Two conservative political operatives known for smearing political opponents with transparently false accusations were charged with felonies by the state of Michigan on Thursday, accused of trying to intimidate voters with false robocalls about mail-in voting.
The operatives, Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, each face four felony charges of bribing or intimidating voters and using a computer to commit a crime. Each charge carries up to seven years in prison.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a news release that she communicated with the attorney general's offices in New York, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois, all of which reported robocalls that they say intimidated voters.
The Associated Press reported that Wohl and Burkman were not in custody and that no date had been set for their arraignments.
The robocall falsely claimed that voting by mail would put voters into a database that would later "be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debt" and force voters to "get mandatory vaccines."
The voice on the robocall in question identified herself as part of "a civil rights organization founded by Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl."
"Any effort to interfere with, intimidate or intentionally mislead Michigan voters will be met with swift and severe consequences," Nessel said in the news release. "This effort specifically targeted minority voters in an attempt to deter them from voting in the November election."
Burkman and Wohl are notorious for several failed schemes that tried to paint opponents of President Donald Trump as rapists, criminals or deviants, frequently using hired actors who were unaware that they were being used for political stunts.
Their schemes have targeted Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris, former special counsel Robert Mueller and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., each with elaborate conspiracy theories that quickly fell apart under basic scrutiny.
Wohl has been banned from most social networks, like Twitter and Instagram, for operating fake accounts.
Repeated attempts to reach Wohl and Burkman for comment were unsuccessful.
