Free Republic

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has requested copies of immigration files for the six Pakistani suspects in the House IT scandal, who allegedly stole equipment from Congress and accessed computers without permission.

Scandal: When federal officials arrested Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz's IT aide, Imran Awan, as he tried to flee for his native Pakistan, it was the latest twist to an already twisted scandal involving several House IT workers who possibly stole highly sensitive information from several Democrats. Stranger still has been the Democrats' nonresponse to this unfolding scandal. Back in February, the Capitol Hill police opened a criminal investigation into Awan and four other House employees who provided IT services for several Democrats, including those serving on the House intelligence, foreign affairs and homeland security committees. Investigators were looking into whether...

Congressional technology aides are baffled that data-theft allegations against four former House IT workers — who were banned from the congressional network — have largely been ignored, and they fear the integrity of sensitive high-level information. Five Capitol Hill technology aides told The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group that members of Congress have displayed an inexplicable and intense loyalty towards the suspects who police say victimized them. The baffled aides wonder if the suspects are blackmailing representatives based on the contents of their emails and files, to which they had full access. “I don’t know what they have, but...

An FBI translator assigned to investigate a German rapper-turned-terrorist instead traveled to Syria to marry him, according to CNN. Daniela Greene lied to the FBI about her whereabouts and warned her new husband, Denis Cuspert, about the investigation. Cuspert, who rapped under the name Deso Dogg, has been featured in videos for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria holding severed human heads, CNN reports. According to the report, Greene realized she had made a mistake just weeks after marrying Cuspert. She then fled back to the U.S., where she was arrested and agreed to cooperate with authorities.

The head of a powerful House panel is threatening to withhold defense funding over the department's alleged stonewalling in a probe of the controversial swap of five Taliban leaders for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel had initially pledged to respond to questions, when lawmakers first demanded to know why the Pentagon had not given Congress the requisite 30-day notice before proceeding with the May 31 prisoner trade. But nearly a year later, the Pentagon has released only a trickle of highly redacted emails from before the swap. Republican lawmakers now plan to attempt the unusual step of...

A lawyer who came to prominence for his full-throated defense of a subsequently convicted terrorist was quietly promoted to the No. 3 slot at the Department of Justice last month, a post that puts him in charge of the administration’s policy regarding Guantanamo Bay detainees. The move has raised red flags on Capitol Hill and elsewhere among national security stalwarts who argue that the promotion could imperil the country’s longstanding war on terrorism.

The State Department hosted a delegation of Muslim Brotherhood-aligned leaders this week for a meeting about their ongoing efforts to oppose the current government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, who rose to power following the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi, an ally of the Brotherhood, in 2013. One member of the delegation, a Brotherhood-aligned judge in Egypt, posed for a picture while at Foggy Bottom in which he held up the Islamic group’s notorious four-finger Rabia symbol, according to his Facebook page. That delegation member, Waleed Sharaby, is a secretary-general of the Egyptian Revolutionary Council and a spokesman for...

Editor's Note: This column was coauthored by Bob Morrison. President Obama's choice to be Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) was approved by the Senate on a vote of 63-34, with thirteen Republicans voting to confirm him. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) created quite a stir with his 13-hour filibuster against the Brennan nomination. Not until he received written assurances from Attorney General Eric Holder that U.S. citizens would not be targeted for killing by drones on U.S. soil would the doughty Kentuckian stand down. Good for him. John Brennan then proceeded to take the Oath of Office, as administered by Vice...

The Obama regime official story about the events that transpired on 9/11/12 continues to unravel, and despite Jay Carney's insistence that it was "a long time ago" facts keep crawling out from under the rubble of the consulate. Testimony of those involved directly with the Benghazi disaster conflicts sharply with the position of the Obama regime. A stand down orderThe Obama regime has repeatedly denied that a stand down order was issued but the No. 2 Libya embassy official disputes it. The deputy of slain U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens has told congressional investigators that a team of Special Forces prepared...

Panetta being questioned by Congress regarding Benghzi.

Up to 50-80% of all guns in circulation could be covered Press reports now make it clear what Vice President Joe Biden’s gun control package will look like. Biden wants to impose: * A Feinstein-like semi-auto ban which, according to experts who have done the counting, could ban up to 50% of all long guns currently in circulation and up to 80% of all handguns. Incidentally, if you wanted to keep the AR-15 you currently have, you would have to have a 6-month FBI background check, be fingerprinted, and get a machine gun-type license. * The framework for national gun...

Federal authorities say a high-level Muslim Pentagon aide, who led a campaign to silence a Pentagon intelligence analyst for taking a hard line against Islam, is running an "influence operation" on behalf of U.S. Muslim groups fronting for the radical Muslim Brotherhood. Hesham H. Islam (left), Muslim aide to the deputy secretary of defense, with Muslim military chaplain Abuhena M. Saifulislam (right) Hesham H. Islam, a special assistant to deputy Defense secretary Gordon England, recently criticized Maj. Stephen Coughlin, one of the military's leading authorities on Islamic war doctrine, for making the connection between the religion of Islam and terrorism....

TAMPA — The emails were anguished, pleading and sent straight to the mayor. "Bob, hope all is well," Jill Kelley wrote at 5:57 a.m. Tuesday to Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, whom she knows socially. What came next offers a glimpse into Kelley's state of mind as a national scandal blew up in her front yard. "My kids are scared, and need their 'home' back," she wrote, asking for help with "paparazzi" at her Bayshore Boulevard mansion. At 6:18 a.m. Wednesday, she emailed again. "Dear Mayor Bob," she wrote, saying that her name, along with those of former CIA director David...