Hillary Clinton's Closest Aide Claims She Was Sexually Assaulted by US Senator, Media Says

Huma Abedin became acquainted with Clinton in 1996 when she was assigned to her as a White House intern. She then went on to work for her during Clinton's two presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2016 and also served as deputy chief of staff to the politician when the Democrat was the US secretary of state from 2009 and 2013.

Huma Abedin, one of the closest allies of Hillary Clinton, claims she was sexually assaulted by a US senator in the mid-noughties, The Guardian has reported, citing a copy of her upcoming book "Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds".

According to the memoir, the incident occurred following a dinner attended by "a few senators and their aides". The politician, whom Ms Abedin doesn't name, invited her to his place for a coffee.

"Once inside, he told me to make myself comfortable on the couch. She says the senator took off his blazer, rolled up his sleeves and made coffee while they continued to talk. Then, in an instant, it all changed. He plopped down to my right, put his left arm around my shoulder, and kissed me, pushing his tongue into my mouth, pressing me back on the sofa. I was so utterly shocked, I pushed him away. All I wanted was for the last 10 seconds to be erased", she wrote as per The Guardian.

Ms Abedin writes that the senator looked surprised after she pushed him, but then apologised to her, saying he had "misread" her "all this time". He then asked her to stay, but Ms Abedin left.

"Then I said something only the twentysomething version of me would have come up with – 'I am so sorry' – and walked out, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible", she wrote as per The Guardian.

Several days after the alleged incident took place, the political consultant ran into the senator on Capitol Hill and the politician asked if the two were still friends. Ms Abedin nodded to him. Hillary Clinton then joined the two, Abedin writes "as if she knew I needed rescuing even though I'd told her nothing about that night".

According to the ex-aide, she stayed friendly with the senator and "buried the incident", erasing it "entirely" from memory.

In 2018, she relieved the traumatic experience when circuit judge Brett Kavanaugh was nominated by former President Donald Trump to become an associate justice on the US Supreme Court.

Following the nomination, Christine Blasey Ford, a psychology professor at Palo Alto University, claimed Kavanaugh groped and tried to take off her clothes at a school party. After she made the allegation three other women came forward with accusations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh. He categorically dismissed them.

Huma Abedin writes that Christine Ford "being accused of 'conveniently' remembering" a sexual assault by Brett Kavanuagh made her remember her own experience of being assaulted. Memories of the incident, she writes, caused "panic attacks and anxiety".

The book "Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds" will be released on 2 November. The memoir will feature Ms Abedin's recollections of her work with Hillary Clinton as well as details of her private life. In an excerpt, published earlier by Vanity Fair, she weighed in on her estranged husband New York Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner, who was embroiled in several sex scandals, including one, which saw him sending obscene material to a 15-year-old girl.