White House shamed in court for using deep fake to smear church protester
A court filing called out the White House for creating a deep fake with artificial intelligence to smear Minnesota church protester Nekima Levy-Armstrong.
In a filing over the weekend, attorneys for Levy-Armstrong called on the government to drop pre-trial release conditions.
According to the document, Levy-Armstrong's co-defendants from the recent church protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not face the same burdensome pre-trial conditions.
"There is no rational basis for treating Ms. Levy-Armstrong differently from her co-defendants," the attorneys insisted. "She has no prior substantive criminal record, she has lived in Minnesota for 23 years, she has a husband and children in Minnesota, and operates two businesses."
"Ms. Levy-Armstrong regularly travels in connection with her business and community activism, and should not be required to seek permission from probation or the Court for trips to other states or other countries," the motion continued. "There is no basis for concern that she will not return to Minnesota as required."
The document also alleged that Levy-Armstrong's husband was being deprived of his Second Amendment rights because she was ordered not to have a gun in her home.
"It is possible that events occurring during the week after Ms. Levy-Armstrong's release informed the Court of the government's bad faith, and thereby influenced the Court's declining to impose restrictions on the co-defendants released on January 30," the filing said, accusing the Department of Justice of using her mugshot as a "trophy."
"The Secretary of Homeland Security previously posted on Twitter a photo of Ms. Levy-Armstrong being arrested and escorted in handcuffs," the motion remarked. "The White House subsequently posted on Twitter an altered photo of Ms. Levy-Armstrong being arrested to make it falsely appear that she was crying and making her face darker."
"Ms. Levy-Armstrong respectfully requests that the Court fully consider the release conditions of her co-defendants, her own irreproachable background and status in the community, the lack of any violence associated with the incident underlying the Indictment, and the government's nakedly obvious bad faith. Based on all of these factors, it is only fair and appropriate to remove the restrictive conditions of Ms. Levy-Armstrong's release," it concluded.