President Trump pressed the Justice Department on Thursday to not let a former Democratic IT aide he has dubbed “the Pakistani mystery man” and one of his former employers, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., “off the hook.”
A tweet from the president decried reports that Imran Awan, a Pakistani IT technician who worked for dozens of Democratic lawmakers over the years, is on the cusp of reaching a plea deal in a federal court case.
“Our Justice Department must not let Awan & Debbie Wasserman Schultz off the hook. The Democrat I.T. scandal is a key to much of the corruption we see today. They want to make a “plea deal” to hide what is on their Server. Where is Server? Really bad!” Trump posted to Twitter Thursday morning.
Our Justice Department must not let Awan & Debbie Wasserman Schultz off the hook. The Democrat I.T. scandal is a key to much of the corruption we see today. They want to make a “plea deal” to hide what is on their Server. Where is Server? Really bad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 7, 2018
Awan was arrested last year for bank fraud and double-charging for House IT equipment. Following a number of delays, Fox News reported Wednesday that court filings indicate he’s pushing for a plea deal with prosecutors.
Trump previously brought up Awan in April after the Democratic National Committee sued the Trump campaign, Russia, and WikiLeaks, alleging the trio conspired to tip the scales of the 2016 election against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“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 tweeted.
A lawyer for former Trump campaign aide Roger Stone, who is one of the defendants in the Russia collusion lawsuit, told the DNC to preserve its databases, records, and servers for inspection in order to test claims that Russians hacked, stole, and disseminated DNC data.
Wasserman Schultz was the chairwoman of the DNC at the time of the hack and resigned in the summer of 2016 amid controversy over leaked emails that exposed the DNC’s underhanded efforts to stifle Sen. Bernie Sanders’ popularity during the primary.
The DNC denied requests by the FBI to inspect its hacked servers, then-FBI Director James Comey testified to lawmakers in early 2017. Instead, the organization opted for a private company to do the inspection.
According to the legal complaint, the DNC said to remedy the hack they had to “decommission more than 140 servers, removed and reinstall software, including the operating systems, for more than 180 computers, and rebuild at least 11 servers.”
Now Trump is questioning what happened to the servers and why they were decommissioned before the Justice Department was able to review what was on them.
“When and where will all of the many conflicts of interest be listed by the 13 Angry Democrats (plus) working on the Witch Hunt Hoax. There has never been a group of people on a case so biased or conflicted. It is all a Democrat Excuse for LOSING the Election. Where is the server?” Trump tweeted Thursday, referring to federal Russia investigation, led by special counsel Robert Mueller, that he has repeatedly attacked.
When and where will all of the many conflicts of interest be listed by the 13 Angry Democrats (plus) working on the Witch Hunt Hoax. There has never been a group of people on a case so biased or conflicted. It is all a Democrat Excuse for LOSING the Election. Where is the server?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 7, 2018
