- Jill Stein’s campaign paid more than $150,000 to a man who created deepfake robocalls in Biden’s voice.
- He faces 26 criminal charges in New Hampshire and could face a $6 million fine.
- The campaign claims he was helping with the petition drive in New York and was unaware of the scandal.
Jill Stein’s presidential campaign has hired a political consultant notorious for creating deepfake robocalls using President Joe Biden’s voice.
The Green Party presidential candidate’s campaign paid consultant Steve Kramer $150,015 in May, according to documents filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission.
Stein’s campaign manager, Jason Cole, told Business Insider in a text that Cramer was only involved in petition work in New York and was employed under contract by the campaign from April 16 until the end of May.
“We didn’t know anything about his activity with regards to robocalls until almost the end of the petition period,” Cole said.
Despite paying Kramer a large amount of money to help with the petition drive, Stein failed to get on the New York state ballot in time after the New York State Board of Elections determined her campaign did not submit enough signatures.
In this year’s New Hampshire presidential primary, voters received fake AI robocalls claiming to be from Biden and instructing them to “save their vote for the November election. The calls came as Biden supporters were running a write-in ballot campaign in the state, where the presidential candidate was not on the ballot.
Cramer, who was employed by Rep. Dean Phillips, the defeated Democratic presidential candidate, acknowledged orchestrating the call in February after the fork-bending magician came forward and told NBC News he did it to warn the public about the dangers of AI and deepfakes.
Cramer was indicted in New Hampshire in May on 13 felony counts of voter suppression and 13 misdemeanor counts of impersonating a candidate. The Federal Communications Commission has proposed fineing Cramer $6 million.
Cramer declined to comment.
Stein, who previously ran for president in 2016, plans to run again as the Green Party’s presidential candidate in 2024. She launched her current campaign in November with an ultra-progressive platform.
Some Democratic strategists worry that she and independent candidate Cornel West could undermine Biden’s chances of victory as he faces former President Donald Trump in a rematch.
