- DAILY MAIL - KEITH GRIFFITH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM - MAR 21, 2023 -
EXCLUSIVE: Trump-supporting influencer leaves Brooklyn court on first day of trial - after being charged with 2016 election interference for urging Hillary Clinton supporters to vote by text instead of real ballots
Trial began Monday for Douglass Mackey, known as 'Ricky Vaughn' on Twitter
He is accused of election interference for his tweets trolling Clinton supporters
Mackey's attorney argues the tweets were jokes aimed at gaining viral fame
A Trump-supporting Twitter influencer who is charged with conspiring to deprive citizens of their right to vote in the 2016 presidential election has appeared for trial in federal court.
Douglass Mackey, 33 - known on the internet as 'Ricky Vaughn' - is standing trial over his tweets encouraging Hillary Clinton supporters to cast meaningless votes by text message, instead of casting an actual ballot.
Following the first day of trial on Monday, Mackey was spotted leaving the Brooklyn federal courthouse dressed in a navy suit, white shirt, and pink polka-dot tie, with his father walking at his side.
During his opening remarks, Mackey's attorney Andrew Frisch argued that his memes encouraging Clinton supporters to 'vote from home' by text were simply 'online trash-talking' in the hopes of gaining viral fame.
'Mr. Mackey did not share the memes as some sort of grand plan,' Frisch told the jury, according to the New York Daily News, arguing that the idea of voting by text was patently ridiculous to anyone with basic knowledge of US elections.
Frisch insisted that his client had merely been 's**tposting', an internet term for making provocative satirical posts intended to shock and upset online foes.
According to a criminal complaint, Mackey and unnamed co-conspirators created a number of images purporting to be Clinton campaign ads, with messages such as 'Avoid the Line. Vote from Home. Text 'Hillary' to 59925.'
The phony campaign ads also carried fine print falsely claiming they were 'Paid for by Hillary for President 2016'.
The phone number in the fake ads received least 4,900 text message responses with variations on Clinton's name, including some from people in New York, prosecutors said.
'This wasn't about changing votes. This was about vaporizing votes, making them disappear,' said Assistant US Attorney Turner Buford during opening remarks.
'The number was real and set up to receive incoming messages,' he argued. 'The release of these fake campaign ads was timed to flood the internet before Election Day.'
The prosecution plans to call a total of 19 people to the stand before the defense will present its case.