Hillary Clinton’s Top Aide, Huma Abedin, Highlighted In ‘Weiner’ Documentary

Huma Abedin is not nearly as well known for herself as she is for those with whom she associates herself. She is former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s special aide, and she is the wife of disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner, who is the subject of a just-released documentary that tells of his failed run for mayor of New York City.

What the movie ‘Weiner’ tells us about Huma Abedin, by @ktumulty https://t.co/f185ZuB6PW

— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) June 2, 2016

As the Washington Post notes, the documentary, Weiner, has a lot to say about Abedin, especially how she has handled both of her husband’s indiscretions and serving as Clinton’s go-to person as she runs for president of the United States.

“It was astonishing for Abedin to have allowed such a film as ‘Weiner’ to be made at all — much less to put a high-definition, close-up lens to the most humiliating chapter of her life,” the Post stated. “The filmmakers… open windows on a strained partnership that is being held together but appears a long way from healing.”

The irony of Weiner, the Post noted, is how much Huma Abedin’s life mirrors that of Clinton’s. Both Abedin and Clinton are married to very high-profile politicians whose sexual exploits got them into trouble, so much so that more media attention came to be focused on them rather than their husbands.

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Weiner debuted in January at the Sundance Film Festival and began appearing in theaters on May 27. As such, the timing could hardly be worse for Abedin. As the Post reports, this comes “at a moment when Clinton appears poised to become the first woman to win a major party’s presidential nomination. Abedin comes off as the oldest stereotype in politics: the suffering, ornamental spouse.”

Huma Abedin: Her Background, And Meeting Anthony Weiner

Huma Abedin, 39, was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to an Indian mother and a Pakistani father. According to a 2013 profile in New York Times Magazine, she went with her parents to Saudi Arabia when she was 2, then returned to the United States to attend college at George Washington University.

While there, she got an internship with then-First Lady Hillary Clinton in 1996, which began their long association.

In 2000, Abedin served on Clinton’s successful campaign to become the U.S. Senator from New York. The following year, she met Weiner, then a Democratic Congressman from New York City, for the first time. He took Abedin out for a drink, which did not go well. But over the next six years, Abedin and Weiner would run into each other several times.

In 2007, the Times stated that Weiner became a Clinton surrogate as she ran for president.

When asked why he was campaigning for her, Weiner told the Times, “It’s largely because I’m dating Huma.”

Abedin and Weiner married in 2009, and as the New York Daily News reported, former president Bill Clinton performed the ceremony.

But in 2011, Weiner was forced to resign due to a “sexting” scandal. As Fox News reported, “his departing speech left the door open for a comeback.”

Weiner Runs For Mayor With Abedin’s Help

Sure enough, Weiner attempted a comeback in 2013 by running for mayor of New York City.

Abedin publicly stated, “I love him, I have forgiven him, I believe in him,” according to the Daily News.

Abedin encouraged him to make a political comeback, Weiner said.

“She was very eager to get her life back that I had taken from her, to clean up the mess I had made, and running for mayor was the straightest line to do it,” he said in Weiner.

When campaigning for her husband, the Post said that Abedin “worked the contacts she had made through the Clintons and leveraged the expectations of the role she would have in a future Clinton administration” to get campaign donations.

But Weiner’s comeback was short-lived. As the Post reported, it was revealed that he had returned to sexting, using the pseudonym “Carlos Danger.” He dropped out shortly thereafter.

After dropping out of the mayoral race, Weiner went “from disgraced lawmaker to in-demand strategic consultant,” according to the Times.

Meanwhile, Huma Abedin continues to serve in her role as a top advisor to Hillary Clinton.

[Photo by Andrew Theodorakis/Getty Images]