Imran Awan, an IT aide to Debbie Wasserman Schultz was arrested last night at Dulles airport while trying to leave the country. Fox News’ Chad Pergram announced the news on Twitter Tuesday afternoon:
Feds/USCP bust Hse IT staffer Imran Awan & charge him with multiple counts of bank fraud as part of Hse IT procurement scandal
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 25, 2017
Feds/USCP picked up Imran Awan at Dulles Aiport last night as he was "trying to leave the country." Has been arraigned. Surrendered passport
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 25, 2017
As I wrote back in March, Awan was fired by Rep. Marcia Fudge and Awan’s wife, Hina Alvi, was fired by Rep. Gregory Meeks as an investigation into a procurement scandal involving his family ground ahead. But Rep. Wasserman Schultz never fired Awan and, according to Pergram, he was still on the payroll until he was arrested:
Group of Hse Dems fired other Hse IT staffers probed by USCP. But Wasserman Schultz kept Awan on payroll. He was barred from Hse servers
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 25, 2017
Fox is told that Hse IT staffer Imran Awan is still on Hse payroll for moment under Wasserman Schultz.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 25, 2017
James Rosen reports that Awan was fired by Wasserman Schultz today:
BREAKING: Feds arrest IT staffer for Wasserman Schultz who was trying to leave country https://t.co/Yk9EOdoKqt pic.twitter.com/35BDZJu7U2
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 25, 2017
This story has taken several odd turns. In May Rep. Wasserman Schultz used her position on a House subcommittee to berate and make a threat against the Chief of the Capitol Hill police. Wasserman Schultz was demanding the return of a laptop discovered hidden in the Rayburn office building. Police seized it believing it could be relevant to their investigation into Awan but as you can see in this clip, Wasserman Schultz seemed very eager to have it returned. When the police chief didn’t agree with her she told him, “you should expect that there will be consequences.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9wwKZYIxco
As Ed pointed out yesterday, Rep. Wasserman Schultz is now negotiating with Capitol Police over the search of her laptop. Ed also wrote about the most recent development in the case (prior to the arrest). The FBI has collected smashed hard drives that Awan left behind at a house in Virginia. Given the arrest, it seems likely we’ll hear more detail about the case soon.
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