Huma Abedin Announces Split From Anthony Weiner

(ABC News) – Huma Abedin, a top aide to Hillary Clinton, announced today that she is separating from her husband, disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner.

The announcement comes in the wake of the latest allegations of Weiner sending lewd messages to a woman online which were revealed by The New York Post last night.

“After long and painful consideration and work on my marriage, I have made the decision to separate from my husband. Anthony and I remain devoted to doing what is best for our son, who is the light of our life. During this difficult time, I ask for respect for our privacy,” Abedin said in a statement released today.

Abedin, who is one of Hillary Clinton’s top aides, married Weiner in 2010 when he was a Democratic congressman representing a district in Queens, New York. Former President Bill Clinton officiated at their wedding.

In June 2011, Weiner resigned from Congress a month after the release of an explicit photo of him that he had inadvertently posted on his Twitter account. At the time, Abedin was pregnant with the couple’s first child.

Richard Drew/AP Photo U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner announces his resignation from Congress, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, June 16, 2011.

The couple’s son Jordan was born in December 2011.

In spite of the scandal and his resignation from Congress, Weiner decided to run for mayor of New York City in 2013. Abedin campaigned with him at times — many of which were documented in detail by a film crew that followed Weiner’s campaign.

After a similar sexting scandal unfolded during Weiner’s mayoral race, the notoriously private Abedin spoke at a press conference defending her decision to stay in the marriage.

“Our marriage, like many others has had its ups and its downs. It took a lot of work and a whole lot of therapy to get to a place where I could forgive Anthony,” she said at the July 2013 press conference.

Evan Agostini/AP Photo Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin arrive at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit Gala, celebrating the opening of “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology” on Monday, May 2, 2016, in New York City.

“It was not an easy choice in any way, but I made the decision that it was worth staying in this marriage. That was a decision I made for me, for our son, and for our family,” she said at the time.

Abedin has come under scrutiny during the presidential campaign as part of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server and allegations that donors to the Clinton Foundation were granted access at the State Department during Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state.

Donald Trump, who has called Weiner a “pervert weirdo” and “sicko” in the past, weighed in on the split and praised Abedin’s decision.

“Huma is making a very wise decision. I know Anthony Weiner well, and she will be far better off without him,” Trump said in a statement released today.

“I only worry for the country in that Hillary Clinton was careless and negligent in allowing Weiner to have such close proximity to highly classified information. Who knows what he learned and who he told? It’s just another example of Hillary Clinton’s bad judgment. It is possible that our country and its security have been greatly compromised by this,” he said in the statement.