What happened? The text messages that shook up a SWFL primary day race

There’s new information Thursday tied to questionable texts, your vote, and the August primary election.

Text blasts on primary election day claimed that GOP candidate Byron Donalds dropped out of the congressional race for the U.S. District 19 seat.

We look at the events and how an investigation would take place.

First, text messages were sent to voters claiming Byron Donalds dropped out of the race at 9:22 the morning of Aug. 18.

His wife called, then forwarded a series of text messages to WINK reporter Erika Jackson.

Those messages have time stamps beginning at 8:53 a.m. and included a link to a newly created YouTube channel showing a 2014 story about Byron Donalds not running in a race.

MORE: Investigators likely to look into unsolicited text claiming Byron Donalds dropped out of race

Within a half-hour, candidate Donalds started a Facebook Live broadcast. It took him just over a minute to get to the text attack.

In the video he said:

“A text message just went out from a rival campaign, and I know whose campaign it is. This is the Casey Askar campaign. The text message reads that I decided to drop out of the race, today. That is a lie.”

We talked with Casey Askar about that claim. He responded by saying, “I had nothing to do with it, I knew nothing about it.”

Askar flat out denies any connection to the texts but wants it investigated, adding, “This was a criminal act and I expect the FBI to do a thorough investigation of this and find out who is guilty of doing this and be held accountable.”

He also feels it had an impact at the polls.

“I can say that part was very successful by whoever orchestrated this,” Asker said.

MORE: Unsolicited messages falsely claim Byron Donalds dropped out of Dist. 19 race

Mark Harris, a political consultant with Donalds’ campaign said, “I have been in contact with both the Department of Justice and FBI about this matter. We will cooperate fully, and hope that whoever is responsible will be held accountable.”

And former federal prosecutor Douglas Molloy says they could face some serious consequences. This action adds up to more than just dirty politics.

“It definitely is criminal,” he explained. “If you assume the identity of someone else and spread that type of information, you’re not only what they call falsely impersonating someone, but you are affecting their right to vote.”

We spoke with the FBI in Tampa, which oversees our area. They admit they’re aware of the incident, but would not confirm an investigation, which is their typical response.

When asked for comment on the text messages and the situation, Donalds sent us the following statement:

“For the last two weeks, our campaign has worked diligently to track down the different companies involved in sending the texts. We will shortly be filing a formal complaint outlining what we know and we hope the authorities will take the appropriate action.”

We contacted Twilio, a company that provides virtual phone numbers and the company which owns the numbers the texts came from. Cris Paden, the director of communications, said they have suspended the numbers from further use and are investigating, giving it the highest priority.

If this case is investigated, a timeline is just the start. The FBI would lead the investigation and work with a U.S. Attorney’s Office to serve subpoenas for evidence and conduct interviews as part of the investigation.