An ethics probe of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz might be in order following the arrest of one of her longtime technology aides as he tried to flee the country, former Rep. Pete Hoekstra told Newsmax TV on Wednesday.
"There may be a requirement to move forward and do an ethics investigation of this," Hoekstra, a former House Intelligence Committee chair and future U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands, told Newsmax's J.D. Hayworth.
"Because she not only jeopardized the information he had access to in her office, she jeopardized the integrity of the communications in the IT systems in the House of Representatives — and perhaps jeopardized the national security of the country."
Important: Newsmax TV is available on DirecTV Ch. 349, U-Verse 1220, and FiOS 615. If your cable operator doesn't have Newsmax TV just call and ask them to put us on – Call toll-free 1-844-500-6397 and we'll connect you right away to your cable operator!
For more places to Find Newsmax TV – Click Here Now
Imran Awan, 37, was arrested Monday on bank fraud charges for allegedly attempting to get a loan from the Congressional Federal Credit Union on a rental property by claiming it as his primary residence. Awan was detained at Dulles International Airport, where he was attempting to fly to Pakistan.
The FBI seized smashed hard drives from his home and is investigating whether he stole equipment and improperly accessed the House IT network, while working in Congress.
"There were three or four individuals who had been doing IT maintenance and service as an outside resource — not only Debbie Wasserman Schultz, but a number of congressional offices," said Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican. "Some of these individuals I believe were on the intelligence committee, armed services.
"These outside consultants had their passwords and these types of things and what we've now found out is it appears they broke a number of laws, broke a number of rules and regulations from the House. I think this went on for almost eight to 10 years."
He said for the past six or seven months, Wasserman Schultz had "not been cooperating" with the Capitol Hill Police, who wanted to do an "assessment of these individuals."
"What did they do when they had access to these networks, these computer networks for a number of Democratic members of the House of Representatives?" Hoekstra asked. "Were passwords stolen? Did they access classified information? Did they distribute classified information?
"You would think that the national media, but most importantly these Congress people would want that information to be available to law enforcement but also to our intelligence community to see what the potential damage has been done by these folks.
"But just until recently, I think in the last couple of days, Debbie Wasserman Schultz was not cooperating. I think law enforcement found a number of computers and hard drives that were hacked and hammered to pieces, but our folks are pretty good. It may be amazing what they find on even on this damaged hardware."
David Damron, a spokesperson for Schultz, said Awan has been fired. Politico reported Awan has been released under a "high-intensity supervision program," in which he must wear a GPS monitor and keep to a curfew of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
"The thing with Debbie Wasserman Schultz I think is going to be very, very troubling to a lot of people because of the connections that these individuals had [is that] warning signs have been out there for years," Hoekstra said.
"There are other business dealings and these types of things and no one either caught it or no one responded to it and when that was finally identified."