New York state Attorney General Letitia James has issued subpoenas targeting infamous Trump backers Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, who have worked together on a slew of haphazard schemes meant to impugn the reputations of the president’s opponents. One of their schemes featured robocalls to Black voters in which an automated message shared lies about mail-in voting, claiming that information from mail-in ballots could be used by police to deal with “old warrants,” by credit card companies to collect debt, and by other nefarious interests to carry out an imaginary mandatory vaccination program. Wohl and Burkman already face felony charges over the calls in Ohio and Michigan, and James has now subpoenaed the duo for information.
Listen to the robocall below:
James’s office is demanding “information about who funded the robocalls, including about the source of funds in the firm’s Bank of America account, as well as any relevant communications,” Salon reports, adding that “investigators also want to see all documents concerning Project 1599, Burkman’s organization, which… claims credit for the calls in the recordings.” Robert Mahanian, who runs a voice broadcasting company called Message Communications, which Wohl and Burkman used for their robocalls, says that he has complied with requests from state investigators around the country, and he characterized Wohl and Burkman’s stunt as “disgusting,” adding that he has “never seen a criminal-type situation arise from anyone using our network.”
Wohl and Burkman’s already in-place charges include fraud, voter intimidation, and bribery. Ohio’s Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley commented as follows in October when announcing the Ohio case against the duo:
‘The right to vote is the most fundamental component of our nation’s democracy. These individuals clearly infringed upon that right in a blatant attempt to suppress votes and undermine the integrity of this election. These actions will not be tolerated. Anyone who interferes with others’ right to vote must be held accountable.’
The pro-Trump fraudsters are also facing a federal civil lawsuit from an organization called the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. In a late August email, which plaintiffs revealed as part of that federal court case in the Southern District New York, Burkman glibly told Wohl that they were “getting angry black call backs” over the calls.
