Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin to Separate After His Latest Sexting Scandal.
Hillary Clinton’s closest aide, Huma Abedin, said Monday that she intended to separate from her husband, Anthony D. Weiner, the former congressman and New York City mayoral candidate, after it was reported that Mr. Weiner had exchanged suggestive images and messages with a woman while the couple’s young child was beside him.
The separation was announced after Mr. Weiner’s online exchanges with women had been a source of tension within Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign. Mr. Weiner resigned from Congress in 2011 after revelations that he had sent lewd images of himself to women on social media. The couple’s marital problems worsened after the release in May of a documentary about the scandal that engulfed Mr. Weiner’s campaign for mayor in 2013.
Ms. Abedin released a statement on Monday after the New York Post reported that Mr. Weiner had traded sexual messages with an unidentified woman last year while their 5-year-old son, Jordan, appeared to be asleep beside him.
“After long and painful consideration and work on my marriage, I have made the decision to separate from my husband,” she said in the statement. “Anthony and I remain devoted to doing what is best for our son, who is the light of our life. During this difficult time, I ask for respect for our privacy.”
But Ms. Abedin’s separation quickly became political fodder for Donald J. Trump, Mrs. Clinton’s Republican opponent.
“Huma is making a very wise decision,” he said in a statement. “I know Anthony Weiner well, and she will be far better off without him.”
Mr. Trump also said the episode was an issue of national security.
“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 continued. “Who knows what he learned and who he told? It’s just another example of Hillary Clinton’s bad judgment. It is possible that our country and its security have been greatly compromised by this.”
