Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) is under pressure to testify on why she kept an information technology staffer on her payroll months after a criminal investigation into his activities was revealed.
Wasserman Schultz, the former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, fired longtime IT aide Imran Awan only after he was arrested at Washington’s Dulles International Airport on July 24 while attempting to travel to Pakistan. Awan was charged with bank fraud and pleaded not guilty on July 25.
The arrest came on the heels of the FBI seizing smashed hard drives from Awan’s home. Awan had access to the emails and files of more than two dozen Democratic lawmakers, according to a source in Congress who spoke to The Daily Caller.
An ethics complaint filed on July 31 by the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) urges an investigation into why Wasserman Schultz breached House ethics rules by keeping Awan on her staff, even after other House members had dropped him from the payroll and his access to the congressional IT system had been revoked.