11 Things to Know About the Woman Who's Spent 2 Decades With Hillary

'She has been turned into myth'
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 28, 2016 3:44 PM CDT
Updated May 1, 2016 3:35 PM CDT
11 Things to Know About the Woman Who's Spent 2 Decades With Hillary
Huma Abedin attends a rally in Staten Island, New York, earlier this month.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Newsweek has a deep look at the mysterious woman whose "selfless servility and uncanny knack for predicting what the boss wants have put her closer than almost anyone to the most powerful woman in American politics." Huma Abedin first started working for Hillary Clinton at the White House in 1996. Twenty years later, she's vice chair of Clinton's presidential campaign. But despite two decades in the Clinton camp, little is known about Abedin, who was of course thrust into the spotlight thanks to her husband's now-infamous crotch photo. Here are 11 of the most interesting tidbits revealed by Newsweek:

  1. Abedin was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, but grew up in Saudi Arabia between the ages of 2 and 18.
  2. “A lot of times, Hillary would snap her fingers and go, ‘Gum,’ and Huma would fetch it,” a Clinton friend recalls about Abedin, who once almost started crying upon learning Clinton carried her own bag up a flight of stairs.
  3. Not everyone buys into the "glam mystique" Abedin has created through designer dresses and bags. “She wasn't that interesting a person,” says a source close to Clinton. “She has been turned into myth.”
  4. By 2008, Abedin was doing everything from scheduling massages and carrying coats to setting up meetings with world leaders and looking over Clinton's emails.
  5. “I don't even waste time trying to find Clinton directly," one source says. "I only would go to Huma. It’s like talking to Clinton.” It's a problem apparently shared by Clinton's husband—Newsweek says Bill "has reportedly complained that he cannot get past Abedin."
  6. Michele Bachmann once accused Abedin of being part of a Muslim Brotherhood sleeper cell.
  7. Abedin wanted to become a journalist after watching Christiane Amanpour while growing up in Saudi Arabia.
  8. Abedin married Anthony Weiner in 2010 and was pregnant when his infamous bulge photo went public. She stayed with him through the ensuing sex scandals.
  9. ISIS included Abedin on a hit list published in its official magazine last month.
  10. Ted Cruz has claimed she's secretly pulling Clinton's strings, and Donald Trump has accused her of sharing top-secret Clinton emails with her "perv" husband.
  11. Abedin's first impression upon meeting Clinton in 1996: "So beautiful and so tiny."
The full story is definitely worth a read here. (More Huma Abedin stories.)

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