The congresswoman and her sketchy IT aide

WASHINGTON—Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., has been under fire in recent weeks for retaining a compromised employee on her payroll.

In February, five shared House information technology employees came under criminal investigation for allegedly stealing equipment. Lawmakers promptly terminated their employment while investigators figured out next steps, but Wasserman Schultz inexplicably kept 37-year-old Imran Awan on her payroll for months afterward. She didn’t officially dismiss him until July 24, when law enforcement arrested him on a separate bank fraud charge at Dulles International Airport attempting to fly to Pakistan.

It’s a bizarre story. But Republicans and watchdog groups say it’s important to get to the bottom of it.

Republican Party Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said Monday that Wasserman Schultz should testify to explain why she took so long to dismiss Awan and to discuss what sensitive information Awan had access to while he was under investigation.

Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., echoed the sentiment to Fox & Friends, saying the House needs to investigate its systems, which should include putting witnesses in the chair.

“I think Congress needs to know what information Imran Awan had access to and how congressional IT systems might have been compromised,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told me in an emailed statement. “[W]e need to get to the bottom of this.”

Wasserman Schultz said her office had no evidence to prove Awan broke any laws and wanted to grant full due process, ensure fair treatment, and avoid any potential ethnic profiling stemming from his Pakistani heritage. “Upon learning of his arrest, he was terminated,” she said in a statement.

But at least one watchdog isn’t buying that excuse.

The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), a conservative accountability group, filed a complaint Monday asking the Office of Congressional Ethics to launch an investigation into Wasserman Schultz’s role in keeping Awan employed and compensated.

“House members are employers and they are employing people with taxpayer funds,” Kendra Arnold, FACT general counsel, told me. “That’s exactly why the ethics rules are there. Sometimes that gets lost in the bigger cases so I think it’s important we bring those forward.”

Wasserman Schultz is not under criminal investigation, and no one is saying she should be. The problem, according to Arnold, is that she potentially violated basic ethics rules by keeping someone on her payroll who was under investigation for committing a crime. This is not only a security risk, but a waste of taxpayer dollars.

The House barred Awan from access to its computer systems after the February incident, which means Awan, as an IT staffer, could no longer reasonably do his job.

“That’s the sticking point,” Arnold told me. “It’s the months of letting him stay on payroll without any apparent reasonable job. That is directly contrary to the ethics rules.”

FACT sent its complaint to the Office of Congressional Ethics, which will complete a full review and decide whether to refer the case to the House Ethics Committee. If referred, the ethics committee could determine disciplinary action for Wasserman Schultz. But it’s doubtful anything will happen in the near future. As of Thursday, no Congressional committee had plans to investigate Wasserman Schultz’s office or ask her to publicly testify.

Flake vs. Trump

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., debuted a surprise book this week, and he didn’t have nice things to say about his party or its standard-bearer, President Donald Trump.

He published an excerpt of the book, Conscience of a Conservative, on Politico, claiming Republicans are in denial about Trump. Flake was one of a handful of GOP lawmakers who never endorsed Trump as a candidate and is in an even smaller category of Republicans who refuse to defend him now. The Arizona Republican said he didn’t tell his staff he was writing the book so no one would try to talk him out of it.

Flake wrote that Trump doesn’t reflect conservative values and displays protectionism, isolationism, and xenophobia: “If ultimately our principles were so malleable as to no longer be principles, then what was the point of political victories in the first place?”

The book puts Flake’s career on the line. He is up for reelection in 2018. While Arizona typically leans to the right, Republicans may turn on him and unite behind a pro-Trump primary opponent. At the end of the day, most knew Flake was not a fan of the president—the book simply cements his beliefs on the record. —E.W.

GOP lawmaker turns on Mueller

Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., sided with President Donald Trump this week, claiming Robert Mueller, special counsel for the Russia probe, can’t legally do his job.

On Tuesday, Franks called for Mueller to resign, citing the special counsel’s friendly relationship with former FBI Director James Comey as a conflict of interest.

“Mueller is in clear violation of federal code and must resign to maintain the integrity of the investigation into alleged Russian ties. Those who worked under them have attested he and Jim Comey possess a close friendship,” Franks said in a statement. “No one knows Mr. Mueller’s true intentions, but neither can anyone dispute that he now clearly appears to be a partisan arbiter of justice. Accordingly, the law is also explicitly clear: he must step down based on this conflict of interest.”

Most GOP lawmakers have defended Mueller, even though Trump called the investigation a political witch hunt. Last week, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said Mueller could not conduct a fair probe into Russia’s possible election meddling because of the Comey connection. But Franks is the first Republican to suggest Mueller’s probe violates U.S. law. —E.W.

Diane Black volunteers for governor

Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., officially threw her hat in the ring for governor of the Volunteer state Wednesday. Black is in her fourth term in the House and became the first female to chair the House Budget Committee in February. She enters Tennessee’s gubernatorial race as the front-runner. If successful, she would be the first female governor of the state. Black, 66, has been an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump. The former nurse also has an airtight pro-life record. Last year, Black helped lead the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives, which released a 471-page report in January recommending defunding Planned Parenthood for violating fetal tissue procurement laws. —E.W.