Pregnancy amid sexting scandal tests Weiner’s wife

Associated Press

NEW YORK

A continent away from her congressman-husband as he tries to weather the fallout from an Internet-sex scandal, Huma Abedin spent Thursday attending to a more familiar role: that of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s most trusted and indispensible aide.

Clinton was in Abu Dhabi for a meeting on Libya, the first day of a weeklong tour of the Middle East and Africa. Abedin was at Clinton’s side, appearing composed and unrattled as photographers snapped her picture.

The spotlight on Abedin has intensified amid the disclosure by friends that she and Rep. Anthony Weiner are expecting their first child.

It’s the latest twist in a series of eye-popping revelations surrounding the New York Democrat since he acknowledged sending sexually explicit texts and photos to several women online and lying about it for days after the initial revelations. He told the New York Post on Thursday he had no plans to resign from Congress and was trying to get back to work on behalf of his district, which covers part of Brooklyn and Queens.

Several Democrats have urged Weiner to step down.

Friends describe Abedin as more saddened than angry over her husband’s behavior and say she plans to try to help him, even though she believes he has a lot of work to do to redeem himself.

“She is a very strong woman,” friend and State Department colleague Philippe Reines said.

The glamorous Abedin is a long-serving member of Clinton’s intensely loyal team of advisers.

Abedin was an intern for Clinton in 1996, helping the then-first lady weather the public spectacle over her own scandal-scarred husband, who had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinksy and was impeached for lying about it. But the roles have shifted, and it’s now Clinton’s turn to offer solace to Abedin.