US Politics Mega-thread - Page 8198

Imran Awan, a House staffer at the center of a criminal investigation potentially impacting dozens of Democratic lawmakers, has been arrested on bank fraud and is prevented from leaving the country while the charges are pending.

A senior House Democratic aide confirmed Awan was still employed by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) as of Tuesday morning. But David Damron, a spokesman for Wasserman Schultz, later said that Awan was fired on Tuesday.

Awan pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to one count of bank fraud during his arraignment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Awan is accused of attempting to defraud the Congressional Federal Credit Union by obtaining a $165,000 home equity loan for a rental property, which is against the credit union’s policies since it is not the owner's primary residence. Those funds were then included as part of a wire transfer to two individuals in Faisalabad, Pakistan.

Awan was arrested at Dulles Airport on Monday evening before boarding a flight to Lahore, Pakistan. His wife, Hina Alvi, has already left the country for Pakistan along with their children. Federal agents do not believe Alvi has any intention of returning to the U.S., according to a court document.

Awan was released Tuesday on a “high-intensity supervision program,” according to a DOJ spokesman. He must wear a GPS monitor, abide by a curfew of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and cannot leave a 50-mile radius of his Lorton, Va., home. He was also forced to surrender his passports and is scheduled to reappear in court for a preliminary hearing Aug. 21.

"This is clearly a right-wing media-driven prosecution by a United States Attorney's Office that wants to prosecute people for working while Muslim," Chris Gowen, Awan's attorney, said in an email declaring his client's innocence.

"A quick glance at what the government filed in court today confirms the lack of evidence or proof they have against my client."

Awan, a longtime IT staffer who worked for more than two dozen House Democrats, has been at the center of a criminal investigation on Capitol Hill for months related to procurement theft. Several of his family members, also IT staffers at the time, were implicated in the ongoing investigation.

Most Democratic lawmakers cut ties with Awan and his family after the criminal investigation came to light in early February. But Awan has continued to be employed by Wasserman Schultz, although it’s unclear what his job duties are given he has been barred from accessing the House IT system for months.

Alvi, another House staff member involved in the Capitol Hill investigation, left the country with their three daughters, headed for Pakistan in March, according to an affidavit filed in the Awan case. Alvi had “numerous pieces of luggage” and more than $12,000 in cash, FBI agent Brandon Merriman wrote in the affidavit.

On July 26 2017 23:18 FueledUpAndReadyToGo wrote:
What tremendous medical costs do transgenders create in the military?

On July 26 2017 23:32 KwarK wrote:
I'll absolutely believe that trans folk have higher healthcare costs than most. Transitioning isn't cheap and therapy is almost certainly going to be needed at some point because they're dealing with some complex and difficult issues. But they aren't exactly where I'd start when it comes to reducing healthcare costs for military personnel.

On July 26 2017 23:36 ZerOCoolSC2 wrote:

If you're a woman in the military and you believe that breast augmentation will boost morale, they'll cover it. There's a ton of wasteful shit in the military. But if someone is willing to sign up for the potential to go to combat and die, then transgender away. They served faithfully and honorably.

Riley Dosh trained for four years at West Point, building towards her graduation in May. She came out in December last year, after the policy change. Then just weeks before her graduation ceremony she was told by the Pentagon she would not be allowed to join the army alongside her colleagues, despite having the full support of her command.

"I was completely blindsided by it," she says. "It was devastating that I'd gone through all of this work and all of these trials and I wasn't going to be allowed to commission. My entire life was planned out for five to 10 years, and suddenly I was going to be unemployed in three weeks."

Brad Carson, a former under secretary of defence under President Obama who led the review of transgender military policy, says cadets were supposed to be protected by the policy change. "When you sign up for the military academies you are in the military. You may not have been commissioned but you are in the military," he says.

"The country has invested hundred of thousands of dollars in educating and training these cadets," he adds. "It doesn't make any sense for the nation, for the military, or for those people themselves if they are going to be excluded. It would be a very disappointing result."

That figure is many times over the one provided by the Rand Corporation, which estimated that the total cost of transitions, including hormone treatment and surgery, would be somewhere between $2.4 million and $8.4 million annually - a 0.04% to 0.13% increase on the active duty healthcare budget.

On July 27 2017 00:08 TheTenthDoc wrote:
The "cost" issue is gibberish anyway because you could always alter the provided insurance plans not to cover specific procedures and require people to pay out of pocket (unless they're required to be covered by the ACA, but I'm not sure that the ACA provisions even apply to federal health plans). It would be like saying "the cost of hypertensive drugs is too high, we need to kick hypertensive people out of the military."

On July 26 2017 23:55 ZerOCoolSC2 wrote:

Yeah, it happened when I was serving. It's more prevalent in the AF and Navy as far as I know. Marines don't have time to do shit because we're always playing "fuck-fuck" games.

Here is a link to get started. Source

Granted, this just a Q&A board, but you can get the gist of it.

On July 27 2017 00:10 IyMoon wrote:



I think everyone is aware that cost is not the issue here.

On July 27 2017 00:19 ticklishmusic wrote:


I am trying to understand how this has an impact on "potentially many Democratic lawmakers". He committed a crime for himself, by himself. At most he might have waved "I work for important people!" to get his loan railroaded through? If I decided to rob a convenience store, it has little bearing on my company.

On July 27 2017 00:10 IyMoon wrote:



I think everyone is aware that cost is not the issue here.

On July 27 2017 00:24 NovaTheFeared wrote:
Do you think the transgender ban is a Trump move or is Pence, notably anti-LGBT, really pulling the strings?