The Awan breach on Capitol Hill gets murkier and leads to more questions
By Sara A. Carter
September 14, 2017 06:51 PM EDT
On April 6, at midnight, in a small room once used as a phone booth on the second floor of the Rayburn House Office Building, a Capitol Hill Police Officer doing his security rounds discovered evidence that will possibly reveal one of the the biggest security breaches involving House Democrats by the Awan family, a group of entrusted IT staffers, according to court records, police reports and news reports.
In the small room, the U.S. Capitol Police found a laptop computer registered to Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, a Florida Democrat and former DNC chairwoman. Wasserman-Schultz had been fighting authorities for months to return the laptop, that she once claimed was not hers.
What's more concerning, say senior House officials who spoke to Circa, is that Imran Awan was also allegedly transferring files - including documents and emails - of House Democrats to a secret server connected to the less secure House Democratic Caucus. The organization was then chaired by Rep. Xavier Becerra, who left Congress in January after being sworn in as the Attorney General of California.
The Daily Caller's Luke Rosiak was the first to break the story and last week Rosiak reported Wasserman Schultz's IT staffer, now indicted Awan, is believed to have planted her laptop in the Rayburn office room, along with his Pakistani ID card, copies of his driver’s license and his congressional ID badge. Awan also left behind letters to the U.S. attorney.
Awan apparently wanted the evidence discovered, according to a Capitol Hill police report on the matter.
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The House official told Circa that Awan was also allegedly uploading "terabits of information to dropbox so he was possibly able to access the information even after he was banned from the network." The official said there is a need for a full congressional investigation on the matter.
"I think this may lead to information as to who really accessed the DNC server - everybody talks about Russia - but look at the access (Awan) had and potentially those emails could have been sold," the House official added.
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.
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"This could potentially be one of the largest security breaches involving members of Congress," said a former U.S. official, who is familiar with the investigation. The official spoke on background as they were not authorized to speak on the record.
"It has all the hallmarks of blackmail, spy craft - it's hard to believe that this is plain old bank fraud," the former U.S. official said. "There is enormous concerns that they accessed information that could potentially put congressional members at threat of being blackmailed."
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Congressman Trent Franks, an Arizona Republican, believes Alvi may have cut an immunity deal. He said in a Fox News interview this week that he believes Alvi’s decision to return to the United States from Pakistan may be part of a larger immunity deal with federal authorities.
“I think you’re going to see some revelations that are going to be pretty profound,” said Franks. “The fact that this wife is coming back from Pakistan and 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.”
He added, “I would just predict that this is going to be a very significant story and people should fasten their seat belts on this one.”
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