There is more than meets the eye to Huma Abedin, the ubiquitous personal aide to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton seen constantly with the candidate throughout her campaign. Abedin has been an assistant and “body woman” [the political term] to Clinton since she was a fresh-faced 19-year-old intern while Hillary was the First Lady.
Despite her long standing connection to the White House and Secretary Clinton, many people are unaware that Mrs. Abedin did not grow up in the United States, and most know nothing about her family.
Abedin, in fact, was raised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the first 18 years of her life, and only one year after coming to the U.S. was chosen — while she was a college sophomore — to be the First Lady’s intern (this was during the time when President Bill Clinton had his own infamous intern, Monica Lewinsky).
Abedin’s mother and father have been extremely active in Muslim religious causes, and her mother edits a publication called the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs from her office in Jeddah where she still works. For 12 years — from 1996 to 2008 — Huma Abedin was an editor of this same journal, a journal that has defended child marriage, female genital mutilation and wife beating.
