Cooke campaign sends Van Orden cease-and-desist over AI video

The letter cited an AI video Van Orden posted to X on Aug. 4, 2026.[1] It depicted Cooke with former President Joe Biden behind her and purported to show her speaking on the campaign trail in Eau Claire.[1] The clip falsely attributed to Cooke a statement about taking advantage of corruption and providing free health care to undocumented immigrants.[1] Cooke’s counsel said she never made those statements and did not support the positions assigned to her in the video.[1] The letter argued that the video placed false statements in the mouth of an AI-generated image of Cooke to damage her reputation for Van Orden’s political advantage.[1]

Cooke’s attorneys argued that Wisconsin common-law defamation can fill gaps in the state’s statutory protections against fake AI content.[2] That is the letter’s legal argument, not a finding by a court. The Hill reported that it was unclear whether Van Orden violated Wisconsin defamation statutes concerning knowingly publicized false, unauthorized advertisements.[4] Cooke’s attorneys said they would monitor his social media and consider further legal action if he continued.[2] The evidence therefore establishes a legal threat and an asserted theory, but not an outcome in court or a determination that a statute was violated.

WPR reported that Van Orden has repeatedly posted AI-generated videos to X depicting Cooke saying things she did not say, and that the videos carried an automatic label identifying them as made with Grok Imagine.[2] Van Orden’s campaign accused Cooke of throwing a “full blow tantrum,” and Van Orden also mocked her request on X with an image of a “Hurt Feeling Report.”[2][3] A clip included a red AI-generated duck saying, “Cease and desist!”[2] Cooke said Van Orden was putting words in her mouth rather than running on his own record, and criticized him over his record, votes and behavior.[1]

Axios reported that Congress had not established a federal standard governing campaign deepfakes.[5] About 31 states regulate political deepfakes, and at least 28 require disclosures for AI-generated content, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.[5] Axios described Van Orden as the latest in a growing number of candidates and elected officials facing legal complaints or threats over AI deepfakes in campaign ads.[5] Political experts told Axios that deepfakes can erode trust by making it harder for voters to know what a candidate actually believes.[5] Cooke is challenging Van Orden this November in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District; she lost to him in 2024 by about three percentage points.[2]