Thursday, June 2, 2011

Huma Abedin Weiner Calm Amid Twittergate

New York's Jewish-American Congressman Anthony Weiner's scandal has brought unwanted attention to his wife Huma Abedin, a 34 year-old Michigan-born Muslim-American woman with an Indian-American father and a Pakistani-American mother. The Congressman is alleged to have sent a lewd photo of his crotch from his Twitter account to a 21-year-old female student in Seattle, Washington.



A graduate of George Washington University, Huma Abedin has been a close aide to Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton since 1996 when she was an intern in the White House and saw the Monica Lewinsky scandal from a front-row seat. President Bill Clinton officiated at her wedding in July 2010.

Abedin's father was of Indian descent and was an Iranian scholar who died when she was 17 years old, and her Pakistani born mother is currently a university professor in Saudi Arabia.



“Abedin has the energy of a woman in her 20s, the confidence of a woman in her 30s, the experience of a woman in her 40s, and the grace of a woman in her 50s,” Mrs. Clinton wrote in an email to Vogue Magazine which did Abedin's photo shoot in July 2007. “She is timeless, her combination of poise, kindness, and intelligence are matchless.”

As the American and the British tabloid and mainstream media appear to be having a field day covering the scandal, Abedin has returned to work as poised and unfaltering as ever, according to The Daily Mail.

Here is Anthony Weiner at a recent Congressional Correspondents Dinner proclaiming "I do the Weiner jokes around here":



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13 comments:

Bari said...

she should dump him and move on...

Mayraj said...

Weiner was stupid. Not a good example of political judgement!
I bet her mother must be turning her ears red about her choice of marital partner. I mean South Asians wouldn't be posting such pics! It is considered unseemly!

Mayraj said...

Miss Cordova thinks the package-hugging picture - which Mr Weiner 'can't say with certitude' isn't his - was meant for somebody else and landed in her Twitter account by mistake.
Until recently, the congressman followed stripper and porn actress Ginger Lee, 28, who openly gushes about her 'Mr. Sexy Congressman' on social-networking sites.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1393792/College-student-middle-Anthony-Weiner-storm-pleads-left-alone.html
Anthony Weiner cancels speaking engagement... as storm continues one week after lewd photo sent

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1393792/College-student-middle-Anthony-Weiner-storm-pleads-left-alone.html#ixzz1OHW7Xk8S

Riaz Haq said...

Here's a NY Post report on how Huma is coping with the scandal swirling around her husband:

She's standing by her man -- but that act seems to be wearing thin.

Rep. Anthony Weiner's humiliated wife sheepishly showed her face at a Washington event yesterday, keeping a stiff upper lip amid the swirling scandal surrounding her husband's tawdry Twitter photo.

Huma Abedin, 34, briefly hesitated at the State Department ballroom door before working up the courage to go in -- but she left after just five minutes and steered clear of her boss, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

While she put on a brave face inside the Beltway, her husband was busy weaseling out of a long-scheduled speaking engagement at last night's Wisconsin Democratic Convention.

"He told us this morning" that he was canceling his appearance, said Graeme Zelinski, spokesman for the state's Democratic Party. "My understanding is he's going to spend the weekend with his wife in New York."

It seems like a good call, as Abedin's wounds still looked fresh yesterday.

At first, she seemed to be a no-show at Clinton's morning event, where the secretary hosted a session of the Iraq Business Roundtable for companies including Caterpillar, FedEx, Microsoft, Citigroup and GE.

But shortly after the event began in the ornate Ben Franklin room, Abedin opened a door, peered into the room, then strode over to another Clinton aide 20 feet away from the secretary.

Wearing a black pant suit and a prominent pearl necklace, Abedin never cracked a smile and kept her distance from the former first lady. She ducked out long before the event finished.

Abedin wed Weiner, 46, last July in a ceremony conducted by former President Bill Clinton -- himself an expert on seedy political sex scandals.

She has kept a very low profile since it was revealed last week that a pretty young Washington state woman received a photo of an erect penis, covered by a pair of briefs, from Weiner's Twitter account.


Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/the_good_wife_gTbmLsA7ZPumS0RJQTUpAL#ixzz1OJuGxd9f

Anonymous said...

These poor women. It's one thing to be hurt and humiliated by your husband, but when it is in front of the whole world, it must be devastating. I'm for more women dumping these guys. The ladies deserve so much better. Best of luck to Huma.

Riaz Haq said...

Huma Abedin is pregnant, according to the NY Times:

Their marriage has become the subject of intense speculation and scrutiny amid an embarrassing online sex scandal.

Now, Representative Anthony D. Weiner and Huma Abedin are about to make news of a different kind: they are expecting their first child.

Ms. Abedin, 35, is in the early stages of pregnancy, according to three people with knowledge of the situation.

The pregnancy, which the couple have disclosed to close friends and family, adds a new dimension to questions about the future of their marriage.

Mr. Weiner, 46, has admitted to engaging in salacious online conversations with at least six women over the last few years, including an incident last month in which he sent a photograph of himself in underwear to a college student in Washington state. He apologized to his wife and declared that they have no intention of splitting up.

“We will weather this,” Mr. Weiner said on Monday, during his emotional news conference. “I love her very much, and she loves me.”

But Ms. Abedin, a longtime aide to Hillary Rodham Clinton, has remained silent about the topic as she keeps up a hectic schedule at the State Department.

Ms. Abedin returned to work this week and departed on Wednesday for a trip to northern Africa with Ms. Clinton.

A State Department spokesman declined to comment Wednesday afternoon.

Riaz Haq said...

Weiner has resigned his congressional seat, according to NY Times:

At last, there was a dignified moment in the decline and fall of Anthony Weiner.

Certainly there had been none in the New York Democrat’s personal behavior, his stalling and lying to his constituents, or the way he seemed to have misused his position to promote his online sex life. Neither was there any in the undisguised glee of his opponents, or the expediency that drove the reaction by his Democratic colleagues.

But Mr. Weiner was clear and direct at a Thursday afternoon news conference, packed with reporters and one exceedingly creepy heckler. He did not offer tedious “mistakes were made” evasions. “I’m here today to again apologize for the personal mistakes I have made and the embarrassment I have caused,” he said. “I make this apology to my neighbors and my constituents, but I make it particularly to my wife, Huma.” (She wisely avoided the excruciating loyal-wife-by-his-side appearance.)

There is no excuse for Mr. Weiner’s behavior, but it is worth noting the cynical way lawmakers from both houses and both parties piled on to demand his resignation. There were reports before Thursday that the Democrats might deprive him of his committee assignments in hopes of pushing him out of the House altogether.

Senator David Vitter was not pressured by fellow Republicans to resign after he was identified as a patron of a prostitution service. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t immediately take away Representative Charles Rangel’s chairmanship of the tax-writing committee after allegations of misuse of campaign donations and tax evasion that eventually led to his censure.

We would like to think lawmakers have learned something from those episodes. We fear it was just that Mr. Weiner’s offenses were particularly tabloid-worthy, his abrasive manner never won him many friends and the Democrats worried about losing his seat.

Riaz Haq said...

Here's NY Times blog post on McCain denouncing Congressional Islomophobes' attacks on American Muslims serving in Obama administration, including Huma Abedin based on her Muslim heritage:

Finally, today, on the floor of the Senate, he excoriated Rep. Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota Tea Partier, for her McCarthy-esque claims that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the government. He singled out attacks on a senior aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin.

To say that the accusations “are not substantiated by the evidence they offer is to be overly polite and diplomatic about it,” he said. “It is far better, and more accurate, to talk straight: These allegations about Huma Abedin, and the report from which they are drawn, are nothing less than an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable citizen, a dedicated American, and a loyal public servant.”


http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/whos-the-real-john-mccain/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/18/anderson-cooper-michele-bachmann-huma-abedin-muslims_n_1682281.html?utm_hp_ref=media

Riaz Haq said...

Here's a recent report on Anthony Weiner in trouble again:

New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, who resigned from Congress in 2011 after a sexting scandal, admitted Tuesday that his Internet shenanigans didn’t stop when he stepped down in disgrace.
Hours after a gossip website published raunchy texts and explicit photos it said were from 2012, Weiner held an extraordinary press conference — accompanied by his wife Huma Abedin, an aide to Hillary Clinton — to apologize and ask voters for a second chance.
"Some of these things happened before my resignation. Some of them happened after," Weiner said without providing any specifics.

And in her first public remarks on the scandal, a clearly nervous Abedin said it took “a lot of work and a whole lot of therapy” to put her marriage back together.
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"It was not an easy choice in any way but I made the decision that it was worth staying in this marriage,” she said. “I didn’t know how it would work out but I did know that I wanted to give it a try.
"I love him. I have forgiven him. I believe in him,” she added. “And, as we have said from the beginning, we are moving forward.”
--------
"The sideshows of this election have gotten in the way of the debate we should be having about the future of this city," said Bill de Blasio, one of his Democratic contenders. "And yes, I'm talking about Anthony Weiner. Enough is enough."
Weiner said he had no intention of calling it quits. He’s one of several politicians caught up in sex scandals who are mounting comebacks – including former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who is running for city comptroller five years after a romp with a prostitute was revealed.
With just 49 days to go before the Democratic primary in the mayoral race, Weiner said he was surprised “that more things didn’t come out sooner.”
He apologized several times to Abedin and to anyone he ever sexted, took full responsibility for the sexting and said he didn’t blame anyone for being “curious” about it.


http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/23/19640828-anthony-weiner-admits-sexting-continued-after-2011-resignation-from-congress?lite

Bari said...

something's wrong with his wife... to put up with this over & over. Maybe it's her lust for power - and she sees him as a path to that?

Riaz Haq said...

Bari: "something's wrong with his wife... to put up with this over & over. Maybe it's her lust for power - and she sees him as a path to that?"

Huma Abedin is Hillary Clinton's aide and she's following her boss's example...always stand by your man....even if he's a creep.

Riaz Haq said...

New Delhi, 19 July 2015: Her boss is leading in the race for next US president, so is she, but on another front. Daughter of alumnus and former lecturer of Aligarh Muslim University, Huma Abedin is the highest paid staffer in US presidential campaign as she takes home an annual salary of more than USD 277,000 from Hillary Clinton Campaign. Huma's mother was from Pakistan.

According to the latest quarterly financial figures submitted by the Clinton Campaign to Federal Election Commission this week, Huma Abedin was paid USD 69,263.09 in the first quarter. At this rate, her annual pay check is pegged at USD 2,77,052. John Podesta, the chairman of the Clinton campaign received only USD 3,586, while Robby Mook, the campaign manager, got USD 27,625; Jennifer Palmieri, the communications director, received USD 31,710 during the first quarter of the campaign.

Married to former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner, Huma is currently the vice chair of the campaign -- Hillary for America.

Her late father, Syed Zainul Abedin, was a graduate of Aligarh Muslim University and a university lecturer and her mother, a Pakistani national, was a sociology professor. Both received their PhD’s from the University of Pennsylvania.

Huma was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan but grown up in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She speaks fluent Arabic.

Graduated from George Washington University, Huma, 39, had longed to be a journalist, and that’s why when she first joined the Clinton White House in the 1990s, she hoped to be assigned to the press office.

“Bill and Hillary Clinton have been the sun of Abedin’s solar system ever since she joined the White House as an intern at age 21,” says Fortune.

http://www.indiatomorrow.net/eng/huma-abedin-daughter-of-an-amu-alumnus-is-highest-paid-staffer-in-us-presidential-campaign

Riaz Haq said...

#Clinton aide Huma #Abedin Announces She's Separating From Anthony Weiner. http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Anthony-Weiner-Deletes-Twitter-Account-Houma-Abedin-Sexting-Scandal-NYC-391613151.html … via @nbcnewyork

Clinton adviser Huma Abedin announced Monday that she was separating from her husband, former congressman and onetime New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner.
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Former congressman and onetime New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner has deleted his Twitter account.
The erstwhile politician's normally active Twitter disappeared from the social media network Monday morning, hours after the New York Post reported that he was again sending sexually suggestive text messages with a woman.
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He told the Post that he had been "friends for some time" with the woman and that the conversations were private.
Weiner's congressional career was derailed when he tweeted an explicit photo of himself to a woman in 2011. He initially denied he had posted the image but later admitted to sexting with "about six women over the last three years" before resigning from Congress.
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Weiner attempted to re-enter the political fray in 2013 as a candidate for New York City mayor and briefly polled as the leading Democratic candidate that summer. But Weiner revealed that he had sent explicit photos and messages to three more women since 2012, some under the alias "Carlos Danger," and his candidacy floundered. He lost the Democratic mayoral primary with less than 5 percent of the vote.
Weiner is the husband of Huma Abedin, a longtime political adviser to Hillary Clinton. She currently serves as the vice chairwoman of Clinton's presidential campaign.


Source: Huma Abedin Announces She's Separating From Anthony Weiner | NBC New York http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Anthony-Weiner-Deletes-Twitter-Account-Houma-Abedin-Sexting-Scandal-NYC-391613151.html#ixzz4IjiKR3b4
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