David Brody

WASHINGTON -- If Hillary Clinton becomes president of the United States, her closest adviser, Huma Abedin, will be right by her side.

That's why some conservatives are raising red flags about Abedin, saying her family has ties to terrorist organizations.

The two women, who've worked together more than two decades, are inseparable, having developed an almost mother-daughter like relationship.

Abedin has Clinton's ear on a daily basis and her name can be seen on a majority of those State Department emails that have surfaced in the investigation over Clinton's private email server.

That connection isn't the only one raising concerns about Abedin. She is a Muslim-American who grew up in Saudi Arabia and worked as an editor under her mother on the Journal of Minority Muslim Affairs.

Former Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has sounded the alarm for years.

"What this journal did is look at countries that were not Islamic countries and they tried to push the advancement of Sharia law in countries that were not Islamic," Bachman told CBN News.

Critics say the journal opposes women's rights and blames the United States for 9/11. Abedin's father founded the journal and her mother is listed as editor-in-chief. Her brother is also involved -- and for nearly a decade, so was Abedin.

"Huma Abedin was listed as an assistant editor deciding what they would print, what the stories would be," Bachman said. "This was the family business, advancing Islamic Sharia law."

The Clinton campaign is pushing back, saying Abedin's "name was simply listed on the masthead… She did not play a role in editing at the publication."

But Abedin's connection to the journal isn't the only controversy at play here. The family also has ties to Abdullah Omar Nasseef, a longtime family friend who helped start the journal.

He has also been identified as someone with financial connections to terror groups like al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Given these revelations, Bachmann wants to know why Abedin received a security clearance throughout her years with Clinton.

"From what I know of federal law, she never would have been given a security clearance to be anywhere near the first lady or near a United States senator with those kind of more than questionable family relationships," Bachman said.

Bachmann and some of her GOP colleagues raised these issues about Abedin in 2012 with a detailed letter saying that she had "immediate family connections to foreign extremist organizations." But it went nowhere and even came under ridicule by fellow Republicans.

"These sinister accusations rest solely on a few unspecified and unsubstantiated associations of members of Huma's family, none of which have been shown to harm or threaten the United States in any way," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said at the time.

But many things have changed since then -- namely Clinton's email scandal with Abedin's name often front and center, not to mention renewed scrutiny in the current presidential race.

"Take a look at where she worked, by the way, and take a look at where her mother worked and works. You take a look at the whole event," Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said.

Bachman agreed, warning, "The Bible tells us who we surround us with makes a big difference in who we are."

With this presidential race almost over, time will tell if Abedin and her family become more of a problem for Clinton.