Total CNN and MSNBC Blackout of Arrest of IT Guy Continues; Print Media Mentions the Story -- with Hilarious Understatement

Total blackout for facts which a non-corrupt media would find worth a mention:

Major cable news networks have given no coverage to the burgeoning scandal involving IT staffers to former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis.

Reporting by the Daily Caller News Foundation has revealed that Wasserman Schultz's top information technology staffer Iman Awan was arrested Monday after trying to flee the country amidst investigations into Awan concerning banking fraud and a criminal cybersecurity probe. Awan wired over $280,000 to Pakistan after the FBI recently recovered multiple smashed hard drives from Awan's home.

Despite being blocked from the House computer network since February amid allegations of "committing serious, potentially illegal, violations on the House IT network," Awan remained employed by Wasserman Schultz's office. He and four of his relatives have received $4 million by working for Democratic members of Congress since 2009.

Wasserman Schultz finally fired Awan on Tuesday, after he attempted to flee the country. His wife already fled to Pakistan with $12,000 in cash. Awan and his relatives had full access to the emails of the Democratic members they worked for, and Wasserman Schultz's password to her iPad she used while she was head of the DNC.

If you're coming late to this story, Jim Geraghty has a recap.

By the way: Guess wyo Iman Awan's just-hired lawyer has deep connections to?

No seriously, guess.

Chris Gowen, Imran Awan’s lawyer, is a long-time campaigner for former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a member of an attorney team that brought a fraudulent lawsuit against energy giant Chevron.

...

Politico reported the criminal probe concerned “serious, potentially illegal, violations on the House IT network.”

Gowen described Awan’s arrest as “clearly a right-wing media-driven prosecution by a United States Attorney’s Office that wants to prosecute people for working while Muslim.”

...

His official bio on the firm’s web site notes that he “left the Public Defender’s office to work for former President William Jefferson Clinton and then-Senator Hillary Clinton. Chris was a fact checker for President Clinton’s memoir, My Life.”

“He also served as a traveling aid for President Clinton’s national and international trips. Chris finished his tenure with the Clintons by directing the advance operations for then-Senator Hillary Clinton during her 2008 presidential campaign.”

So let's digest this story. In a media environment obsessed with the DNC hack, it turns out five individuals were abusing their access to the DNC email system while -- possibly -- committing an assortment of crimes.

* Imran Awan's wife (herself one of the IT 5) already fled to Pakistan, carrying $12,000 in cash with her.

* Imran Awan man himself wired $280,000 to Pakistan, then attempted to flee there.

* Debbie Wassman-Schultz has threatened "consequences" against the Capitol Police unless they return her hard drives before the police are done using them as evidence in a case they're investigating against the IT 5. Almost as if she has something to hide.

* Despite the IT 5 taking all sorts of liberties with the DNC email and passwords while the DNC freaks out about an email hack, and despite them doing shady shit on the side (Imran Awan was arrested for bank fraud), they somehow manage to land a big attorney with deep DNC/Clinton connections.

* The Daily Caller reported that stolen hard drives were recovered from Imran Awan "smashed" by hammers. (His new Friend of Bill lawyer denies this.)

* Despite all these goings-on, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz actually kept Imran Awan on the payroll for reasons unknown, even as he was subject of a Capitol Hill police probe. She only (finally!) fired him after his arrest, then refused comment.

So: lot of interesting stuff going on here.

The National Laughingstock did file an obligatory the-right-wing-is-making-fun-of-us-for-embargoing this story.

Check out the grabby, juiced-up, must-read, must-RT headline they gave this compelling set of facts:

Can you feel your pulse quickening with the thrill of the journalistic hunt?

Can you feel your breath catching in your throat?!

Wow. It's almost as if they want to be able to say "we covered that story" while doing everything possible to bury it.

Almost as if that's what they were attempting, mind you:

CNN did post an online recap of the story -- pioneering the the innovative Don't Read This Boring Story Which the Right Is Forcing Us to Mention format that the National Laughingstock later imitated:

Gee I wonder if they'd downplay this story to such a laughable degree if it had been Paul Manafort wiring $280,000 to a foreign safe harbor and then attempting to abscond.

posted by Ace at 07:20 PM

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