Trump Is Right: A Pakistani Mystery Man Has Documents, Wasserman Schultz Didn't Want
Prosecutors To See.
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.
When that didn't work, she escalated, raising the prospect of re-arranging the Capitol Police's
entire board to prevent Verderosa from being a voting member, and lamented that not all
of the board's members were subject to oversight by her committee.
Questioning Verderosa's boss, Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving, she said: "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."
"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.
She also used campaign funds to hire a lawyer to keep the laptop out of prosecutors' hands.
And it wasn't just any lawyer — it was Bill Pittard, who until months prior had been
working as acting general counsel of the House of Representatives, a position with responsibilities
that include deciding what to turn over to the executive branch pursuant to legal activity.
In August, after Imran's arrest at Dulles airport, Wasserman Schultz changed her tune,
saying "This was not my laptop.
I have never seen that laptop.
I don't know what's on the laptop."
She said it was Imran's laptop but purchased using taxpayer funds from her office.
She said Imran's "due process" rights had inspired her demeanor during the Capitol
Police exchange and the lengths to which she went to shield the laptop.
She then said she was no longer seeking to block prosecutors from looking at the laptop.
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