Dusty Johnson's text messages accessed in Biden's DOJ investigation
Johnson says investigators lacked legal grounds to access his messages and calls for accountability.
SOURCE CHECK
TAP FOR WHYDakota News Now is a local news outlet with an identified reporter and an article that attributes the allegations and quotations to officials. The brief report provides a timeline but little independent corroboration or response from the former special counsel’s team.
- Source type — Local news outlet; a credible baseline, though not a national newspaper of record.
- Author attribution — The article names a reporter.
- Editorial standards — The report attributes claims and direct quotations, but offers limited independent verification.
- Transparency — The report identifies the officials and offices making the central claims.
The article gives attributed statements and a specific timeline, but its central account relies on the Attorney General’s Office and does not include a response from Smith or independent evidence to assess the allegations.
HOW WE SCORE ↗The article attributes the allegations and includes Johnson’s concerns, but it presents no response from Smith or his team and little independent context for the claims.
- Counterarguments presented — No response from Smith or his team is included.
- Source diversity — The account mainly relies on statements from government officials and Republican lawmakers.
- Opinion vs reporting — The article is written as a news report and attributes claims to their sources.
The report uses mostly straightforward language, but its focus on allegations against the Biden administration and the statements of Republican officials gives the account a modest rightward framing.
- Source selection — The quoted officials are Republican lawmakers and officials in the current Attorney General’s Office; no response from Smith’s team appears.
- Language tone — The article is mostly factual and attributes contested claims rather than presenting them as settled fact.
- Framing — The report emphasizes alleged misconduct by a former special counsel in the Biden administration.
Dakota News Now reports that the Justice Department says a former special counsel’s team accessed text messages involving 44 members of Congress, including Dusty Johnson. Johnson says investigators lacked probable cause or a warrant and that officers who disregarded legal safeguards should be held accountable.
The Attorney General’s Office told Senator Chuck Grassley that messages from 44 members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, were obtained by Jack Smith’s team in 2023. The office says the team bypassed a filter intended to prevent access to privileged material, and that the team had been warned of legal and constitutional risks.
Representative Dusty Johnson said he had voted to certify the 2020 election and questioned why the Justice Department would have been interested in his messages. He said investigators needed probable cause or a warrant and called for accountability for officers who disregarded the legal framework. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said he takes testimony seriously after Senator Josh Hawley asked whether he would prosecute Smith for perjury.
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Senator notified by the Attorney General’s Office
Acting attorney general who responded at a committee hearing
Senator who asked Blanche whether he would prosecute Smith for perjury
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