IN NEWLY OBTAINED MEMO, CONGRESS’S TOP COP SAID HOUSE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS SERVER VANISHED

[Butifldrm]

 

IN NEWLY OBTAINED MEMO, CONGRESS’S TOP COP SAID HOUSE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS SERVER VANISHED

11:38 PM 07/02/2018

Luke Rosiak | Investigative Reporter

 1836

A secret memo marked “URGENT” detailed how the House Democratic Caucus’s server went “missing” soon after it became evidence in a cybersecurity probe. The secret memo also said more than “40 House offices may have been victims of IT security violations.”

In the memo, Congress’s top law enforcement official, Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving, along with Chief Administrative Officer Phil Kiko, wrote, “We have concluded that the employees [Democratic systems administrator Imran Awan and his family] are an ongoing and serious risk to the House of Representatives, possibly threatening the integrity of our information systems and thereby members’ capacity to serve constituents.”

The memo, addressed to the Committee on House Administration (CHA) and dated Feb. 3, 2017, was recently reviewed and transcribed by The Daily Caller News Foundation. The letter bolsters TheDCNF’s previous reporting about the missing server and evidence of fraudon Capitol Hill.

It details how the caucus server, run by then-caucus Chairman Rep. Xavier Becerra, was secretly copied by authorities after the House Inspector General (IG) identified suspicious activity on it, but the Awans’ physical access was not blocked.

 

But after, the report reads, the server appears to have been secretly replaced with one that looked similar.

The memo called for firing the Pakistani-born aides, revoking all their computer accounts, and changing the locks on any door they had access to.

Rep. Louie Gohmert — a Texas Republican on the House Committee on the Judiciary who has done oversight work on the case — said the missing server contained copies of Congress members’ emails.

“They put 40 members of Congress’s data on one server … That server, with that serial number, has disappeared,” he said.

Multiple sources connected to the investigation told TheDCNF that shortly after an IG report came out identifying the House Democratic Caucus server as key evidence in a criminal probe, the evidence was stolen.

“They [the Awans] deliberately turned over a fake server” to falsify evidence, one official close to the CHA alleged. “It was a breach. The data was completely out of [members’] possession.”

The six-page letter says:

• In September of 2016 … the CHA and [IG] briefed the former Chairman of the Democratic Caucus about suspicious activity related to their server that the [IG] identified. As a result, the former Chairman of the Democratic Caucus directed the CAO to copy the data from their server and two computers.
• The CHA directed the IG to refer the matter to the US Capitol Police. The USCP initiated an investigation that continues to this day.
• In late 2016, the former Chairman of the Democratic Caucus announced his intention to resign from Congress to assume a new position. The CAO and [sergeant-at-arms] worked with the Chairman to account for his inventory, including the one server.
• While reviewing the inventory, the CAO discovered that the serial number of the server did not match that of the one imaged in September. [Investigators] also discovered that the server in question [the replacement server] was still operating under the employee’s control, contrary to the explicit instructions of the former chairman to turn over all equipment and fully cooperate with the inquiry and investigation. [A House source said the “employee” was Abid Awan.]
• The USCP interviewed relevant staff regarding the missing server.
• On January 24, 2017, the CAO acquired the [replacement] server from the control of the employees and transferred that server to the USCP.

President Donald Trump referenced the Democratic Caucus’ missing server in a tweet. But because the letter to the CHA was kept secret, many news outlets have not grasped that the House’s top cop documented a “missing server” connected to the Democratic Caucus.

The timeline laid out in the letter also shows that Becerra — now California’s Democratic attorney general — failed to ensure that the Awans didn’t have access to House computer systems during the 2016 election, which was wrought with cybersecurity scandals.

An IG presentation from September 2016 shows that Becerra knew of problems months before the server disappeared.

“The Caucus Chief of Staff requested one of the shared employees to not provide IT services or access their computers,” it read. “This shared employee continued.” It’s unclear why that request was not granted or why it was a request rather than an order.

A House official close to the probe said the employee was Abid, who was not on Becerra or the Caucus’s payroll. The official said Becerra Chief of Staff Sean McCluskie apparently knew Abid was accessing Caucus servers. According to payroll records, Abid’s sister-in-law, Hina Alvi, was the Caucus’ systems administrator.

The Awans’ continued physical access to Becerra’s equipment after red flags emerged enabled the server to disappear after it became evidence, House officials close to the investigation told TheDCNF. (RELATED: Becerra Tried To Block Awan From House Democratic Caucus Server, But Logins Continued; He Didn’t Go To Cops)

Becerra has refused to comment, citing an ongoing criminal investigation.

The February 2017 memo itemizes “numerous and egregious violations of House IT security” by members of the Awan family, including using Congress members’ usernames and “the unauthorized storage of sensitive House information outside the House.”

“These employees accessed user accounts and computers for offices that did not employ them, without the knowledge and permission of the impacted Member’s office,” it said, adding, “4 of the employees accessed the Democratic Caucus computers 5,735 times.” More than 100 office computers were open to access from people not on the office’s staff, it said.

Chris Gowen — a former aide to Hillarious Clinton who is now serving as Imran’s attorney — told TheDCNF, “There is no missing server and never was.”

He didn’t provide any support for his claim, which is contrary to evidence Kiko and Irving presented to Congress.

The memo said the CHA possesses voluminous evidence, including, “Interview notes with House Members’ Chiefs of Staff,” and “Logon activity and computer access logs.” Prosecutors have not brought charges.

The Awans were banned from Congress’s computer network the day the letter was sent, and Kiko held a briefing to convey the message to chiefs of staff for members who employed them.

But Democrats claim they were never told about any of the cybersecurity issues itemized in the urgent memo. Rep. Jackie Speier — a California Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence who employed Imran and his wife, Hina Alvi — said she never heard of any missing server.

Joaquin Castro of Texas — another Democratic intelligence committee member who employed one of the Awans — told TheDCNF that Kiko never told him of any cybersecurity issues whatsoever and that the Awan probe was instead described as a theft issue.

Indeed, the CHA issued only one public statement on the case and titled it the “House Theft Investigation” — wording that avoids cybersecurity words while political news coverage raged about other cybersecurity issues in the 2016 election.

Yet even the alleged theft has not resulted in criminal charges — even though the letter also says House authorities have “purchase orders and vouchers” that allegedly show procurement fraud, as well as testimony from a Democratic chief of staff to Rep. Yvette Clarke, who warned of procurement fraud.

The FBI arrested Imran at the airport in July 2017 for alleged bank fraud that occurred six months prior, and Democrats have since claimed that the case is about nothing but bank fraud. Bank fraud does not explain why the Awans were kicked off the House network concurrent with the urgent memo, which did not cite bank fraud.

A Democratic IT aide who alleged that Imran solicited a bribe from him told TheDCNF he believes members of Congress are playing dumb and covering the matter up. Wendy Anderson, a former chief of staff to New York Rep. Yvette Clarke, told House investigators that she suspected that her predecessor, Shelley Davis, was working with Abid on a theft scheme, but Clarke refused to fire Abid until outside investigators got involved, TheDCNF reported.

Eighteen months after the evidence was recounted in the urgent memo, prosecution appears to have stalled for reasons not publicly explained. Imran is in court July 3 for a possible plea deal in the bank fraud case. Gohmert said the FBI has refused to accept evidence demonstrating alleged House misconduct, and some witnesses with first-hand knowledge say the bureau has not interviewed them.

Follow Luke on Twitter. Send tips to luke@dailycallernewsfoundation.org. PGP key.

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http://dailycaller.com/2018/07/02/awan-memo-server-vanished/?utm_medium=push&utm_source=daily_caller&utm_campaign=push

Edited July 3, 2018 by Butifldrm

[Shabibilicious]

 

jk  

 

GO RV, then BV

[Sage449]

Blow it up, blow it wide open, hope those behind it, those attempting to cover up are prosecuted. 

[bostonangler]

I've said it before and I'll say it again... Vote them all out, and do not support either of the two major parties.... They have been corrupted and it is time for change... Americans need to stand up to these two cabals and stop it... If they continue to vote for either party then they will get what they deserve... JMHO

 

B/A

[Texstorm]

Thanks Butifldrm ! We are all so lucky that Donald Trump got elected. Think about it,  how many of us knew that corruption ran that deep in the upper levels of our government ? I know for sure thatI had no Ideal it was that bad. So I for one am glad that my eyes have been opened to all of these sorry SOB'S. Drain the whole F...N Swamp !

[Shabibilicious]

7 minutes ago, bostonangler said:

I've said it before and I'll say it again... Vote them all out, and do not support system">support either of the two major parties.... They have been corrupted and it is time for change... Americans need to stand up to these two cabals and stop it... If they continue to vote for either party then they will get what they deserve... JMHO

 

B/A

 

Never happen....Party affiliation is ingrained at a young age for many....better to vote out the corrupt and complacent ones and replace them with ideological rabble rowsers.  Trump is perfect example of that as is this young Ocasio-Cortez woman.

 

GO RV, then BV

Edited July 3, 2018 by Shabibilicious

[bostonangler]

Can't argue that.... Any of it... We are doomed to repeat our mistakes and to believe the unbelievable.

 

B/A

[nstoolman1]

Just for the sake of argument, what makes anybody think that a non establishment candidate or party would not succumb to the temptations 

of power and greed?

Why not hold people in power credible for their actions?

All it would take is for someone to be tossed in jail and the rest would start doing their job.

This is a black and white issue. No greys.

Do the crime, do the time. 

[Shabibilicious]

3 minutes ago, nstoolman1 said:

Just for the sake of argument, what makes anybody think that a non establishment candidate or party would not succumb to the temptations 

of power and greed?

Why not hold people in power credible for their actions?

All it would take is for someone to be tossed in jail and the rest would start doing their job.

This is a black and white issue. No greys.

Do the crime, do the time. 

 

What you say is exactly right and why the Mueller investigation continues and the infamous HRC emails continue to be front and center.....Crime and corruption is not exclusive to any one  particular political party, no matter who says otherwise.

 

GO RV, then BV

[md11fr8dawg]

BULLSEYE  nstoolman1!! Prosecute these A$$holes and it won't be long before the rest will run for the hills or start doing the job they were elected to do. Term limits would help, but good luck with that one. Kind of like what we are watching in Iraq with those corrupt SOBs.

[Pitcher]

Term limits and true accountability of career bureaucrats entrenched in Depts like DOJ and FBI.  

 

A good cleansing is good every now and then. It’s past time.  

[bostonangler]

12 minutes ago, Pitcher said:

It’s past time.

 

Way past time...

 

B/A

[nstoolman1]

27 minutes ago, Shabibilicious said:

 

What you say is exactly right and why the Mueller investigation continues and the infamous HRC emails continue to be front and center.....Crime and corruption is not exclusive to any one  particular political party, no matter who says otherwise.

 

GO RV, then BV

Yes Shabs. In one case there is all kinds of proof and no action taken.

The other case is all action and no proof. 

[Pitcher]

Why past time?

 

You are kidding right.  Just read the headlines.  DC politicians and bureaucrats act like the law doesn’t apply to them. 

You cant seriously condone or defend what the DOJ and the FBI have perpetrated against the American people.  I won’t even get into HRC and her server, the uranium deal, and the pay to play donations to the Clinton Foundation.  

 

And if if you can find corruption at that level and magnitude from Republicans I surely won’t condone or try to defend their behavior. 

 

With me its its real simple, if you do the crime and get caught you pay the price in court, just like you and me BA.  NO one should be above our laws.  

[Shabibilicious]

25 minutes ago, nstoolman1 said:

Yes Shabs. In one case there is all kinds of proof and no action taken.

The other case is all action and no proof. 

 

I'm not privy to information of ongoing federal investigations.....so best I reserve judgement until after the eventual collusion is reached...Oops,sorry,  I meant conclusion.  

 

GO RV, then BV

 

 

Edited July 3, 2018 by Shabibilicious

[bostonangler]

2 hours ago, Pitcher said:

And if if you can find corruption at that level and magnitude from Republicans I surely won’t condone or try to defend their behavior. 

 

It is the same for both parties.... Here is a small sampling for your reading pleasure.... Of course this will be updated soon... As for Republicans, the worst one right now may be Scott Pruett.

 

List[edit]

Official	Image	Office	State	Year	Crime(s)	Scandal/investigation/case	Notes	Party
Robert Archbald		Judge	United States	1913	Bribery		[10]	Republican
Daniel Brewster		Senate	Maryland	1972	Federal official gratuity	United States v. Brewster (1972)	[11]	Democrat
Joseph R. Burton		Senate	Kansas	1904	Compensated representation in a proceeding in which the United States is interested (Rev. Stat. § 1782) (codified as amended at 18 U.S.C. § 203)	Burton v. United States (1905, 1906)	[12]	Republican
Frank Ballance		House of Representatives	North Carolina	2004	Mail fraud		[13]	Democrat
Mario Biaggi		House of Representatives	New York	1987	Federal official gratuity and Travel Act		[14]
				1988	Federal official bribery and gratuity, mail fraud, Hobbs Act, and RICO	Wedtech scandal	[15]	Democrat
Frank W. Boykin		House of Representatives	Alabama	1963	Federal official conflict-of-interest and conspiracy to defraud the United States		[16]	Democrat
Ernest K. Bramblett		House of Representatives	California	1954	Payroll fraud to cover kickbacks		[17]	Republican
Frank J. Brasco		House of Representatives	New York	1974	Conspiracy to defraud the United States		[18]	Democrat
Albert Bustamante		House of Representatives	Texas	1993	Federal official gratuity and RICO		[19]	Democrat
Alexander Caldwell		Senator	Kansas	1873	Bribery		[20]	Republican
Thomas Carney		Senator	Kansas	1873	Bribery		[20]	Republican
Frank M. Clark		House of Representatives	Pennsylvania	1979	Mail fraud		[21]	Democrat
Robert Frederick Collins		United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana	Louisiana	1991	Federal official bribery and conspiracy to defraud the United States		[22]	N/A
Duke Cunningham		House of Representatives	California	2006	Mail fraud and federal official bribery	Cunningham scandal	[23]	Republican
Charles Diggs		House of Representatives	Michigan	1980	Mail fraud		[24]	Democrat
David Durenberger		Senator	Minnesota	1995	Misuse of Public Funds		[25][26]	Republican
John Dowdy		House of Representatives	Texas	1971	Federal official conflict-of-interest and Travel Act		[27]	Democrat
Joshua Eilberg		House of Representatives	Pennsylvania	1979	Federal official conflict-of-interest		[28]	Democrat
Albert B. Fall		Secretary of the Interior	N/A	1929	Revolving door (18 U.S.C. § 207)	Teapot Dome scandal	[29]	Republican
Robert García		House of Representatives	New York	1989	Hobbs Act	Wedtech scandal	[30]	Democrat
Richard T. Hanna		House of Representatives	California	1978	Conspiracy to defraud the United States	Koreagate	[31]	Democrat
James F. Hastings		House of Representatives	New York	1976	Mail fraud		[32]	Republican
Andrew J. Hinshaw		House of Representatives	California	2008	Bribery		[33]	Republican
John H. Hoeppel		House of Representatives	California	1935	Sale of appointive office (18 U.S.C. § 150) (currently codified at 18 U.S.C. § 211)		[34]	Democrat
William J. Jefferson		House of Representatives	Louisiana	2009	Federal official bribery, wire fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and RICO	William J. Jefferson corruption case	[35]	Democrat
John Jenrette		House of Representatives	South Carolina	1980	Federal official bribery	Abscam	[36]	Democrat
Thomas Francis Johnson		House of Representatives	Maryland	1963	Federal official conflict-of-interest and conspiracy to defraud the United States	United States v. Johnson (1966)	[37]	Democrat
Richard Kelly		House of Representatives	Florida	1981	Federal official bribery, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and Travel Act	Abscam	[38]	Republican
Joseph P. Kolter		House of Representatives	Pennsylvania	1996	Conspiracy to defraud the United States	Congressional Post Office scandal	[39]	Democrat
Raymond F. Lederer		House of Representatives	Pennsylvania	1981	Federal official bribery and gratuity, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and Travel Act	Abscam	[40]	Democrat
William Lorimer		Senator	Illinois	1912	Bribery		[41]	Republican
Buz Lukens		House of Representatives	Ohio	1996	Federal official bribery	House banking scandal	[42]	Republican
Martin Thomas Manton		United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit	N/A	1939	Conspiracy to defraud the United States		[43]	N/A
Nicholas Mavroules		House of Representatives	Massachusetts	1993	Hobbs Act and RICO		[44]	Democrat
Andrew J. May		House of Representatives	Kentucky	1947	Conspiracy to defraud the United States and compensated representation in a proceeding in which the United States is interested (18 U.S.C. § 203)		[45]	Democrat
John H. Mitchell		Senate	Oregon	1905	Compensated representation in a proceeding in which the United States is interested (Rev. Stat. § 1782) (codified as amended at 18 U.S.C. § 203)	Oregon land fraud scandal	[46]	Republican
John M. Murphy		House of Representatives	New York	1980	Federal official gratuity, federal official conflict-of interest, and conspiracy to defraud the United States	Abscam	[47]	Democrat
Michael Myers		House of Representatives	Pennsylvania	1980	Federal official bribery, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and Travel Act	Abscam	[40]	Democrat
Bob Ney		House of Representatives	Ohio	2006	Mail fraud	Jack Abramoff CNMI scandal	[48]	Republican
Nehemiah G. Ordway		US Governor of Dakota Territory	Dakota Territory	1884	Bribery		[49]	Republican
Bertram L. Podell		House of Representatives	New York	1974	Federal official conflict-of-interest and conspiracy to defraud the United States		[50]	Democrat
Halsted Ritter		District Judge	Florida	1936	Bribery		[51]	Republican
Dan Rostenkowski		House of Representatives	Illinois	1998	Mail fraud	Congressional Post Office scandal	[52]	Democrat
Frank Thompson		House of Representatives	New Jersey	1980	Federal official bribery and gratuity and conspiracy to defraud the United States	Abscam	[40]	Democrat
James Traficant		House of Representatives	Ohio	2002	Federal official bribery and gratuity, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and RICO		[53]	Democrat
J. Irving Whalley		House of Representatives	Pennsylvania	1973	Mail fraud		[54]	Republican
Harrison A. Williams		Senate	New Jersey	1981	Federal official bribery and gratuity, federal official conflict-of-interest, Travel Act, and conspiracy to defraud the United States	Abscam	[55]	Democrat

 

 

[bostonangler]

Scott Pruitt Has Spent a Total of $4.6 Million on Security, New Disclosures Show — Including $1,500

A Freedom of Information Act document shows the EPA administrator's expenses jumped $1.1 million from the last disclosure a month ago.

Read more

SCANDAL-PLAGUED ENVIRONMENTAL Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has now spent more than $4.6 million from public coffers on security, according to documents obtained by The Intercept and Documented under the Freedom of Information Act. The amount represents a $1.1 million increase from Pruitt’s total security costs as released in another disclosure just a month ago.

Pruitt’s high spending on security has become the subject of mounting criticism and a host of official investigations: Several EPA inspector general investigations have been opened, as well as an ongoing investigation by the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee.

Records released under the Freedom of Information Act list expenditures totaling $288,610 on a range of security-related items. The EPA, according to three expense line items for April, spent a total of $2,749.62 on “tactical pants” and “tactical polos.”

 

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is tied up in major financial conflicts of interest

He even found a way to profit from exposure of his corruption.

Read more

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s job responsibilities cast him as a central player in the multi-front trade wars the Trump administration has been instigating this spring. Ross is also an extraordinarily wealthy man who, according to blockbuster reporting out this week from Forbes’s Dan Alexander, has never divested from major financial conflicts of interests.

This lacks the comic elements of some of the Scott Pruitt corruption scandals and has largely been ignored amid mass outrage over the separation of children from their parents at the US-Mexico border, but it’s a significant story in its own right and a sign of congressional Republicans’ ongoing abdication of oversight responsibility even in a policy area where they’ve sometimes been at odds with President Trump.

The whole story is worth your time. But to highlight, Ross spent most of 2017 in office while maintaining partial ownership of, among other things:

Chinese state-owned enterprises
A shipping company tied to Russian oligarchs
A Cypriot bank that’s involved in Robert Mueller’s investigation
A major player in the auto parts industry with a direct stake in Commerce’s trade policy decisions
Perhaps the most egregiously corrupt aspect of this is that, according to Alexander, Ross even managed to find a way to profit off the exposure of his own corruption: “five days before reports surfaced last fall that Ross was connected to cronies of Vladimir Putin through a shipping firm called Navigator Holdings, the secretary of commerce, who likely knew about the reporting, shorted stock in the Kremlin-linked company, positioning himself to make money on the investment when share prices dropped.”

And while Ross is now formally divested, many of his assets have simply been passed off to a family trust, meaning that the conflicts of interest are still present.

Probably the single most clear-cut opportunity for corruption that Alexander reveals concerns the International Automotive Components Group, a conglomerate Ross created by merging several formerly separate automotive interior companies. The problem is that back on May 23, the president issued a statement saying that he “instructed Secretary Ross to consider initiating a Section 232 investigation into imports of automobiles, including trucks, and automotive parts to determine their effects on America’s national security.”

The point of the investigation is to determine whether the United States should impose new taxes on imports of foreign cars and car parts — a question that is obviously going to have a direct bearing on the fortunes of Ross’s car parts company.

Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, have often expressed some displeasure at Trump’s conduct of trade policy — a rare example where he has stuck to his “populist” campaign guns rather than adhering to orthodox conservative economic policy.

But they’ve steadfastly refused to engage in any meaningful investigation into corruption or financial conflicts of interest on the part of anyone on team Trump, presumably because opening that door would necessarily end up casting some light on the president himself.

But if Republicans really are interested in checking Trump’s drift toward trade war, taking a hard look at what’s really going on with Ross and his trusts would be a good place to start.

 

Pence turns VP’s office into gateway for lobbyists to influence the Trump administration

Numerous lobbyists leverage personal ties to the vice president, including one fundraiser who has been a guest on Air Force Two.

Read more

Vice President Pence has transformed his office into a new entry point for lobbyists seeking to influence the Trump administration across federal agencies, according to federal records and interviews.

About twice as many companies and other interests hired lobbyists to contact the vice president’s office in Pence’s first year than in any single year during the tenures of Vice Presidents Joe Biden and Richard B. Cheney, filings show.

Among those lobbying Pence and his staff were representatives of major drug companies and energy firms, as well as businesses seeking favorable tax treatment. Many others have contacted his office on more obscure regulatory matters such as a Medicare billing dispute, technology regulations at the Department of Education and regulations at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the records show.

The approach has allowed Pence, a former congressman and Indiana governor, to emerge as a key ally for corporations inside the Trump White House even as the president vows to “drain the swamp.”

Edited July 3, 2018 by bostonangler

[Pitcher]

There’s no sense replying BA, you hate Trump and have all the talking points.  If you were truly fair you could find the same things going on in the Obama Administration.   I’ve read all the special interests payouts from the family members of Obama’s people. 

Like I said earlier, both parties are guilty and DC needs to be cleaned up.  

[bostonangler]

7 minutes ago, Pitcher said:

There’s no sense replying BA, you hate Trump and have all the talking points.  If you were truly fair you could find the same things going on in the Obama Administration.   I’ve read all the special interests payouts from the family members of Obama’s people. 

Like I said earlier, both parties are guilty and DC needs to be cleaned up.  

 

I agree with you both parties are a disgrace... But come on you have to admit Scott Pruett is living in a different universe... As I have stated many times, I didn't vote for Trump because he is a liar and not trustworthy. He doesn't represent what I think the President of the United States should be presenting to the world. Today he is tweeting about brining in Japanese bike makers to thwart Harley Davidson. Is his new message Make Japan Great Again? Do people realize when they buy foreign products even if made in America, the profits go back to the homeland?

 

With all that said I will remind you I didn't vote for Clinton either. She is a crook and a product of the corrupted system. Like Mitt Romney, she'll move anywhere to run for office and will lie to get and keep her power. Even today after bringing down her party she tries to remain relevant. She certainly was not the person to represent America as president. I don't vote for or against parties as people here seem to think. I'm a moderate and vote for the best person. In 2016, I had to vote 3rd party and go with honesty over entitlement or false promises.

 

Pitcher I have read your many posts and know you are a man of integrity. In fact most of the people I know who support Trump are people of high integrity and that is what really throws me off. People who are willing to sacrifice their most fundamental beliefs for a guy who is proven over and over to have zero integrity... I honestly don't understand how people with great moral values and beliefs just throw them aside for what? A guy who cheats, lies, steals, who loved his country so little he got out of serving with a bone spur. My mother had a bone spur, she didn't stop working or fixin dinner or give up on her responsibilities to our family. A guy who demands patriotism from American business, yet has all his crap made overseas. He is inconsistent in his policy making, lacks any concept of governing, is tearing down hard fought and paid for in American blood, associations with our most reliable allies. Sure we need to balance trade, but it can't happen in a week or month. If he had a plan, had he started by investing in America to build plants and factories to prepare for a trade war he may have been successful. His flip the switch idea is going to bring pain and suffering to a lot of people in America. Anyone who thinks that the global economy is going stop because we say so is dreaming. The rest of the world is moving forward and his policies are going backwards. Of course we would like to live in the Leave it to Beaver world we grew up in but those days are gone. Go grab a couple of young people and have them watch Leave it to Beaver. See what their reaction is. I may be wrong, but I think they wouldn't want to live in that world. 

 

I'm glad we have civil discussions, I often learn things, and I hope I am able to educate folks a bit along the way. Now, with all that said, I would like to wish you and your family a very happy 4th of July.... Without or without politics, America is still the shining beacon the world looks to for inspiration.

 

Be safe and enjoy our independence to all of our DV family... We may have different opinions, but together we are the best damn site on the web...

 

B/A

[Pitcher]

We had two choices for President in the last election. There was absolutely no way I was going to vote for HRC.  

 

I wish you you could come to Houston Texas and see what open borders has done to our city.  

 

I wish you could see how the Obama Administration hurt our oil Business.  

 

I wish you could understand how law enforcement and the military felt disenfranchised with the last Administration

 

I’m  not sure you understand how the regulations and Obamacare hurt small businesses

 

Im not sure you get that most people are paying more for their healthcare and getting less coverage

 

Do you really want to talk about LIES!!!!!!  Oh Boy,  “if you like your doctor you can keep him”

”Your health costs will go down”. How about the lies from Rice on Benghazi.  How about fast and furious.  

 

Look, I’m not happy about Trumps tweets and a number of other things he has done but he is doing exactly what he said he was going to do in his campaign just like Obama.  You can resist and bad mouth him and his Administration all you want but you get one vote just like I do. I will never vote for a candidate like Bernie Sanders or someone that campaigns on turning our country into a socialistic or even worst who wants to turn our country over to a global,  “ New World Order” form of government.  

 

Is is that what you truly want?  The Dems are going to go hard Left extreme next election.  Do you advocate giving up all you’ve worked so hard for in your life to a Bernie Sanders Socialism.  Do you want the USA to be like Venezuela or how about Cuba.  Is that what you desire?  The Democratic Party and it’s policies are unsustainable.  Look at Illinois, California, NY, any Socialistic country in Europe. It doesn’t work.  

 

 

[Butifldrm]

DOJ AGREES NOT TO PROSECUTE IMRAN AWAN FOR HOUSE CYBERSECURITY AND THEFT, BUT QUESTIONS REMAIN

5:23 PM 07/03/2018

Luke Rosiak | Investigative Reporter

 1320 743

An assistant US attorney said Tuesday he would not prosecute Imran Awan, a former systems administrator for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and other Democrats, for any crimes on Capitol Hill in a plea agreement that had him plead guilty to one count of bank fraud.

Only one person sat at the prosecutors’ table: J.P. Coomey, who unsuccessfully prosecuted New Jersey Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez for corruption and was only added to the case Monday. There was no sign of Michael Marando, who had previously led the prosecution.

Coomey did not object to the removal of Awan’s GPS monitor, said he would not oppose a sentence of probation, and agreed to drop charges against his wife, fellow former systems administrative Hina Alvi. (RELATED: Capitol Police Accidentally Gave Evidence To House Hacking Suspect’s Defense Attorney)

The Department of Justice said it found “found no evidence that [Imran] illegally removed House data from the House network or from House Members’ offices, stole the House Democratic Caucus Server, stole or destroyed House information technology equipment, or improperly accessed or transferred government information.”

 

That statement appears to take issue — without explaining how — with the findings of the House’s Nancy Pelosi-appointed inspector general, its top law enforcement official, the sergeant-at-arms, and the statements of multiple Democratic aides.

In September 2016, the House Office of Inspector General gave House leaders a presentation that alleged that Alvi, Imran, brothers Abid Awan and Jamal Awan, and a friend were logging into the servers of members who had previously fired him and funneling data off the network. It said evidence “suggests steps are being taken to conceal their activity” and that their behavior mirrored a “classic method for insiders to exfiltrate data from an organization.”

Server logs show, it said, that Awan family members made “unauthorized access” to congressional servers in violation of House rules by logging into the servers of members who they didn’t work for.

The presentation especially found problems on one server, that of the House Democratic Caucus, an entity chaired at the time by then-Rep. Xavier Becerra of California.

On Feb. 3, 2017, Paul Irving, the House’s top law enforcement officer, wrote in a letter to the Committee on House Administration that soon after it became evidence, the server went “missing.”

The letter continued: “Based upon the evidence gathered to this point, we have concluded the employees are an ongoing and serious risk to the House of Representatives, possibly threatening the integrity of our information systems.”

Imran, Abid, Jamal, Alvi and a friend were banned from the House network the same day Kiko sent the letter.

The alleged wrongdoing consisted of two separate issues.

The first was the cybersecurity issues. In an April 2018 hearing spurred by the Awan case, Chief Administrative Officer Phil Kiko testified: “The bookend to the outside threat is the insider threat. Tremendous efforts are dedicated to protecting the House against these outside threats, however these efforts are undermined when these employees do not adhere to and thumb their nose at our information security policy, and that’s a risk in my opinion we cannot afford.”

The second was a suspected theft scheme. Wendy Anderson, a former chief of staff for Rep. Yvette Clarke, told House investigators she believed Abid was working with ex-Clarke aide Shelley Davis to steal equipment, and described coming in on a Saturday to find so many pieces of equipment, including iPods and Apple TVs, that it “looked like Christmas.”

In the hearing, Kiko described “egregious” behavior by Imran, saying the House “discovered evidence of procurement fraud and irregularities” on top of the “numerous violations of House security policies.”

“CAO’s Office of Acquisition Management detected and flagged unusual invoices originating from five shared employees who served more than 30 House offices,” Kiko said. “The invoices, as submitted, were structured in a way to avoid the House’s $500 equipment accountability threshold. Upon further investigation into the five shared employees’ activities, the House IG discovered evidence of procurement fraud and irregularities, numerous violations of House security policies, and violations of the Committee’s Shared Employee Manual, etc.”

Yet Tuesday’s court document said:

The Govemment agrees that the public allegations that your client stole U.S. House of Representatives (“House”) equipment and engaged in unauthorized or illegal conduct involving House computer systems do not form the basis of any conduct relevant to the determination of the sentence in this case.  The Government conducted a thorough investigation of those allegations, including interviewing approximately 40 witnesses; taking custody of the House Democratic Caucus server, along with other computers, hard drives, and electronic devices; examining those devices, including inspecting their physical condition and analyzing log-in and usage data; reviewing electronic communications between pertinent House employees; consulting with the House Office of General Counsel and House information technology personnel to access and/or collect evidence; and questioning your client during numerous voluntary interviews.

It concluded that the “Government has uncovered no evidence that your client violated federal law with respect to the House computer systems,” but didn’t explain how it came to that conclusion.

The bank fraud to which Imran pleaded guilty involved withdrawing hundreds of thousands of dollars by lying on mortgage application and pretending to have a medical emergency that required draining Alvi’s congressional retirement account, court records show. That money was then wired to Pakistan in January 2017. Prosecutors previously said they believe the Awans knew they were under investigation when they made the money moves, and described Imran as a flight risk.

Though the bank fraud occurred in January 2017, Imran wasn’t arrested until July 2017, when he tried to leave the country and was taken into custody at Dulles airport. His lawyer is Chris Gowen, a former aide to Hillarious Clinton.

Wasserman Schultz kept paying Awan after he was banned from Congress. A Capitol Police report shows that in April 2016, Imran left a laptop with the username RepDWS in a Capitol Hill phone booth late at night, and it was taken by police.

Police said they needed it as evidence, but Wasserman Schultz pledged “consequences” for the police chief. Wasserman Schultz’ brother, a prosecutor in the D.C. US Attorney’s office, has tweeted about the case under the handle “fedpros.”

Gowen said he felt “very strongly” that the RepDWS laptop should not be examined, and prosecutors never publicly challenged that request.

No one else connected to Imran that was banned from the House has been charged, yet the House has not re-instated them. Imran, Hina, Abid and Jamal have also shared IT duties with Haseeb Rana, former McDonalds worker Rao Abbas and Nataliia Sova, a Ukrainian who is married to Abid.

House officials told TheDCNF that the vast majority of evidence about misconduct allegations on Capitol Hill — including $120,000 in missing equipment from the office of Yvette Clarke — is actually against Abid, not Imran.

Capitol Hill officials involved in oversight of the case previously told TheDCNF  that the reason the DOJ was not pursuing the case was because the Democrats were refusing to press charges.

The agreement says:

After the entry of your client’s plea of guilty to the offense identified in paragraph 1 above, your client will not be charged with any non-violent criminal offense in violation of Federal or District of Columbia law which was committed within the District of Columbia by your client prior to the execution of this Agreement and about which this Office was made aware by your client prior to the execution of this Agreement, all of which is contained in the attached Statement of Offense. However, the United States expressly reserves its right to prosecute your client for any crime of violence.

http://dailycaller.com/2018/07/03/awan-cybersecurity-not-charged/

[Pitcher]

I just reread the heading for this thread.  I wonder what happened to the House Democratic Caucus Server.  How does that vanish and what are they trying to HIDE!   

[Pitcher]

BTW, BA, Thanks for the post on the perp walk.  Very interesting.  

[Pitcher]

Thank you Butifldrm

[Butifldrm]

5 minutes ago, Pitcher said:

I just reread the heading for this thread.  I wonder what happened to the House Democratic Caucus Server.  How does that vanish and what are they trying to HIDE!   

 

I'm pretty sure that's Why Imran Awan got off!  No Evidence!