When Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner got caught tweeting foul sexual pictures to female followers, it was an embarassment for House Democrats (who drummed him out of office), but also to Hillaryworld — Weiner’s wife is Clinton confidant Huma Abedin.
Hillary apparently wanted to be kept abreast of Weiner developments, as tope aide Cheryl Mills forwarded her all the major developments of his scandal.
Beginning with a June 8 Washington Post story about pressure on Weiner to resign, Mills forwarded Clinton a handful of articles and press releases.
Clinton’s one response was partially redacted. When Mills forwarded Nancy Pelosi’s announcement calling on Weiner to resign, Clinton responded “I just sent to you. [REDACTED].”
The only commentary provided by Clinton’s aides came in the final email on the topic, sending along a Politico story. The email subject line included the note “See Doug Reference.” That referred to longtime Clinton operative Doug Band. The Politico piece included this passage:
Abedin, reportedly watched his first news conference — in which he acknowledged sending sexually charged text messages and photographs to six women over three years — with her best friend, Doug Band.
Band, the longtime top aide to President Bill Clinton, and his wife served as counselors to Abedin as the scandal unfolded, despite what was described as revulsion with her husband for what he’d done. Abedin returned from a trip to Africa with her boss, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday. It’s not yet clear what effect she had on his decision to step down.
The Clintons, who consider Abedin a “second daughter,” made clear their disgust with Weiner. But they also articulated clear support for his wife, while not engaging the congressman on what he should do (a report that the former president urged Weiner to leave office, sources said, was untrue).
“They are livid,” said one source affiliated with Hillary Clinton.
Timothy P. Carney, The Washington Examiner’s senior political columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]. His column appears Tuesday and Thursday nights on washingtonexaminer.com.
