U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who was chair of the Democratic National Committee at the time sensitive internal communications were leaked to WikiLeaks and later published ahead of the 2016 Democratic National Convention, has a troubling history with computer network security.
Now, according to video discovered by The Daily Caller News Foundation as it continues to investigate the story of four Democratic House IT staffers who are accused of stealing data from the House network, it seems she’s more than willing to admit she’s broken network security rules “for years.” The admission came during a House Appropriations Legislative Subcommittee hearing last month.
“I am more than happy to admit that I use Dropbox,” she said. “I have used it for years and years and years. It is not blocked. I am fully able to use it.”
The mindblowing part is who she blames for the violation, which creates a network-wide security vulnerability. No, she doesn’t blame herself. Nor does she blame her former IT staffers, who remain under Capitol Police investigation for possibly stealing classified data from that very network.
No, she blames the House network administrators for not telling her directly that she can’t use Dropbox or other outside applications—even though they informed her own IT staffers with the intent that they would share this useful information with her and the rest of her staff. The exchange took place the day before she grilled Capitol Police Chief Matthew Verderosa, threatening “consequences”—implying a loss of funding—if a laptop being held as evidence in the investigation of her former IT staffers was not returned.
You can see Wasserman Schultz’s admission of using Dropbox in violation of House IT rules during the hearing in the video clip above. In the clip below, you can see her blaming House computer network administrators for her violations of the rules.
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