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BumRushDaShow

(129,142 posts)
Fri Feb 23, 2024, 06:21 AM Feb 23

A New Orleans magician says a Democratic operative paid him to make the fake Biden robocall

Source: NBC News

Feb. 23, 2024, 5:00 AM EST


NEW ORLEANS — A Democratic consultant who worked for a rival presidential campaign paid a New Orleans magician to use artificial intelligence to impersonate President Joe Biden for a robocall that is now at the center of a multistate law enforcement investigation, according to text messages, call logs and Venmo transactions the creator shared with NBC News.

Paul Carpenter says he was hired in January by Steve Kramer — who was working on ballot access for Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips — to use AI software to make an imitation of Biden’s voice urging New Hampshire Democrats not to vote in the state’s presidential primary.

“I created the audio used in the robocall. I did not distribute it,” Carpenter said in an interview in New Orleans, where he is currently residing. “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.”

Carpenter — who holds world records in fork-bending and straitjacket escapes, but has no fixed address — showed NBC News how he created the fake Biden audio and said he came forward because he regrets his involvement in the ordeal and wants to warn people about how easy it is to use AI to mislead. Creating the fake audio took less than 20 minutes and cost only $1, he said, for which he was paid $150, according to Venmo payments from Kramer and his father, Bruce Kramer, he shared.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/biden-robocall-new-hampshire-strategist-rcna139760

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Mawspam2

(732 posts)
3. Stick a bent fork in Drop Out Dean.
Fri Feb 23, 2024, 07:22 AM
Feb 23

I knew hiring Steve Schmidt and Jeff Weaver would lead to this.

In South Carolina a few days before Thanksgiving, the crowd was filled with people offered $50 gift cards to stay for the entirety of Phillips’ speech.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/12/politics/dean-phillips-campaign-biden/index.html

LeftInTX

(25,399 posts)
8. I knew it was Phillips' campaign! Everyone here was blaming Greg Abbott...LOL
Fri Feb 23, 2024, 08:49 AM
Feb 23

Sometimes there's just Dem-on-Dem nastiness...

BumRushDaShow

(129,142 posts)
9. I never even considered Abbott because this was for a Dem primary
Fri Feb 23, 2024, 09:06 AM
Feb 23

that Biden wasn't even on the ballot for, requiring a write-in. I was thinking RFK Jr. muddying the muddy waters.

BumRushDaShow

(129,142 posts)
11. Figured it was someone who had a deep pocket.
Fri Feb 23, 2024, 09:12 AM
Feb 23

But then if some "outsiders" are feeding those pockets, then....

herding cats

(19,565 posts)
12. I thought RFK JR, too.
Fri Feb 23, 2024, 09:26 AM
Feb 23

My second guess was Phillips. They're both scuzzy enough to pull a stunt like that.

deurbano

(2,895 posts)
13. It pisses me off that the headline calls Steve Kramer a "Democratic Operative" when he is ratf*cking
Fri Feb 23, 2024, 12:53 PM
Feb 23

on behalf of Republicans. In the article, it says this "Democratic consultant" previously worked for Kanye West's campaign in 2020. And he worked for a Republican in the NYC mayoral campaign...although she alleges he was attempting to undermine her chances (he didn't get enough valid signatures for her to be on the ballot), but not sure on whose behalf. (Sorry I couldn't find a better source than the NY Post.)
https://nypost.com/2021/04/29/consultant-hired-by-kanye-west-sabotaged-gop-candidates-nyc-mayoral-campaign-suit-says/

Basically, he seems like a gun for hire who has no actual principles, and may have once been a "Democratic operative," but now is working for the other team (probably pays better)... and it would nice if reporters would make the effort to identify which party these kinds of efforts are intended to benefit. (And who is funding them.)


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