Mary Margaret Olohan on November 11, 2020

• Many media pundits and Democrats have said they are making lists of President Donald Trump’s “sycophants” or supporters following the 2020 presidential election.
• “Any R now promoting rejection of an election or calling to not to follow the will of voters or making baseless allegations of fraud should never serve in office, join a corporate board, find a faculty position or be accepted into ‘polite’ society,’” warned Washington Post writer Jennifer Rubin. “We have a list.”
• Journalist Glen Greenwald predicted before the election that rather than settle the nation’s divisiveness, a Biden presidency would spur the media to target Trump supporters, warning: “They’re going to continue to say, not maybe Trump, at least his movement, still pose this existential threat.”

Several media figures and Democrats have called for lists to be made of President Donald Trump’s “sycophants” or supporters following the presidential election, suggesting that these lists will be used in the future to hold the president’s supporters accountable.

“Is anyone archiving these Trump sycophants for when they try to downplay or deny their complicity in the future,” Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Cortez asked Friday, the day before media outlets called the presidential race for Biden. “I foresee decent probability of many deleted Tweets, writings, photos in the future.”

Ocasio-Cortez is not the only one asking for evidence of Trump supporter’s “complicity.” CNN’s Jake Tapper suggested that Trump and his followers should be careful of behaving in a way that might impact their future employment.

“I truly sympathize with those dealing with losing — it’s not easy — but at a certain point one has to think not only about what’s best for the nation (peaceful transfer of power) but how any future employers might see your character defined during adversity,” Tapper said.

Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin also warned that Republicans “now promoting rejection of an election or calling to not to follow the will of voters or making baseless allegations of fraud should never serve in office, join a corporate board, find a faculty position or be accepted into ‘polite’ society.”

Greenwald’s predictions may have been fulfilled in part. Days after Election Day, former Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan highlighted the start of a “Trump Accountability Project” intended to “make sure anyone who took a paycheck to help Trump undermine America is held responsible for what they did.”

Sevugan, who also served as national press secretary for the Democratic National Committee and as deputy campaign manager for former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, tweeted Friday that White House staff had begun looking for jobs, adding, “Employers considering them should know there are consequences for hiring anyone who helped Trump attack American values. Find out how at the Trump Accountability Project.”

“We must never forget those who furthered the Trump agenda,” the Trump Accountability Project website says. “We should welcome in our fellow Americans with whom we differ politically. But those who took a paycheck from the Trump Administration should not profit from their efforts to tear our democracy apart.”

The progressive Lincoln Project has repeatedly used it’s Twitter platform to target those affiliated with President Trump. On Tuesday, after multiple inquiries from the Daily Caller News Foundation, a Twitter spokesman told the DCNF that the Lincoln Project’s Twitter account would be locked until it deleted a tweet doxxing two Trump lawyers.

“Here are two attorneys attempting to help Trump overturn the will of the Pennsylvanian people,” the Lincoln Project tweeted with a picture of attorneys Carolyn McGee and Ronald Hicks. The tweet, which included the attorneys’ phone numbers and emails, added, “Make them famous,” with a skull and crossbones emoji.

Conservative figures on social media reacted strongly to the suggestion of making lists.

“While you’re a terrible person for doing this, Democrats putting Trump supporters and Republicans on lists is a great issue for us to campaign on in Georgia, so thanks,” NRSC Senior Advisor Matt Whitlock told Sevugan Friday in a tweet regarding the Trump Accountability Project. “Keep up the great work.”

“The list making at @CNN has begun,” warned radio host Chris Stigall in a Tuesday tweet above a screenshot of CNN. The photograph shows a long list of “GOP Senators Who Haven’t Congratulated Biden” above the caption, “Trump’s Defiance Fueled By Enablers Like Barr, McConnell, Fox.”

“To some insiders, the attacks have emboldened their campaign to find examples of ballot and voting fraud,” wrote the Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard. “Still, it is true that for many inside the administration, finding a job will be difficult, no matter what. There are about 4,000 administration-related jobs, and those will go to Biden. While there are a few new Republican congressional members, it isn’t enough to absorb all those positions.”

The post ‘We Have A List’: Pundits And Democrats Plan To Hold Trump Supporters Accountable appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

By Mark Tapscott

Chris Gowen, Imran Awan’s lawyer, is a long-time campaigner for former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a member of an attorney team that brought a fraudulent lawsuit against energy giant Chevron.

Pakistani-born Awan was arrested late Monday at Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia before he could board a flight to Qatar and then Pakistan on bank fraud charges. Awan, his younger brothers, Abid and Jamal, his wife, Hina Alvi, and Rao Abbas, his best friend, have been subjects of a federal criminal investigation led by the U.S. Capitol Police and including the FBI since February 2017.

The investigation is focused on allegations the Awan group abused their access as congressional information technology (IT) administrators for dozens of Democratic members of the House of Representatives, including former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida.

Politico reported the criminal probe concerned “serious, potentially illegal, violations on the House IT network.”

Gowen described Awan’s arrest as “clearly a right-wing media-driven prosecution by a United States Attorney’s Office that wants to prosecute people for working while Muslim.”

Gowen is a founding partner of Gowen, Rhoades, Winograd and Silva law firm, with offices in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, Penn.

His official bio on the firm’s web site notes that he “left the Public Defender’s office to work for former President William Jefferson Clinton and then-Senator Hillary Clinton. Chris was a fact checker for President Clinton’s memoir, My Life.”

“He also served as a traveling aid for President Clinton’s national and international trips. Chris finished his tenure with the Clintons by directing the advance operations for then-Senator Hillary Clinton during her 2008 presidential campaign.”

Conservative Review — which first reported Gowen’s extensive Clinton connections Wednesday — said they also include work for the Clinton Foundation and its Clinton Global Initiative and the Clinton Health Access Initiative.

Also noted on Gowen’s bio is his work in a class-action lawsuit against Chevron, a long-running litigation that culminated in a June 19, 2017, denial by the U.S. Supreme Court of an appeal by the lead attorney for a group of Ecuadorian citizens, Steven Donziger.

The Ecuadorians claimed damages caused by waste disposal practices by Texaco, which Chevron took over in 2000 in a $100 billion merger. Chevron refused to pay $9.5 billion in damages against Texaco in an Ecuadorian court. Donziger’s team sought to force Chevron to pay by taking the litigation to the U.S. court system.

But Donziger was convicted in 2014 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for violating the federal Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with money laundering, wire fraud, witness tampering and obstruction of justice.

A federal appeals court upheld the convictions and the case was remanded to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit following the Supreme Court’s denial, which upheld the decision.

Gowen’s bio noted that “his efforts on behalf of the lawyers who represented thousands of indigent villagers in Ecuador received national and international notoriety.”

Gowen told The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group Wednesday that he is no longer involved in the Ecuador case. He said he left the team “when my client hired appellate counsel – I still assisted the appellate counsel when they had questions.”

Had the Supreme Court accepted the appeal, Gowen said, “my firm would have certainly been involved to what ever level my client wished. We still find that case to be the greatest abuse of the civil justice system in our country’s history by Chevron and its team of lawyers.”

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The post Imran Awan’s Lawyer Is Long-time Clinton Associate appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

By Luke Rosiak

Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s top information technology (IT) aide was arrested Monday attempting to board a flight to Pakistan after wiring $283,000 from the Congressional Federal Credit Union to that country.

He attempted to leave the country hours after The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group revealed that he is the target of an FBI investigation, and the FBI apprehended him at the airport.

Credit union officials permitted the wire to go through, and his wife has already fled the country to Pakistan, after police confronted her at the airport and found $12,000 in cash hidden in her suitcase but did not stop her from boarding, court documents show.

“On January 18, 2017 at 12:09 pm, an international wire transfer request form was submitted [at the Congressional Federal Credit Union] at the Longworth House Office Building in the District of Columbia, in the amount of $283,000.00, to two individuals in Faisalabad, Pakistan,” according to an affidavit obtained by TheDCNF.

Imran Awan, a Pakistani-born IT aide, had access to all emails and files of dozens of members of Congress, as well as the password to the iPad that Wasserman Schultz used for Democratic National Committee business before she resigned as its head in July 2016.

In March, his wife Hina Alvi, who also was on the House payroll, withdrew her children from school and left the country, the affidavit says. The Capitol Police confronted her at the airport but could not stop her. “U.S. Customs and Border Protection conducted a search of Alvi’s bags immediately prior to her boarding the plane and located a total of $12,400.00 in U.S. cash inside. Alvi was permitted to board the flight to Qatar and she and her daughters have not returned to the United States,” the affidavit says. “Alvi had numerous pieces of luggage with her, including cardboard boxes… Your affiant does not believe that Alvi has any intention to return to the United States.”

Soon after Imran began working for Wasserman Schultz in 2005, four of his relatives appeared on the payroll of other Democrats at inflated salaries, but Democratic staffers said they were rarely seen at work. They collected $4 million in taxpayer salaries since 2009.

House authorities told members in February that Imran and his relatives were suspects in a criminal investigation into theft and IT abuses, and they were banned from the Capitol network.

Wasserman Schultz has refused to fire Imran, despite being a known criminal suspect in a cybersecurity probe for months, and has blocked Capitol Police from searching a laptop they confiscated because it was tied to him.

TheDCNF reported Sunday night that the FBI had joined the investigation and seized smashed hard drives from Imran’s home. The next day, the FBI apprehended him at Dulles Airport after noticing that he had purchased a ticket to Pakistan, via Qutar.

The affidavit says he was charged with bank fraud involving fraudulently taking out mortgages, which was one of several financial schemes TheDCNF has detailed. It appears to be a placeholder for future charges, spurred because of the attempt to leave the country, and does not mention his work for Congress, which is the investigation’s primary focus.

As TheDCNF has reported, the Awans own numerous rental properties that often have multiple mortgages taken out on them, and they have told renters they want payments in untraceable ways. The charging documents say Imran’s wife Hina Alvi, who also made $165,000 working for House Democrats, took out a second mortgage against a house from the Congressional Federal Credit Union by falsely claiming it was her “principal residence” and that she will “occupy” the property, and also fraudulently reported no rental income on her taxes.

A renter told the FBI “they paid approximately $2,000 per month for rent and that the rent check was written to Suriaya Begum. Based on information and belief, I know that Begum is Alvia’s mother,” an FBI agent wrote.

The agent also said Imran appears to have applied for the loan in his wife’s name.

Democratic members of Congress, including Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, have suggested that police had framed the Pakistani-born brothers out of Islamophobia. Yet his own stepmother, a devout Muslim, filed court documents accusing him of using high-tech devices to wiretap her and extorting her (see p. 23 of court documents in that case). A dozen people who have dealt with Imran painted a picture in interviews with TheDCNF of a charming, “cunning” extrovert who bragged about his power among Democratic officials and who seemed to have an unquenchable thirst for cash.

The affidavit also paints him as an overly confident con artist, saying he listed his House phone number when initiating the wire transfer, and pretended to be a woman — his wife — on the phone when a Congressional Federal Credit Union questioned the transfer. “The person answering the call, who was a male, pretended that he was Alvi. On the call, the [bank] representative asked the man to verify the address of where the wire was being sent and the purpose of the outgoing wire,” the document says.

Imran claimed the $300,000 was for “funeral arrangements.”

“The CFCU representative then stated that ‘funeral arrangements’ may not be an acceptable reason for the wire. The male speaking to the representative then responded that he would look online for an acceptable reason for the wire. After a long pause, the male said that the reason for the wire was ‘buying property.’ The representative accepted that reason and initiated the wire transfer to Pakistan.”

Fox News was first to report the arrest. TheDCNF has done 20 stories on the brothers since February — linked below — including reporting that Imran’s wife had fled.

Bill Miller, spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, told TheDCNF that Awan “was arraigned today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on one count of bank fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344. He pled not guilty and was released pursuant to a high-intensity supervision program. The conditions of release are that he receive a GPS monitor, he abide by a curfew of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and that he not leave a 50-mile radius of his residence in Virginia. Awan was also ordered to turn over all of his passports.”

Wasserman Schultz’s spokesman, David Damron, did not immediately return a request for comment.

See if your member of Congress is on the chart below. The Awan brothers could read all emails sent and received by these members, as well as all files on their staffers’ computers.

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The post Wasserman Schultz’s IT Aide Arrested By FBI En Route To Pakistan After $300k Wire appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

By Eric Lieberman

Citing an exclusive report by The Daily Caller News Foundation’s investigative group, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh voiced frustration that Democrats are sidestepping media attention due to potential improprieties.

FBI agents recently seized smashed computer hard drives from the home of Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s information technology (IT) administrator, according to sources. The Pakistani-born longtime IT aide to the former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairwoman who resigned in disgrace has since tried to retrieve the hard drives. Limbaugh noted and lamented that many of the popular news outlets have hardly touched the story.

“Here we got leaks, and here we’ve got ‘sources with knowledge of the investigation’ talking about Democrats,” Limbaugh said. “Well, The Daily Caller’s been the only ones on it. I mean, they’re the ones who did that story two weeks ago. They revived it a bit today. But nobody’s picking up on this. It makes sense. This is the exact kind of story the Democrats and the Drive-By Media would want to ignore.”

(LISTEN: Audio clips from Limbaugh’s show)

Limbaugh notes how much of the clamoring over allegations of misconduct is centered on Republicans, specifically the Trump administration, even though, to him, there appears to be a lot of conjecturing and little evidence.

“Exactly what they’re claiming happened with Trump and Russia and all this, it actually did happen with the Democrats!” the political personality said. “Their server was hacked; they wouldn’t turn the servers and any of the network equipment over to the FBI for forensic analysis. Instead, the IT aide aide to Debbie ‘Blabbermouth’ Schultz and three of his family members were working on IT for a number of Democrats in the House, and the FBI has seized computer hard drives from this guy.”

Limbaugh admits that, while there are no clear indications of what could be on the aforementioned hard drives (at least yet), it could be fairly damning not only because the IT worker desperately wants them back, but also because there was overt evidence of the DNC rigging the 2016 election against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

“I think this is what Trump was talking about when he sends out that tweet wondering why Republicans and his ‘beleaguered’ attorney general are not investigating all of this,” said Limbaugh.

“Because whereas there’s probably nothing to find in terms of what’s being alleged about Trump,” Limbaugh concluded, “there’s a gold mine to be found among the Democrats, particularly over at the Democratic National Committee.”

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The post Limbaugh Questions Why Media Chose To Ignore A Huge Story appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

By Luke Rosiak

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.

Awan’s younger brothers, Abid and Jamal, his wife, Hina Alvi, and Rao Abbas, Imran’s best friend, are also under investigation. There have been no arrests in the case.

There is also evidence of financial schemes that extend beyond the Capitol Police’s purview and may expand to Pakistan, where Imran spends significant portions of the year.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said in March that the Capitol Police are “getting the kind of technical assistance they need to do that. This is under an active criminal investigation, their capabilities are pretty strong but, they’re also able to go and get the kind of help they need from other sources.”

The brothers’ stepmother independently filed court documents in Virginia accusing the brothers of wiretapping and extorting her.

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.

Shortly after the criminal probe was revealed in February, Imran abruptly moved out of his longtime home on Hawkshead Drive in Lorton, Va., and listed it for rent on a website that connects landlords with military families.

One of new tenants — a Marine Corps veteran married to a female Navy Officer — said he found “wireless routers, hard drives that look like they tried to destroy, laptops, [and] a lot of brand new expensive toner.”

The tenants called the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and not long after, FBI agents arrived together with the Capitol Police to interview them and confiscate the equipment. The Marine spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns for his wife’s naval career, saying she doesn’t want to be associated with a national security incident.

“It was in the garage. They recycled cabinets and lined them along the walls. They left in a huge hurry,” the Marine said. “It looks like government-issued equipment. We turned that stuff over.”

Wasserman Schultz resigned as DNC chief in July 2016 after the committee’s IT system was hacked. She has since refused to fire Imran despite learning that he is a target of a criminal investigation.

The Marine said Imran wanted the hard drives back so desperately that he threatened to sue the renter for stealing them.

“It was unbelievable. I don’t know where they get off thinking they’re going to sue us for items we have no obligation to hold onto,” he said.

Imran came to the house for the items “three to four times,” but the Marine wouldn’t let him enter.

“Their lawyer contacted us today via email and said we owed $350 in late charges and the items he left in the house,” the Marine said.

The Marine heard about the House investigation on the radio, and by that time, he had noticed other bizarre signs of desperation from his landlord.

“When we first moved in, a mailman came with certified mail from the House of Representatives. We were trying to be nice and signed for it. They lost their shit, saying ‘why did you sign for it, this is illegal!’ It was certified from the [Chief Administrative Officer of the House],” he said.

“The postman came a second time with a certified letter and I called Imran on the spot, asking ‘what do you want me to do.’” He said ‘just send him away, I’m homeless.’ They refused to forward their mail.”

Imran’s brother Abid has also been evasive about his location, failing to provide an accurate address for delivery of court materials in a lawsuit in which he is accused of defrauding the brothers’ stepmother. Imran’s wife, Hina, has traveled to Pakistan since the probe was revealed, according to neighbors.

Wasserman Schultz has demanded return of a laptop seized by the Capitol Police because it was purportedly used by Imran and was found hidden in a vacant office. The Florida Democrat used a Capitol Police budget hearing to threaten “consequences” for them if the laptop wasn’t returned.

On Thursday it was reported that police have not examined its contents because of the invocation of the Constitution’s “Speech and Debate clause,” and after months of refusal, her lawyer is now “negotiating” access to the data on yet-to-be-determined terms.

Members have been unusually mum about the apparent cybersecurity breach, especially given the pattern of cyberattacks on other government and political institutions.

The Marine expressed disgust with the muted reaction, saying “I served in the Marine Corps for 14 years; if I downloaded files to an offsite server, I’m going to prison for a lot of years.”

He implied he’s a Democrat but said when it comes to national security “political ideology doesn’t matter.”

He believes “there’s no way they could get this far without help” from some of the Democratic members of Congress for whom the brothers worked. Other Democrats have ignored a major security breach because it could look like a “black eye” in that they failed to vet the Pakistanis, he said.

“He’s dangerous. This is a crime syndicate that has successfully indicated Congress,” he said.

“If Donald Trump and the Republicans had hired foreign nationals to be their top IT guys and somehow their congressional files had been compromised, this would have been all over the news.” he continued.

A Bureau spokesman said the “FBI does not have anything to provide on this and I will still have to refer you to [Capitol Police] for any public comment.”

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The post FBI Seized Smashed Hard Drives From Wasserman Schultz IT Aide’s Home appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

By Luke Rosiak

Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose office equipment U.S. Capitol Police seized in a criminal investigation into congressional network security violations, admitted she violates official information security policy and blamed the House’s chief administrative officer for not stopping her.

In a May 17 appropriations hearing on Congress’ administrative budget, Wasserman Shultz said she had violated the policies “for years and years and years.” She also sought to find out how much House authorities might know about her internet usage, asking “Are members monitored?”

Police are investigating Wasserman Schultz’s longtime information technology (IT) aide Imran Awan for theft and funneling congressional data from members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Committee on Homeland Security and Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Yet Wasserman Schultz lashed out at investigators and changed Awan’s title to “adviser” instead of firing him after House authorities banned him from the network. She resigned as Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman in July 2016 after unidentified hackers accessed the DNC’s emails, which Wikileaks later published.

“If a member is using an application outside of the House infrastructure and the protection of the, [of] our cybersecurity network, they’re in violation of House policy?” she asked John Ramsey, the House’s information security officer at the hearing on the legislative branch’s budget, in the previously unreported May 17 appropriations hearing.

“Of the House Policy 17, yes ma’am,” Ramsey responded.

“So Members are not supposed to be using Dropbox?” Wasserman Shultz asked.

“Not according to the policy,” Ramsey replied.

Wasserman Schultz then blamed House authorities for not stopping her and questioned their commitment to cybersecurity.

“I am more than happy to admit that I use Dropbox. I have used it for years and years and years. It is not blocked. I am fully able to use it,” she said.

“So there is a vulnerability in our network in spite of the fact that you say that you’ve taken steps to address it,” she continued. “And there is not enough of a — of a policy that — that applies across the board. And you need to make sure that you tighten up your rules and policies so that you can really take and assure us that you take seriously protecting our network.”

WATCH first exchange:

WATCH second exchange:

She then asked how much authorities might know about her computer activities.

“Are members monitored?” she asked. “Do, does the [chief administrative officer’s] office examine whether members are following these rules? How is it enforced?”

“And, you know, how do you make sure that, if you are concerned as you say you are about protecting the information on the House IT network, how are you actually enforcing that and making members aware” of the policy? she continued.

“I’m asking you how have you communicated with members of Congress about the use of outside applications and whether or not their usage of outside applications is compliant with the posted policy?”

Ramsey replied that his office communicates IT policy by notifying the IT aides working for congressional committees and individual members.

“When the policy came out, ma’am, we had sent some targeted communications out to the various IT systems administrators that service … the members,” Ramsey said.

The implication was that Awan withheld relevant information from his boss, causing her to violate policies. But instead of anger at a staffer’s failing, Wasserman Schultz attacked the notion of House authorities communicating about technology issues through members’ relevant staffers, calling it “just lobbing e-mail into a tech person’s inbox.”

“OK. Safe to say that you have not,” she said. “Wouldn’t you think that you would have a policy where you inform every single member and that we actually have a meeting with each member’s tech person so that you can inform them exactly what the rules are, what is allowable, what is not allowable?”

Chief Administrative Officer Phil Kiko responded that “we do inform every IT person, IT administrator in every congressional office. If that’s not enough …”

Using Dropbox an an example of a commonly-used computer application, Wasserman Schultz’s question probed how storing data “outside of the House IT network” is treated as a matter of policy by authorities.

Imran Awan is suspected of funneling sensitive House data offsite onto secret servers wholesale, federal employees have said, which is a much broader breach but one that technically overlaps in some ways with how Dropbox works.

After Awan began working for Wasserman Schultz in 2005, three of his relatives, including a 20-year old brother, as well as his best friend, appeared on other House members’ payrolls at salaries on par with congressional salaries. They have collected $4 million since 2010 despite being rarely seen.

House authorities told members’ chiefs of staffs on Feb. 2 that the Awans were targets of a criminal probe, and other members fired them.

In the same May 17 hearing, Wasserman Schultz lamented that members didn’t have the maximum ability to exert pressure on the chief of the Capitol Police because he reports to an independent board. Not all of that board’s members report to the House Committee on Appropriations’ legislative subcommittee, of which she is one of eight members.

“We have had jurisdictional issues and a challenging time conducting oversight because of the structure of the Capitol Police Board and there — there being a (inaudible) line rather than a direct line to us in terms of being able to hold the board accountable,” she said.

“I’d like to know, sergeant, if you think that we should be looking at restructuring the way the board makes decisions so that we can establish a more direct line of accountability …  At the end of the day, [the chief] doesn’t have a decision-making role,” Wasserman Shultz continued.

The unusual exchange may have been a setup to the congresswoman’s actions the next day at a hearing on the Capitol Police’s budget. After raising the specter of cutting its budget, she spent three minutes repeatedly demanding the return of a laptop that the chief explained is important to proving a criminal cybersecurity case. Nonetheless, she angrily insisted that it be turned over to her, saying there will be “consequences” if he does not relinquish the evidence.

“She uses her position on this subcommittee to threaten the chief of the U.S. Capitol Police,” Tim Canova, who ran against her in the Democratic primary for the House seat, wrote on a Facebook post. On the post, he demanded Wasseman Shultz “recuse herself from the House Committee on Appropriations’ Legislative Branch Subcommittee on any matter dealing with the Capitol Police budget.”

Wasserman Schultz’s spokesman David Damron did not respond to questions.

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The post Wasserman Schultz Admits Hill IT Security Violations, Blames House Administrators For Not Stopping Her [VIDEO] appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

By Ted Goodman

Washington, D.C. lobbyist and attorney Jack Burkman is filing a lawsuit Wednesday to force the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to release information regarding the murder of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich.

“The release of this crucial material will help bring peace to the victim’s family, and it will help to either confirm or refute the various theories that swirl about this important murder case,” the lawsuit says.

Rich, 27, was the voter expansion data director at the DNC, according to Roll Call, and had been employed for two years. Rich also worked on a computer application to help voters locate polling stations, and had just accepted a job with Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

According to Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police reports, officers patrolling the Bloomingdale neighborhood heard gunshots at around 4:20 a.m. on the morning of July 10, 2016. Officers discovered a “conscious and breathing” Rich at 2100 Flagler Place in Northwest Washington, D.C.

Police have not yet solved the case, and have closely guarded information regarding his murder from the press. “We don’t want this investigation playing out in the press,” an MPD spokeswoman told The Daily Caller News Foundation May 23.

MPD surmised that Rich was a victim of a botched robbery. Police said that they found his wallet, credit cards and cellphone on his body. The band of his wristwatch was torn but not broken. The current theory maintains that the shooters panicked after shooting Rich and immediately fled the scene.

While police have refused to divulge information on the case, TheDCNF obtained the public incident report, which revealed that at least three responding officers were wearing body cameras. When TheDCNF reached out to the police for information regarding the presence of body cams or surveillance footage near the scene of the crime, the department refused to confirm or deny the existence of surveillance footage.

Burkman, who is offering a $105,000 reward in the case, wants to force the police department to release video footage of the murder, along with the medical examiner’s report and ballistic reports related to the weapon used to shoot Rich.

Burkman is also leading an independent investigation into the murder with volunteers from George Washington University’s Student Association for Forensic Psychology. The independent investigation is being touted as The Profiling Project, and features professors and graduate students from the D.C.-based university.

The family of Seth Rich called on police to publicize details of the murder investigation after ten months of mystery. (RELATED: Family of Seth Rich Demands That Police Release Information To The Public)

“While the family still have confidence in the Metropolitan Police Department’s ability to investigate Seth’s murder, of course, they are frustrated with the lack of evidence, leads and credible information about the case.” Brad Bauman a spokesman for the family, told TheDCNF. “They desperately want to find Seth’s murderers and bring them to justice as quickly as possible.”

The family wants answers and has been frustrated by the wide range of theories surrounding their son’s death.

Fox News retracted a story May 23 that claimed Rich may have been behind a breach of the DNC’s email servers, where Wikileaks obtained thousands of internal email communications that it leaked to the public.

Rod Wheeler, a Washington-based private investigator hired by the Rich family, suggested that there was tangible evidence that Rich had communicated with WikiLeaks before his death. The next day, Wheeler seemed to backtrack on those claims, and local police said that his assertions were “unfounded.”

The Rich family, according to the New York Times, now regrets hiring Wheeler and has publicly objected to his claims.

Burkman plans to file the suit Wednesday morning in the District of Columbia Superior Court. He also plans to hold a news conference outside MPD headquarters in Washington at 2:00 pm ET.

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The post Attorney Files Lawsuit In Seth Rich Murder Mystery appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

By Eric Lieberman

The same hacker who released once-secret records from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) reportedly provided unique voter research to Aaron Nevins, a Republican political operative, according to an in-depth Thursday report from The Wall Street Journal.

Nevins, who was working in Florida at the time, reached out to “Guccifer 2.0” and requested that the cybercriminal send him any critical data related to the state.

Guccifer 2.0 apparently agreed to the appeal and sent Nevins 2.5 gigabytes of documents from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. After Nevins published some of the files on his blog, Guccifer 2.0 sent the content to Roger Stone, an informal adviser to President Donald Trump for at least some portions of the campaign, according to The WSJ. (RELATED: DNC Officials Anticipate More Leaks Following A Terrible Weekend)

“I just threw an arrow in the dark,” Nevins told The WSJ, which was the first to identify the consultant.

The vast trove of data included voter details in various districts of Florida. This included how many people in the regional electorates were classified as heavily entrenched Democrats or how many just “needed a nudge.”

Data can be very important for campaigns hoping to tailor advertisements and target politically malleable voters.

Despite Nevins’ occupational territory, he also received information about congressional districts in West Virginia, Texas, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

While Guccifer 2.0 claims to be a lone hacker from Romania, several authorities within the U.S., including the Obama administration, insist he is located in Russia and associated with the country’s government. (RELATED: Guccifer 2.0 Claims To Have Hacked Clinton Foundation)

“I’d like to make it clear enough that these accusations are unfounded. I have totally no relation to the Russian government,” Guccifer 2.0 wrote in January on his blog. I’d like to tell you once again I was acting in accordance with my personal political views and beliefs.”

While Nevins at one point may have benefitted from the secret files, leaks credited to Guccifer 2.0 were damaging to other political figures. Several DNC officials were forced to resign after incriminating communication and other information showed they were essentially trying to conspire against Democratic Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the primary challenger of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schulz resigned from her position as chairwoman of the DNC in disgrace after leaked emails exposed her real opinions of Sanders.

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The post DNC Hacker Emailed Dem Voter Turnouts To GOP Consultant appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

By Will Racke

The FBI received a purported Russian intelligence report that may have convinced former FBI Director James Comey to prematurely shut down an investigation into whether Hillary Clinton intentionally revealed classified information through her use of a private email server.

According to the FBI’s own assessment, however, the document was bad intelligence and may have been sent to the FBI to delibarately confuse the Bureau.

The report, given to the FBI by a source March 2016, detailed a supposed email in which then-Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch assured a Clinton campaign aide that investigators wouldn’t look too deeply into the matter, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The Russian document was one of the primary factors influencing Comey’s decision to announce, without approval from Justice Department leadership, that the email investigation was over July 5. If the alleged exchange had become public, it would have cast doubt on the outcome of the investigation, according to FBI officials familiar with the document.

“It was a very powerful factor in the decision to go forward in July with the statement that there shouldn’t be a prosecution,” people familiar with the matter told WaPo. “The point is that the Bureau picked up hacked material that hadn’t been dumped by the bad guys [the Russians] involving Lynch. And that would have pulled the rug out of any authoritative announcement.”

According to officials close to the situation, however, many within the FBI had come to believe that the Russian document was unreliable and was possibly a piece of misinformation planted to mislead investigators.

The document reportedly described an email supposedly written by then-Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to an employee of the George Soros organization Open Society Foundations. In the email, Wasserman Schultz allegedly claimed that Lynch had assured senior Clinton campaign staffer Amanda Renteria that the FBI investigation would not go far enough to implicate Clinton in any criminal activity.

By August, the month after Comey concluded the investigation, the FBI had come to the conclusion that none of the Russian document’s claims could be corroborated. Wasserman Schultz and Renteria told WaPo that FBI agents never interviewd them about the alleged email. The Soros employee, Leonard Benardo, also denied having any contact with the FBI on the matter.

Most of the people familiar with the Russian document disagree with Comey’s firing earlier in May, reports WaPo, but they have criticized officials now claiming that the document was an important factor in Comey’s decision on the Clinton email investigation.

“It didn’t mean anything to the investigation until after [senior FBI officials] had to defend themselves,” one person familiar with the matter told WaPo. “Then they decided it was important. But it’s junk, and they already knew that.”

Comey supporters also claim that the document was a good reason for abruptly announcing the close of the email investigation without consulting with Lynch, given the sensitive political issues surrounding the probe.

Comey himself publicly testified that, if the announcement had come from Lynch, it would not have been considered credible after she met with former President Bill Clinton on an airport tarmac last year.

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The post Did ‘Fake Intel’ Trick Comey Into Ending The Clinton Email Probe Early? appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

By Ted Goodman

The family of deceased Democratic National Committee (DNC) staffer Seth Rich is calling on local police to publicize details of the murder investigation, according to the Daily Mail.

‘The family has full confidence in the Metropolitan Police Department’s ability to proceed with this investigation,” said Brad Bauman, a spokesperson for the family, the Daily Mail reports. “But given the large amount of hearsay and conspiracy theories surrounding the case, maybe it’s time for the police department to be more forthcoming with information regarding the investigation and to update the people of Washington, D.C. on the status of the case.”

Rich, 27, was the voter expansion data director at the DNC, according to Roll Call, and had been employed for two years. Rich also worked on a computer application to help voters locate polling stations, and had just accepted a job with Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

According to Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police reports, officers patrolling the Bloomingdale neighborhood heard gunshots at around 4:20 a.m. on the morning of July 10, 2016. Officers discovered a “conscious and breathing” Rich at 2100 Flagler Place NW.

Police have not yet solved the case, but surmised that Rich was a victim of a botched robbery. Police said that they found his wallet, credit cards and cellphone on his body. The band of his wristwatch was torn but not broken. The current theory maintains that the shooters panicked after shooting Rich and immediately fled the scene.

While police have refused to divulge information on the case to the public, The Daily Caller News Foundation obtained the public incident report, which revealed that at least three responding officers were wearing body cameras. When TheDCNF reached out to the police for information regarding the presence of body cams or surveillance footage near the scene of the crime, the department refused to confirm or deny the existence of surveillance footage.

News of the family’s request comes just a day after Fox News retracted a story that claimed Rich may have been behind a breach of the DNC’s email servers, where Wikileaks obtained thousands of internal email communications that it leaked to the public.

Rod Wheeler, a Washington-based private investigator hired by the Rich family, suggested that there was tangible evidence that Rich had communicated with WikiLeaks before his death. The next day, Wheeler seemed to backtrack on those claims, and local police said that his assertions were “unfounded.”

The Rich family, according to the New York Times, now regrets hiring Wheeler and has publicly objected to his claims.

The Metropolitan Police Department told TheDCNF that it is in communication with the family, but would not release any further information at this time. When asked if the Seth Rich case is being handled according to standard operating procedure, the department’s public information office said that would be a question for investigators.

“While the family still have confidence in the Metropolitan Police Department’s ability to investigate Seth’s murder, of course, they are frustrated with the lack of evidence, leads and credible information about the case.” Bauman told TheDCNF. “They desperately want to find Seth’s murderers and bring them to justice as quickly as possible.”

A Washington, D.C. lobbyist, who is offering $105,000 for information leading an arrest and conviction of those responsible for Rich’s death is challenging the DNC, RNC and Fox News personality Sean Hannity to match his offer.

“If they care so much about the Seth Rich family, they should put up at least what I put up,” Attorney Jack Burkman told TheDCNF. “All they do is talk, no action,” Burkman continued.

“I don’t know who is worse, the DNC – who haven’t done a thing, or Sean Hannity who talks about it every night without action. All talk, no action,” he repeated. Burkman, who is leading a separate, independent investigation said that he supports the family’s demand that the police go public with its information. He also said that his team is pursuing details that have not yet been made public.

“We are now in the process of pursuing other footage from that night that has not been made public,” Burkman claimed. When asked if he thought that there was video out there that hasn’t been released, Burkman said, “We believe it exists.”

The Metropolitan Police Department denied a Freedom of Information Act request from TheDCNF asking for details regarding Rich’s murder. “We have determined that the requested records pertain to an open investigation, [and] disclosure of these records would interfere with any prospective enforcement proceeding,” the police department said in its response. TheDCNF is now appealing the letter to Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.

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The post Family Of Seth Rich Demands That Police Release Information To The Public appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.