Trump Is Right: A ‘Pakistani Mystery Man’ Has Documents Wasserman Schultz Didn’t Want Prosecutors To See
Source: https://goo.gl/Y3XGnk
A key, if under-covered, aspect of the “Pakistani mystery man” story is that Imran Awan, the Pakistani-born IT aide of former DNC head Debbie Wasserman Schultz, took a laptop with username RepDWS after he was banned from the House computer network for “unauthorized access to data,” and then left it in a phone booth with a letter to prosecutors.
On Friday, President Donald Trump tweeted: “Just heard the Campaign was sued by the Obstructionist Democrats. This can be good news in that we will now counter for the DNC Server that they refused to give to the FBI, the Debbie Wasserman Schultz Servers and Documents held by the Pakistani mystery man and Clinton Emails.”
Trump appears to have accurately identified a key issue with the “Pakistani mystery man” that comes straight from court documents.
Lawyers for Pakistani-born Imran Awan currently have a copy of the contents of a laptop with the username RepDWS
Wasserman Schultz wanted to block prosecutors from seeing what was on it
Imran’s lawyers have attempted to set up a situation where it is up to Imran whether prosecutors can see the laptop, claiming “attorney client privilege”
Other analysts say the laptop should be fair game for review
Each twist has increased the intrigue:
On Feb. 2, 2017, Imran was banned from the House computer network for making “unauthorized access” to congressional data, according to the House inspector general
This happened not long after Wasserman Schultz was fired from the DNC after a cyber breach, yet she refused to fire Imran or even put him on paid leave, claiming that an IT aide didn’t need to access the internet to do his job
Wasserman Schultz’s refusal to fire him meant he had continued physical access to the congressional office buildings, even though all of his other part-time employers fired him and he knew there was an ongoing criminal investigation
On April 5, 2017, despite not being allowed to connect to the House network, he was in possession of a laptop with the username RepDWS and left it in a phone booth, where it was picked up by police who confiscated it because they recognized that it was left there by a criminal suspect
Let that sink in. A Pakistani IT aide, who had just been fired by all his other employers for being a suspected hacker, left a laptop with the username RepDWS in a phone booth. The laptop was placed next to a letter to prosecutors. What it said is not publicly known. The cache of documents also included copies of Awan’s ID (which assured that police tied the laptop to a criminal suspect and seized it as evidence rather than returning it as lost property) and a note that said “attorney client privilege,” which put the laptop into legal limbo.
It is not clear whether the laptop was left out of carelessness or was potentially stolen and possibly planted for police to find.
It was left in the booth (photo to the right) with highly specific and sensitive materials
It may have been left there late at night. Building staff called police at 12:21 a.m. to report “an unattended bag in the phone booth on the 2nd floor.” Imran’s attorney said in court that it was snatched by police while he had stepped out of the phone booth to search for better reception: “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.” Gowen later offered TheDCNF a seemingly conflicting account, saying in an email: “He wasn’t there late at night that is just false.”
The phone booth is in the Rayburn House Office Building. Wasserman Schultz’s office is in Longworth, a different building.
What happened next adds to the mystery. On May 17, 2017, Wasserman Schultz used a hearing on the Capitol Police’s budget to threaten Police Chief Matthew R. Verderosa with “consequences” if he didn’t return what she characterized as “a member’s equipment.” She repeatedly asked whether it was a member or a staffer who was under investigation, saying since it was a member’s equipment, police shouldn’t be able to take it unless the member was under investigation. A member of the Committee on Appropriations’ Legislative Branch Subcommittee, she has significant influence over the Capitol Police’s budget.