Trial begins for political consultant accused of sending AI-generated robocalls mimicking Biden

The trial has begun of a Democratic political consultant who has admitted to sending artificial intelligence (AI) generated robocalls mimicking President Biden ahead of the 2024 New Hampshire primary.

Steve Kramer faces a $6 million fine and more than two dozen criminal charges after he hired a magician to create a deepfake of President Biden urging New Hampshire voters not to participate in the primary.

The fines, proposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), are the first involving AI technology.

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The company accused of transmitting the calls, Lingo Telecom, faces a $2 million fine, though in both cases the parties could settle or further negotiate, the FCC said.

Kramer has admitted orchestrating a message that was sent to thousands of voters two days before the first-in-the-nation primary on Jan. 23.

The date that New Hampshire set for its primary was out of compliance with the DNC’s 2024 presidential nominating calendar. Holding an unsanctioned primary meant President Biden was not on the New Hampshire ballot, but Granite State Democrats launched a write-in campaign in an attempt to prevent an electoral embarrassment for the president as he ran for a second term in the White House.

The caller IDs appeared to come from Kathy Sullivan, the former chairperson of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, who was running a pro-Biden write-in campaign at the time.

“What a bunch of malarkey. You know the value of voting Democratic when our votes count. It’s important that you save your vote for the November election,” the voice says in a recording of the message obtained by NBC News. 

“We will need your help in electing Democrats up and down the ticket. Voting this Tuesday only enables Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again. Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.”

The fake Biden calls reached 5,000 to 25,000 people, according to NBC’s investigation citing authorities.

Kramer is facing 13 felony charges alleging he violated a New Hampshire law against attempting to deter someone from voting using misleading information. He also faces 13 misdemeanor charges accusing him of falsely representing himself as a candidate through his own conduct or that of another person. The charges were filed in four counties and will be prosecuted by the state attorney general’s office.

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Kramer previously told local outlet News 9 he produced the phone calls as a stunt to demonstrate the need to regulate AI technology.

“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 previously said of the investigation.

Kramer, a get-out-the-vote specialist, worked on ballot access for the campaign of former Democratic presidential hopeful Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota and also worked on Kanye West’s unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign. Phillips has distanced himself from Kramer, who has said he acted alone.

Paul Carpenter, a magician from New Orleans, came forward and said he had made the deepfake for $1 and that Kramer had paid him $150 to do it, according to an NBC report. 

“I created the audio used in the robocall. I did not distribute it,” Carpenter told NBC. “I was in a situation where someone offered me some money to do something and I did it. There was no malicious intent. I didn’t know how it was going to be distributed.

Following the revelations, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella announced an investigation into the calls.

Formella said investigators had identified the Texas-based Life Corp. as the source of the calls and that the calls were transmitted by another Texas-based company, Lingo Telecom.

Lingo Telecom said it strongly disagrees with the FCC’s action, which it called an attempt to impose new rules retroactively.

“Lingo Telecom takes its regulatory obligations extremely seriously and has fully cooperated with federal and state agencies to assist with identifying the parties responsible for originating the New Hampshire robocall campaign,” the company said. 

“Lingo Telecom was not involved whatsoever in the production of these calls and the actions it took complied with all applicable federal regulations and industry standards.”

Fox News’ Danielle Wallace and Greg Norman as well as The Associated Press contributed to this report.