Weiner: Trump is a Republican problem

Former Congressman Anthony Weiner on Monday responded directly to Donald Trump personal attack on him in a joint attack on Hillary Clinton last week.

In a video posted on Instagram last Thursday, the Republican presidential front-runner put up an image of Hillary Clinton speaking in front of Anthony Weiner, who resigned from Congress and lost a race for mayor in 2013 over inappropriate behaviour, with a voiceover audio of Hillary stating: “Women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights, once and for all. Let’s keep fighting for dignity.”

Weiner is married to Huma Abedin, a long-time aide to Clinton.

“I am cool with it. I don’t have much to say about Donald Trump’s Instagram posts,” Weiner said during an interview of Huffington Post Live.

Weiner said Trump is a Republican problem, not a national one. “The Republicans have outsourced their party to the wackadoo wing. Good for them,” he said. “And If he’s the nominee, halevai (I wish) – that’s a good thing for us. He represents, kind of, the Republican Party.”

While arguing that Hillary Clinton is his choice in the Democratic presidential primaries and the most qualified person running for president, Weiner conceded that Bernie Sanders “has a good chance of winning” Iowa and New Hampshire. But he questioned Sanders’ integrity by compromising his principles for running in the Democratic primaries.  ”I like Bernie awfully a lot,” Weiner said, joking he’s very good at impersonating him. “But his steadfast argument to his constituents was ‘I am not a Democrat.’ He is running as this principled guy; it’s all about his sense of principle. However, his run in the Democratic primaries is a sense of pragmatism and political, he asserted. “This is a flip from where he’s been for forty years.”

Weiner also commented on Hillary’s email server, saying “The substance of the charge is ridiculous and doesn’t hold water” since it hasn’t been applied to members of Congress. “They are all on private emails,” he said. “You know how I know that? I was one. I had a private email address; every member of Congress has a private email address.”

In the interview, Weiner also touted Hillary Clinton’s accomplishments and profile, including her role in stopping Iran’s pursuit towards a nuclear bomb. “These Republicans are like, ‘Why are we doing this deal with Iran when we finally had brought Iran to its knees with the tough sanctions.’ Who did those sanctions? Hillary Clinton got that sanctions regime done, something Bush could not do, and some of the Republicans couldn’t have done,” he stressed.