Abedin seems to have gone into hiding.
Huma Mahmood Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s campaign aide and longtime confidante has not been seen on the campaign trail since FBI Director James Comey sent a letter to Congress Friday notifying them of new emails that may be related to Clinton’s private email server.
The source of those emails is a laptop belonging to Abedin’s estranged husband, former congressman Anthony Weiner, that is part of a separate investigation into sexually explicit electronic messages he allegedly sent to a minor. Abedin had turned over other devices as part of the FBI probe into Clinton’s server and has said she doesn’t know how the emails turned up on Weiner’s laptop, reported USA Today.
On Monday morning, as Clinton boarded her campaign plane in Westchester, N.Y., en route to events at Kent State University and Cincinnati, reporters traveling with the Democratic presidential nominee did not spot Abedin, who was last seen at Clinton’s side on Friday, when news broke of Comey’s letter. The campaign hasn’t responded to a request for more information about plans for her to return to the trail.
Abedin has worked for Clinton since she was a 19-year-old White House intern in the 1990s, and Clinton has likened her to a second daughter. Abedin was expected to take on a senior role in a Clinton White House, should the Democratic nominee defeat Donald Trump, after having served as a vice chair on the campaign and a top aide to Clinton at the State Department.
The FBI has obtained a warrant to review the emails linked to Abedin, an official who is not authorized to comment publicly told USA Today. It’s possible, said the official, that many of them are duplicates of those already reviewed by the FBI earlier this year.
Politico reported Abedin told colleagues she was taken aback when she learned that the FBI found her emails on a laptop belonging to her estranged husband, and doesn’t know how the messages got there, according to an unnamed source.
So, why is Abedin?
Abedin was born on July 28, 1976, in Kalamazoo, Michigan to Syed Zainul Abedin (1928–93) and Saleha Mahmood Abedin, according to Wikipedia. At the age of two, she moved with her family to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where she was raised and lived until returning to the United States for college. Abedin traveled frequently during her childhood and teenage years and attended a British girls’ school.
Abedin is of Indian and Pakistani descent. She practices the Muslim faith. In addition to English and Hindi-Urdu, Abedin also speaks fluent Arabic.
In December 2011, Abedin gave birth to a boy, Jordan Zain Weiner. On August 29, 2016, Abedin announced her separation from Weiner after new sexting allegations were made against Weiner.
Hillary Clinton has been described as a mentor, and a mother figure to Abedin. In 2010, at Abedin’s wedding to Weiner, Clinton said: “I have one daughter. But if I had a second daughter, it would (be) Huma.” During a trip that Clinton and Abedin made to Saudi Arabia, Abedin’s mother, Saleha Mahmood Abedin, said to Clinton: “Hillary, you have spent more time with my daughter than I have in the past 15 years. I’m jealous of you!”
Both of her parents were educators. Her father, born in New Delhi was an Islamic and Middle Eastern scholar of Indian descent, who received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and then in 1978 founded the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, an organization devoted to the study of Muslim communities in non-Muslim societies around the world. In 1979 he founded the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, which his wife took over after his death. Her mother, born in British India (now Pakistan after the 1947 British Partition), also received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and is currently an associate professor of sociology and dean at Dar Al-Hekma College in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.