State Department scrubbed email forwarded to Hillary Clinton referring to threat to Huma Abedin

A newly released email by the State Department clearly references a threat made by a New Jersey Muslim man to longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, but was mysteriously scrubbed. Articles credited to a dozen journalists at The New York Times and The Washington Post noted the email, but apparently neither paper researched what the "threat" was about, even though a simple Google search explained it. And the Washington Post spelled a State Department employee's name wrong.

In an article published by The New York Times today, Peter Baker reports, "With the latest releases, more than 1,200 messages have been found to contain classified information. But even some of those released Thursday were redacted heavily under a privacy exemption. One sent to Mrs. Clinton referring to Huma Abedin, one of her closest aides, forwarded a message with the subject line 'Threat,' but the text was blacked out."

At The Washington Post, Rosalind S. Helderman wrote, "In the emails released most recently, for instance, Clinton thanked a top aide, Joe McManus, in July 2012 for forwarding what appeared to be information about a threat against her long-serving close personal aide, Huma Abedin...as part of an email chain titled 'Huma' and that included the State Department's top security officer, Eric Bosworth. Abedin's primary residence with her husband, former Rep. Anthony Weiner, was in Manhattan."

The "State Department's top security officer" was actually Eric Boswell, not Bosworth, as the Post wrongly reports.

Seven other reporters - Carol Morello, Anne Gearan, Tom Hamburger, Mary Jordan, Carol D. Leonnig, Karen Tumulty and Vanessa Williams - worked on the Post article. And the New York Times noted, "Reporting was contributed by Steven Lee Myers from Washington, Amy Chozick from New York, and Gardiner Harris from Kailua, Hawaii."

(Editor's Note: Washington Post Managing Editor Cameron Barr has ignored multiple tweets and an email about this embarrassing typo, and - as of January 3rd - it remains uncorrected. Barr thanked me a few months ago for pointing out misspellings in an article by David Weigel - who sent me a trollish, threatening email (that Barr gave me a half-baked apology over) - but has ignored emails and tweets pointing out similar typos, errors and incorrect facts in many Washington Post articles. I can't remember the last story I read from that paper online which doesn't seem to be poorly edited, researched or proofread. Weigel will be the subject of a future article. Aside from the fact he's friends with Libertarian/Conservative political operatives and bloggers who falsely accused me of crimes and sued me in a crazy conspiracy lawsuit - that he has written one-sided articles about at a few different media outlets - Weigel has a long history of shilling for them, along with presidential candidate Ted Cruz, which the Washington Post has also ignored.

Dave Weigel omits the fact that he's friendly with many colleagues of Dan Backer and Shaun McCutcheon - such as filmmaker Ladd Ehlinger Jr. - who he has hyped in many stories. Ehlinger has not only been hired by PACs controlled by Backer to create viral campaign ads - including one that McCutcheon's website brags he "sponsored...to encourage voters to support Republican Bob Turner in the special election to replace Anthony Weiner after his scandal" - he has also been a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the FEC (Stop This Insanity pdf, Docket showing Backer representing Ehlinger). Weigel has also hung out at CPAC parties sponsored by Backer and McCutcheon, but the Washington Post reporter is not big on transparency when it comes to himself. In 2012, Weigel and Slate leaked - and cherry-picked - Direct Messages I sent him regarding convicted bomber Brett Kimberlin, who I was falsely accused of working with in a conspiracy theory lawsuit argued by Dan Backer, that was tossed out of court, and Ehlinger also leaked emails to slander me at his blog.]

The email was sent by United States Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Eric Boswell on July 21, 2012 at 9:32 AM to Joseph Macmanus - who was Executive Assistant to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, at the time - and Under Secretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy, and Macmanus forwarded it to the top 2016 Democratic presidential candidate's private email account an hour later.

"Thanks for the update and for the peace of mind from the NYPD," Hillary Clinton responded, ten minutes after being forwarded the email.

As the New York Post reported a day later on July 22, 2012, "Police and federal officials have placed security around ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, after a New Jersey man threatened her, law-enforcement sources said."

"An individual, described as a Muslim man, made the unspecified threat after Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) last week claimed Abedin’s family had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and asked for a probe to see if she is helping the Islamist organization," Larry Celona added. "The man was questioned by the NYPD and the State Department and has not been charged, sources said."

In today's NY Times, Baker added, "Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign was sensitive to the perception that the batch posted online Thursday was deliberately released on New Year’s Eve, a time when attention would be low. The campaign made a point on Twitter of reminding the public that the release date was set according to the court schedule."