Donald Trump attacks Clinton’s Muslim aide over ‘leakage of classified information’

Republican front runner implies Huma Abedin shared sensitive information with her husband

Republican front runner for United States presidency, Donald Trump, criticised a Muslim aide of former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and implied she had leaked sensitive information, The Guardian reported.

In his speech at a fundraising event, Trump implied that Huma Abedin, who worked for Clinton during her term as the secretary of state in the Obama administration, had leaked classified information to her husband, former congressman Anthony Weiner.

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The campaign for the US presidency by the real-estate mogul, who holds a double-digit lead in polls regarding the Republican presidential nomination, has flourished despite his controversial remarks on matters, including illegal immigrants from neighbouring Mexico, the war record of Senator John McCain and the sexist remarks against Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.

In his recent foray directed against the top aide of the Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton, Trump said that while Abedin worked at the US State Department she had been "getting classified information" while married to a man he accused of being "a perv", "a sleazebag" and "a bad guy".

During his speech to more than a thousand people at the estate of car dealer Ernie Boch, the Republican candidate suggested that Abedin “is probably desperately in love with [Weiner] … because why else would she marry that guy?”

Weiner, currently working for a firm specialising in public relations, had to resign from the US Congress in 2011 after it was found that he had tweeted a sexually suggestive picture which he meant to share with an internet acquaintance.

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Interestingly, Trump, the controversial Republican candidate, has faced criticism from other Republicans about his past donations to and closeness with Clinton, who is also under fire from the Republicans over her use of a private email server while working as secretary of state.

Having served as a top aide to Clinton for more than a decade, Abedin has regularly been the subject of attention from Republicans and the media. Republican senator Chuck Grassley recently flayed her for having held posts in the private sector while working at the State Department; however, this was not mentioned by Trump in his speech.

Later, in a response Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill told the British newspaper, “Donald Trump has spent the summer saying offensive things about women, but there is no place for patently false, personal attacks towards a staff member.”

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“He should be ashamed of himself, and others in his own party should take a moment to stand up to him and draw the line for once. It’s embarrassing to watch, frankly,” he added.

This article originally appeared on The Guardian.