Biden's bogus robocall tells NH Dems not to vote

The self-sabotage led to real concerns of voter suppression in New Hampshire after reports of a robocall with the president pushing “malarkey” sparked an investigation.

Issues surrounding the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) long-shot decision to skip the New Hampshire primary and move on to South Carolina were compounded by alleged violations of election law ahead of Tuesday's vote. According to a statement from the Granite State Attorney General's office, the Election Law Unit is investigating “bogus” calls from President Joe Biden telling voters that their vote doesn't matter.

“What a bunch of malarkey,” the message read in part, sounding like the commander-in-chief. “It is important that you save your vote for the November election.”

“Tuesday's vote only allows Republicans to re-elect Donald Trump. Your vote makes the difference in November, not this Tuesday,” the robocall detailed.

Last night Joe Biden robocall here in NH. We still have a landline! I cut it off after saying malarkey. pic.twitter.com/9XOTbF018G

— Nathan Bradley (@biggestnate) January 22, 2024

The statement of the AG's office John Formella (R) stated: “Although the voice on the robocall sounds like President Biden's voice, this message appears to have been artificially generated from initial indications” .

“The message appears to have been 'forged' to falsely appear to have been sent by the treasurer of a political committee that has been supporting write-in efforts in the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Primary for President Biden. The content of the message goes direct recipients who wanted to be removed from a call list to call the number that belonged to that person.”

Facing the main rivals, the Democrats, aware of the damaging optics of Biden losing first in the nation's primaries because he had not even appeared at the polls, launched a writing campaign in October. Led by former state Democratic Party chairwoman Kathy Sullivan and Democratic operative Jim Demers, the Granite State Write-In PAC had claimed that its “grassroots effort” had not communicated with the Biden campaign.

Voters were given Sullivan's number at the end of the call, and she told NBC News how the robocall recipients had contacted her. “I said, 'Did you get a call from Joe Biden and he gave you my number?'

“It's clear that somebody wants to hurt Joe Biden,” he said he said NBC news. “I want them prosecuted to the fullest extent possible because this is an attack on democracy. I'm not going to let it go. I want to know who's paying for it? Who knew? Who's benefiting from it?”

New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan (Dr.) addressed the robocall when asked by NBC 10 Boston's Matt Prichard, saying it reinforces “a national concern that has been about the effect of artificial intelligence and how it could affect elections and campaigns in a negative way.”

I asked @NHSecretaria David Scanlan on these #deepfake robocalls, that's what I had to say. @NBC10Boston @IssueNBCBoston @NBCPolitics https://t.co/VMNQ3o9yLT pic.twitter.com/CfEthjzXRc

— Matt Prichard (@MattPrichardTV) January 22, 2024

Katie Dolan, spokeswoman for the presidential campaign of Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips (D) said, “Any effort to discourage voters is shameful and an unacceptable affront to democracy. The potential use of AI to manipulate voters is deeply disturbing”.

In his own statement, a spokesman for former President Donald Trump denied any connection to the robocall, telling NBC News, “We don't, we have nothing to do with it.”

Staff writer

A native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College, where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and seeker of truth, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and dog, and when he's not researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel ·the.

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