Phillips says he doesn’t know ex-consultant allegedly behind fake Biden robocall: ‘I’m repulsed’

Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) said he didn’t know the campaign consultant allegedly involved in fake robocalls of President Biden in New Hampshire in January.

“And first of all, let me just denounce it,” Phillips said in a Friday interview with NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo on his show. “I don’t know the man who is the consultant that did this. I’m repulsed. I think it’s sickening. We need [artificial intelligence] regulation, now, because this is happening all around us, all the time.”

Steve Kramer served as a consultant for the Minnesota Democrat’s campaign to assist in collecting signatures in Pennsylvania and New York, according to the Phillips campaign. He was named in an NBC report for allegedly hiring a magician to create fake artificial intelligence-generated robocalls with the president’s voice before the New Hampshire primary.

The fake robocalls featured Biden’s voice saying that voters should “save” their votes for November and forego the late January primary, alongside telling them that participating in the primary would help former President Donald Trump get reelected, instead.

In an interview, the magician, Paul Carpenter, said to NBC that he had created the call but didn’t distribute it.

“I was in a situation where someone offered me some money to do something, and I did it. There was no malicious intent,” Carpenter said. “I didn’t know how it was going to be distributed.” 

The Phillips campaign said in a statement that if Kramer’s alleged actions were true, he acted “of his own volition” and they “had nothing to do with our campaign.”

“The fundamental notion of our campaign is the importance of competition, choice, and democracy,” it said. “We are disgusted to learn that Mr. Kramer is allegedly behind this call, and if the allegations are true, we absolutely denounce his actions.” 

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.