Corey Lewandowski in the crosshairs as DHS watchdog weighs criminal referral: WSJ ⁠30%

By Bennito L. Kelty⁠84%

7/11/2026, 1:05:07 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 16 faulty reasoning types, including Anecdotal, Confirmation Bias, and Availability Heuristic, with Unattributed Quote as the most egregious example at 55% saturation with 155 hits. Analysis detected 633 faulty-reasoning hits from 282 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 39.9% and a BS Rank of ⁠30% (15,188 of 21,568 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 70.40% of the article peer group.

Federal investigators have uncovered evidence that Corey Lewandowski may have improperly steered government deals, the Wall Street Journal reported. 
According to a Friday article by The Wall Street Journal, sources familiar with the matter say Lewandowski, a former senior aide at the Department of Homeland Security , is the subject of an investigation into whether he used his influence to award government contracts. 
Investigators led by DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari are considering a criminal referral to the Justice Department, the Journal reported, noting that the referral is not imminent. 
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and White House officials have been briefed on the investigation, and Mullin recently informed White House officials about some of the investigation's findings, according to a source who spoke with the Journal, which added that "Mullin and his team have cooperated with the investigation." 
Lewandowski, who was also Trump's campaign manager in 2016, served as a top aide to former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem until March, when Trump ousted Noem. 
The Journal noted that Cuffari "regularly clashed with Noem during her tenure at the agency." 
According to sources for the Journal, investigators are examining DHS contracts signed during Noem's tenure, and "department officials had been surprised at how involved Lewandowski was in the process." 
Sources also told the Journal that Lewandowski "personally signed specific contracts" even though he wasn't a full-time government official. 
The Journal reported that a spokesperson for Lewandowski denied that he issued contracts while at the department and that he hadn't been contacted by anyone regarding the investigation. 
The DHS inspector general's office neither confirmed nor denied the investigation, according to the Journal. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 17.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 12.0%Rawstory: 7.8%Confirmation Bias17.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.8%Rawstory: 0.8%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 17.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 3.5%Rawstory: 4.6%Availability Heuristic17.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.8%Rawstory: 1.1%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 1.2%Rawstory: 0.9%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 2.5%Rawstory: 2.2%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 4.3%Bennito L. Kelty: 11.4%Rawstory: 13.7%Framing Effect4.3%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.2%Rawstory: 0.4%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 5.3%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.1%Rawstory: 0.4%Status Quo Bias5.3%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.0%Rawstory: 0.1%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.3%Rawstory: 0.7%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 2.7%Rawstory: 2.8%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 16.3%Bennito L. Kelty: 18.4%Rawstory: 22.0%Negativity Bias16.3%This article: 9.9%Bennito L. Kelty: 1.5%Rawstory: 1.2%Self-Serving Bias9.9%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 3.6%Rawstory: 2.9%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 5.3%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.1%Rawstory: 0.3%Actor-Observer Bias5.3%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.5%Rawstory: 2.5%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.0%Rawstory: 1.6%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.1%Rawstory: 0.6%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.8%Rawstory: 0.9%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.0%Rawstory: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.7%Rawstory: 1.7%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 9.2%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.5%Rawstory: 0.7%Primacy Effect9.2%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.0%Rawstory: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 2.6%Rawstory: 6.3%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.2%Rawstory: 0.7%Straw Man0.0%This article: 15.6%Bennito L. Kelty: 4.9%Rawstory: 3.9%Appeal to Authority15.6%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 1.6%Rawstory: 2.9%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 1.1%Rawstory: 1.2%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.9%Rawstory: 0.3%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 6.9%Rawstory: 12.0%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 5.3%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.5%Rawstory: 0.6%Red Herring5.3%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.0%Rawstory: 0.8%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 7.5%Rawstory: 9.2%Appeal to Emotion0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 1.7%Rawstory: 1.5%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 9.3%Rawstory: 3.7%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.0%Rawstory: 0.6%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 6.7%Bennito L. Kelty: 2.4%Rawstory: 1.6%Burden of Proof6.7%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.0%Rawstory: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.0%Rawstory: 0.4%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 20.2%Bennito L. Kelty: 3.5%Rawstory: 3.9%Anecdotal20.2%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.0%Rawstory: 0.3%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 4.3%Bennito L. Kelty: 3.0%Rawstory: 2.4%Ambiguity (Equivocation)4.3%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.0%Rawstory: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.0%Rawstory: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.0%Rawstory: 0.2%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.0%Rawstory: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.0%Rawstory: 0.4%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 55.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 8.9%Rawstory: 5.5%Unattributed Quote55.0%This article: 17.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 4.3%Rawstory: 4.2%Quote-first Misdirection17.0%This article: 16.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 9.5%Rawstory: 15.5%Biased Writer Voice16.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 1.1%Rawstory: 3.1%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 7.6%Rawstory: 7.9%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 0.9%Rawstory: 1.0%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Bennito L. Kelty: 1.3%Rawstory: 0.5%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

282 words analyzed.

Speakers

1speaker5.3%attributed speech267writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 12 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 44 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 27 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 48 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 26 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 29 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 28 words • 0.0% coverageDHS inspector general's office • 15 words • 0.0% coverage
100%flagged-word coverage
15 attributed words100% of attributed speech90% writer coverage
0%30.0%60.0%Unattributed Quote-58.1 ptsWriter: 58.1%DHS inspector general's office: 0.0%0.0%Quote-first Misdirection-18.0 ptsWriter: 18.0%DHS inspector general's office: 0.0%0.0%Biased Writer Voice-16.9 ptsWriter: 16.9%DHS inspector general's office: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.