Jill Stein’s presidential campaign hired a political consultant who infamously created deepfake robocalls using President Joe Biden’s voice.
The Green Party presidential candidate’s campaign paid $150,015 to consultant Steve Kramer in May, according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday.
Stein campaign manager Jason Call told Business Insider via text that Kramer only did petitioning work in New York, and that he was hired on contract by the campaign between April 16 and the end of May.
“We did not know anything about his activities… regarding the robocalls until the petitioning period was almost over,” said Call.
Despite paying a hefty sum to Kramer for help with petitioning, Stein failed to make the ballot in New York, with the state Board of Elections determining that her campaign did not submit a sufficient number of signatures.
During the New Hampshire presidential primary this year, voters received bogus AI-generated robocalls purportedly from Biden instructing them to “save your vote for the November election.” The calls came as Biden supporters were mounting a write-in campaign in the state, where the president did not appear on the ballot.
Kramer, who had been employed by longshot Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips, admitted to orchestrating the calls in February after a fork-bending magician came forward, telling NBC News that he did it to alert the country to the dangers of AI and deepfakes.
He was indicted in New Hampshire on 13 felony counts of voter suppression and 13 misdemeanor counts of impersonating a candidate in May. The Federal Communications Commission has proposed fining Kramer $6 million.
Kramer declined to comment.
Stein, who previously ran for president in 2016, is set to become the Green Party’s presidential nominee again in 2024. She launched her current campaign in November, running on an ultra-progressive platform.
Some Democratic strategists have worried that she and independent candidate Cornel West could harm Biden’s chances as he faces a rematch with former President Donald Trump.
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