Where’s Huma? Top Aide Has Been Off Clinton Campaign Since Latest Weiner Story Broke



Huma Abedin may be at the center of Hillary Clinton’s latest campaign troubles, but she certainly isn’t at the center of Hillary’s campaign—at least, not since news broke that the laptop she shared with her husband, Anthony Weiner, had evidence of more than 650,000 emails.

It’s not known whether Weiner’s collection has anything new, but the Clinton campaign is clearly taking no chances, marshaling Democratic allies, and preparing Abedin to be thrown under the campaign bus.

Abedin has been off the campaign, and at home with her son in New York since Friday. Though she was once considered a “second daughter” by Clinton, and despite Wikileaks emails with top aides calling her the Clintons’ “institutional knowledge bank,” Huma’s been booted from the inner circle.

CNN reports she’s been banished from Hillary’s plane, which likely means she’ll miss Clinton’s three-day Ohio-and-Florida junket, as well as Clinton’s Wednesday trips to Arizona and Nevada, putting her away from the campaign until at least Friday.

She’s reportedly been replaced by Capricia Marshall, another “close confidante” of Clinton’s.

TMZ caught up with Huma Monday night in New York, taking her son trick-or-treating for Halloween, rather than collaborating on high-level campaign strategy in the closing days of the Presidential election. A source close to the Clinton campaign told media Tuesday that Abedin would be working from the campaign’s Brooklyn headquarters for the time being.

But the love isn’t flowing from Clinton’s side, either. In a speech Monday, Clinton refused to refer to Abedin by name, instead calling her “one of my staffers.”

The true test of faith will come on Thursday, when Huma is set to headline a major, final fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in Washington, D.C., alongside designer Diane von Furstenburg and Vogue editor Anna Wintour. Tickets for the event range from $1,000 to $10,000 ($500 seats are already sold out).

The prize for $10K donors? A personal photo with Hillary’s embattled best friend.

These final days will leave Abedin’s future uncertain. Although she’s been a fixture of the Clinton operation for more than two decades, it’s clear that Huma brings with her the specter of controversy—and a bitter ex-husband who, it seems, had no qualms resurfacing a major Clinton scandal just as Clinton was planning her New York victory party. As the Wall Street Journal points out, any senior role for Huma will be a constant, public reminder of past Clinton indiscretions.

Clinton may have no choice but to continue the freeze-out indefinitely.

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