Tag Archives: Huma Abedin

Could the Jig Finally Be Up for Huma Abedin?

BY ROBERT SPENCER FOR FRONTPAGEMAG.COM

She should have been removed from all positions of power and influence years ago.

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They got Al Capone for tax evasion, and they may get Huma Abedin for “violating rules regarding vacation and sick leave” and for the “possible exchange of unsecured, classified data.” To be sure, these are serious charges, and the available evidence makes it abundantly clear that there is ample warrant to investigate and perhaps even charge Abedin. However, it is a sign of a serious problem with today’s political culture that even more serious allegations regarding Abedin have never been investigated, and almost certainly never will be.

Huma Abedin’s Muslim Brotherhood connections have been fully exposed by Andrew McCarthy and bruited about for years. The facts are quite public, albeit largely ignored: Abedin’s parents are both members of the Muslim Brotherhood, but her links to the organization are not just familial. Abedin was for twelve years the assistant editor of the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs (JMMA), which was founded by Abdullah Omar Naseef, a Muslim Brotherhood operative and al-Qaeda financier. Naseef and Abedin both appeared on the JMMA’s masthead from 1996 to 2003.

Consider that Abedin worked closely for seven years with a member of the Muslim Brotherhood who financed al-Qaeda in light of the Obama Administration’s foreign policy during the years that Hillary Clinton was the Secretary of State. Everyone acknowledges that Abedin and Clinton are extremely close, and that Abedin controls access to Clinton and has tremendous influence over her. Hillary Clinton’s tenure at the State Department was distinguished by the remarkable sight of Egyptian anti-Muslim Brotherhood protestors holding signs denouncing the President of the United States for supporting terrorism, and by the Benghazi debacle, when the Secretary of State sat back and did nothing as jihad terrorists murdered four Americans, including an ambassador.

Then there was the Benghazi cover-up, during which Clinton vowed to have a man who made a video criticizing Muhammad arrested and imprisoned for supposedly provoking the riots, thereby placing herself firmly in opposition to the freedom of speech and aligning herself with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s efforts to compel Western governments to criminalize criticism of Islam (under the guise of “incitement to religious hatred”).

Is it at all possible that Huma Abedin, whose parents were active in the Brotherhood and who worked for twelve years for a journal closely linked to the Brotherhood, had anything to do with the pro-Muslim Brotherhood orientation of the Obama/Clinton State Department? In today’s poisonous political culture, it isn’t possible even to ask the question without incurring charges of “Islamophobia” – as we saw in 2012, when Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) had the temerity to call for an investigation of possible Muslim Brotherhood infiltration of the U.S. government.

Bachmann explained: “The concerns about the foreign influence of immediate family members is such a concern to the U.S. Government that it includes these factors as potentially disqualifying conditions for obtaining a security clearance, which undoubtedly Ms. Abedin has had to obtain to function in her position. For us to raise issues about a highly-based U.S. Government official with known immediate family connections to foreign extremist organizations is not a question of singling out Ms. Abedin. In fact, these questions are raised by the U.S. Government of anyone seeking a security clearance.” And that was to say nothing about Abedin’s association with Naseef and work with the JMMA.

Now that Abedin is suspected of mishandling classified material, Bachmann’s questions about Abedin’s security clearance are piquant in retrospect. But when she first raised them, Bachmann was ridiculed and vilified, even earning a denunciation from John McCain: “These sinister accusations rest solely on a few unspecified and unsubstantiated associations of members of Huma’s family, none of which have been shown to harm or threaten the United States in any way. These attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis, and no merit. And they need to stop now.”

It was actually about more than just Abedin’s family, and a perfectly sound case could be made, in light of Obama’s foreign policy disasters, that Abedin’s Muslim Brotherhood links possibly did harm and threaten the United States. But Bachmann’s name was dragged through the mud in 2012 for talking about all this, and now none of the new allegations against Abedin raise any issue with her possible Muslim Brotherhood connections.

That few people care about those connections, and that those who do are dismissed as “far-Right bigots,” shows how myopic and foolish our contemporary political culture is. If Huma Abedin had a hand in the pro-Muslim Brotherhood tilt of the Obama/Clinton State Department, that would be a far graver offense than anything she is accused of now, just as old Capone was guilty of far greater crimes than tax evasion. But on the other hand, those tax evasion charges ended Capone’s operations for good, and so if Hillary’s infamous email server does the same to Huma Abedin, no one who values America’s historic role as leader of the free world will have any reason to complain.

Hillary Clinton email probe turns to Huma

Clinton’s top aide is likely to face more questions, not least from congressional investigators, about her access to Clinton’s system.

Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s most trusted confidante, is increasingly becoming a central figure in the email scandal that’s haunting her boss on the campaign trail, as Republicans and federal judges seek information about Clinton’s communications while she was running the State Department.

The 2016 Democratic front-runner on Monday told a federal judge that Abedin — long considered her boss’s keeper and even dubbed her “shadow” — had her own email account on Clinton’s now infamous home-brewed server, “which was used at times for government business,” Clinton acknowledged. That’s an unusual arrangement, even for top brass at the State Department.

Abedin has hired a team of lawyers, one of whom is a former Clinton aide, who are responding to information requests from the courts and State. They’ve denied any wrongdoing on the part of their client and said Abedin is cooperating with requests for official emails in her possession, aiming to turn over all her correspondence by the end of August.

But her lawyers — Karen Dunn and Miguel Rodriguez — didn’t respond to questions about emails on Clinton’s separate server. Dunn is a partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner, and she served as a senior advisor to Clinton when she was in the Senate.

After an inspector general found that Clinton had at least two “top secret” emails stored on her unsecured computer network, Abedin is likely to face more questions from congressional investigators, and perhaps others, about her access to Clinton’s system.

Abedin had been granted “special government employee” status, allowing her to work both for Clinton and the private sector — and it’s unclear if she continued using the server that appears to have held classified information following her departure from her full-time State gig.

On Wednesday, Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill waved off questions about how the two issues — the email server and Abedin’s unusual work arrangement — may or may not have overlapped, accusing the right of playing politics with this line of inquiry.

“It’s election season, and congressional Republicans are running the same series of plays, just on a different field,” Merrill said in an email, later adding that Abedin maintained her security clearance while she worked as a State contractor.

Merrill said SGEs often have clearance and there’s nothing unusual about her having such access. He also said that many government workers take on such contractor status, adding that Abedin had a green-light from State’s legal and human resources departments to do so.

But Steven Aftergood, who directs the Federation of American Scientists’ project on government secrecy, said any former employee’s potential access to secret materials could be problematic after they leave the government.

“What happens if [a former government employee] still retains access through a prior server, to information that was justified by a previous position? That’s not supposed to happen — and that’s one of the anomalies that are created by the private server,” Aftergood said.

Classified materials with national security implications are supposed to be stored in a place where no one can gain access to them unless they have special clearance.

The FBI is currently probing Clinton’s email arrangement, whereby the former secretary of state used her own technology based out of her New York home instead of an official government address that is required by transparency rules. A State inspector general, who is also looking at the matter, said top Clinton aides would likely also be questioned, though he wouldn’t say who exactly.

At the same time, powerful congressional Republicans are probing Abedin’s “special government employee status,” while suggesting that she may have had a “conflict of interest.” The Senate Judiciary Committee claims to have unnamed tipster who says Abedin is or has been investigated for criminal misconduct by the State Department inspector general regarding this very issue.

The government watchdog wouldn’t comment on the accusations. And Abedin’s legal team — which is separate from Clinton’s — says it knows of no investigative reports that suggest such misconduct.

“We are aware only of an IG report focused on her maternity leave and vacation and we responded with a letter disputing the report’s conclusions, which we gave to members of the media who requested it,” her lawyers said in a statement. “Obviously, if the report covered other things, our letter would have as well. The IG will have to respond as to his investigations.”

The latest revelations come just as Abedin, the vice chairwoman of Hillary for America, is projected to be taking on more responsibilities for the campaign, heading up fundraisers and speaking to donors on Clinton’s behalf.

Beyond allegations of conflict of interest, Senate Republicans in recent weeks leaked findings by the State Department inspector general that Abedin was overpaid nearly $10,000 for “unused” time off that she actually took but did not record while working at State — a finding her lawyers are currently challenging.

Abedin, who’s been with Clinton for about two decades, started working for Clinton as a 19-year-old intern in the former first lady’s office.

At State and during the 2008 campaign she was considered Clinton’s “body woman,” never far from Clinton’s side and often seen watching her boss intently, ready to scramble to her aid at any minute. Top politicians, and even Bill Clinton, would phone her to reach Hillary, and emails released in recent months showed she enjoyed access to Clinton at her private home, too, dropping items off on her counter and instructing her how to dress and keeping her schedule.

In 2013, news broke that Abedin had been given a special government employee status, allowing her to be simultaneously on the payroll for the philanthropic Clinton Foundation and Teneo, a consulting firm founded by former Clinton White House adviser Doug Band. She previously had not disclosed the dual employment.

Abedin has said she stepped back from government work and became a contractor so she could be with her family and her newborn son. But since then, critics have questioned her about whether she had a conflict of interest while working at State and alongside close friends of the Clinton family.

For two years now, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, a bullish Iowa Republican who’s very active in a number of mundane executive branch oversight issues, has been asking for more details about her employment situation but has received little in the way of answers.

He’s recently escalated his demands for more information after a source told the panel that the State Department inspector general had probed Abedin not only for overpayment issues but also over a potential conflict of interest. The source was able to specify that Abedin and Band were on more than 7,000 emails together while she worked at State and detailed an apparent October 2013 letter to the FBI that clarified that the watchdog’s probe was looking at potential criminal misconduct.

Abedin’s lawyers believe many of the 7,000 emails are likely just Clinton schedules or other types of automatic notices that have both of their emails on a distribution list together, not direct communications.

Grassley has asked the FBI, State inspector general and State Department for more information about this probe — including whether it even exists.

He has also asked Abedin’s lawyers about the matter but has not heard back.

“Much of the information sought by Senator Grassley’s letter will need to be produced by the State Department and we have been in touch with State,” Dunn said in an email.

Clinton on Monday declared under penalty of perjury that she handed over all her work emails to the State Department for record-keeping purposes; Abedin declined a judge’s request to do the same.

Dunn said Abedin, who was among 10 State Department officials asked by their former agency to hand over any work-related messages on personal emails, expects to turn over all her official correspondence to the State Department by Aug. 28. On Wednesday, Dunn declined to say whether Abedin will then do the same as Clinton and swear under penalty of perjury that she has handed over all official records.

It is unclear whether all her official emails on Clinton’s server were saved.

 

 

EDITORIAL: Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s Islamic connection

By THE WASHINGTON TIMES

So many lies, coincidences and distractions, so little time. Perhaps the most serious (who can keep count?) of the new Hillary revelations are that HumaAbedin’s emails are among the missing from Hillary’s private email server. Were Ms.Abedin’s emails trashed to cover a conflict of interest when she was taking pay as a private consultant while on the State Department payroll as an aide to Hillary?Ms. Abedin was traveling chief of staff and “body woman” during Mrs. Clinton’s campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. That’s her role in this campaign. That intimacy, long demonstrated, has been a crucial contribution to the Clinton decision-making process, both before and after her service in the Obama administration.

Huma Abedin comes from a distinguished Muslim family. Her father, of Indian Muslim heritage, taught in an American university and afterward was set up in a private foundation in Saudi Arabia. The purpose and goals of the foundation have never been quite clear, but it was intended to influence international opinion. His work has been carried on by his widow, a leading member of a women’s auxiliary organization of the Muslim Brotherhood. Hillary and her top aide visited her in the Middle East, presumably to discuss the chaos in the region and what American policy should be. The Obama administration sees the Muslim Brotherhood as a sort of an Islamic version of the Christian Democratic parties in Europe, ignoring the uncomfortable fact that so many of the Islamic terrorist organizations bedeviling the Middle East have all sprung from the bowels of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The public interest law firm Judicial Watch has filed a request to open Ms. Abedin’s emails from her four years at the State Department. News accounts suggest that Ms. Abedin used Hillary’s private email server to avoid the proper procedures of the official State Department email network. Others have used such servers in the distant past, but the Obama administration early on strengthened the rule that government traffic had to flow on government networks. Hillary Clinton knew this well, and ignored the rule.

That puts her in direct violation of State Department regulations, if not federal law, and makes the Abedin correspondence critical, adding a new dimension to the controversy. This connection was first disclosed three years ago by Rep. Michele Bachmann and other Republicans, but in the usual excess of political correctness the liberal noise machine, led by The Washington Post and joined in by Sen. John McCain and others, denounced her as a purveyor of Islamophobia and McCarthyism.

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a Republican, raised questions about the propriety of Ms. Abedin drawing State Department pay as a part-time aide to Mrs. Clinton while drawing pay as a consultant to private clients. The State Department said there was no question of her passing government information to her private employers, but didn’t say why there was no question.

Attempts to bring public scrutiny to the odd Abedin arrangements have been, characteristically, called “McCarthyism” and Islamophobia. This is the frequent defense invoked by liberals when legitimate questions are raised about inconvenient Democratic sins. The defense slides over the fact that in addition to the excesses of certain congressional investigations in the late 1940s, the investigations identified a number of Communist conspirators at a time when the old Soviet Union was a mortal enemy of the United States.

There may be nothing in the Hillary-Abedin correspondence but innocent girl talk about who was coming to dinner, commiseration over wayward husbands and chatter about the grandchildren. But what we’ve learned about Hillary is that there is very little innocence about her. That correspondence was public property.

 

Huma Abedin’s job arrangement under Hillary Clinton investigated by State Department IG

By Stephen Dinan

The State Department’s inspector general has agreed to investigate the program that allowed former Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton to hire one of her key advisors, Huma Abedin, for government work even as she was also employed by a private firm, a senator revealed Friday.Inspector General Steve A. Linick also said he wasn’t aware of Mrs. Clinton’s or Ms. Abedin’s use of a non-government email account to conduct official business, and said that’s generally been frowned upon at the department. He pointed to a 2012 report that instructed an embassy to stop using a commercial email system as evidence.And Mr. Linick said he is looking into whether those employed as Special Government Employees - the designation Mrs. Clinton gave to Ms. Abedin - are following the law, and avoiding conflicts of interest.

“The OIG intends to examine the department’s SGE program to determine if it confirms to applicable legal and policy requirements,” Mr. Linick said in response to a request from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican.

Mrs. Clinton approved hiring Ms. Abedin, her long-time assistant, as an SGE, which allowed her to collect a government salary while also continuing to work for Teneo, a private firm. Mr. Grassley said there the usual conflict-of-interest questions in an arrangement like this are only heightened by the report that Ms. Abedin used the same non-official email server Mrs. Clinton set up for herself.

Mr. Grassley also questioned whether Ms. Abedin was qualified to be designated an SGE, saying that privilege is supposed to be used to entice someone in the private sector to split his or her time, in order for the government to tap someone’s “special knowledge and skills.” In Ms. Abedin’s case she was already working for Mrs. Clinton when she was converted to an SGE, allowing her to then also take an outside job, Mr. Grassley said.

“It is unclear what special knowledge or skills Ms. Abedin possessed that the government could not have easily obtained otherwise from regular government employees,” Mr. Grassley wrote to current Secretary of State John Kerry.

The State Department has yet to respond to Mr. Grassley’s inquiry, the senator said.

Ms. Abedin is married to disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner.

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From the Washington Times