George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley criticized the Department of Justice(DOJ) Monday for claiming that the possibility of a “deepfake” as a result of artificial intelligence(AI) warranted blocking the release of audio of an interview with President Joe Biden.
The DOJ raised the possibility of the manipulative use of AI in a Friday court filing seeking to block release of the interview Biden had with the office of special counsel Robert Hur, according to Politico. Turley said that the Justice Department’s “illogical” argument made no sense, saying that the release of the tape would make it more difficult to produce deepfakes of the conversation. (RELATED: ‘A Level Of Delusion And Denial’: Jonathan Turley Rips MSNBC Host For Defending Cohen’s Admitted Theft From Trump Org)
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Jonathan Turley Blasts DOJ For Using ‘Deepfake’ Possibility As Reason For Not Releasing Biden Interview Audio pic.twitter.com/MmLsWSvar0
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“It is neither legally nor practically sensible to make that argument. The fact is, that if you release the audiotape, it’s going to make it easier to refute any deepfake version,” Turley told “America Reports” co-hosts Sandra Smith and John Roberts. “Right now, AI could produce that, because you have the transcript and part of the problem for the Department of Justice is their position has never made any sense.”
“You release the transcript as unprivileged, that you are claiming the audio version is privileged, as if this is sort of a Voldemortian ‘he who shall not be heard’ type of candidate,” Turley continued. “The impression is that they’re not worried about a false version of the audiotape, they are worried about the real audiotape being heard before the election. It is a transparent effort to get the court to hold the audiotape, or at least keep it in litigation, until people have voted.”
NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 27: U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland arrives to give opening remarks as he meets with U.S. Attorney Damian Williams (R) and other federal, state, and local law enforcement leaders on November 27, 2023 at the offices of the Southern District of New York in New York City. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz-Pool/Getty Images)
In the filing, the Justice Department also admitted to making alternations to the transcripts, according to Judicial Watch, a public interest law firm seeking release of the audio from Biden’s interview. The Biden administration invoked executive privilege to block the audio on May 16.
The White House made alterations 148 times to address what it claimed were “errors” Biden made while speaking, according to a review of White House transcripts by the Daily Caller.
The transcript of Hur’s two-day interview with Biden revealed the president struggled to remember the day his son Beau died, when former President Donald Trump was elected and also thought the year was 2017. Hur declined to charge Biden, describing the president as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – MAY 29: U.S. President Joe Biden stands on stage as U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris introduces him during a campaign rally at Girard College on May 29, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.( Andrew Harnik/Getty Images.)
Biden’s age and mental fitness have become issues in recent months. Biden claimed on Feb. 8 to have spoken with former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl about the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, even though Kohl died in 2017, three days after he claimed to have spoken with former French President Francois Mitterrand, who passed away in 1996.
The House Oversight Committee marked up a resolution to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress on May 16 after Garland refused to turn over recordings of Hur’s interview with Biden regarding Biden’s retention of classified material during his time as a senator and vice president.
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