Twitter exploded in a torrent of “Anthony Weiner” jokes on Friday when it was revealed that the disgraced ex-congressman’s sexting scandal reignited an FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s handling of government documents.
FBI Director James Comey rocked the political world going into the weekend by announcing the discovery of seemingly “pertinent” emails related to Mrs. Clinton’s server scandal while investigating a separate case. Reports that Mr. Weiner’s electronic devices served as the impetus for the renewed Clinton investigation made his name jump to the top of Twitter’s trending news list.
Well-known political pundits did not hesitate to fill the news stream with jokes about Mr. Weiner, husband of long-time Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
Some tweets, compiled by Mediaite, include:
- CNN’s Jake Tapper: So “Chekhov’s proverbial gun in the first act that goes off in the third is Anthony Weiner.”
- Fox News’ Dana Perino: “The writers at VEEP are like, ’we’ve got our story line for next season. Take the next two months off.’”
- Mediaite’s Alex Griswold: “Twenty years later, a Clinton may finally be brought down because they couldn’t control their Weiner.”
Commentary from Twitter users not within the news industry were just as sardonic.
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- “Anthony Weiner to play Deathstroke in the new Batman,” wrote @studioexec1.
- “Who would’ve thought it would be Anthony Weiner that would bring down Hillary?” added Heather Champion.
- “Anthony Weiner is currently checking himself into the witness relocation program,” wrote another.
FBI officials told lawmakers on Friday that agents looking into illicit messages Mr. Weiner sent a 15-year-old girl uncovered thousands of documents potentially related to Mrs. Clinton’s case. Electronic devices belonging to Mrs. Abedin were also seized during the agency’s work.
Mr. Comey previously said July 5 that he would not recommend the Department of Justice prosecute Mrs. Clinton, despite the fact that she was “extremely careless” with intelligence as secretary of state. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch then closed the case on July 7.
So Chekhov’s proverbial gun in the first act that goes off in the third is Anthony Weiner.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 28, 2016
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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