[08-01-2017] WTAG – Craig Peterson

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Transcript

WTAG_2017-08-01_The-Debbie-Wasserman-Schultz-Computer-Story-is-Unbelievable

Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.

Airing date: 08/01/2017

The Debbie Wasserman Schultz Computer Story is Unbelievable

Jim Polito: Here he is. This guy is the best. He’s our friend, Craig Peterson. He’s the Tech Talk guru. He is the guy we go to all the time when we need an answer in technology. And whether it be something as simple as what we’ve talked about last week which was how to stop these damn robocalls from coming into your phone or something as complex as this week which is the Democrats. And IT professionals from Pakistan trying to sneak out of the country after smashing equipment. Well, here he is now with the technology and political intrigue. Our good friend, Craig Peterson. Good morning sir.

Craig Peterson: Hey, good morning Jim. By the way, I did get those documents put together on the robocalls after we talked on Tuesday.

Jim: Ok.

Craig: So I have that all up on the website. All of the apps that you might want to use and how to save yourself from the 2.5 million robocalls per month.

Jim: Yeah.

Craig: So I did get it done as promised.

Jim: Yeah. I know that you did. And at the end of this segment folks, we are going to give you a number that you can text my name to. Standard data and text rates apply. But then you’ll get on Craig Peterson’s list, which is a good thing. It’s not like being on a robocall list. It’s a good thing because Craig Peterson sends you the information we talked about during this segment. He also gives you updates when there’s security breaches, there’s problems. He doesn’t sell your name and your number and he doesn’t annoy you with incessant messages. But let’s talk about this. Why don’t you lay out the story? We had some Pakistanis, I think most of them were foreign-born, and they had a contract with the Democrats, and with the Democrats in Congress, to handle their IT. Is that enough of a stepping off point to give it to you, Craig?

Craig: Yeah. It’s kind of interesting because, you know, you were talking about Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the other Wasserman in DC. This is a huge deal because she, of course, was head of the DNC, the Democrat National Committee.

Jim: Right.

Craig: And she, as the head, had access to all kinds of confidential information. And she, of course, needed IT support, who doesn’t, right?

Jim: Right.

Craig: I’ve talked to over 5,000 companies with IT support. So she went out and she found someone, or I’m not sure if they approached her. But he had just lost his job at McDonalds.

Jim: Wait, wait. Hold on. Hold on. Nothing against McDonalds. It’s a great place. Nice people working there most of the time. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the head of the Democrat Party, went to hire someone to do her IT and she went to McDonalds.

Craig: She might’ve met him there. I don’t know. It’s unclear at this point.

Jim: Craig, you worked for 5,000 companies. People hired you from McDonalds? Is that how they got to you? That’s insanity.

Craig: There are about 1.5 million open IT security jobs right now so maybe if you can’t find a true professional, maybe McDonalds is the place to go.

Jim: You know what, that would be like hiring me to be your IT professional. But go ahead. It’s intriguing already.

Craig: So she thought it would be really worthwhile to, you know, he’s used to a wage from McDonalds. So she paid this guy and his immediate family members only, you know, she wanted to keep the pay low. She only paid them 4 million dollars.

Jim: Oh my God.

Craig: Ok. So, you know, he was working at MMcDonald’s so I understand. You wouldn’t want to pay them a whole lot of money.

Jim: Right, right. You want to keep it around minimum wage.

Craig: He doesn’t necessarily have the skills. Yeah. He doesn’t necessarily have the skillset. And, you know, he’s just a great guy. You know, you want to help foreign-born people. That’s what it is, ok?

Jim: Ok. Yup.

Craig: So she hires this guy who has no, nothing anyone seems to be able to find. No experience online other than he had just been fired from McDonald’s.

Jim: Ok. That doesn’t sound shady, but that’s ok.

Craig: It doesn’t at all.

Jim: That is not shady.

Craig: He’s living in a house there in the Washington, DC area. And he’s there with his wife and kids and turns out with, well, a few other family members in the same house.

Jim: Same house. Everybody together. Good, good.

Craig: Everybody together. And they’re really struggling to make ends meet because you know, 4 million dollars just doesn’t go that. And it wasn’t just one year, it was you know, a few years. Across those few years.

Jim: Yeah. So all that money between those people. Yeah. I can see that can be a problem.

Craig: It was tough. And so they really were struggling, which is actually kind of a curious thing because I know if they had paid me 4 million dollars, not only will they have the problems they haven’t gotten to yet over the DNC and elsewhere, but I probably would have had a decent house and so would have my sister-in-law, my brothers, etcetera, right?

Jim: Yeah. You would have. Yeah. You’re a sharing and caring person.

Craig: So according to what I’ve read here, some of the people that they were supporting because remember, he was supporting Congresswoman from Florida as well as the head of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s computer systems.

Jim: Yeah.

Craig: As well as a number of other Democrats including some democrats who had been heads of committees with access to secret government information. Now I don’t know about you, but you know, these companies that I do work turns out that in order for me to like maintain the emails, their file servers and everything else, I kind of have to have access to the computers, right? So it turns out, he had full access to all of these computers but apparently, he rarely touched them. And neither did his other family members. They hired another guy who seemed to be the only person who ever show up at these congress people’s offices to actually work on the computers. So they hired someone else. They were supposedly taking care of computers. He sent his wife back to Pakistan in the spring of this year, along with his kids. He wired money over, according to the reports coming out of the FBI. His wife left the country with $12,000 in cash. And apparently they stopped her, but they let her go anyways. He tried to flee the country, is the wording I’m seeing, just this last week. And they stopped him at the airport and put him under arrest at that point in time. He also had $12,000 cash on him. And so the FBI goes to this guy’s house. They find what appeared to be federal government computers, you know, based on serial numbers and things there, that someone has taken a hammer to, which is sounds kind of like the Clintons, but that’s a different story.

Jim: Yeah.

Craig: And they also found all kinds of toner, which is rather expensive there, that apparently was also owned by the federal government. So now, all of these problems are happening. FBI is investigating. FBI seized these equipment. They got this guy. He apparently had also potentially here, it’s alleged, been giving information to Iran and other foreign countries. Remember…

Jim: Oh my God.

Craig: He had access to everything, right? And so now, Debbie Wasserman Schultz is screaming at the top of her lungs, demanding that the FBI give her back these equipment that they seized in this investigation at this guy’s house. She wants it back and she wants it back now. Now I know if you’re under investigation by the FBI, you’d probably do the same thing. And I’m sure they’d give it back to us. But Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, they’re not giving her back her equipment. And so she’s screaming she wants it back. These are the same Democrats that fell for, of course, one of these pieces of spam email.

Jim: Yeah.

Craig: And Podesta let all his email out. These are the same Democrats that hired this family and paid them 4 million dollars to maintain computers that have no visible experience with computers. And after… she knew. She’d been informed that her IT staff is being investigated because of probable leaking as well as other federal crimes apparently. Even after she’d been informed about all of that, she refused to let them go and she continued to have them work for her. And now she’s demanding the FBI return the stuff.

Jim: Craig, this is insanity and here’s why. You’re talking about.

Craig: This is top of the news, right? I’ve been watching the posts, aren’t they reporting on this?

Jim: No. The Washington Post is now reporting some stupid thing whether there are anonymous source again about Russia that doesn’t amount to a pile of moose dung. And meanwhile, this is a huge story. My Tech Talk guy, who’s not a political consultant, who’s the Tech Talk guy, is telling us the story. Folks, you can’t make this stuff up. Craig, we’re unfortunately up against it but you have this story plus a whole bunch of other stuff including what you talked about in terms of protecting yourself against robocalls on your cellphone. If people text my name, Jim, to this number, go ahead Craig.

Craig: 855-385-5553. That’s 855-385-5553.

Jim: Just text my name, Jim, to that number. You’ll get all of these information. You will not be pestered. You will not get robocalls. Your number will not be sold. But you will have to deal with the standard data and text rates because they apply. Craig, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it.

Craig: Ok Jim, take care.

Jim: You too.

Craig: Got to love that guy. Also if you are interested in finding out a little bit more, look in the show notes right there in the podcast. I’ve got links to all of the articles we talked about today. Have a great day. Visit online, http://CraigPeterson.com.

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Show Notes

Joined Jim Polito for another Tuesday of technology updates.

Talked about how to block Robocalls on both iOS and Android, with my personal recommendations. Also, we have discussed more on the IT aide who was arrested after transferring $300K to Pakistan from the House Office.

More tech and security news only on CraigPeterson.com.

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