Coons urges Congress to act on deep fakes bill after N.H. stunt
May 5—CONCORD — Congress needs to act before the November election to act on legislation that would require that deepfake images or recordings be labeled as not real, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware said during an interview.
Coons, the three-term senator who holds the seat President Joe Biden had for decades in the U.S. Senate, returned to New Hampshire last Saturday to campaign for the Biden-Harris ticket.
"I bring up New Hampshire every time I speak about artificial intelligence and how it is already being used to try and negatively influence our elections," said Coons, 60.
A consultant who had worked for Democratic presidential rival Dean Phillips' campaign produced a deepfake phone call that used computer-generated voice that sounded like Biden urging Democrats not to vote in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary last January.
Attorney General John Formella has labeled two companies and a Texas investor with involvement in this scheme that called at least 5,000 and as many as 25,000 Democratic voters here.
Phillips condemned the stunt and insisted he knew nothing about it.
Coons and others are backing a bipartisan bill that would mandate labeling a deepfake device that's used during an election.
"I am concerned we are not moving quickly enough to step up and pass it," Coons said.
Recent elections in Taiwan and the eastern portion of what used to be Czechoslovakia were affected by deepfakes, Coons said.
In New Hampshire, the Democratic primary had a strong turnout and Biden got nearly two-thirds of all votes as a write-in when the president refused to place his name on the ballot because the state refused to abide by a Democratic National Committee demand that it give up its first-primary spot.
The deepfake threat has been especially significant in the entertainment industry, and Coons is proposing a separate, bipartisan bill to protect the images, videos and recordings of performing artists.
Coons came back to New Hampshire to take part in the opening of two more Democratic-coordinated campaign offices in Claremont and Dover which add to nine others already up and running.
A co-chair of the presidential campaign, Coons has visited South Carolina and Michigan on behalf of the President.
The 157,000 or 17% who voted for Nikki Haley rather than Donald Trump in last month's Pennsylvania presidential primary was a sign the former president will have difficulty winning over suburban Republican and independent women, Coons maintained.
"Suburban Republican, white women are a key part of the Republican electorate," Coons said.
Believes Trump trial may be having an impact
He questioned if the ongoing trial over Trump making payments to Stormy Daniels, an alleged former mistress, is having an impact and will convince Haley supporters to withhold support for the former president.
Trump denies having had any relationship with Daniels and called this and other trials against him political witch hunts.
Republican State Chairman Chris Ager said Coons can't resurrect Biden's slumping standings in the polls.
It's a shame the Biden campaign didn't pay attention to New Hampshire sooner — like during the First-in-the-Nation primary, but skipping us was a self-inflicted wound, on top of his other self-inflicted wounds," Ager said in a statement.
"Now he's hemorrhaging support here and it's too little, too late and the junior senator from Delaware that no one knows will do little to staunch the bleeding."
Coons also visited a Democratic clambake event in Rockingham County, one of the most Republican in the state.
Coons has led several delegation trips to Israel since the Hamas attacks there last October that killed more than 1,200.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has had a "lack of clarity" in whether he would suspend that country's planned, military operations in Rafah in the Gaza strip if a deal with Hamas is reached, Coons said.
"I am hopeful we can find a way forward," he said.
Most of the 3,000 colleges and universities across the country aren't seeing the extent of the protests at Columbia, UCLA and other schools that resulted in violence or attempted occupations, he said.
When colleges hold graduations, the extent of protests could diminish, but this won't change the "intensity of concerns" expressed about the conditions in Gaza and the desire for many in the U.S. to express full-throated support for Israel.
"Only a consensus agreement would change that," Coons added.
