay home and “save your vote” for November. The stunt amounted to illegal voter suppression, according to Courtney Hostetler, Senior Counsel at Free Speech For People, which serves as co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs.

“Fraudulently made robocalls have the potential to devastate voter turnout by flooding thousands of voters with intimidating, threatening, or coercive messages in a matter of hours,” Hostetler said. “No one should abuse technology to make lawful voters think that they should not, or cannot safely, vote in the primaries or in any election. It is an honor to represent the League of Women Voters and the other plaintiffs in this important case to protect the right to vote.”

Kramer has a history of engaging in questionable campaign activity, including past robocalls using an AI-generated voice, according to the lawsuit. Kramer pulled off a robocall poll in South Carolina using the computer-generated voice of Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit states, “Kramer has since claimed that the deepfake robocalls achieved a response rate four times higher than robocalls using a generic automated voice because Sen. Graham’s voice was familiar to South Carolina voters.”

Kramer was sued in 2021 by a candidate for New York City mayor for allegedly faking the signatures he was hired to collect on behalf of the candidate. Kramer was paid $80,000 for the signature drive, according to the lawsuit.

The Phillips campaign paid Kramer’s firm, Get Out The Vote, more than $250,000 to produce robocalls. When Kramer was linked to the calls, the Phillips campaign publicly distanced itself from him.

According to the lawsuit, while with the Phillips campaign, Kramer’s penchant for robocalls was being encouraged.

“Kramer began receiving requests from unspecified consultants, corporations, political action committees (‘PACs’), and Super PACs requesting that Kramer use AI-generated robocalls in connection with unspecified campaigns,” the lawsuit states.

In the fall of 2023, Kramer met with a transient magician, Paul Carpenter, who also did web design and digital marketing. According to the lawsuit, Kramer paid Carpenter $150 to produce the AI-Biden recording.

Kramer then used Life Corporation and Lingo to send thousands of calls to New Hampshire voters. Kramer spoofed the calls so that they would appear to people as coming from the phone of Kathy Sullivan, former chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. 

Kramer would later release a statement claiming he engaged in the robocall stunt in order to “raise awareness” about the dangers of AI technology. But, the lawsuit notes he hid payments to Carpenter using a Venmo account associated with his father. 

He also reportedly instructed Carpenter to delete emails connected to the calls. When New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella promised to prosecute those behind them, Kramer told Carpenter to keep quiet, according to the lawsuit.

“On Monday, January 22, 2024, following an NBC News report on the New Hampshire robocalls, Kramer texted Carpenter a link to the story and the message, ‘Shhhhhhh.’ Carpenter responded, ‘Gtfooh’ an acronym for ‘Get the f*** out of here.’ Carpenter subsequently spoke with Kramer over the telephone.

“On the call, Kramer admitted to Carpenter that he had spoofed the New Hampshire robocalls or deliberately falsified the information transmitted via caller ID display to disguise their identity. Kramer also directed Carpenter to delete his emails concerning the robocalls, the lawsuit states.”

New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella is investigating an AI-generated robocall that appears to feature President Joe Biden telling Democrats to skip the First in the Nation presidential primary.

Formella’s office says the calls “appear to be an unlawful attempt to disrupt the New Hampshire Presidential Primary Election and to suppress New Hampshire voters.” Gov. Chris Sununu called the messages “voter impression and illegal,” and he said he’s spoken to Formella about prosecuting the responsible parties “to the fullest extent of the law.”

But who is behind the calls? The message doesn’t include a disclaimer. And what is their motive? Are they trying to keep Democrat-leaning unaffiliated voters from voting for Nikki Haley in the Republican primary? Or is the goal to keep registered Democrats at home rather than voting in their own party’s primary, where Biden needs write-in votes to prevent an embarrassing outcome?

“This coming Tuesday is the New Hampshire presidential preference primary. Republicans have been trying to push non-partisan and Democratic voters to participate in their primary. What a bunch of malarky,” the fake Biden voice voice says. “We know the value of voting Democratic when our votes count. It’s important that you save your vote for the November election.”

White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed Monday that the voice on the call is not President Joe Biden.

The robocall spoofed the cell phone number associated with former New Hampshire Democratic Chair Kathy Sullivan, who is leading the “Write In Biden” campaign. (Biden refused to allow his name to appear on the New Hampshire ballot after failing to force Granite State Democrats to give up their “First in the Nation” status.)

Sullivan would not respond to requests for comment from NHJournal, but she told NBC News, “It’s obviously somebody who wants to hurt Joe Biden.”

Discouraging unaffiliated voters who lean Democrat from participating in the GOP primary might hurt Nikki Haley and help Donald Trump. But how would it hurt Biden? Targeting registered Democrats would have no impact on the GOP primary at all since they cannot vote in the Republican contest.

Depending on who is targeted, notes veteran GOP strategist Dave Carney, it’s just as likely that phone calls trying to keep Democrats from voting on Tuesday would help Biden.

“It’s impossible to know who did it — it could be some hacker in his basement. But if you ask who benefits, it’s Joe Biden,” Carney said.

Efforts to rescue Biden from his decision to skip the First in the Nation primary could suffer a setback if enough fed-up Democrats follow the example of North Country progressive Theodore Bosen. He received the fake call, and he tells NHJournal he plans to vote in his party’s primary for U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.)

“Half the reason I’m voting for Phillips is how pissed off I am over what the DNC and Biden have done to the First in the Nation primary,” Bosen said. “It’s terrible for the whole process –we are the best state, historically, to vet the candidates, particularly Democrats.”

Bosen also said he is motivated by his opposition to Biden’s support for Israel in its ongoing war against Hamas inside Gaza. “What’s going on in Gaza with our money and our support is a war crime,” Bosen said. “And there isn’t a viable candidate who is even talking about it.”

If anger with Biden over the First in the Nation primary state or his Israel policy drives Democrats to the polls, the write-in effort has to match those numbers to keep Biden from being embarrassed in his party’s primary. The write-in effort isn’t organic; it’s organized. So the fewer Democrats that show up, the larger a percentage of the total the write-in will be.

The latest University of New Hampshire Survey shows the percentage of Democrats who say they plan to write in Biden has been slipping and now is down to the low 60s.

“Low turnout makes their write-in votes a bigger slice of the pie,” Carney said. 

But Democrats like Sullivan and U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan insist Biden was the target.

“I urge Granite Staters to make sure their friends and neighbors know the truth and turn out in even bigger numbers to write in President Biden’s name,” Hassan said in a statement.

Bosen agrees.

“I thought it was Trump, in part because [the fake Biden] talks about Democrats and independents taking part in the Republican primary,” Bosen said. “Only Trump thinks Democrats can vote in the Republican primary. He’s said it about five times in the last week.”

Bosen thinks the call has less to do with Biden than former Ambassador Nikki Haley. Haley’s push to take on Trump in the GOP primary is going to need all the undeclared voters it can get. The call is probably a Trump trick designed to keep those undeclared voters from helping her win, Bosen said.

“We all know independents are her only shot,” Bosen said. 

If the call did come from a Biden ally, Bosen believes, it’s because the campaign sees numbers that are not so good for the incumbent president, and they’re feeling pressure from rising support for Phillips.

“It’s a schizophrenic strategy,” Bosen said. “Biden’s biggest blunder was for him to condone the write-in. (He) is screwed if Phillips does well.”

State Rep. Steve Shurtleff (D-Penacook), former Speaker of the House, is also backing Phillips.

“Dean Philips has the educational and business experience to be an outstanding president. As President Kennedy said at his inauguration, “Let the word go forth to friend and foe alike; the torch has been passed to a new generation …”

“As a senior citizen, I say it’s time for us to pass the torch. Pass it to the congressman from Minnesota, Dean Phillips.”

Formella’s office confirmed to NHJournal that it is investigating the almost certainly illegal calls. However, the Attorney General’s Office has spent more than a year investigating tens of thousands of dollars of illegal mail sent by Massachusetts Democrats to interfere with the 2022 GOP primary in the Second Congressional District. Formella and his office have taken no action or filed any charges.