Radio host Rush Limbaugh told listeners on Monday that FBI agents will find “something serious” on Anthony Weiner’s laptop based solely on Huma Abedin’s reaction to last week’s political bombshell.
FBI Director James B. Comey informed lawmakers last Friday that agents investigating Mr. Weiner’s text messages with a 15-year-old girl found possibly “pertinent” information relating to the secret email server Hillary Clinton used as secretary of state. Sources close to Mrs. Abedin — Mrs. Clinton’s top aide — told Politico and The Washington Post that she claimed ignorance as to how the emails arrived on the device.
Mr. Limbaugh told listeners he would “read between the lines” regarding Mrs. Abedin’s reaction.
“This is The Washington Post headline, and it’s from two days ago: ’Clinton Aide Huma Abedin Has Told People She Doesn’t Know How Her Emails Wound up on Her Husband’s Computer.’ Folks, that’s all we need to know that it’s serious,” the host said. “If there was nothing on her husband’s computer — if these 650,000 emails, whatever number of emails, if there’s nothing to see there — Huma Abedin would be telling people, ’There’s nothing there. They can look all they want.’ “
“’There’s nothing on there! I told the truth; I got rid of everything of mine. If this is my husband’s, I haven’t the slightest idea what’s on there, but I’m not worried,’ ” Mr. Limbaugh said Mrs. Abedin would respond if she had nothing to hide.
“She didn’t say any of that,” he continued. “She’s out there telling people she doesn’t know how her emails wound up on her husband’s computer. Now, what they’re trying to do with this — this is the dead giveaway. That Washington Post headline tells me that the Democrats, the Hillary campaign is trying to use Huma’s alleged cluelessness as a decoy.”
The conservative host said the Clinton campaign’s strategy as the FBI investigates thousands of emails is twofold: They allegedly want to frame Mrs. Abedin as a victim of her estranged husband while showing that she had no intent to commit crimes.
The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that agents may need to sift through as many as 650,000 emails found on Mr. Weiner’s laptop, a seemingly impossible feat to accomplish before the Nov. 8 presidential election.
Mrs. Clinton’s top advisers and allies have decried Mr. Comey’s decision to go public with the agency’s investigation, with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada saying the director may have broken the law.
“To throw this in the middle of a campaign 11 days out just seems to break with precedent and be inappropriate at this stage,” Clinton campaign manager John Podesta said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” The Washington Times reported.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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