New Hampshire jury acquits consultant behind AI robocalls mimicking Biden on all charges

A political consultant who sent artificial intelligence-generated robocalls mimicking former President Joe Biden to New Hampshire Democrats last year was acquitted Friday of voter suppression and impersonating a candidate.
Steven Kramer, 56, of New Orleans, admitted orchestrating a message sent to thousands of voters two days before the state's Jan. 23, 2024, presidential primary. Recipients heard an AI-generated voice similar to the Democratic president's that used his catchphrase 'What a bunch of malarkey' and, as prosecutors alleged, suggested that voting in the primary would preclude voters from casting ballots in November.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Politico

10 minutes ago

• Politico

Trump threatens more strikes against Iran if it doesn't negotiate a deal

President Donald Trump declared the U.S. bombing of Iran's three major nuclear facilities to have been 'a spectacular military success' during a Saturday night address to the nation, and left the door open to engaging in more strikes. 'Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,' Trump said, and warned that the U.S. could still attack other, less significant targets in Iran if its leaders don't stand down. 'Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace,' he said. 'If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.' Standing in the White House Cross Hall to deliver a speech that lasted less than four minutes, Trump stopped short of declaring the U.S. to be at war with Iran, but his words made clear that he was willing to enter a deeper, wider conflict. In fact, the president seemed intent on trying to further intimidate Iran, a dramatic shift from just a few weeks ago, when Trump sounded confident that he was close to a diplomatic agreement with Tehran to further constrain its nuclear program. Trump asserted Saturday that there are 'many targets left' in Iran for U.S. forces to attack and vowed to go after them in short order if Iran didn't relent. 'There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days,' he said. The remarks came a couple hours after the president's TruthSocial post announcing that the U.S. had struck three nuclear sites inside Iran. For several days, Trump had been dangling the threat of the U.S. assisting Israel's military, which does not have the kind of 'bunker-buster' bombs that were deployed in the operation Saturday night, to take out Iran's nuclear facilities once and for all — a consequence, he suggested, for Tehran's failure to reach a deal to curb its nuclear program. But the news that U.S. forces had carried out the strikes still came as a surprise, given the White House's statement on Thursday that Trump might take as long as two weeks to decide whether to take military action. With Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth standing behind him, Trump offered his congratulations to the military generals who helped plan the attack, the warfighters who carried it out and to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom he said he 'worked as a team.' Trump made no effort to justify his decision to a MAGA base that has largely opposed intervening in foreign wars. Nor did he address his decision to act without consulting Congress, a move, many Democrats on Capitol Hill have pointed out, that is unconstitutional. Rather, he announced that the Pentagon would hold a press conference at 8 a.m. on Sunday before ending his remarks with a word of appreciation. 'I want to just thank everybody. And in particular God, I want to just say, we love you, God, and we love our great military.'

Yahoo

13 minutes ago

• Yahoo

Trump Pledges 'Future Attacks' On Iran If No Quick Peace; Nuke Sites Bombings Were 'Spectacular Military Success,' POTUS Says

Two days after Donald Trump said he was going to give any decision on US involvement in Israel's war with Iran a couple more weeks, the president offered details on the bombing Saturday of three nuclear sites in the Islamic Republic and the potential of more to come. 'Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror,' Trump said from the White House tonight in a short speech covered live around the globe. More from Deadline U.S. Bombs Three Nuclear Sites In Iran, Donald Trump Announces Inside Gavin Newsom & Alex Padilla's Media Blitz Of Trump & JD Vance: "Is He Confused Again?" Governor Mocks POTUS JD Vance Says Federal Presence Still Needed In Los Angeles, Accuses Gavin Newsom And Karen Bass Of "Encouraging Far-Left Agitators" - Update 'Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace,' he went on to say. 'If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier.' Noticeably not speaking from the Oval Office, Trump was surrounded by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Praising the military, Trump said tonight that Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine would be giving a press conference early Sunday at 8 a.m ET with more details of the trio of attacks. Beyond the obvious logic of the Pentagon being in pole position in a matter like this, the 40,000 US troops in and around the Middle East are widely seen as a possible target for any reaction from Iran going forward. Just before Trump's less than 10-minute speech tonight, Iranian State TV displayed a graphic at one point of those nearby U.S. bases with the text 'Within Range.' Trump made no mention of those troops or bases in his comments Saturday. Also before Trump was in front of the cameras, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave comments of his own, capped with 'Congratulations President Trump.' As Trump spoke, from the same place in the White House where Barack Obama stood in 2011 and revealed the successful killing of Osama Bin Laden, the administration released photos of a ball cap wearing POTUS and top officials in the Situation Room earlier Saturday. The group are seemingly watching video of military activity – also with Obama comparisons. President Donald J. Trump in The Situation Room, June 21, 2025 — The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 22, 2025 Declaring that 'Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,' Trump repeated his threat of more to come. 'There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days,' he noted with a stumble or two in reference to the beginning of Israel's hits on foe Tehran. 'Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight's was the most difficult of them all, by far and perhaps the most lethal, but if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill, most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes. There is no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight, not even close.' Away at his New Jersey residence this weekend, poll besieged Trump made public the attack on the Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan sites not long after returning to the White House this afternoon and participating in a meeting with his National Security team. 'Congratulations to our great American Warriors,' Trump posted online. 'There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE! Thank you for your attention to this matter.' Worries of what Iran's reaction will be in the region, to US bases and around the world became part of the TV and online coverage also as soon as news of the American bombing began. Also, concerns about secret Iranian facilities or unaccounted for nuclear material were part of the discussion in the absence of significant details of the American action in the hours before Trump's speech. With the world waiting for Trump's remarks from the White House, officials of the Islamic Republic appeared on Iranian state TV earlier Saturday. The official said that the regime 'didn't suffer a major blow' because 'the materials had already been taken out,' according to the BBC. In the last few days, Trump seemed to be shifting his position on Iran, At one point he was rushing back to DC from the awkward G7 meeting in Canada, but then having his press secretary kicking any decision down the line up to 'two weeks.' There were also reports of divisions with the top tiar of the administration over going into Iran with VP Vance and DCI Tulsi Gabbard allegedly cautioning against more conflict and another Middle East war for the USA. Today, Defense Sec. Hegseth's ex-employers at Fox News reported that B-2 bombers and Tomahawk missiles were used as well as half a dozen bunker busters dropped on the deep buried Fordow facility alone, officials from Tehran went on state TV to insist the sites were long since emptied. Additionally, those Iranian officials said 'the materials had already been taken out.' A comment many military pundits on US cable TV saw as nuclear materials and centrifuges are now on the move in Iran. Though America joining the Jewish State's more than weeklong bombardment of the Islamic Republic had split Trump's MAGA base with the likes of Tucker Carlson denouncing such a move, Senators such as John Fetterman (D-PA) and Lindsey Graham (R-NC) Saturday praised the US attack. Sen Tim Kaine (D-VA) had a very different response. 'Horrible judgment,' Kaine said online Saturday night. ' I will push for all Senators to vote on whether they are for this third idiotic Middle East war,' the Senator concluded. With American military forces engaged now in the conflict, it is unknown if Trump will still be heading to Europe for the NATO summit next week. Best of Deadline Sean 'Diddy' Combs Sex-Trafficking Trial Updates: Cassie Ventura's Testimony, $10M Hotel Settlement, Drugs, Violence, & The Feds A Full Timeline Of Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni's 'It Ends With Us' Feud In Court, Online & In The Media 'Poker Face' Season 2 Guest Stars: From Katie Holmes To Simon Hellberg

New York Post

13 minutes ago

• New York Post

Expect Gov. Hochul's new Parole Board picks to keep letting cop-killers walk free

Whatever her other efforts to undo New York state's worst criminal-justice moves of recent years, Gov. Kathy Hochul doesn't seem to be trying to clean up the pro-criminal Parole Board. The just-finished legislative session saw the Senate quietly confirm four of her nominees to the board — two to fill longstanding vacancies, two to finally replace members installed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo whose terms had expired some time ago. Going on four years after he resigned in a cloud of scandal, Cuomo picks until now still constituted a majority of the board, in part because Hochul hasn't pushed to put her own stamp on it — perhaps out of a calculation that the progressive, pro-criminal faction that controls the state Senate wouldn't confirm any tough-on-crime nominees, so what's the point? This bunch won't make a difference on the let-'em-loose panel, which has sprung at least 43 cop-killers these last eight years. It likely would've been 44, except the board last month kicked the can until after next week's Democratic mayoral primary on releasing David McClary, the gangbanger convicted of assassinating Police Officer Edward Byrne in 1988. With Cuomo running as tougher on crime than other Democrats, some suggest the delay was a bid to shield him from embarrassment before primary day. Anyway, Hochul's picks, who'll rake in $190,000 for this part-time post, look unlikely to shift the board: Lefty ex-Assemblyman Danny O'Donnell is a former public defender. Darlene Grant Bruce serves on the board of a West Harlem community services nonprofit. Elizabeth Kase is a defense attorney who specializes in cannabis law, and a partner at the politically wired firm Abrams Fensterman. José Gomérez is at best a mystery: The NYPD veteran, born and raised in the Dominican Republic, abruptly resigned as Newburgh police commissioner in May 2024 after less than three years on the job. Yet the simple fact is that the Senate wouldn't have confirmed any Parole Board nominees it hard reason to think might get tough: It certainly balks at the gov's efforts to keep the state's courts from shifting further left. Meanwhile, the Legislature keeps making it easier to qualify for parole, and the 2021 passage of the 'Less is More' law, which Hochul signed in her first months as gov, also made it easier for parole violators to stay out of prison. Bottom line: Hochul's unwilling or unable (or both) to stand up to the left on this front, as on so many others. So bet that Officer Byrne's assassin will soon walk, with a steady parade of freed cop-killers and other bad guys to follow — until New York voters start demanding candidates who'll actually support for law and order.