Pundit: Abedin Faces Tough Choice If Hillary Clinton Runs For President
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Will Hillary Clinton run for president, and will Huma Abedin go along for the ride?
Clinton has given her first interview since stepping down as secretary of state. The article presents a stark choice for her longtime aide, married to controversial former mayoral candidate and congressman, Anthony Weiner, CBS 2's Tony Aiello reported Monday.
The New York Magazine article is titled "Hillary in Midair," but it's her top aide who's left hanging. The article includes a devastating quote from an unnamed "close associate."
"Huma has a choice to make -- does she go with Anthony, or does she go with Hillary?" the close associate said.
"My heart breaks for her, but I don't see how she can stay married to someone as scandal-scarred as he is and that not prove to be a distraction for Hillary Clinton should she run for president in 2016," author and political analyst Keli Goff said.
Goff said after 17 years with Clinton, Abedin knows politics can be cruel.
Abedin was at Weiner's side for the start of his mayoral campaign and stood by him as he admitted his "sexting" continued after his resignation from Congress.
But then she disappeared -- didn't accompany him to the polls and wasn't there when he conceded.
Has Abedin already chosen to put her career first?
"I don't know if she was issued any kind of ultimatum, but the pressures of being loyal to Hillary Clinton and being loyal to her husband do seem to be pulling in different directions," Politico.com senior writer Alexander Burns said.
Goff pointed out that Abedin met Weiner in 2008. She's been tight with the Clintons since 1996.
"We're all calling this a really tough choice. For all we know for her, it's not that tough of a choice. Again, we don't know that but from the outside looking in that's kind of what it looks like," Goff said.
Asked about the ultimatum in the article, Weiner had no comment, Aiello reported.
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