I didn’t realize that this story about “Congressional I/T Staffers” getting in trouble for “hacking” — I use that over-used word very loosely — was an unknown here on Ricochet. I should have known though, since the MSM has been burying it since day one. Even Fox News only did a couple stories online about it. It popped up the first week of February, although the investigation started last year. Being in I/T for a couple decades myself, any political story dealing with computers always catches my eye. For instance, I was deeply involved in Tweeting out information relating to the #DNCLeaks fiasco, a year ago last week; it remains the best time I ever had on Twitter.
There was a small-information story that hit sites like Politico and BuzzFeed that started like this:
US Capitol Police spokesperson Eva Malecki told BuzzFeed News that no arrests had been made, but that USCP was investigating members of the House IT support staff. “At the request of Members of Congress, the United States Capitol Police are investigating the actions of House IT support staff,” Malecki said in a statement. “No Members are being investigated. No arrests have been made. It should be noted that, administratively, House staff were asked to update their security settings as a best practice. We have no further comment on the ongoing investigation at this time.”
Whoa. Update security settings? In the House of Representatives computers? Tell me more!
“According to the member, the chiefs of staff for 20 lawmakers were summoned to a closed-door meeting with House administration officials, who briefed them on the incidents. The chiefs were told the men were conducting a procurement scam, although officials acknowledged the people had access to virtually all of the computer systems used by the affected lawmakers. Members were also told Thursday night to change the passwords to their email and other applications.”
Wait a minute. Change their passwords? That’s as serious as an I/T situation can get!
Then this the next day or so: “…the five people under investigation were a husband, wife, the husband’s brother, and two close friends.”
A couple days after that, Daily Caller picked it up and reported, “Brothers Abid, Imran, and Jamal Awan were barred from computer networks at the House of Representatives”
Oh, this is getting good. And then the bomb that should have made this National News, if we weren’t living in the days of the Protect-The-Democrats News Era: “Three members of the intelligence panel and five members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs were among the dozens of members who employed the suspects on a shared basis.”
Anyone want to guess the Party of the above folks? Yep, Republicans! … oops, my bad:
Jamal handled IT for Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat who serves on both the intelligence and foreign affairs panels.
Jamal also worked for Louisiana Democrat Rep. Cedric Richmond, who is on the Committee on Homeland Security.
Imran worked for Reps. Andre Carson, an Indiana Democrat, and Jackie Speier, a California Democrat. Both are members of the intelligence committee.
Then-Rep. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, employed Abid for IT work in 2016. She was a member of House committees dealing with the armed services.
Abid also worked for Rep. Lois Frankel, a Florida Democrat who is member of the foreign affairs committee.
Are you getting angry yet? These guys, who are not Americans, had full access to the computers of Congressional members of committees including Homeland Security, Intelligence Committees, Foreign Affairs, Armed Services, and so on.
Remember, Members of Congress were being told to change their passwords after barring these people from using Congressional computers!
This got under my skin: Brothers Imran, Abid, and Jamal Awan and Hina Alvi, Imran’s wife, each made $160,000 a year as information technology workers for the House. AND: Despite the generous salaries, the four were involved in multiple suspicious mortgage transfers and a debt-evading bankruptcy.
Read more about that here: http://dailycaller.com/2017/02/07/congress-it-probe-suspects-had-massive-debts-years-of-suspicious-activity/
When you are done with that Daily Caller story, scroll to the bottom of it and there is a collection of links titled: “Read the rest: A Continuing DCNF Investigative Group Series” – there are 20 links there! And yet, this story has never made it to the MSM, despite all this damning evidence.
Little Debbie kept these people employed with your tax dollars. This story is from March: “Wasserman Schultz as of Friday was still employing Imran Awan, 36, as an adviser, despite his access to the chamber’s computer system having been revoked.”
Eventually, one of these guys tried to high-tail it out of the country, which led to my post here on Ricochet today:
Wasserman Schultz Aide Arrested Trying to Flee the Country
I’m following the story and will do my best to keep you updated.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that Gateway Pundit has also been all over this story. They have been updating today, and the two most interesting stories are that Nancy Pelosi used the Awans and Little Debbie is falling apart without them:
Via WikiLeaks: Pelosi May Have Known About Imran Awan
Debbie Wasserman Schultz “Absolute Wreck – Barely Able to Function” Since Imran Awan Arrest
