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<\/a><\/p>\nAnthony Man
\nSun Sentinel<\/p>\n
Congresswoman\u00a0Debbie Wasserman Schultz<\/a>\u00a0defiantly stands by her decision to keep an information technology aide on her payroll for six months after he was banned from the House network and fired by other members of\u00a0Congress<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that I did the right thing, and I would do it again,\u201d Wasserman Schultz said Thursday in an exclusive interview with the Sun Sentinel. \u201cThere are times when you can\u2019t be afraid to stand alone, and you have to stand up for what\u2019s right.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would have been easier for me to just fire him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The Weston Democrat did fire Imran Awan last week\u00a0after he was arrested on bank fraud charges<\/a>\u00a0at an airport while trying to leave the country.<\/p>\n As the former Democratic National Committee chairwoman, Wasserman Schultz is the most prominent Democrat who employed Awan.\u00a0Her decision to keep employing Awan has been under fire\u00a0<\/a>from her Democratic primary challenger, Republicans and multiple conservative websites. They\u2019ve suggested Wasserman Schultz is hiding something and the Awan matter is much more serious than she\u2019s letting on.<\/p>\n His arrest, the congresswoman said, had nothing to do with the months-long investigation of Awan as an IT worker for a variety of members of Congress.\u00a0An FBI affidavit filed with the criminal complaint\u00a0<\/a>said Awan and his wife claimed a property used to secure a home equity line of credit was a \u201cprincipal residence,\u201d when it was, in fact, a rental property. Wasserman Schultz said there still hasn\u2019t been any evidence presented that he\u2019s done anything wrong involving his work for Congress.<\/p>\n