Longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin describes sexual assault by US senator
Source: The Guardian
Huma Abedin, a longtime close aide to Hillary Clinton, has written in a new book that she was sexually assaulted by a US senator, an incident she buried until allegations against the supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh triggered her memory years later.
Abedin makes the shocking claim in a memoir, Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds, which will be published next week. The Guardian obtained a copy. Abedin does not name the senator or his party or give any other clues as to his identity.
Abedin details her alleged assault while describing her work for Clinton when the former first lady and future secretary of state and presidential candidate was a US senator from New York, between 2001 and 2009.
The passage comes shortly after a description of how Abedin and the Clintons came to attend Donald Trumps wedding to his third wife, Melania Knauss, in Palm Beach, Florida, in January 2005.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/26/huma-abedin-sexual-assault-us-senator-book-memoir
certainot
(9,090 posts)JI7
(89,279 posts)could be a Democrat. In fact I would say it might be even more likely a Democrat since she would probably have been around them more and have been friendly with them which they then took advantage of.
Gillibrand said she was harassed by Inouye a Senator she loved and respected .
madville
(7,412 posts)Dont see how a vague accusation is LBN
SergeStorms
(19,204 posts)like she did Al Franken? Franken never did or said anything off-key to Gillibrand, yet she led the charge to have him dismissed on hearsay.
No consistency from my State's junior Senator at all.
usaf-vet
(6,217 posts)...... in a race for POTUS.
She had plans to put her name in the hat and thought Franken might also run.
Just saying!
SergeStorms
(19,204 posts)about her future, and start doing something to cement her present position in the Senate.
There are literally thousands of highly qualified women in New York State who'd love to take her place in the Senate. Watch your back, Kirsten. The past is close behind.
usaf-vet
(6,217 posts)... serve and do things that benefit us all. And STOP doing the things that make them richer and keep their seats.
TERM LIMITS !!!
The 95% is and was a number I pulled out of a hat. BUT TERM LIMITS would end these obvious power and money-grabbing actions that ignore us and our ability to get things done that benefit us all.
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,123 posts)But, if there ever IS anyone, it may be AOC one day.
SergeStorms
(19,204 posts)No one should be allowed to make "public service" a lifelong cash cow.
SouthBayDem
(32,065 posts)SergeStorms
(19,204 posts)they could actually suck more money out of special interest lobbyists than they do already?
I didn't think that was humanly possible.
Zorro
(15,751 posts)Term limits seems like a good idea, but without the institutional knowledge acquired from years of public service lawmakers become to rely more on lobbyist inputs to "inform" their decisions. Their bullshit meter hasn't been fully calibrated.
TeamProg
(6,292 posts)They couldn't run for re-election, so why keep any campaign promises?
Good reps could be replaced by bad ones - every two years!
Lobbyists will have the upper hand.
It takes years to learn the rules.
Members EARN their committee assignments and chairs by being successful over their many terms.
Reps will just take the money and run.
What we need is:
Fair voting for all citizens.
A National Voting Holiday in the middle of a full week allowed for voting.
Mail-in ballot options in every state.
Districting that fits the population.
Making it illegal for Reps to lie while on any publicly owned property and esp. on the House and Senate Floors.
usaf-vet
(6,217 posts)They don't keep campaign promises now.
Bad Reps could be replaced by good ones.
Change the lobbyist's rule and access.
Keep professional paid staff on year to year.
Besides look at how little respect the GQP members pay to rules.
Define successful. Do they raise millions to share with other party members?
Do they go from $180,000 / year to millionaires in less than 10 years?
Reps take the money now and enrich themselves and line up lobbyist jobs that pay more than run.
YES, WE ALSO NEED ALL YOUR VOTING RIGHTS SUGGESTIONS. To recruit good candidates who want to serve their communities and then go home after they are limited.
Accept the fact that the lifetime legislative office holder system is NOT working for OUR benefit. UNLESS you introduce yourself with a $10,000 check in your hand. You will then get their ear for a moment or two.
One of my federal congress members doesn't take phone calls and admits it. It is troublesome and he doesn't want to hear from people with problems and no money in hand.
This brings up the final point to go along with TERM LIMITS. PUBLIC FINANCING of all FEDERAL OFFICES.
No more unlimited money is free speech BS. CITIZEN UNITED need to be overturned.
TeamProg
(6,292 posts)""PUBLIC FINANCING of all FEDERAL OFFICES.
No more unlimited money is free speech BS. CITIZEN UNITED need to be overturned."""
usaf-vet
(6,217 posts)Agreed!!
Texin
(2,599 posts)PatSeg
(47,649 posts)I think she might have sacrificed anyone for the media opportunity. She wanted to be the first woman president so badly.
Polybius
(15,510 posts)For some reason, people look the other way a bit more when the elderly sexually harass. Whether they think it's because of the times they grew up in or think that their mind is going, it's commonly not reported.
Huma Abedin wasn't around many Republicans.
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,123 posts)Assuming, of course, the Senator is still among the living.
JohnSJ
(92,454 posts)Jose Garcia
(2,607 posts)InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,123 posts)No doubt Huma consulted with Hillary about this and I doubt Hillary, a huge proponent of the #MeToo movement, would encourage Huma to allow someone guilty of sexual assault to continue to present a threat to other women.
PJMcK
(22,056 posts)After all, she says she accepted an invitation to his apartment for coffee. Would Ms. Abedin really go to the apartment of any Republican?!
I admire this woman. Yet this seems like an odd story to share if she isnt being specific. Otherwise, she should have been more vague to make her point about revealed memories.
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,123 posts)Texin
(2,599 posts)She worked for HRC and it seems likely that she'd be most comfortable amongst other Dems. She also mentions that she was 25 at the time of the incident. I think older males tend to be bolder about making a move on a young(er) woman. I've been hit on and groped by men I've worked with in the past and each one was in a senior position within the organization. I think the power differential is a factor in the boldness factor with which some men feel they can get away with assaulting a woman.
JudyM
(29,294 posts)which wouldve afforded possible closeness/opportunity and a dynamic that led in a sick way to her being taken advantage of. And an added complication in revealing it now.
RosedaleGuy
(89 posts)Let's eliminate Republicans. Why would she hang out with a Republican?
Let's eliminate guys too old to have any hope of succeeding in making such a pass.
Al Franken? He does have a history of misreading the situation.
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,123 posts)pfitz59
(10,400 posts)that the revelation is just a ploy to sell her book.
SouthBayDem
(32,065 posts)In today's lawsuit happy world, risking a libel lawsuit is too great a risk even for a major publisher. That's probably the advice that Abedin/her publisher got.
Raine
(30,541 posts)it's worthless without a name.
demmiblue
(36,903 posts)She doesn't have to do jack shit to quell your curiosity. Get over yourselves.
obamanut2012
(26,158 posts)greenjar_01
(6,477 posts)Really fucking disturbing coming from Democrats
Texin
(2,599 posts)And any others she has for her own reasons. I can think of a couple off the bat. The man (I guess it was a man) may no longer be in the senate. The person might not still be living and or capable of defending or answering the allegation. And she fended off the person's attempt to take it further and left the premises. It's possible that at the time it happened she simply brushed it off as a close call and put it behind her. I think a great many women have done the same thing, only to remember an incident (or those incidents much later).
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,467 posts)Ron Obvious
(6,261 posts)an incident she buried until allegations against the supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh triggered her memory years later.
Hmmmm......
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,123 posts)CTyankee
(63,912 posts)it. This was because my attacker had been killed the day after when his motorcycle crashed into a car. With my attacker dead, I was relieved that he could never do that to me again.
My memory was brought back (don't know why really) only a few years ago.
IronLionZion
(45,563 posts)it would be a real game changer if it was a female senator.
Jose Garcia
(2,607 posts)greenjar_01
(6,477 posts)Harker
(14,056 posts)NH Ethylene
(30,817 posts)Many of these public reveals about women sobbing over gropings of decades past, which they have suddenly become driven to speak about, are really annoying to me.
Some are put forth out of a necessary duty (re: Kavanaugh, for example), but most are put out there to fulfill a political or personal agenda. I'm not questioning their veracity; I'm criticizing two things: that it is a secret until there is a motive to reveal it, and that when it is revealed it is done so in a way that exaggerates the woman's victimhood.
Fighting back tears when you tell a reporter how a politician grabbed your ass on one occasion is not how women can be seen as strong, as equals in the workplace and elsewhere. It's telling young girls that we are delicate and have to be protected.
As a girl and woman, I have endured MANY minor sexual assaults, a couple of close calls for gang rapes in which I was threatened with a knife and a gun, and one actual rape. I remember them all. If I had actually been through a gang rape or a violent rape during which I was beaten, the memory could have been so horrible I might have repressed it. I know it can happen, but it can also be a ready excuse.
When women face adversity, we need to fight back. That can look like a lot of things. What it doesn't look like is throwing out accusations, from the safety of a book, toward an anonymous attacker, about an assault which you claim you just remembered.
Response to SouthBayDem (Original post)
Calista241 This message was self-deleted by its author.
ARandomPerson
(2,406 posts)It says that *HRC* was a US Senator from NY between 2001 and 2009, not that the senator in question was.
UnderThisLaw
(318 posts)of a statement Ive seen on DU.
Now, Im sure being a faithful Democrat, youll realize your mistake and self delete your post.
Orinocojhon
(7 posts)Logic Dictates:
id reckon there's NO WAY that Huma Abedin would have hanging out, with much less, "going upstairs for coffee" with a REpublican senator. Id REALLY like to know who this is .....
We have a right to know
demmiblue
(36,903 posts)Orinocojhon
(7 posts)We need to lead by example
Hold our leaders to the same standards that we hold others to.
Otherwise we are subject to criticism for double standards and hypocrisy
Lead by example . and others will follow you to the gates of hell and back
karynnj
(59,507 posts)Their aides meeting the Senator and his aides could happen. I agree a Democrat is more likely.
Buckeyeblue
(5,502 posts)With W in office her entire time in the Senate, she was only going to get legislation passed if it were bipartisan.
Maybe it was a popular Republican senator who is no longer alive but his wife has been very supportive of Democratic candidates since his death?
oasis
(49,429 posts)Withywindle
(9,988 posts)Calling out your sexual abuser by name will probably damage your career much more than his. I think most women know this. This is why we generally don't do it at the time. She can reveal his name if she wants to, later, but she's not obligated to do that. The most important thing is that moment when you can finally come out in public and say, I was assaulted, and get some support. For some of us, it takes years to even get to the point where you can even do that without the name.