Right-wing hoaxers Jacob Wohl, Jack Burkman plead not guilty in Cleveland in robocall case - cleveland.com

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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Right-wing political operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman appeared in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on Friday to answer to several felony charges tied to a robocall campaign that authorities say was meant to intimidate Black residents out of voting by mail in the Nov. 3 presidential election.

Wohl, 22, of Irvine, California, and Burkman, 54, of Arlington, Virginia, each pleaded not guilty through Columbus-based attorney Brian Joslyn to eight counts of telecommunications fraud and seven counts of bribery in connection with more than 8,000 calls that were placed to residents of Cleveland and East Cleveland.

Judge Timothy McCormick set bond for the men at 10 percent of $5,000. Their case was assigned to Judge John D. Sutula.

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Authorities have said that the duo’s organization Project 1599 made more than 85,000 calls beginning in August to residents of Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois. The calls targeting voters with area codes mostly in urban areas, with high percentages of minority and Democratic voters.

Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio are swing states. While Trump easily carried Ohio, the historic voter turnout in places like Philadelphia and Detroit helped propel Vice President Joe Biden to capture Pennsylvania and Detroit and the presidency.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office was the first to file charges against the Wohl and Burkman. Ohio’s investigation began when U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, a Cleveland Democrat, and others went to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s office, which referred the case to prosecutors in Cuyahoga County, the Columbus Dispatch reporter earlier this month.

Jacob Wohl in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court — Right-wing political operative Jacob Wohl appeared in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Cleveland on Friday, where his attorney pleaded not guilty on his behalf at his arraignment on felony charges tied to a multi-state robocall campaign that authorities have said targeted residents of majority Black cities with disinformation meant to discourage them from voting by mail in the Nov. 3 presidential election.Cory Shaffer, cleveland.com

The National Coalition on Black Civil Participation, a New York-based nonprofit, sued the men and the Project 1599 on behalf of eight people who say they received the robocall. The judge in that case ordered the men to record a new robocall saying a court found the first call to contain misinformation and to send the new call to every person who received the first one.

Civil lawyers for the men filed paperwork the Friday before the election saying they complied with the order.