AWAN CASE: DNC Lawyer Scrambling To Block Evidence From Hidden Laptop Tied To Wasserman Schultz

Content originally published at iBankCoin.com

 A lawyer for former DNC IT staffer Imran Awan is scrambling to block evidence found on a hidden laptop which may contain proof of a massive spy ring operating at the highest levels of Congress, in what may be the largest breach of National Security in U.S. history.

Awan, a Pakistani national, worked for dozens of Democratic members of Congress along with his wife, two brothers and a friend. Following the publication of DNC emails by WikiLeaks in the lead-up to the 2016 election, Congressional investigators discovered that the Awans had a secret server being housed by the House Democratic Caucus backed up to an offsite Dropbox account.

“For members to say their data was not compromised is simply inaccurate. They had access to all the data including all emails. Imran Awan is the walking example of an insider threat, a criminal actor who had access to everything,” -Daily Caller

According to a briefing, "all five of the shared employees system administrators collectively logged onto the [House Democratic] Caucus system 5,735 times, or an average of 27 times per day,” despite only one of them being authorized to do so.

The Awans were banned from the House IT network on February 2, 2017 after being named in a criminal investigation - however they continued to work in the building for Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz until Imran Awan"s arrest at Dulles Airport trying to flee the country in late July. Awan and his wife, Hina Alvi, were charged with conspiracy and bank fraud in relation to a real estate transaction.

The laptop in question was tucked away in a tiny room formerly used as a phone booth on the second floor of the Rayburn House Office Building late one night in March, only to be found by Capitol Police just after midnight on April 6, 2017 along with notebooks marked "attorney client privilege," letters addressed to the US Attorney of DC regarding Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and several forms of identification. Based on the contents of the backpack, some believe Awan wanted the laptop to be found.

Attorney-Client Privilege

Luke Rosiak of the Daily Caller, who has been tracking the Awan case, reports that Awan"s attorney Chris Gowen - a former aide to Hillary Clinton, is seeking to block the laptop evidence by arguing the "attorney client privilege" note attached to the notebook found with the laptop covers the contents of the hard drive, according to court papers filed Tuesday.

Via the Daily Caller:

"Chris Gowen, Awan’s attorney, said at the last hearing: “We do expect there being an attorney-client privilege issue in this case… What occurred is a backpack from my client was found, he was trying to get a better signal, there was a note that said attorney client privilege and a hard drive. We feel very strongly about this.”

A Capitol Police report reveals the following items were found in the backpack:

#1 a Pakistani ID card with the name Mohommed Ashraf Awan
#2 a copy – not original – of a driver’s license with name Imran Awan
#3 a copy (front and back) of his congressional ID
#4 an Apple laptop with the homescreen initials ‘RepDWS’
#5 composition notebooks with notes handwritten saying ‘attorney client privilege’ and possibly discussing case details below
#6 loose letters addressed to US Attorney of DC discussing the apparent owner of the bag being investigated.

As Rosiak points out, it is unclear how the handwritten note saying "attorney client privilege" could be construed to cover a hard drive, rather than the pages of [the] notebook it was contained on.

Andrew McCarthy, a former chief assistant U.S. attorney who has followed the case, said “The A/C (attorney-client) privilege only applies to communications between the client and lawyer that are for the purpose of seeking legal advice and that are intended by both parties to be kept confidential… Moreover, asserting that something is A/C protected does not make it so. You still have to show that the material in question constitutes communications strictly between the lawyer and client that were for the purpose of seeking legal advice.

“If I give my lawyer my bank records and ask him if they show evidence of a crime, the bank records do not become A/C-privileged — only his advice to me would be A/C-privileged. And if I stuck a sign on my bank records that said ‘A/C-privileged documents,’ that would not make them A/C-privileged documents,” he told The Daily Caller News Foundation Wednesday." -Daily Caller

Debbie Downer

In May of 2016, Debbie Wasserman Schulz - an employer and personal friend of Awan - spent several minutes browbeating the Chief of DC Capitol Police at a budget meeting, claiming the laptop should be given back since it was hers and threatening "consequences" if it wasn"t returned.

#DebbieWassermanSchultz threatens DC Police Chief over not returning Arwan Bros laptop. "there will be consequences" https://t.co/2phDMnvWq5 pic.twitter.com/e2wkBJSaim

— ZeroPointNow (@ZeroPointNow) May 25, 2017

Of Note

The Awan brothers were managing computers for members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence - a group with top secret clearance which is looking into Russian election interference right now.

Also of note

The brothers were "shared employees," hired by multiple Democrats for IT work whenever it was needed - so they floated all over the place doing all sorts of work on House members computers. Democrats Juaquin Castro, Cedric Richmond, Andre Carson, Jackie Speier, Tammy Duckworth, and Louis Frankel all employed the Awans.

Information Brokers? 

Judge Andrew Napolitano appeared on Fox Business Network in late July where he dropped a bombshell: not only did the Awans had access to the emails of every member of Congress, Imran Awan reportedly sold information to still unknown parties, which the FBI is currently investigating.

Napolitano: He was arrested for some financial crime - that"s the tip of the iceberg. The real allegation against him is that he had access to the emails of every member of congress and he sold what he found in there. What did he sell, and to whom did he sell it? That"s what the FBI wants to know. This may be a very, very serious national security situation.

 

Varney: Wait a second, he was the IT worker along with his two Pakistani brothers, for DWS, and other Democrats in the House - and the theory is that he got access to all of their secrets or whatever, and sold some?

 

Napolitano: Yes, and this was at the time that Congresswoman Schultz was also the chair of the Democratic National Committee. So at this point I don"t believe they know what he sold, and to whom he sold it - but they do know what he had access to, which is virtually everything in the House of representatives, which would include classified material in the House intelligence committee.

 

 

Lt. Colonel Tony Shaffer went even further - claiming that the Awan brothers were linked to the Muslim Brotherhood while working for Democrat Congressman Andre Carson, a report reinforced by Frontpage Magazine:

 

As Frontpage reported in February:

The office of Andre Carson, the second Muslim in Congress, had employed Imran Awan. As did the offices of Jackie Speier and Debbie Wasserman Schultz; to whom the letter had been addressed.

Carson is the second Muslim in Congress and the first Muslim on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and, more critically, is the ranking member on its Emerging Threats Subcommittee. He is also a member of the Department of Defense Intelligence and Overhead Architecture Subcommittee.

The Emerging Threats Subcommittee, of which Carson is a ranking member, is responsible for much of counterterrorism oversight. It is the worst possible place for a man with Carson’s credentials.

Carson had inherited his grandmother’s seat and exploited it to promote a radical Islamist agenda. He has interfaced with a laundry list of Islamist groups from CAIR to ISNA to ICNA to MPAC. Islamists have funded Carson’s career to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. The Center for Security Policy has put together a dossier of Carson’s connections to the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is the parent organization of many key Islamic terror groups posing a threat to our national security including Al Qaeda and Hamas.

Andre Carson shared the stage at a CAIR banquet with Sirraj Wahaj: an unindicted co-conspirator in the World Trade Center bombing who had once declared,” You don’t get involved in politics because it’s the American thing to do. You get involved in politics because politics are a weapon to use in the cause of Islam.” CAIR itself had been named an unindicted co-conspirator in terror finance.

Immunity for Hina?

In September, it was reported that Hina Alvi - Imran Awan"s wife, had struck a deal with federal prosecutors to return to the U.S. from Pakistan to face conspiracy and bank fraud charges.

Alvi and her children fled to the safety of Pakistan in early 2017, so her voluntary return - which was structured with an arrest to be made "not in front of her children" is significant. Upon her return to the United States, Hina was arraigned on four felony counts of bank fraud and handed over her U.S. passport to prosecutors.

Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ) says that Alvi"s return may be part of a broader immunity deal with prosecutors in return for a "significant" and "pretty disturbing" story about Debbie Wasserman Schultz:

“I don’t want to talk out of school here but I think you"re going to see some revelations that are going to be pretty profound.  The fact that this wife is coming back from Pakistan and is willing to face charges, as it were, I think there is a good chance she is going to reach some type of immunity to tell a larger story here that is going to be pretty disturbing to the American people.”

"I would just predict that this is going to be a very significant story and people should fasten their seat belts on this one."

 

Despite the volumes of evidence stacking up against the former DNC IT staffers, Debbie Wasserman Schultz claims the entire investigation of the Awans is nothing more than Islamophobia.

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".Obliterated File" Reveals That Imran Awan Wiped His Phone Just Hours Before His Arrest

Conjuring up images of Hillary and her team bashing Blackberry phones with hammers, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Mirando revealed in a court hearing Friday that embattled Congressional IT staffer Imran Awan apparently wiped his cell phone clean just hours before being arrested by the FBI at Dulles airport while attempting to flee to Pakistan.  As Forbes points out this morning, this new information came out in a hearing in which Awan"s attorney argued that his curfew should be lifted and his ankle bracelet removed.

Imran Awan, the IT professional Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) kept on her congressional payroll long after it became known he was under investigation by the Capitol Police, wiped his phone hours before he was arrested last July.

But we are just starting to learn about this case. This is new revelation that Awan wiped his phone just before he attempted to fly away to Pakistan came out last Friday when Awan appeared in court.

Awan’s attorney, Chris Gowen, argued that Awan should have his curfew lifted and that the tracking device on his ankle should be removed.

This prompted Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Mirando to say that when Imran was arrested at Dulles International Airport a cellphone found on him “had been wiped clean just a few hours before.”

Awan"s attorney, and long-time Clinton employee (see: Arrested DNC Staffer Awan Retains Long-Time Clinton Associate For Legal Help), Chris Gowen tried to argue that Awan"s phone was blank because he had just purchased it while seemingly hoping that the FBI had simply overlooked the ".obliterate file" that was created when the phone was intentionally wiped clean. 

Gowen tried to counter this by telling the judge: “Awan had recently bought the phone, so of course it didn’t have any data on it.”

But Mirando countered by saying the FBI found that the phone had been wiped on purpose. A time stamp on the iPhone indicated it had been wiped at 6:30 p.m. that evening (Awan was arrested around 10 p.m.). Awan also had a laptop on him, but one of the few things on the computer was a resume. Mirando used this and other details—such as that the Awan’s quickly sold many of their Virginia properties—to explain that Imran had no intention of returning.

The iPhone Awan was carrying has a feature built in that allows someone to wipe it before they sell it. Investigators were nevertheless able to determine when it was wiped because the phone created a “.obliterated” file with a time stamp.

There are some cases where an iPhone won’t create a .obliterated file that can be easily found, but there are other techniques used by investigators to uncover and see when an iPhone was wiped.

Awan might be a savvy former IT professional, but in this case the FBI was able to see that he purposely deleted data before showing up for his flight to Pakistan. Awan knew his wife had been detained temporarily at the airport and questioned, so he had reason to believe the same would happen to him.

Shockingly, Gowen didn"t use his former employer"s "like with a cloth" defense which proved so effective for Hillary...

Discovery Of Another Democratic "Secret Server" May Have Prompted Imran Awan's Firing, Report

The mysterious case of Imran Awan, Debbie Wasserman Schultz"s now indicted former IT staffer, continues to grow more interesting by the day.  As we"ve noted before, Awan and his wife, Hina Alvi, have so far only been charged with bank fraud and conspiracy though new allegations of wrongdoing seemingly surface on a daily basis. 

Now, the latest revelation comes via an exclusive report from The Daily Caller which suggests that Awan may have been fired only after Capitol Police discovered a "secret server" being housed by the House Democratic Caucus.

A secret server is behind law enforcement’s decision to ban a former IT aide to Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz from the House network.

Now-indicted former congressional IT aide Imran Awan allegedly routed data from numerous House Democrats to a secret server. Police grew suspicious and requested a copy of the server early this year, but they were provided with an elaborate falsified image designed to hide the massive violations. The falsified image is what ultimately triggered their ban from the House network Feb. 2, according to a senior House official with direct knowledge of the investigation.

The secret server was connected to the House Democratic Caucus, an organization chaired by then-Rep. Xavier Becerra. Police informed Becerra that the server was the subject of an investigation and requested a copy of it. Authorities considered the false image they received to be interference in a criminal investigation, the senior official said.

Data was also backed up to Dropbox in huge quantities, the official said. Congressional offices are prohibited from using Dropbox, so an unofficial account was used, meaning Awan could have still had access to the data even though he was banned from the congressional network.

Awan had access to all emails and office computer files of 45 members of Congress who are listed below. Fear among members that Awan could release embarrassing information if they cooperated with prosecutors could explain why the Democrats have refused to acknowledge the cybersecurity breach publicly or criticize the suspects.

According to the DC, the "secret server" was discovered when California Congressman, and chair of the House Democratic Caucus, Xavier Becerra asked to have his server wiped clean (you know, like with a cloth) in advance of his departure to take his new seat as Attorney General of California.

On Jan. 24, 2017, Becerra vacated his congressional seat to become California’s attorney general. “He wanted to wipe his server, and we brought to his attention it was under investigation. The light-off was we asked for an image of the server, and they deliberately turned over a fake server,” the senior official said.

“They were using the House Democratic Caucus as their central service warehouse … It was a breach. The data was completely out of [the members’] possession. Does it mean it was sold to the Russians? I don’t know,” the senior official said.

Capitol Police considered the image a sign that the Awans knew exactly what they were doing and were going to great lengths to try to cover it up, the senior official said. The House Sergeant-at-Arms banned them from the network as a result.

The senior official said the data was also funneled offsite via a Dropbox account, from which copies could easily be downloaded. Authorities could not immediately shut down the account when the Awans were banned from the network because it was not an official account.

“For members to say their data was not compromised is simply inaccurate. They had access to all the data including all emails. Imran Awan is the walking example of an insider threat, a criminal actor who had access to everything,” the senior official said.

Meanwhile, these latest allegations come after Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ) appeared on Fox News yesterday to share his prediction that the Awans could be working on a broader immunity deal with prosecutors in return for a "significant" and "pretty disturbing" story about Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

“I don’t want to talk out of school here but I think you"re going to see some revelations that are going to be pretty profound.  The fact that this wife is coming back from Pakistan and is willing to face charges, as it were, I think there is a good chance she is going to reach some type of immunity to tell a larger story here that is going to be pretty disturbing to the American people.”

"I would just predict that this is going to be a very significant story and people should fasten their seat belts on this one."

This all follows speculation that surfaced last week suggesting that even if the Awans were originally acting to protect/extort Debbie Wasserman Schultz, that may have all changed on April 6, 2017 when Imran seemingly led U.S. Capitol Police directly to her laptop.  Per The Daily Caller:

A laptop that Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz has frantically fought to keep prosecutors from examining may have been planted for police to find by her since-indicted staffer, Imran Awan, along with a letter to the U.S. Attorney.

U.S. Capitol Police found the laptop after midnight April 6, 2017, in a tiny room that formerly served as a phone booth in the Rayburn House Office Building, according to a Capitol Police report reviewed by The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group. Alongside the laptop were a Pakistani ID card, copies of Awan’s driver’s license and congressional ID badge, and letters to the U.S. attorney. Police also found notes in a composition notebook marked “attorney-client privilege.”

The laptop had the username “RepDWS,” even though the Florida Democrat and former Democratic National Committee chairman previously said it was Awan’s computer and that she had never even seen it.

The laptop was found on the second floor of the Rayburn building — a place Awan would have had no reason to go because Wasserman Schultz’s office is in the Longworth building and the other members who employed him had fired him.

Of course, we"re certain this is just more attempts to "criminalize behavior that is normal."

Wasserman Schultz Aide Pleads ‘Not Guilty’ As Prosecution Drops Hints About A Broader Probe Of Awan

By Jamie Dupree of PBP.

Former U.S. House IT aide Imran Awan pleaded not guilty Friday to federal charges that he and his wife lied on an application for a home equity loan, as prosecutors dropped hints about a broader probe of Awan and his family members related to their computer work in recent years for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and a series of other Democratic lawmakers in the Congress.

A federal judge also agreed to return $9,000 seized from Awan when he was arrested at Dulles Airport in late July, as the feds and Awan’s legal team agreed to ensure that the money is used only to pay for the cost of Awan’s legal defense.

While the existing case against Awan and his wife, Hina Alvi, is related to whether they did not tell the truth on a loan application to a Capitol Hill credit union – documents in the matter again suggested at a larger investigation, possibly relating to more than just matters of bank fraud.

In a letter about evidence in the case, U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips described the probe as one that involved, “voluminous discovery,” citing items that were found in a Congressional office building back in April, which seemingly may have belonged to Awan.

This "laptop bag" found in April could well be the piece of equipment that had drawn the interest of Rep. Wasserman Schultz earlier this year, when she verbally berated the Capitol Hill Police chief at a House budget hearing, demanding that an item be returned to her office.

“I think you’re violating the rules when you conduct your business that way,” Wasserman Schultz said bluntly, as she told the chief that he should “expect that there will be consequences.”

The chief said he was not returning the piece of equipment that officers had found, because it was part of an investigation, which he did not detail.

From prosecutors, this evidence letter was the first official confirmation that there were items found on Capitol Hill which had a direct link to Imran Awan.

Still unclear is what exactly that earlier investigation has uncovered.

In a hearing before Federal Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, the judge refused to allow a citizen investigator from Indiana to join the case; he claimed he could provide evidence to the feds that shows a broader misuse of government resources by Awan and his family during their Capitol Hill employment.

Judge in #Awan hearing wants request to grant Awan more freedom in writing. Will issue ruling by Oct 6

— BuckTheSystem (@RiggedSys) September 1, 2017

Awan, his wife, and several of their relatives were barred from the Congressional IT system in February, as Democratic lawmakers quickly fired them from part-time IT jobs – but Capitol Police and investigators have still not formally said what problem led to that decision.

Unlike other Democrats who had employed the family members, Awan and his wife, Hina Alvi, were kept on the payroll by Rep. Wasserman Schultz – Alvi until she returned to Pakistan with their children in early March, while Awan was paid until he was arrested and charged with bank fraud.

Newly released payroll figures from the U.S. House of Representatives show that Awan was paid $5,000.01 as a “shared employee” in the second quarter of 2017 by Wasserman Schultz.

That was more than the $1,494.45 that Wasserman Schultz had paid Awan in the first quarter of this year.

At today’s hearing, Awan’s lawyers asked that he be allowed to venture up to 100 miles from home, as he evidently is now driving for Uber, as a way to make money.

The judge asked for written arguments to be filed on that request. The next hearing for Awan is set for October 6.

Intel Memo: Marco Rubio Targeted For Assassination By Venezuela Lawmaker

Senator Marco Rubio may have been targeted for assassination by one of Venezuela"s most powerful lawmakers and long time secretive head of the country"s security services. According to the Miami Herald, the US Department of Homeland Security disseminated a sensitive memo to federal agencies last month which identified Diosdado Cabello Rondon as behind the "order to have Senator Rubio assassinated," while also noting the intelligence to be unverified as “no specific information regarding an assassination plot against Senator Rubio has been garnered thus far."

Cabello Rondon is widely believed to be Venezuela"s second most-powerful man and head of the country"s military and security services. US media has referred to him as "the Frank Underwood of Venezuela" (from the TV series House of Cards) for his well-known history of corruption, suspicion of drug trafficking, and Machiavellian plotting against rivals and involvement in pro-Chavez military crackdowns. As a behind the scenes influential military leader he"s kept both the late president Hugo Chavez and current socialist strongman Nicolas Maduro in power.

Diosdado Cabello Rondon, currently Vice President of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, also believed to be powerful leader of the country"s security services. Photo Source: Wiki Commons.

Politico has also obtained the memo and reports the following contents of the intelligence report marked "law enforcement sensitive" (the memo"s contents are in bold):

“In some unspecified manner, CABELLO RONDON’s problems involved U.S. Senator Marco Rubio,” said the memo, obtained by POLITICO, which is not releasing information that could endanger Rubio, his family or confidential law enforcement methods or sources.

The memo said that Cabello Rondon may even have discussed raising the money to kill Rubio or deal with the “problems” facing Venezuela’s ruling regime.

“CABELLO RONDON did indeed issue an order ... to have Senator Rubio assassinated,” the memo said. “Additionally, CABELLO RONDON was communicating with unspecified Mexican nationals in furtherance of the matter.”

Rubio has long been a fierce critic of Cabello with the two having recently engaged in a public war of words. During a July 19 Senate hearing Rubio called Cabello “the Pablo Escobar of Venezuela” as US authorities have an active drug investigation against Cabello and other Venezuelan leaders pending. Rubio is further spearheading efforts to increase sanctions on the socialist Latin American country, including the controversial proposal of an oil embargo, which other congress members warn could send the entirety of Venezuela into an economic tailspin and a worsened humanitarian catastrophe. But the Florida senator"s influence over US-Venezuela relations is hugely significant as it"s widely reported that he has President"s Trump"s ear regarding US policy toward the geopolitically important country.

Meanwhile, the war of words ratcheted up this summer when Cabello took to Twitter and called the Florida senator “Narco Rubio” in response to an attack by Rubio:

Fact that Narco leader @dcabellor annouced #6Aug military rebellion & govt response shows who"s in charge of security forces in #Venezuela

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 6, 2017

Narco Rubio, alias @marcorubio, lo peor de la política imperial, aparece como el defensor de los terroristas que atacaron Fuerte Paramacay.

— Diosdado Cabello R (@dcabellor) August 6, 2017

It appears that both Senator Rubio and the Capitol police are taking the intelligence memo warning of a possible assassination plot seriously, especially after the June 14 unrelated shooting in Virginia which targeted Republican members of Congress at a baseball event. Multiple media reports have detailed a noticeably heightened security presence around Rubio, including a mixed Florida and Capitol police detail, as well as at times three additional plainclothes officers. According to the Miami Herald:

Capitol reporters first noticed police officers trailing Rubio almost a month ago. When he was interviewed last week by Herald news partner WFOR-CBS 4, Rubio’s security included at least one Miami-Dade County Police officer. MDPD was one of the law-enforcement agencies asked to help protect Rubio.

Local media began noticing the increased security in late July, which was large enough to become the subject of some conjecture. With the Sunday publication of the assassination plot memo we now know why. Multiple media outlets have sought comment from both Rubio"s staff and the Venezuelan Embassy, though no responses have been issued. 

As it appears that Rubio now has reason to make his public fight against Venezuela"s ruling socialist party a personal vendetta, we can expect the rhetoric to intensify even more in the coming week, especially following Trump"s unexpected comment on Friday afternoon that the US has a "military option for Venezuela."

Wasserman-Schultz IT Aide Arrested While Attempting To Flee Country, Charged With Bank Fraud

Just a day after reports emerged that the FBI had seized a number of "smashed hard drives" and other computer equipment from the residence Imran Awan, the IT aide of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, we learn that Awan has been captured at the Dulles airport while attempted to flee the country.  According to Fox News, Awan has been charged with bank fraud.

Feds/USCP bust Hse IT staffer Imran Awan & charge him with multiple counts of bank fraud as part of Hse IT procurement scandal

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 25, 2017

Feds/USCP picked up Imran Awan at Dulles Aiport last night as he was "trying to leave the country." Has been arraigned. Surrendered passport

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 25, 2017

Inexplicably, or perhaps not, Awan has been kept on the payroll of former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz despite a rapidly escalating scandal that potentially involves multiple federal crimes.

Group of Hse Dems fired other Hse IT staffers probed by USCP. But Wasserman Schultz kept Awan on payroll. He was barred from Hse servers

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 25, 2017

Fox is told that Hse IT staffer Imran Awan is still on Hse payroll for moment under Wasserman Schultz.

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 25, 2017

Meanwhile, here is a list of the 30 other Democrats that had the Awans on their taxpayer-funded payrolls.

Some of the #Democrats who had Pakistani IT workers (currently under investigation) on their payroll. #AwanBrothers https://t.co/XvrJ6H1iW9 pic.twitter.com/gVjNkfqWH3

— Nick Short ???????? (@PoliticalShort) May 22, 2017

For those who have managed to avoid this story, which wouldn"t be difficult given that the mainstream media has made every attempt to ignore it, the Pakistani-born brothers Abid, Imran, and Jamal Awan are at the center of a criminal investigation by U.S. Capital Hill Police and the FBI.  Up until now, allegations of wrong doing have varied from overcharging taxpayers for congressional IT equipment to blackmailing members of Congress with secrets captured from the emails of their Democrat employers.

Just yesterday we learned that FBI agents reportedly seized a number of "smashed hard drives" and other computer equipment from the Awan"s former residence in Virginia.

FBI agents seized smashed computer hard drives from the home of Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s information technology (IT) administrator, according to an individual who was interviewed by Bureau investigators in the case and a high level congressional source.

Pakistani-born Imran Awan, long-time right-hand IT aide to the former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairwoman, has since desperately tried to get the hard drives back, the individual told The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group.

The congressional source, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the probe, confirmed that the FBI has joined what Politico previously described as a Capitol Police criminal probe into “serious, potentially illegal, violations on the House IT network” by Imran and three of his relatives, who had access to the emails and files of the more than two dozen House Democrats who employed them on a part-time basis.

Capitol Police have also seized computer equipment tied to the Florida lawmaker.

As background, Imran was first employed in 2004 by former Democrat Rep. Robert Wexler (FL) as an “information technology director”, before he began working in Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s office in 2005.

The family was paid extremely well, with Imran Awan being paid nearly $2 million working as an IT support staffer for House Democrats since 2004. Abid Awan and his wife, Hina Alvi, were each paid more than $1 million working for House Democrats. In total, since 2003, the family has collected nearly $5 million.

The staffer’s services were so important to congressional members, that on March 22, 2016, eight democrat members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence issued a letter, requesting that their staffers be granted access to Top Secret Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI). Of those that signed the letter were representatives Jackie Speier (CA) and Andre Carson (IN), the second Muslim in Congress, both of whom employed the Awan brothers.

The brothers were also employed by members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, such as: Jackie Speier (D-CA), Andre Carson (D-IN), Joaquín Castro (D-TX), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Robin Kelly (D-IL), and Ted Lieu (D-CA). Lieu has since openly called for leaks by members of President Trump"s administration despite the fact that he may until recently have been under surveillance by a foreign entity.

One bombshell that has been all but ignored by the main stream media is that Imran Awan had access to Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s iPad password, meaning that the brothers also had direct access to the notorious DNC emails.

The brothers are accused of removing hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment from congressional offices, including computers and servers, while also running a procurement scheme in which they bought equipment, then overcharged the House administrative office that assigns such contractors to members.

Some congressional technology aides believe that the Awan’s are blackmailing representatives based on the contents of their emails and files, due to the fact that these representatives have displayed unwavering and intense loyalty towards the former aides.

Meanwhile, back in March the Daily Caller reported that the Awan brothers were essentially holding their stepmother in "captivity" in order to extort her for money she had stashed away in Pakistan.

Congressional staffers allegedly held their stepmother in “captivity” with violent threats in a plan to use her to access money stashed away in the Middle East. The staffers are suspected of using their positions to enrich themselves.

Days before U.S. Capitol Police told House members three Pakistani brothers who ran their computer networks may have stolen congressional data, their stepmother called Fairfax County, Virginia police to say the Democratic staffers were keeping her from her husband’s deathbed.

A relative described the woman’s life as being completely controlled by the brothers for months while they schemed to take their father’s life insurance.

The brothers — who as IT professionals for Congress could read House members’ emails — allegedly used wiretapping devices on their own stepmother and threatened to abduct loved ones in Pakistan if she didn’t give them access to money stowed away in that country.

Of course, if Republicans and/or members of the Trump administration hired foreign-born IT specialists who were suspected of committing a laundry list of federal crimes and then smashed a bunch of hard drives just before skipping town...we"re sure the media would still gloss right over it in much the same way they"re doing for the the Democrats in this instance.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz targeted by FBI and Capitol Police criminal probe

It looks as if Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her IT people may have some explaining to do as criminal probe expands

(INTELLIHUB) — Several smashed computer hard drives and other evidence was recently retrieved by the FBI from the home of a former information technology administrator of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), a Pakistani foreign national named Imran Awan, reports say.

The items were cataloged as part of a Capitol Police criminal probe into whether serious and illegal violations took place on the House of Representatives IT network.

The seizure comes after Schultz was caught trying to interfere with a criminal investigation as Intellihub reported in the May 26 article titled: “Debbie Wasserman Schultz likely involved in massive cover-up as she is caught trying to interfere in a criminal investigation, threatening police chief.”

In the article Alex Thomas wrote: “In an absolutely outrageous and transparent abuse of authority, former DNC chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz used her position on a committee that sets the police force’s budget to not only attempt to undermine an active investigation but also to directly threaten the chief of the U.S. Capitol Police.”

Additionally, “Awan’s younger brothers, Abid and Jamal, his wife, Hina Alvi, and Rao Abbas, Imran’s best friend, are also under investigation,” the Daily Mail reports.

Soon after Imran began working for Wasserman Schultz in 2005, his two brothers and two of their wives — plus Abbas and another friend — began appearing as IT staffers on the payrolls of other House Democrats. Collectively, the Awan group has been paid $4 million since 2009.

Fellow IT staffers interviewed by TheDCNF said the Awans were often absent from weekly meetings and email exchanges. One of the fellow staffers said some of the computers the Awans managed were being used to transfer data to an off-site server.

Related:

Debbie Wasserman Schultz likely involved in massive cover-up as she is caught trying to interfere in a criminal investigation, threatening police chief

Featured Image: Gage Skidmore/Flickr

©2017. INTELLIHUB.COM. All Rights Reserved.

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Shepard Ambellas is an opinion journalist, analyst, and the founder and editor-in-chief of Intellihub News & Politics (Intellihub.com). Shepard is also known for producing Shade: The Motion Picture (2013) and appearing on Travel Channel’s America Declassified (2013). Shepard is a regular contributor to Infowars. Read more from Shep’s World. Follow Shep on Facebook and Twitter.

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Hodgkinson's Disease: Politics And Paranoia In The Age Of Trump

Authored by Justin Raimondo via AntiWar.com,

A would-be assassin was incited and validated by the media and the Democratic leadership

James T. Hodgkinson, the would-be assassin of Republican congressmen, wasn’t a radical. If you look at his published output – a series of letters to his local newspaper in Belleville, Illinois, as well as the majority of his Internet postings – it’s mostly about matters nearly every progressive cares about: taxes (the rich don’t pay enough), healthcare (the government must provide), income inequality (it’s all a Republican plot). All in all, a pretty unremarkable worldview that any partisan Democrat – either a Bernie Sanders supporter, as Hodginkinson was, or a Hillary fan – could sign on to.

So what drove him over the edge?

One of his more recent Facebook posts was a link to a petition that called for “the legal removal of the President and Vice-President, et. al., for Misprision of Treason.” Hodgkinson had signed it and he was asking his readers to follow suit: “Trump is a Traitor,” he wrote, “Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It’s Time to Destroy Trump & Co.”  He was also a big fan of Rachel Maddow, who – incredibly — has spent the majority of her airtime ranting about “The Russian Connection,” as this Intercept piece documents. Hodgkinson was also a member of a Facebook group ominously dubbing itself “Terminate the Republican Party,” an appellation Hodgkinson apparently took quite literally. The group has over 13,000 members. The main page of the Terminators is adorned with a cartoon of Putin manipulating Trump like a puppet.

When Hodgkinson left his home and his job to travel to Alexandria, Virginia, he told his wife he was going to “work on tax issues.” But is that what motivated his murderous spree? Do “tax issues” really seem like something that would inspire someone to plan and carry out an assassination attempt that, but for the presence of Capitol police on the scene, would have certainly resulted in a massacre?

Hodgkinson clearly believed that the President of the United States was an agent of a foreign power. He had signed on to the idea that Trump not only benefited from a Russian campaign to discredit Hillary Clinton, but that he is engaged in a war against his own country.

As Maddow put it in one of her more unhinged broadcasts:

“If the presidency is effectively a Russian op, right, if the American Presidency right now is the product of collusion between the Russian Intelligence Services, and an American campaign, I mean, that is so profoundly big. This is not part of American politics; this is not, you know, partisan warfare between Republicans and Democrats. This is international warfare against our country.”

“International warfare” – and Hodgkinson, a soldier in that fight, saw it as his duty to use the sort of weapons that are commonly used in international warfare. That’s why he sprayed that baseball field with a hail of gunfire – over fifty rounds. And when his rifle ran out of ammunition, he took out his handgun and continued firing. Because “this is not, you know, partisan warfare between Republicans and Democrats. This is international warfare against our country” – and it’s the obligation of patriotic citizens to take up that fight and take out the enemy.

This sort of craziness is usually reserved for the farther fringes of the American polity. Back in the 1960s, far-right groups like the Minutemen – who believed the United States government was effectively under the Kremlin’s control – armed themselves to prepare for the day when they would “liberate” America. Indeed, this sort of lunacy has traditionally been a fixture of extreme right-wing politics in this country: that it has now appeared on the left – and not the far-left, but in the “mainstream” of the Democratic party, which has taken up the Russia-gate conspiracy theory to the virtual exclusion of all else — is the proximate cause of what I call Hodgkinson’s Disease: the radicalization of formerly anodyne Democrats into a twenty-first century version of the Weathermen.

How did this happen? Democratic party leaders, in tandem with their journalistic camarilla, have validated an unconvincing conspiracy theory for which not a lick of definitive evidence has been provided: the idea that the Russians “stole” the election on behalf of Trump, and that the Trump campaign cooperated in this treasonous effort.

Yet that hasn’t stopped the Democratic party leadership from taking this ball and running with it. As Jennifer Palmieri, a top official in the Clinton campaign, put it, Democrats should push the “collusion” issue “relentlessly and above all else. They should talk about it in every interview.” The New York Times writes about this conspiracy theory as if it is uncontested fact. Democratic officeholders have declared that the alleged “hacking” of the election was an “act of war” – with the NeverTrump Republicans echoing the party line – and the Twitterverse’s conspiracy theorists are having a field day with the dangerously loony contention that we are at war with Russia. What’s more, the wildest imaginings of the nutjob crowd are being taken up and amplified by “respectable” people like constitutional lawyer Laurence Tribe.

In this way Hodgkinson’s Disease was incubated, its toxicity penetrating the mind of a suggestible and embittered little man until the poison had accumulated to such an extent that it burst through to the surface in an explosion of uncontrollable rage. Rachel Maddow is the theory: James T. Hodgkinson is the practice. The ultimate result is civil war.

That such a conflict would be born out of a full-scale delusional system that resembles a third-rate cold war era thriller just adds a Bizarro World cast to the whole sorry spectacle. The “Russia-gate” conspiracy theory that has consumed the energies of the media, the Congress, and President Trump is an elaborate hoax. This farrago of falsehood rests on a fallacious assumption: that the Russians necessarily “hacked” the DNC and John Podesta’s emails. The contention is that the methods supposedly utilized by the alleged hackers were similar to those used in the past by “suspected” Russian hackers, and that this makes the case. Yet this argument ignores the fact that these tools and methods were already out there, available for anyone to use. This is a textbook example of what cyber-security expert Jeffrey Carr calls “faith-based attribution,” which amounts to, at best, an educated guess, and at worst is the end result of confirmation bias combined with the economic incentive to tell a client what they want to hear. In the case of the DNC/Podesta “hacks,” the company hired to investigate, CrowdStrike, had every reason to echo Hillary Clinton’s contention that the Russians were the guilty party. CrowdStrike, by the way, never gave US law enforcement authorities access to the DNC’s servers: indeed, the FBI’s request for access was rebuffed.

The “Russia-gate” hoax has injected a pernicious and highly dangerous theme into our political discourse: the accusation that the Trump administration is a traitorous cabal intent on “destroying democracy,” as Hodgkinson put it, and handing over the country to the tender mercies of a foreign power. Taken seriously, this theme necessarily and inevitably leads to violence, which means there’s a good chance we’ll see more Hodgkinsons in the headlines.

And standing behind it all is the Deep State – the leakers (with access to all our communications) who are feeding disinformation to the Washington Post and the New York Times in order to bring down this presidency. One prong of this operation is embodied in the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, whose investigation was provoked and fueled by Deep State leakage. The other prong consists of the useful idiot crowd, those who believe the propaganda and can be mobilized to take to the streets.

The Deep State types don’t have to get in direct contact with people like Hodgkinson in order to provoke violence against this administration or Trump’s supporters. They have only to continue to do what they’ve been doing since before Trump even took office, covertly spreading the idea that Trump is “Putin’s puppet,” as Mrs. Clinton put it: radicalized useful idiots like Hodgkinson will do the rest. It is eerily similar to the methods the CIA has used to overthrow foreign governments: spread rumors, utilizing their journalistic sock-puppets, and indirectly motivate and mobilize mobs to carry out their “regime-change” agenda. The only difference now is that they’re doing what they’ve always done on the home front instead of in, say, Lower Slobbovia.

Yes, that’s where we are right now – we’ve become Lower Slobbovia. Get used to it, folks, because it won’t end until the Deep State is defeated and dismantled.

Michael Savage predicted ‘violence’ by ‘marginals’ day before attack

(Includes video/audio of the attack in Alexandria, VA, on June 14.)

By Michael Savage – June 14, 207

‘We are at a boiling point. There’s going to be a civil war’

Less than 24 hours before a supporter of former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders fired at Republican members of Congress at a baseball practice, seriously injuring House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and four others before U.S. Capitol Police took down the assailant, talk-radio host and author Michael Savage warned of violence by “marginal” people who are set to explode and “kill somebody.”

Savage, the host of the nationally syndicated “The Savage Nation,” was commenting on recent developments that have escalated the anti-Trump “resistance,” such as comedian Kathy Griffin’s ISIS-style photo shoot of the decapitated likeness of Trump and the “Julius Caesar” play in Central Park featuring the assassination of a Trump-like figure.

“I don’t know how much more of this the country can take,” Savage said.

“We are at a boiling point. There’s going to be a civil war,” he told his listeners Tuesday.

The suspect in the shooting Wednesday, James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville, Illinois, campaigned for Sanders and belonged to a number of anti-Republican groups, including one called “Terminate the Republican Party.”

In comments prepared for his afternoon show Wednesday, Savage criticized President Trump’s reaction to the shooting, contending he lost an opportunity to “take control” of the narrative. And he pinned blame for the attack on Sanders, contending the Vermont senator “stoked hate against Republicans and the rich.”
The day before the attack, Savage told his listeners: “If they keep this up, I’m telling you there’s going to be an explosion in this country.”

He noted that nothing had been done to stop the Central Park play, “when it’s clearly illegal to assassinate a president, even in a mock way.”

“Do you understand that there are people out there who are marginal, who are going to go off like a rocket and kill somebody?” Savage asked.

“Do you understand what this left-wing is becoming in this country?”

Talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh also predicted on his show yesterday that “at some point,” the extreme Trump resisters “are gonna crack, and they’re not gonna just start cutting heads off of dolls, and they’re not gonna just start using fake knives to stab people at Central Park.”

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who was on the field practicing with his colleagues early Wednesday morning, commented that without the Capitol Police officers assigned to Scalise, “it would have been a massacre.”

Read more at WND

"One Down, 216 To Go" - NY Rep Received Threatening Email After Virginia Shooting

Following the shooting this morning at a practice session for the Republican Congressional baseball team that left five people with gunshot wounds – including House Minority Whip Steve – worries that more leftist-inspired violence could rock the capital have left Congressional offices on high alert.

While Congressional offices receive no shortage of hate mail – some of which is disturbing or even threatening, a message received in the wake of today’s shooting by the office of New York Republican Congresswoman Claudia Tenney understandably raised some red flags:

“One down, 216 to go…” the email’s subject line read.

In the body, the sender – who apparently espouses leftist political views, said that Republican lives “are forfeit” because of the policies they advocate.

“Did you NOT expect this? When you take away ordinary peoples very lives in order to pay off the wealthiest among us, your own lives are forfeit. Certainly, your souls and morality were lost long before. Good riddance."

Hannah Andrews, a spokeswoman for Tenney’s office, told the Hill that the message was “particularly disheartening” because it arrived in the wake of today’s shooting, which was carried out by 66-year-old, never-Trumper and Bernie Sanders supporter James Hodgkinson of Belleville, Ill., who was killed when Capitol Police officers Crystal Griner and David Bailey returned fire. The attack unfolded at a baseball field in Alexandria, Va.

"Although our office receives threats like these regularly, today’s message was particularly disheartening following this morning’s tragic events."

The Hill didn’t specify whether the FBI, Secret Service or Capitol Police are looking into who sent the email.

Andrews also lamented the deteriorating state of American political discourse, where people on either side of the political spectrum now view those on the opposite end with genuine contempt and hatred.

"The level of discourse in politics today is truly unfortunate. Our nation was founded on the principle of free speech, and it’s vitally important that we have a robust debate on the issues. However, protections under the first amendment do not extend to violence," Andrews added. Hodgkinson apparently owned a home inspection business though his license had expired in November 2016 and was not renewed.

In a response to the shooting, Sanders said he was “sickened” when he learned that the shooter was a former volunteer on his campaign.

Violence from far-left activist is increasingly becoming a problem in America – something that local police departments and the FBI have noted. Violent clashes have erupted in Portland, Ore. After the far-left Antifa group confronted peaceful conservative protesters, whom they blamed for a stabbing attack on a Portland commuter train that left two dead and a third injured.

As we reported earlier this morning, Hodgkinson allegedly asked Rep. Jeff Duncan whether it was Republicans or Democrats on the practice field before opening fire. We"ve covered all of the key developments throughout the morning here.

Trump Delivers Statement On Steve Scalise Shooting

At 11:30am President Trump will deliver a statement following this morning’s shooting of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and several others at a congressional baseball practice game ahead of an annual charity game tomorrow.

Earlier in the day, Trump said in a statement, "The Vice President and I are aware of the shooting incident in Virginia and are monitoring developments closely. We are deeply saddened by this tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with the members of Congress, their staffs, Capitol Police, first responders, and all others affected."

Trump also tweeted "Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, a true friend and patriot, was badly injured but will fully recover. Our thoughts and prayers are with him."

Trump has canceled his speech today at the Department of Labor and Vice
President Mike Pence has canceled a speech he had set for this morning.

 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said this morning, "I know the entire Senate will join in echoing the sentiments of the president this morning. We’re deeply saddened. We’re all concerned for those injured. We’ll keep them in our prayers and send them our wish for a quick and full recovery." He added, "The Congressional baseball game is a bipartisan charity event. I know the Senate will embrace that today as we come together to express our concern and our gratitude."

Sen. Chuck Schumer added that he was with Paul, who had been at the practice earlier, in the Senate gym. Schumer said Paul repeated his gratitude that Scalise"s protective detail was present or that it would have been a "massacre."  "Their bravery is exemplary of all Capitol Police forces and we thank them," Schumer continued.

Gabrielle Giffords, the last member of Congress to be shot, surviving a shooting in 2011, tweeted this morning, "My heart is with my former colleagues, their families; staff, and the US Capitol Police- public servants and heroes today and every day."

Awan Brothers Scandal Creates Fears About Scope Of Data Leak

Via Disobedient Media

Over the past few months, the story of the Awan brothers has been largely ignored by mainstream media. However, the brothers Abid, Imran, and Jamal Awan are at the center of a criminal investigation by U.S. Capital Hill Police. The Awan brothers were Pakistani IT specialists, whom worked for more than 30 house and senate democrats, as well as Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The substantial scandal has raised questions about who may have been passed data which the Awans had access to, given Pakistan"s history of collaborating with a number of foreign countries who have demonstrated past willingness to influence U.S. politics.

Imran was first employed in 2004 by former Democrat Rep. Robert Wexler (FL) as an “information technology director”, before he began working in Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s office in 2005.

The family was paid extremely well, with Imran Awan being paid nearly $2 million working as an IT support staffer for House Democrats since 2004. Abid Awan and his wife, Hina Alvi, were each paid more than $1 million working for House Democrats. In total, since 2003, the family has collected nearly $5 million.

The staffer’s services were so important to congressional members, that on March 22, 2016, eight democrat members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence issued a letter, requesting that their staffers be granted access to Top Secret Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI). Of those that signed the letter were representatives Jackie Speier (CA) and Andre Carson (IN), the second Muslim in Congress, both of whom employed the Awan brothers.

The brothers were also employed by members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, such as: Jackie Speier (D-CA), Andre Carson (D-IN), Joaquín Castro (D-TX), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Robin Kelly (D-IL), and Ted Lieu (D-CA). Lieu has since openly called for leaks by members of President Trump"s administration despite the fact that he may until recently have been under surveillance by a foreign entity.

One bombshell that has been all but ignored by the main stream media is that Imran Awan had access to Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s iPad password, meaning that the brothers also had direct access to the notorious DNC emails.

The brothers are accused of removing hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment from congressional offices, including computers and servers, while also running a procurement scheme in which they bought equipment, then overcharged the House administrative office that assigns such contractors to members.

Some congressional technology aides believe that the Awan’s are blackmailing representatives based on the contents of their emails and files, due to the fact that these representatives have displayed unwavering and intense loyalty towards the former aides.

For example, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), once named one of the most corrupt members of Congress, had at one time or another employed each of the brothers has stated that they were being “falsely targeted because they are Muslims, some with ties to Pakistan.”

According to Pat Sower, who has managed IT services for several members of Congress, something is amiss: “There’s no question about it: If I was accused of a tenth of what these guys are accused of, they’d take me out in handcuffs that same day, and I’d never work again.”

On February 20th, 2017, the Daily Caller reported that investigators found that congressional information was being copied to an off-site server, implying that the brothers were improperly accessing information and stealing congressional property.

According to one congressional staffer, the Awan’s set up a remote access so they could connect from wherever they are, and have full access to everything on the member’s system.

Despite being ordered by Capitol police that he was no longer to come near House servers, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) has kept Imran, whom is the suspect in a major criminal investigation, on in an “advisory position” in order to get around police orders.

Terror Ties And Unravelling Of Scandal

The security breach of congressional data may have actually benefitted terrorists indirectly. According to a former CIA source close to Townhall columnist Fred Fleitz, whom has held national security jobs for 25 years with the CIA, DIA, Department of State and the House Intelligence Committee staff, the Awan brothers may have ties to the Pakistani intelligence service, ISI.

The Awan’s had reportedly received a $100,000 loan from Dr. Ali al-Attar, an Iraqi politician. Dr. Attar is currently wanted by the U.S., and has also been linked to Iranian-backed Hezbollah. According to Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, after giving the loan to the Awan brothers in 2012, Dr. Attar was “observed in Beirut, Lebanon conversing with a Hezbollah official.” Dr. Attar is also accused of helping provoke the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq as a leader of Iraqi dissidents opposed to then President Saddam Hussein.

On May 22, 2017, the Daily Caller reported that one of the suspects, Hina Alvi, has since fled to Pakistan, where her family is said to have significant assets and VIP-level protection. According to court documents, the Awan brothers are treated as VIPs by Pakistani officials, traveling throughout the country with a police motorcade. This brings about the question: Why are simple House IT staffers provided the protection and security similar to that of diplomats?

Debbie Wasserman Schultz Threatens Capitol Police

On May 24, at the annual police budget hearing, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz used her position on the committee to challenge the chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, of his departments confiscation of a laptop owned by Imran Awan. The laptop was found by police after it had been hidden in an unused crevice of the Rayburn House Office Building.

Schultz demanded that the police relinquish custody of the laptop and have it returned to her office. However, because the laptop was the property of Imran Awan, whom is under criminal investigation, the chief refused to comply with Schultz orders. This lead to Schultz openly threatening the chief, stating that she believed his department was “violating the rules when you conduct your business that way and you should expect that there will be consequences.”

Pakistan"s Ties To U.S., China, Saudi Arabia and Israel

The apparent infiltration of DNC politicians and government systems by the Awan brothers is significant given Pakistan"s strategic ties to other countries who have also attempted to wield influence in the U.S. The United States and China both have a long history operating in Pakistan for various purposes such as political influence and trade. Diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks show that the United States began a concerted drive to use Pakistan"s mountainous western regions as a springboard for training and deploying mujahideen groups which the U.S. would use to further policy objectives around the Middle East.

Former President Barack Obama also has some past ties to Pakistan. During the 2008 Presidential election, it was reported that President Barrack Obama had taken a trip to Pakistan in 1981. During this trip, Obama stayed with his college friend Ali Hasan Chandoo. The Chandios are considered to be the largest landlords in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Hasan also donated $50,000 – $100,000 to Obama’s 2012 Presidential campaign.

The Barack H. Obama Foundation was founded in 2008 at the home of Alton Ray Baysden. A former Special Agent for the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Baysden has also previously served as a Counselor with the U.S. Embassies in Haiti, Pakistan, Syria, and the Ivory Coast.

As a regional superpower and one of the main competitors to the United States, China has increasingly competed with American interests for influence in the country. According to China Daily, economic cooperation between the two countries increased substantially after China re established ties to the United States in 1979. China and Pakistan have recently begun to collaborate on a number of infrastructure projects, development of nuclear capabilities and military collaboration which would include the deployment of Chinese troops in Pakistan.

China has also begun to boost Pakistani claims regarding sovereignty and territorial integrity as a part of its drive to develop the "One Belt, One Road" project which is a cornerstone of President Xi Jinping"s strategy to rival the United States as a superpower. On May 9th, 2017, Indian news source The Economic Times reported that India was contesting renewed Chinese claims that Pakistan"s claims to the regions to Jammu and Kashmir were not final and should be renegotiated.

Pakistan also maintains close ties with countries who have a history of attempting to influence U.S. policy and politics such as Israel and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has a long history of collaboration with Pakistan, especially in military affairs. The country also gave considerable financial backing to the Clinton Foundation, a matter which generated significant controversy during the 2016 presidential election.

Despite officially frosty relations between Israel and Pakistan, the two countries have routinely collaborated together in the past. Pakistani news source the Daily Times has noted that this cooperation began during the Soviet war in Afghanistan and continues to this day. In 2010, Wikileaks cables revealed that Pakistan"s ISI and Israel routinely collaborate on matters relating to terrorism. It was also alleged in 2013 that Israel provided Pakistan with high tech defense equipment which was acquired via the United Kingdom. Like Saudi Arabia, Israel has similarly been criticized by academics and observers for using it"s influence in the United States to formulate U.S. foreign and domestic policy.

The close ties that Pakistan maintains to countries which have a history of meddling in U.S. affairs creates concerns about where the data which the Awan brothers had access to might have ultimately ended up. The Awans ties to terror groups similarly indicate that the security breach may have resulted in information being passed directly to extremists.

Congressional Aides Fear Suspects In IT Breach Are Blackmailing Members With Their Own Data

Authored by Luke Rosiak via The Daily Caller,

Congressional technology aides are baffled that data-theft allegations against four former House IT workers — who were banned from the congressional network — have largely been ignored, and they fear the integrity of sensitive high-level information.

Imran Awan and three relatives were colleagues until police banned them from computer networks at the House of Representatives after suspicion the brothers accessed congressional computers without permission.

Five Capitol Hill technology aides told The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group that members of Congress have displayed an inexplicable and intense loyalty towards the suspects who police say victimized them. The baffled aides wonder if the suspects are blackmailing representatives based on the contents of their emails and files, to which they had full access.

“I don’t know what they have, but they have something on someone. It’s been months at this point” with no arrests, said Pat Sowers, who has managed IT for several House offices for 12 years. “Something is rotten in Denmark.”

A manager at a tech-services company that works with Democratic House offices said he approached congressional offices, offering their services at one-fourth the price of Awan and his Pakistani brothers, but the members declined. At the time, he couldn’t understand why his offers were rejected but now he suspects the Awans exerted some type of leverage over members.

“There’s no question about it: If I was accused of a tenth of what these guys are accused of, they’d take me out in handcuffs that same day, and I’d never work again,” he said.

The Awans’ ban sent 20 members searching for new IT workers, but another contractor claims he’s had difficulty convincing offices to let him fill the void, even when he seemed like a shoo-in. He says he has the sense some members wrongly believed that he blew the whistle on the Awans’ theft and they were angry at him for it.

Politico reported the Awan crew is “accused of stealing equipment from members’ offices without their knowledge and committing serious, potentially illegal, violations on the House IT network.”

A House IT employee who requested anonymity said tech workers who have taken over some of those offices found that computers in some — but not all — offices were “thin clients” that sent all data to an offsite server in violation of House policies. Additionally, staffers’ iPhones were all linked to a single non-government iTunes account.

Awan began working for Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida in 2005, and his wife, his brother’s wife, and two of his brothers all appeared on the payrolls of various House Democrats soon after, payroll records show. They have collected $4 million since 2010.

For years, it was widely known that Awan, and eventually his 20-year-old brother Jamal, did the bulk of the work for various offices, while no-show employees were listed on members’ staffs in order to collect additional $165,000 salaries, workers said. This circumvented a rule that prevents any one staffer from making more than members of Congress.

Members were fiercely protective of the business, despite objectively shoddy work and requests for computer help routinely ignored for weeks, all said. An IT specialist who took over an Awan office said they did not keep an inventory of what hardware was there, and the office was paying for phone lines it hadn’t used in years.

“The number of offices they had would definitely be suspicious. The loyalty [members] had [coupled with] customer service that wasn’t there,” Sowers said.

One Democratic IT staffer said Awan “would come in and only help the member — he’d tell me this — because staff come and go. There was one staffer whose computer was broken and said, ‘I’m not going to pay my invoices until you fix my computer,’ and Imran went to the member, and they fired [the staffer who complained] that day. Imran has that power.”

Sowers said, “I love the Hill but to see this clear lack of concern over what appears to be a major breach bothers me. Everyone has said for years they were breaking the rules, but it’s just been a matter of time.”

An employee of a third private company with House IT office contracts, who like most of the others requested anonymity, said the Awans had more offices than anyone, yet “there’s networkers meetings once a week and I never saw them ever come to them. We have an email group; I never saw them contribute or reply.”

The investigation goes far beyond the theft of millions of dollars. The employees could read all emails dozens of members of Congress sent and received, as well as access any files members and their staff stored. Court records show the brothers ran a side business that owed $100,000 to an Iranian fugitive who has been tied to Hezbollah, and their stepmother says they often send money to Pakistan.

“When you’re an admin for an office, yes, you have access to everything, you’re the one providing access for others,” the IT specialist said.

Wasserman Schultz, the victim of a disastrous hack while she was chairman of the Democratic National Committee, renamed Awan an “advisor” to circumvent the Capitol Police’s computer network ban on the brothers. Ohio Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge’s office told Politico a month after the ban that she had not fired Imran either.

After Wasserman Schultz and Fudge, as well as New York Democratic Reps. Gregory Meeks and Yvette Clarke and the House Democratic Caucus office, retained the Awans, the incumbents or their staffs encouraged newly-elected members to place the family on their payrolls.

“You’d think in the caucus they’d know these guys were working for all of them and they couldn’t possibly support all of them. Someone must have been turning a blind eye,” the IT specialist said.

“You have the power to shut down the office, remove all their data and lock everyone out. It’s got to be a trusted adviser. How could you not see this? Maybe it’s not specifically blackmail, maybe it’s, you knew this was going on and let me do this” for years, the specialist continued.

Another Democratic IT contractor said members “are saying don’t say anything, this will all blow over if we all don’t say anything.” The Awans “had [members] in their pocket,” and “there are a lot of members who could go down over this.”