Anthony Weiner Came This Close To Playing Trump In Hillary Debate Prep

Anthony Weiner Image by Getty Images

By Daniel J. Solomon April 18, 2017

Before his sexting allegations helped sink Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, Anthony Weiner was almost asked by the former secretary of state’s campaign to play the role of Donald Trump in debate preparations.

Married to Clinton top aide Huma Abedin, Weiner was known for delivering a populist message in blunt language – making him an appropriate doppelgänger for Trump. Ultimately, the job went to campaign spokesman Philippe Reines.

The campaign tidbit was revealed in Amie Parnes and Jonathan Allen’s new account of Clinton’s ill-fated bid for the White House, “Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign.”

Weiner’s first sext scandal cost him his seat in Congress, the second tanked his New York City mayoral campaign and the third ensnared Clinton.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation seized a laptop that Abedin and Weiner shared, uncovering e-mails between Abedin and Clinton that were not previously examined as part of the agency’s probe of the former secretary of state’s use of a private server.

FBI Director James Comey announced the news at the end of October, dealing her a severe blow days before the presidential vote.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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