A statement Donald Trump made nearly two months ago attracted fresh attention on Friday following a report that the FBI is investigating whether disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., gained access to classified information through his wife, Huma Abedin, a top aide to Hillary Clinton.
“Huma is making a very wise decision,” said Trump in a statement on Aug. 29, shortly after Abedin announcer her separation from Weiner. The failed mayoral candidate had been caught exchanging explicit messages with a 15-year-old girl.
“I only worry for the country in that Hillary Clinton was careless and negligent in allowing Weiner to have such close proximity to highly classified information,” he added. “Who knows what he learned and who he told?”
Journalists and Trump supporters were quick to recall that comment, after the FBI said Friday it was investigating whether Trump’s hypothetical scenario actually did play out as Trump predicted.
Trump, in July: “I don’t like Huma going home at night and telling Anthony Weiner all of these secrets.” https://t.co/qICt22PfzM
— ryan teague beckwith (@ryanbeckwith) October 28, 2016
Trump on Weiner (back in July before Huma Abedin and Weiner separated) pic.twitter.com/GItJHH9hVr
— Ashley Killough (@KilloughCNN) October 28, 2016
#tbt the first time Trump attacked Weiner at a campaign event was August 2015 https://t.co/YwGn1YnZUu
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) October 28, 2016
After the bombshell report about the FBI’s reopened investigation first emerged Friday afternoon, the New York Times reported that the “new emails” that have led investigators to take a second look at the case were discovered on devices seized from Abedin and Weiner’s home during a separate investigation into Weiner’s alleged sexting with a minor.
Comey, in a letter to eight Republican congressional committee chairs, did not clarify what emails led him to revisit the Clinton case. He said only that investigators had recently briefed him on “the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation.”
“And I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information,” Comey wrote.
Trump told a crowd in New Hampshire on Friday he hopes the FBI will “right the ship” after the agency declined to indict Clinton in July, citing insufficient evidence of criminal intent.
