Hillary Clinton's election team pressured her closest adviser Huma Abedin to dump her husband Anthony Weiner in the midst of his lurid sexting scandal fearing it could hurt the former first lady's presidential campaign, sources tell
The Hollywood Reporter.
The scene was reportedly captured on video by Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg as they filmed "Weiner," a documentary exploring the political downfall of the former New York congressman who sent tawdry photos and notes to women under the name of "Carlos Danger."
But magazine speculates the footage may have been edited out in preparation for its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival as to not hurt Clinton's presidential bid.
Distributors who saw an early cut of the film as it was being shopped for release told The Reporter's Tatiana Siegel the footage is explosive and potentially damaging to Clinton.
"Multiple parties who viewed early cuts of the documentary say Clinton's team is seen trying to pressure Abedin to immediately cut ties with Weiner, fearing the scandal will hurt the secretary of state's bid for the White House," Siegel writes.
"The footage is said to offer the kind of rare window into the cutthroat machinations of a presidential campaign that is typically reserved for such fictitious shows as 'House of Cards.'"
Despite the alleged pressure, Abedin has remained with Weiner, with whom she has one son.
Kriegman, who was Weiner's chief of staff before becoming a filmmaker, denied to Siegel that Clinton's team appears in the documentary, "raising the question of whether it has been edited to expunge any fodder for the Republican Party."
The highly-anticipated film began filming in 2013 and was focused on Weiner's run for mayor of New York City in the wake of his texting scandal as it emerged he had sent explicit photos to a 22-year-old woman.
During the campaign, Weiner admitted he sexted not just one woman after resigning from Congress for the same behavior, but up to three.
That confession negated his earlier claim that after his 2011 resignation from Congress he had ended his habit of sexting women.
"These things I did, as you have read in the papers, didn't happen once," the 48-year-old Democrat said. "It was a terrible mistake that I unfortunately returned to during a rough time in our marriage.
"After a lot of reflection, some professional help, and a general reorientation of my life, Huma has given me a second chance. I will never stop being grateful for that."
But Weiner eventually dropped out of the mayoral contest.
"Weiner" debuts Sunday at Sundance.
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