Report: Mainstream media is ignoring this massive scandal building around Debbie Wasserman Schultz

The mainstream media has largely ignored the growing scandal surrounding Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and a former aide, according to a new report.

Imran Awan, an IT aide who worked for Wasserman Schultz's congressional office, was arrested last week on bank fraud charges. The FBI and Capitol Police arrested him as he attempted to board a flight at Dulles International Airport back to his home country of Pakistan, where his wife and three children have been living since March.

Investigators accuse Awan and his wife, Hina Alvi, of attempting to commit bank fraud by misrepresenting themselves on a loan application for a rental property they had. According to the criminal complaint against them, Awan and Alvi had plans to wire the proceeds to people in Pakistan, CNN reports.

Awan worked for a number of congressional offices, but was fired from most of them earlier this year after he and several of his colleagues were accused stealing equipment. However, Wasserman Schultz's office kept Awan on the payroll up until his arrest last week.

The story took another turn last week after it was revealed the FBI had recovered smashed hard drives from Awan's home. The contents of those computer drives are not yet known.

However, unless you're a consumer of conservative-leaning news, you wouldn't know about the Awan story or the building scandal engulfing Wasserman Schultz and her campaign office.

Newsbusters reports that the major three news networks — ABC, NBC and CBS — which most Americans tune into to consume news, have largely ignored the story. However, Newsbusters notes that CBS's morning show, "This Morning," did cover the story last Wednesday, but for only 37 seconds. And when CBS reported on the story, they cited a Politico report instead of the Daily Caller, which has led in news media in the Awan story.

From Newsbusters:

ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today continued on Wednesday morning the liberal media’s attempts to help Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fl.) cover up the scandal involving now-fired I.T. staffer Imran Awan after his arrested Monday when he tried to flee the country.

After all three ignored the story until Wednesday, CBS This Morning arrived at the scene, albeit it with a 37-second news brief by co-host Gayle King that only scratched the surface on this scandal concerning Awan and his family.

In addition, the media watchdog site reports that the nation's largest newspapers are also largely ignoring the major story.

Often times, the newspapers and online news websites downplay the story by either giving it a negligent amount of coverage or not making it clear at first that Awan worked for Wasserman Schultz up until his arrest last week.

More from Newsbusters:

A quick Nexis search shows The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times have yet to report it, while The Washington Post and USA Today just reported smaller stories in Thursday’s papers. The Post offered 429 words on page B-3, and USA Today reported just 323 words on page B-6. At least that was the back page of the B-section and included a photo of Wasserman Schultz.

Still, both headlines avoided the D-word. The USA Today headline was “IT Worker for Congresswoman Arrested.” The Washington Post headline was “House staffer charged with equity-loan fraud.” As Tom Blumer noted, the AP covered this story. One headline was especially galling: “Florida lawmaker fires IT staffer; Anti-Muslim bigotry is cause of client's arrest, lawyer says.”

So far, Awan has denied any wrongdoing. His attorney last week said the criminal charges against Awan are politically motivated "anti-Muslim bigotry."