Huma Abedin, former deputy chief of staff to Hillary Clinton at the State Department, faced a delay in obtaining a controversial employment status that allowed her to work for the Clinton Foundation and a Clinton-linked consulting firm after she and her husband failed to provide details of their financial holdings.
Abedin’s husband is former Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y. The consulting firm is Teneo Strategies.
Internal emails from State Department officials indicate Abedin had yet to provide information about her family’s finances days after she was supposed to transition into her new role as a “special government employee” in June 2012.
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One State Department official expressed concern that Abedin had omitted information about her family’s income sources off a form that was to be published online.
The documents, which were obtained by the conservative nonprofit Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act, included a copy of a financial disclosure form filed by Weiner and Abedin’s security clearance form. The latter indicated the State Department renewed Abedin’s “top secret” clearance before she was granted her special employee status, despite the fact that she would now be receiving income from two private organizations that worked directly or indirectly with the agency under Clinton.
A human resources official signed off on Abedin’s top secret clearance in March 2012, months before she provided the final details of her family’s financial situation.
The financial disclosure documents reveal Weiner’s only “earned” income was Abedin’s State Department salary and an $850 payment to appear on Bill Maher’s HBO show in 2011, which he donated to charity. The rest of the former congressman’s income appeared to come from stakes in various corporations.
“[I]s there any obligation to report MY income or sources?” Weiner asked his wife in a June 4, 2012 email, as Abedin attempted to sort out the discrepancies in her disclosure forms.
The new records came as Abedin sat for a closed-door interview with the House Select Committee on Benghazi Friday.
While her employment status at the State Department has been a concern to Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Charles Grassley, committee aides said the subject would not come up in Friday’s interview because it falls outside the scope of the investigation.
Clinton’s campaign lashed out at the Benghazi committee ahead of Abedin’s appearance, claiming its focus on the Clinton aide was evidence of its political focus.
