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Anthony Weiner: The sexting scandal that upended an election | Planet America | ABC News — Transcript

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0:02it's july 23rd 2013.
0:06uh good uh
0:08good afternoon my name is anthony weiner
0:09democratic candidate for mayor of the
0:11city of new york the democratic front
0:13runner to become the next mayor of new
0:15york calling a press conference wouldn't
0:16normally be a national much less
0:19international news event but
0:21anthony weiner isn't just any candidate
0:24for mayor he has
0:26baggage as i've said in the past these
0:29things that i did were wrong and
0:32hurtful to my wife and caused us to go
0:34through
0:35many challenges in our marriage that
0:36extended past my resignation from
0:38congress that resignation was two years
0:41earlier when anthony weiner's promising
0:44political career had seemed over it came
0:47from congressman anthony weiner's
0:49twitter account over the weekend a photo
0:51of an anonymous man's bulging underwear
0:54the lewd picture immediately deleted
0:56from weiner's account was sent to this
0:5821 year old seattle college student but
1:01also available to the public to view on
1:03twitter weiner initially denied he'd
1:05tweeted the photo of his
1:08name's sake this seems like a prank that
1:11has gotten an enormous amount of
1:13attention this is the picture uh i'm
1:15sure you've seen it by now is this you
1:18i can tell you this we have a firm that
1:20we've hired to i've seen it it's
1:22i've seen it yeah like every time he
1:24looked down for a few days weiner
1:27maintained he'd been hacked before
1:29admitting his lie and his humiliation
1:33seemed complete so today i'm announcing
1:35my resignation from congress
1:40so my colleagues can get back to work
1:43my neighbors can choose a new
1:45representative
1:47and most importantly that my wife and i
1:50can continue
1:52to heal from the damage i have caused
1:55and anthony weiner wasn't just any
1:57congressman either a fixture on cable
1:59news weiner's wife huma abedin was one
2:03of the most trusted advisers to us
2:05secretary of state hillary clinton he
2:08was still well connected and very
2:11ambitious and perhaps recognizing his
2:14run for new york mayor was his last shot
2:16at redemption
2:17this time he would not be quitting i
2:20hope they're willing to still continue
2:21to give me a second chance and i hope
2:24they realize that in many ways
2:27what happened today was something that
2:30frankly had happened before but it
2:32doesn't represent all that much that is
2:34new nice try but the latest texts were
2:38from the year after he quit congress
2:41he'd been up to his old tricks again
2:43before running for mayor now he was
2:45trying to convince voters that was all
2:48in the past helping him to make that
2:50implausible claim was his wife huma
2:54aberdeen but this is the first time i've
2:55spoken at a press conference and
2:57he'll have to go with me because i'm
2:58very nervous she argued if she could
3:01forgive her husband's indiscretions
3:03maybe voters should too
3:05our marriage like many others
3:08has had in pups and its downs
3:12it took a lot of work
3:15and a whole lot of
3:16therapy to get to a place where i could
3:19forgive
3:21the clintons were reportedly concerned
3:23weiner would prove to be a liability for
3:25them in the future and while bill and
3:27hillary have not gone public aides and
3:29advisors say they're eager to see weiner
3:32exit the race before damage is done to a
3:35possible clinton run for the presidency
3:37reminding voters of the clinton's own
3:40sex scandal with hillary clinton
3:42standing by her man
3:44i'm sitting here because i love him and
3:46i respect him come democratic primary
3:49day fewer than five percent of new
3:51yorkers had forgiven anthony weiner
3:53enough to vote for him and
3:55that seemed like maybe the last time
3:56we'd hear from him except as the
3:58punchline to a joke but then
4:00came the election of 2016.
4:03aberdeen is still by the side of hillary
4:05clinton who seems destined to become the
4:07first female president despite concerns
4:10she may have been a little lacks with
4:12security using a private email account
4:14as secretary of state she was up against
4:16this guy oh i don't know what i said ah
4:19i don't remember
4:21he's going like i don't remember i
4:22thought maybe that's what i said then
4:24anthony weiner and more trouble for him
4:26child services are now investigating the
4:28former congressman after his latest
4:29round of sexting which included a photo
4:31showing his young son in the background
4:34and the saga still wasn't over eleven
4:37days to the election the fbi director
4:40informing lawmakers he is reviewing new
4:42emails related to the clinton email
4:44investigation law enforcement officials
4:46tell cnn the new emails were not from
4:49clinton but were sent and received by
4:51aide huma abedin they were found on a
4:54device shared by aberdeen and her
4:56estranged husband anthony weiner who is
4:58the target of a separate investigation
5:00into alleged sex stick with a minor wow
5:04wow indeed it's true
5:07it seems anthony weiner is forcing the
5:09nation to relitigate the entire email
5:11controversy and putting hillary
5:13clinton's chances of winning the
5:14presidency in serious danger the fbi
5:17found nothing new relating to their
5:19clinton email investigation on weiner's
5:21laptop but the damage was done it
5:24reminded enough voters about the clinton
5:27scandals the secrecy the lies the email
5:30affair 25 years of it pollsters say
5:33comey's brief reopening of the clinton
5:35investigation was the final straw
5:37sending donald trump to the white house
5:40meanwhile anthony weiner was sent to
5:43jail for a year and a half for sexting
5:45with a minor and he remains a registered
5:48sex offender for life
5:54so what was it like to be at the center
5:57of that storm and indeed all of the
5:58storms from lewinsky gate through to
6:00wienergate huma aberdeen has written her
6:03side of those stories and more in her
6:05new memoir both and life in many worlds
6:08where she goes back to her childhood
6:09growing up muslim in michigan and then
6:12saudi arabia her path to the white house
6:14and what she calls hillary land and then
6:16of course the collision of very public
6:19and private events huma aberdeen welcome
6:22to planet america john thank you for
6:24having me on the show i'm looking
6:25forward to our conversation you write in
6:28your book about a fundraiser you
6:30attended within first lady hillary
6:32clinton in october 1998. well she's
6:35feeling a lot of pressure around the
6:37impeachment of her husband
6:39why was that night so significant when
6:42it came to your future working
6:43relationship
6:44well you know i tell the story in the
6:47book i take the readers through my
6:49experience of walking into the white
6:51house in 1996 as a 21 year old
6:54intern
6:55having no idea what i was getting myself
6:57into having goose bumps as i walk into
6:59the residence down the red carpet up the
7:02marble uh staircases i mean i it was
7:05literally a pinch me moment from the
7:07minute i walked in
7:08but it did my time at the white house
7:11and the clinton administration did
7:13coincide with some momentous uh historic
7:16moments in our country and that included
7:18things like the you know middle east
7:19peace efforts it did include uh the
7:22experience of of impeachment and i wrote
7:24about
7:25um
7:26that uh that you know that entire ordeal
7:29because
7:30all of the big moments in that
7:32investigation seemed to match uh these
7:35milestones in my time with uh hillary
7:37clinton
7:38and um so that night was in the midst of
7:41a very challenging time for our country
7:44certainly for the democratic party and i
7:46write this story of just you know newly
7:48traveling with hillary clinton as a
7:50young staff person very insecure in my
7:52job not sure i knew what i was doing
7:54intimidated by the surroundings and one
7:57night at uh at a dinner at a fundraising
7:59dinner i asked her a question and she
8:01responds by saying this is not working
8:04and returns a plate she picked up a
8:06plate to pick up a buffet dinner and i
8:09thought this is horrible i've lost my
8:11job i've made some mistakes over the
8:13last few weeks
8:14and uh so i recount the scene of driving
8:17back in that limousine to the white
8:18house thinking this is my last it's
8:20october of 1998. i hadn't even been
8:22traveling with her for a year and
8:23thinking wow it's all over and when she
8:26gets back into the residence she calls
8:28me in and gives me a hug and says
8:31you know i'm sorry for what i said it um
8:34you know it's been a very difficult time
8:36for all of us and i just want you to
8:37know i appreciate everything you do and
8:39i tell the story in the book john
8:41because to me it really revealed
8:44something about her humanity her empathy
8:46the kindness that she shows to people
8:48even in the most stressful of times and
8:51i was on the opposite end of that that
8:54that night when you first started
8:55working with hillary clinton in 1998 she
8:58had literally just found out that her
9:00husband had lied to her and indeed the
9:02nation about his affair with monica
9:05lewinsky when you many years later found
9:08yourself in a not dissimilar public
9:10scandal because of your husband anthony
9:12weiner uh did you draw on that
9:14experience at all or do you see them as
9:15sort of entirely different you know i
9:17didn't because i think no two situations
9:21are necessarily the same or even
9:23comparable i i think what she was going
9:25through
9:26uh was a historic uh had you know every
9:29decision she made the stress and the
9:31pressure
9:32upon her was uh overwhelming and when i
9:35had to go through my own personal
9:36challenges many years later
9:38i you know i in that moment i was so
9:41stunned and so shocked i just tried to
9:43do the next best right thing for myself
9:46i you know it was such different
9:48circumstances you know i was newly
9:49married i was you know i tell the story
9:52of waking up at buckingham palace and
9:54knowing i was you know newly pregnant
9:56carrying my secret living this perfect
9:58life having married the man who i
10:01believed was the love of my life he was
10:02my
10:03certainly my first love he was the first
10:06man i had ever been with uh so for me it
10:09was just this earth-shattering shocking
10:11revelation but uh
10:13you know i had to manage my way through
10:14and it took several years to get through
10:17to get through that process to be able
10:19to be here sitting with you and being on
10:20the other side having written this book
10:22and happy to have shared my story
10:25in our introduction there homer we just
10:26saw a clip of you at that press
10:28conference standing by the side of your
10:30husband anthony weiner when he was
10:32running for mayor in 2013 and speaking
10:34out in his defense you said at the time
10:37you're very nervous how hard was that to
10:39do for you well taking people back to
10:42that moment you know i think there's a
10:44tendency to look at my relationship with
10:46anthony from a 2021 perspective and
10:49hindsight is certainly 2020. um but in
10:53the moment you know i was as i said just
10:56trying to do what i thought was the next
10:59best right thing and i also didn't
11:00understand you know john i don't believe
11:02what i went through
11:03is necessarily so singular unfortunately
11:06i think it is something that women and
11:08couples and people go through challenges
11:10and their relationships infidelity
11:12did not was not invented in in my case
11:15i just had to do it on the front page of
11:17the newspaper and
11:19you know as i recount in the book um you
11:21know as we were doing research for this
11:23book my colleague came to me and said
11:25the most common headline about you from
11:27that period of time
11:28is what is wrong with her and what is
11:30she thinking and so i chose to write
11:33exactly what i was thinking and you know
11:35in the 2013 i stood at that press
11:37conference because i had
11:38agreed encouraged anthony to run the
11:41first time the scandal had broken i had
11:44you know thought it was this anomaly i
11:45didn't understand the behavior i thought
11:47it was something he could easily knock
11:49off and i saw him running for office as
11:51a way to you know
11:53re uh
11:55reestablished himself in society in the
11:57community he was a good public servant
11:59he was a very popular member of congress
12:02before he resigned in 2011 and i saw
12:05this as a path back it was a mistake in
12:06hindsight for him to run
12:08but i stood with him because i had uh i
12:11have felt like i owed people an answer
12:13and i had to take responsibility for my
12:15decision i wonder it happened to hillary
12:18clinton in the 1990s it happened to you
12:21more recently this idea that for
12:23standing by your husband you are somehow
12:26to blame or complicit or responsible for
12:29his infidelities and his scandals what
12:32do you think that is about well i think
12:35in part you know i can only speak from
12:37my own experience but i do know that
12:40when we
12:41um had when anthony and i went through
12:43this shock in our marriages crisis as i
12:45write in the book in our marriage i
12:48didn't you know i didn't know how to
12:49deal with it i'd never you know i didn't
12:51grow up in the family and i came from an
12:53immigrant family came to this country to
12:56pursue the american dream i grew up in
12:57saudi arabia it was not an environment
13:00where we went to talk to strangers about
13:02our problems
13:04and and i had nothing i didn't know any
13:06parents uh who were divorced uh when i
13:08was growing up in saudi arabia it was
13:09this was entirely a new
13:11uh a new space and place for me to
13:13explore
13:14i did feel as though you know we were in
13:17a bunker together right at the beginning
13:20you know you you know the disinviting
13:22from parties that being asked you know
13:24volunteering at a food bank and being
13:26asked not to come
13:28and so yes i mean the shunning to some
13:30extent certainly i had a very supportive
13:32family and a very very supportive group
13:35of friends but nobody really knew what
13:37to do or how to help us i mean sort of
13:39they were just there to be there but in
13:41terms of seeking professional help
13:43that's something we had to do on our own
13:45and it also took a very long time to
13:46understand the behavior i think mental
13:49health
13:50you know in part as i've had been on
13:52this book tour around the country i have
13:54to tell you john every single day i will
13:58meet somebody or get a message from
13:59somebody who says they understand and
14:01people who will say i don't understand
14:04it is in
14:05in my opinion people who um or in my
14:08judgment people who just never had to
14:10live with somebody don't have a partner
14:12or a parent or a child who's either
14:14dealt with mental health issues or
14:17addiction you know addictive behavior
14:20um and it took me many years to you know
14:22understand what i was dealing with and
14:24you know who i was living with
14:27before before i understood as to why
14:29society judges that way i mean i sort of
14:31i end the book about one of the many
14:32reasons i write the book is
14:34for my son but also not allowing cycles
14:37to repeat themselves and how how we
14:39raise our children to feel loved and
14:41trusted and supported no matter what but
14:44um
14:45i i can only say i was able to get
14:48through it we were able to get through
14:50the other side you know this man is the
14:51father of my child so he will always be
14:53in my life and we've had to figure out a
14:56path forward it's been work a lot of
14:58work i i write in detail about how
14:59difficult the work was but for us it was
15:02the right decision can can you explain
15:04to us what your feelings were in 2016 at
15:06the height of this campaign where your
15:08boss of almost 20 years who's now more
15:11of a friend is about to become it seems
15:13the first female president of the united
15:14states your husband's laptop computers
15:17and his old sexting scandal suddenly
15:19mean jim comey opens up an investigation
15:22once again and it costs her the election
15:24how mortifying was that well you know
15:262016 uh and i share the stories in the
15:29book about what it felt you know that
15:31night in
15:32philadelphia in july 28 2016 when
15:35hillary clinton was officially the first
15:39female presidential nominee of our party
15:41i i recounted how the feeling in the
15:45room the pounding on the floor was so
15:47intense i thought we were going to fall
15:48through the energy the excitement the
15:50history she had just made for
15:53generations of women and girls in this
15:55country that you know something we could
15:57carry forward with a tremendous amount
15:59of pride there was so much excitement so
16:01yes for 11 days before our election for
16:04this unprecedented announcement from the
16:06then fbi director
16:08in an election that was this close every
16:11little thing mattered and this was a big
16:13thing and there were already plenty of
16:15external forces as you know hillary has
16:17recounted herself in her own book
16:19everything from foreign government
16:21intervention so from to challenge you
16:23know fake ads on social media i mean it
16:25was the incoming wisconsin i write a
16:28whole uh passage in the book about the
16:30sexism the constant sexist remarks she
16:32had to endure it was constantly
16:34challenges thrown at her the fake news
16:36that was just prevalent people we'd run
16:39into who would believe these rumors that
16:40she was dying or some horrible you know
16:43accusations
16:44that we just dismissed as nonsense all
16:47of these things were seated in that
16:48election so this final earthquake
16:52was devastating and then for two days
16:54before
16:55uh for for there to be another
16:57announcement saying there is nothing new
17:00and there's nothing to report
17:02i think hurt us even more it was it was
17:04so traumatic so devastating as i write
17:07in the book
17:08i had
17:09even i was so stunned i had stopped
17:12feeling because feeling for myself felt
17:15selfish in that moment it was about the
17:17mission it was about november 8th it was
17:19about getting her elected and we all
17:22know how that ended
17:23aberdeen when you hear people say
17:26hillary clinton she didn't win the
17:27presidency either time she ran because
17:29she's just not likeable she rubs people
17:31up the wrong way uh what do you put that
17:34down to is that is that her gender is it
17:36something about her personality is it
17:38something about the rest of us what do
17:40you think well you know it's one of the
17:41many reasons i wrote the book you know
17:43as i say in the end of the book you know
17:45i try to approach this book as a show
17:48not tell it's not telling you this and
17:50telling you that i try to show people
17:53what it was like i take people onto air
17:55force one with us i take people into the
17:57situation room or into the meetings at
17:59the state department
18:01what were the motivations of this woman
18:04or well actually whether it was hillary
18:05clinton or bill clinton or barack obama
18:07all of whom i had the privilege to serve
18:09with
18:10what you know revealing the and john
18:13mccain even the other side of the aisle
18:14lindsey graham republican senators who
18:16um you know who uh hillary worked with
18:19this idea of
18:21what american leaders what motivated
18:23them their values and their principles
18:25which i hope i have done justice to
18:27in the book i tell a story in 2016 about
18:30traveling to a fundraiser
18:32speaking on behalf of the campaign a
18:35surrogate as we call it and as i gave
18:37the speech
18:38and i was very nervous about public
18:40speaking i'm terrified of public
18:41speaking
18:42i um i finish i just get up and give a
18:45personal story and when i when i finish
18:47one of the audience members gets up and
18:49says i don't understand why doesn't
18:50hillary talk about herself this way i
18:52mean his stories are amazing
18:54and i said then which is what i still
18:56believe is that she never believed it
18:58was about her she was a serious
19:00you know policy driven she was solution
19:03driven everything about what animated
19:06her got her up in the morning was how do
19:07i make every man woman and child in this
19:10country's life better easier more
19:12prosperous and more fair
19:14and she for the most part ignored the
19:16little personal
19:18you know attacks and for many years that
19:21worked in the 1990s you know when john
19:23when i grew up in the clinton world of
19:24politics in the 1990s it was just the
19:26beginning of the 24-hour cable news
19:29shows you had a proactive message you
19:32drove every single day so whether that
19:34was healthcare or education that was the
19:36message you talked about every day and
19:38you ignored any of the nonsensical fake
19:40news that might be percolating
19:42now as we learned in 2016 we live in a
19:4524 second news cycle so
19:48you you ha and as you know i think we
19:51learned late you have to respond you
19:53have to counter attack you can't you
19:54cannot assume people are not going to
19:56believe nonsense because
19:57as we learned in the aftermath of 2016
20:00people believed plenty of nonsense
20:02in this country and i hope
20:05when you close this book
20:07that you will see and i hope i've done a
20:09good job that you know she would have
20:12been an extraordinary president of the
20:13united states and not because she was
20:15the most qualified woman to run in this
20:17country
20:18because i believe she was the most
20:19qualified person and
20:21a constant backdrop in your memoir is
20:24your late father who died just before
20:26you headed off to college and then to
20:29work in the white house and and for
20:31hillary clinton
20:32at the end of that when you're writing
20:34this memoir after a pretty extraordinary
20:3625 years in your life did you reconnect
20:39with your father and some of the the
20:41lessons that he at least tried to teach
20:43you uh when he was still alive john
20:45absolutely i mean ultimately this book
20:48holistically is a love letter to my
20:50father
20:51it is if i had an opportunity to have
20:53one more conversation
20:55with my dad this is what i would give
20:57him i would give him this book and say
20:59this is what i did with my life and i
21:01hope you're proud of me and when people
21:03would ask me in my adult sort of trials
21:05and you know tribulations what how are
21:08you so resilient how did you get through
21:10it is the reason the whole first part of
21:12the book is about my mother and my
21:13father who as i said you know gave up
21:16their countries came to the united
21:18states my father was diagnosed with
21:20renal failure when i was two
21:23and one of the very first lines i typed
21:25when i wrote this book was my father was
21:27told he was dying and he went out and
21:28lived and he was my age 46 when he was
21:31diagnosed with renal failure and i think
21:33about the extraordinary things that he
21:35did in all the years that he had left we
21:37moved to saudi arabia my parents took us
21:39all over the world my father always told
21:42me that our eyes are at the front of our
21:43heads for a reason it is to look forward
21:46so he wanted me to learn history but he
21:48only wanted me to learn it in the
21:49context of you know informing decisions
21:52we made in the future
21:53and i always believed that my father
21:55thought i would be a writer he um i tell
21:58i share a story
21:59about um being given silas marner my
22:02father brought us books back from his
22:04travels all the time and he gave me silo
22:05smarter when i was 10 and i did not
22:07understand the material and i asked my
22:09father why
22:10did marianne evans use a man's name
22:12george elliott to write and my father
22:14said in the victorian era women were not
22:16taken seriously as writers so she used a
22:18man's name but don't worry when you
22:20write your book you will use your own
22:22name and everyone will take it seriously
22:24and i
22:25really do honor the past my parents my
22:27grandmother who demanded to be educated
22:30over 100 years ago at a time when none
22:32of the women in her environment or
22:34social circle were being educated when i
22:37think about traveling to macedonia and
22:39meeting coast of our muslim women going
22:41to iraq during the war and meeting with
22:42women there i think about the privilege
22:44the extraordinary privilege
22:46i have had and i really do owe it to my
22:49you know my forebears for giving me this
22:51ex
22:52this life i you know i've had some more
22:54pinch me moments than i can count but in
22:56the end i really owe it all to my mother
22:58and my father and i hope they're proud
22:59of me
23:00all of a summer i guess invites a
23:01question about your own plans for the
23:03future now the assumption is hillary
23:06clinton's never running for president
23:07again she's effectively retired as is
23:09bill clinton so uh are you now going to
23:12pursue that dream of becoming the the
23:14next christian amanpour are you going to
23:16be writing more books like this what
23:18does the future hold do you think you
23:19know i did one of my father's uh pieces
23:22of advice was a good life is a balanced
23:24life for most of my life i did not
23:26follow that advice i worked all the time
23:28and everything else came second and i am
23:30enjoying finding more balance in my life
23:32i love that i can add author to my
23:34resume i i say that with a tremendous
23:37amount of pride i stole from shonda
23:40rhimes this idea that this was going to
23:42be my year of saying yes as she said
23:45when she wrote her memoir and i really
23:47you know i think i was
23:48very you know controlled and closed and
23:51very single you know single-minded you
23:53know for most of my professional life
23:54that i am i really am open to any new
23:57adventures i mean you know christiane
24:00interviewed me last week i was so
24:01nervous i was shaking but i was so
24:03excited to talk to her and who knows
24:05maybe i can still be christian amanpour
24:07i'm exploring
24:09every opportunity and i'm excited about
24:12every opportunity you know john i'm
24:13doing the thing with you right now that
24:15scares me the most and that's the advice
24:16i give i'm i meet students and young
24:18women all over the country here
24:21and and that's the that's the advice
24:22that i give them do the thing that
24:24scares you the most you never know it
24:25might be worth it and i have been
24:27amazed at how much i've enjoyed this
24:28book tour being in conversation with
24:30people like you and sharing my story
24:33huma aberdeen a pleasure to talk to you
24:34thanks for being with us on planet
24:35america john thrilled to be talking to
24:38you thank you for taking the time i
24:39appreciate it
24:43[Music]
25:07you

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