KIMBERLEY STRASSEL: The Scandal That Matters:

Imran Awan was arrested at Dulles International Airport July 24, while attempting to board a flight to Pakistan. For more than a decade the congressional staffer had worked under top House Democrats, and he had just been accused by the FBI of bank fraud.

It was a dramatic moment in a saga that started in February, when Capitol Police confirmed an investigation into Mr. Awan and his family on separate accusations of government theft. The details are tantalizing: The family all worked for top Democrats, were paid huge sums, and had access to sensitive congressional data, even while having ties to Pakistan.

The media largely has ignored the affair, the ho-hum coverage summed up by a New York Times piece suggesting it may be nothing more than an “overblown Washington story, typical of midsummer.” But even without evidence of espionage or blackmail, this ought to be an enormous scandal.

Because based on what we already know, the Awan story is—at the very least—a tale of massive government incompetence that seemingly allowed a family of accused swindlers to bilk federal taxpayers out of millions and even put national secrets at risk. In a more accountable world, House Democrats would be forced to step down. . . .

Imran Awan has pleaded not guilty to bank fraud. The law office representing him issued a statement casting the investigation as “part of a frenzy of anti-Muslim bigotry in the literal heart of our democracy.” It calls the accusations “utterly unsupported, outlandish, and slanderous.”

Yes, it is weird that Ms. Wasserman Schultz continued to shield Imran Awan to the end. Yes, the amounts of money, and the ties to Pakistan, are strange. Yes, it is alarming that emails show Imran Awan knew Ms. Wasserman Schultz’s iPad password, and that the family might have had wider access to the accounts of lawmakers on the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees.

Yet even if this never adds up to a spy thriller, it outranks most of the media’s other obsessions. The government, under the inattentive care of Democrats, may have been bilked for ages by a man the FBI has alleged to be a fraudster. That’s the same government Democrats say is qualified to run your health care, reform your children’s schools, and protect the environment. They should explain this first.

Well, Debbie’s started her modified limited hangout today.

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO… NOT TO DO ANY OF THAT: Married teacher, mom, 31, surrenders to police amid accusations of sex with four teen boy students.

IT TOOK HER THIS LONG TO GET HER STORY STRAIGHT: Exclusive: Wasserman Schultz talks about arrested aide Imran Awan.

“I believe that I did the right thing, and I would do it again,” Wasserman Schultz said Thursday in an exclusive interview with the Sun Sentinel. “There are times when you can’t be afraid to stand alone, and you have to stand up for what’s right.

“It would have been easier for me to just fire him,” she said.

So her defense is going to be I was boldly standing up against Islamophobia. Or something.

DEEP STATE UPDATE: Even Trump critics say latest leaks go too far.

Even critics of President Trump seem to agree: The leakers have gone too far.

Many in Washington are expressing alarm that the transcripts of Trump’s phone calls with foreign leaders were leaked to The Washington Post, warning that the action could undermine the U.S. government and imperil national security.

“This is beyond the pale and will have a chilling effect going forward on the ability of the commander in chief to have candid discussions with his counterparts,” Ned Price, a former National Security Council official under President Barack Obama, told The Hill. . . .

The Post on Thursday printed the entire transcripts of Trump’s private phone calls with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Many in the media and on the left have celebrated the torrent of leaks — some involving classified information — that have bedeviled the Trump administration since taking office.

But Thursday’s revelation went too for some Democrats, who warned that the release of the president’s private conversations with foreign leaders is a bridge too far.

“Leaks of sensitive or classified information damages our national security,” Michael McFaul, who served as Russian ambassador under Obama, told The Hill.

That sentiment was echoed by Obama’s former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor, who took a dig at Trump over Twitter but nonetheless said he’d have been mortified to see such a leak happen to his former boss.

The leakers should be found and tried, and the Post shouldn’t have published the leaks, which served no purpose except politics. Those involved should be subpoenaed for the identity of the leakers, and jailed if they refuse to identify them. Journalists, remember, have no special privilege to refuse a subpoena.

KIMBERLY STRASSEL: The Scandal That Matters.

Imran Awan was arrested at Dulles International Airport July 24, while attempting to board a flight to Pakistan. For more than a decade the congressional staffer had worked under top House Democrats, and he had just been accused by the FBI of bank fraud.

It was a dramatic moment in a saga that started in February, when Capitol Police confirmed an investigation into Mr. Awan and his family on separate accusations of government theft. The details are tantalizing: The family all worked for top Democrats, were paid huge sums, and had access to sensitive congressional data, even while having ties to Pakistan.

The media largely has ignored the affair, the ho-hum coverage summed up by a New York Times piece suggesting it may be nothing more than an “overblown Washington story, typical of midsummer.” But even without evidence of espionage or blackmail, this ought to be an enormous scandal.

Because based on what we already know, the Awan story is—at the very least—a tale of massive government incompetence that seemingly allowed a family of accused swindlers to bilk federal taxpayers out of millions and even put national secrets at risk. In a more accountable world, House Democrats would be forced to step down.

Well, it isn’t like Awan or Wasserman-Schultz ever tweeted something nice about Vladimir Putin.

ANALYSIS TRUE. SO VERY, VERY TRUE: Employing People in California Really is Harder.

SHOW ME THE MAN… Mueller Moves Forward with D.C. Grand Jury as Senators Try to Protect Special Counsel.

NEW HORIZONS IN ABA HACKERY: Without Any Transparency In The Process, ABA Legal Ed Council Approves Changes To Employment Report And Classification Of Law-School-Funded Positions That Erode Transparency.

THINGS ARE STIRRING IN SPACE LAW:A Cornucopia at the Federal Register Last Week: New Executive Order on Manufacturing Base, Virgin’s LauncherOne, and NASA Contract Term.

THOSE WACKY GERMANS! Organic What?!?

THE LAST TIME I HEARD ANYONE BLAMING A WOMAN FOR BEING RAPED BECAUSE OF THE CLOTHES SHE WAS WEARING: Was… an Islamist claiming uncovered women were like uncovered cat meat or something.  This hasn’t been deployed in western society since I was a little kid. But nice straw rapist that woman totally destroyed. Rape culture?

I’M SO OLD THAT I REMEMBER WHEN THERE WAS MUSIC ON MTV: MTV’s Iconic ‘Moonman’ Trophy Is Now a Genderless ‘Moon Person’.

YAY FOR BULLDOGS: Stephen Miller found his calling early .

HISTORY SHOWS REVOLUTION HAPPENS WHEN THE OPPRESSION EASES UP: Misery Doesn’t Cause Revolution.

DELUSIONAL: House Dem: Rubio and Cruz Wouldn’t be Senators Under Green Card Reform Bill Standards.

FANTASY, MEET REALITY: Commercial Crabber Of 50 Years Tells Gore Sea Level Hasn’t Changed Since At Least 1970.

RESEARCHERS BAFFLED BY UNEXPECTED RESULTS: Boys who watch porn are more likely to become misogynists.

NOTHING TO SNEEZE AT: This might be the end of the common cold as we know it.

I’M HOLDING OUT FOR THE ALL-BLACK MODEL:Special forces test out ‘Boba Fett’ combat helmet .

ACTUALLY, THE MASK OFFICIALLY CAME OFF IN 2008*; ACOSTA IS SIMPLY CONFIRMING THEIR BIAS: Acosta Pulls the Media’s Mask Off; cements the media’s reputation as the opposition party.

* It’s been off for quite a long time before that of course.

HELPFUL CONTEXT FOR TRUMP’S RALLY FROM STUART ROTHENBERG, SENIOR EDITOR AT INSIDE ELECTIONS: West Virginians are angry, easily misled, lots don’t speak English.

“This makes me so sad — this is exactly how folks from WV think the cosmopolitan class views them & then they prove it,” Salena Zito, who grew up in the West Virginia region, tweets in response. “They hate you. Remember that,” Kurt Schlichter adds.

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Plus, summer savings in Sports and Outdoors.

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS NOBODY IS ASKING:

● Shot: “Dallas Cowboys: Why did Cowboys sign Luke McCown over Colin Kaepernick?”

—The Dallas Morning News, July 29th.

● Chaser: “Colin Kaepernick’s reported girlfriend tweeted out pictures Wednesday that appear to compare Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti and Ray Lewis to a slave owner and slave.”

—Baltimore CBS affiliate WJZ-TV, today.

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FRAUD: RMV clerks nabbed in fake ID bust: In all, six accused of plot selling licenses to illegal immigrants.

Four state Registry of Motor Vehicle clerks and two other people have been charged with conspiring to help illegal immigrants get false identifications — some of which were used to register to vote in Boston — in a blockbuster bust that state officials call “troubling and intolerable.”

The clerks, who were employees at the RMV’s bustling Haymarket Service Center, have been placed on administrative leave without pay pending further review. All six were arrested yesterday and made their initial appearances at Boston’s federal courthouse. . . .

Medina, Gracia, Jordan, and Brimage were employed as clerks at the Haymarket Registry of Motor Vehicles, according to authorities. Brea and Flako, meanwhile, conspired with the RMV clerks to operate the scheme, federal prosecutors say.

Flako, who according to authorities is an illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic, was the only person held after yesterday’s hearing. When he was arrested, he had a fake green card, according to prosecutors. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a detainer on Flako, according to federal authorities.

“His role in the scheme caused a number of false Massachusetts identifications and licenses to be issued, as well as false voter registrations,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugenia M. Carris. “His role was the document dealer.”

I wonder how common this is? My guess is, pretty common.