Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the Pakistani IT Scammers

Discussion in 'Political Discussions' started by decimon, Jul 29, 2017.

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  1. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

    Andrew C. McCarthy — July 29, 2017

    In Washington, it’s never about what they tell you it’s about. So take this to the bank: The case of Imran Awan, Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s mysterious Pakistani IT guy, is not about bank fraud.

    Cont... National Review Online | Print


    Isn't this just a bit more important than who may have said da to the samovar?
     
  2. heirophant

    heirophant Well-Known Member

    Bank fraud is just what justifies them keeping him in the country so that he doesn't flee back to Pakistan (where he was headed when they arrested him).

    This guy wasn't just Debbie Wasserman Schultz's IT guy. He had arranged similar jobs for other members of his family and between them, they handled IT for some 25 Democratic members of Congress. (Including my own Congresswoman.) That includes five members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and three members of the House Intelligence Committee. Awan's relatives who did that IT work are reportedly already back in Pakistan.

    I'm reasonably confident that investigations are looking closely at the stolen government IT gear reportedly found in cabinets in the garage of Awan's primary residence, gear where attempts appeared to have been made to destroy the hard drives.

    Not only is there a huge counter-espionage angle to this, there's the fact that Debbie is the former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee prior to the 2016 election and that it was Debbie's and the DNC's computers that had files supposedly "hacked" and sent to Wikileaks. (Prompting Debbie's sudden resignation as DNC chairwoman.) And now we learn that the doubtful-seeming Awan may have had system-administrator access to precisely the computers where those files were located.

    Reportedly the FBI and other intelligence agencies never physically examined the computers that were allegedly hacked. (And those agencies never thought to subpoena them!!) Instead the Democrats (Debbie?) turned the computers over to a computer security firm that they had hired and worked for them, which happened to be run by a Russian expatriot. This firm came back with allegations of Russian hacking. Allegations that DNI James Clapper signed onto in the name of the 16 intelligence agencies in the "US Intelligence Community" which supposedly concurred (despite never having seen the computers).

    Now it looks like it wasn't just the DNC's files that were compromised, but potentially the House Foreign Affairs Committee's and the House Intelligence Committee's too. And it looks like it might not have been Russians, but rather Pakistanis.

    If this admittedly speculative theory is right, then all this Russia stuff might be a false-flag, a red-herring intended to obscure Debbie's and her Democratic colleagues' almost certainly unwitting cooperation with what may have been a Pakistani spy-ring.

    Questions that I'd like to ask:

    1. What kind of security clearances were necessary to do the kind of IT work that Awan and his crew were doing? Did they have those clearances?

    2. Did Awan and his relatives have access to secret files including contents of classified briefings and classified files shared with members of Congress? Or were those kept on different and more secure computers that the Congresspeople's office IT staff didn't have access to?

    3. Why didn't the intelligence agencies physically seize the Democrats' computers that allegedly were hacked by the Russians, and investigate them themselves using their own computer-forensics people?

    4. Who precisely hired the private firm to do that forensics work? (Debbie?)

    5. What connections can US intelligence dig up between Awan and his crew and Pakistani intelligence?

    6. If Trump demands a full and complete briefing on this, would he even be told the truth? Or would Democrats in the permanent civil-service "deep state" try to stone-wall him as an act of "resistance" in hopes of protecting themselves and their friends?

    One thing that I know for sure: It would make a great spy-novel.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 29, 2017
  3. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member


    My considered response is, yup.

    The prolific McCarthy probably has answered or will soon answer most of your questions.
     
  4. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    As with every other illegal and/or sleazy thing the left does....

    [​IMG]
     
  5. heirophant

    heirophant Well-Known Member

    Lots of information here:

    FBI Seized Hard Drives From Dem IT Aide | The Daily Caller

    House Committee Members Compromised By Rogue | The Daily Caller

    Congress' IT Guys Had History Of Suspicious D | The Daily Caller

    Suspect In IT Security Probe Had Access To DN | The Daily Caller

    This one is particularly good:

    Wasserman Schultz Threatened Police Chief Ove | The Daily Caller

    The Daily Caller's investigative unit seems to be the only news organization that's really investigating this.

    The New York Times and the Washington Post seemingly see nothing and hear nothing. (Of course they don't. It doesn't conform to what the NYT calls "the narrative", it's not damaging to the Trump administration, it doesn't involve Russians, and they aren't getting it from leakers.)
     
  6. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member


    You schlonged those first two links, Bruce. I have email notifications as proof. ;-)

    BTW, I recall 'schlonged' from when and where Trump does. As with the 'F' word, it's all-purpose slang.
     
  7. heirophant

    heirophant Well-Known Member

    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 29, 2017
  8. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

  9. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Obviously it's good that they have a strong enough charge to hold him while they investigate the other matters. While the money is serious, clearly the potential security issues should be a priority. I hope they investigate aggressively.
     
  10. heirophant

    heirophant Well-Known Member

    Things are growing even murkier.

    Months ago in the middle of the night, Capitol Police discovered what at first was thought to be lost items in a small alcove (a former phone booth with one of those little phone book shelves) in the Rayburn House Office Building, items that turned out to include a laptop from Debbie Wasserman Schultz's office. (Which is located in a different building.)

    Debbie confronted the Capitol Police Chief at a meeting (that was being video recorded) and Demanded that Capitol Police return what she said was her property. When the Chief responded that it was evidence in a criminal investigation, Debbie insisted that House Rules require that what she called the property of a Member be returned to that Member, if the Member is not personally the subject of the investigation. The Chief told her that the laptop would be returned to her when the investigation concludes. Debbie informed the Chief that unless she got her laptop back, he would face what she called "Consequences".

    Watch the whole exchange on video here (Debbie in Full-Bitch Mode):

    Wasserman Schultz Threatened Police Chief Ove | The Daily Caller

    Failing to get the laptop back, Debbie hired outside attorneys to argue that police not look at the contents of the laptop, based on her interpretation of the US Constitution's Speech and Debate Clause, which protects legislators from being prosecuted based on their political views. Then she suggested that they could look at the contents of the laptop, but only on her terms.

    Ex-DNC Head Negotiating With Police | The Daily Caller

    Apparently getting nowhere with that, Debbie's story changed dramatically, and she started insisting that the laptop wasn't hers at all, it was IT guy Imran Awan's and she had never seen it and knew nothing about it. "This was not my laptop. I have never seen that laptop. I don't know what's on the laptop"

    Wasserman Schultz Says Laptop Was Awan's | The Daily Caller

    Now the latest news is that the laptop had the user-name "RepDWS". What's more, it was found accompanied by material that suggests that Imran Awan (or whoever left the bag) wanted it to be found and be taken into evidence. The laptop was in a bag, which in addition to the laptop contained Awan's Pakistani ID, a photocopy of his US driver's licence, a photocopy of his Capitol ID, letters to the US Attorney's Office, and a small notebook entitled "Attorney Client Privilege".

    There's speculation that given her efforts to keep police out of the files on the laptop, perhaps Debbie wanted it destroyed, but Imran wanted it found for some reason.

    The latest is that copies of the contents of the laptop have been turned over to Awan's attorney as 'discovery'. It will be very interesting to learn more about what those files contain. (And what all the Congressional computer gear found in cabinets in Imran's garage contained.)

    'RepDWS' Laptop Placed For Cops To | The Daily Caller
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 8, 2017
  11. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I'm glad the police stood up to her. It makes her look guilty of something, doesn't it?
     
  12. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Wasserman-Schultz need not worry, kindly old Grandpa Jeff Sessions will probably let this one slide, too.
     

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