When long-time Hillary Clinton aide and confidant Huma Abedin came under fire in 2012 for alleged links to a radical Islamic group, the legendary Clinton damage-control squad sprang into action, with one member of the unofficial team telling another, “We don’t f*ck around when it comes to Huma.”
Abedin is once again in the spotlight less than two weeks away from election day. FBI director James Comey informed Congress Friday that his agency was actively investigating newly discovered emails involving possibly classified information on devices recovered from Abedin and her estranged husband Anthony Weiner. In the past, Hillary Clinton’s inner circle has dependably risen to not only Clinton’s defense, but Abedin’s defense, as well.
In July 2012, Karen Finney, a member of Hillary Clinton’s current campaign staff who has worked on and off for Clinton since 1992, emailed Cheryl Mills, one of Clinton’s closest aides, about Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann’s statements linking Huma Abedin with the Muslim Brotherhood. (At the time, Finney was an independent political consultant and political analyst for MSNBC and Mills was Clinton’s chief of staff at the state department. Abedin was Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, while at the same time working as a paid consultant, including for the Clinton Foundation.)
Finney told Mills that she found Bachmann’s claims “truly disgusting” and that she (Finney) was “checking in to see how I can help push back… Happy to weigh in or help in any way.”
Philippe Reines, another long-time Clinton aide and then-deputy assistant secretary of state under Clinton, replied to Finney’s email which had been forwarded to him by Mills. (Both Finney and Reines have reputations for being fierce and at times profane defenders of Hillary Clinton.)
Reines urged Finney to “open up” on “this poor excuse for a Representative” (Bachmann) “as you [Finney] find yourself on air.” Reines’s full response is here [emphasis added]:
Reines then sent Finney a link to a statement by Sen. John McCain defending Abedin against Bachmann’s assertions. Finney replied that McCain’s statement was “very impressive.” At this point, Reines replied succinctly if crudely, “We don’t f*ck around when it comes to Huma.” This ended the email chain, at least insofar as it is preserved in the Freedom of Information Act release by the state department.
However, the work of the damage-control team continued. Five days after the email exchange with Reines, Finney published at piece at the Hill entitled “Punish Bachmann.” Finney did not disclose her contact with Reines or other members of Clinton’s team to coordinate the Bachmann response, simply described as “political analyst for MSNBC and Democratic consultant, and co-host of POTUS/Sirius XM’s ‘The Flaks'” in a short bio accompanying the piece. Finney was still going after Bachmann almost a year later when Bachmann retired from Congress.
For his part, Phillipe Reines was quoted in the press as making very similar comments to those he made in his email to Finney, that Bachmann’s comments were “vicious and disgusting lies, and anyone who traffics in them should be ashamed of themselves.”
In this election cycle, Finney is back on Clinton’s official team serving as a spokesperson. While Reines now runs his own international security advisory firm, Beacon Global Strategies, he has made at least one recent campaign appearance with Clinton, Saturday in Florida. At this point, however, neither Finney nor Clinton have commented on or defended Abedin in her current troubles. It may be that even the infamous Clinton damage-control team has its limits.
