Weiner: "The picture is of me, and I sent it"

Metanews: Rep. Anthony Weiner%u2019s Twitter career ended in tatters Monday, as the New York Democrat admitted in a chaotic news conference that he used social media to send explicit photographs and sexually suggestive text messages to several women over the course of three years, including in the period since he married Huma Abedin last year. Weiner, more than almost any other lawmaker, understood how to exploit social media — not to mention the mainstream media — to help make him a “star of the caucus,” but “it was his undoing,” said one colleague. “That damn social media.” It%u2019s now clear that the very tool that helped propel Weiner to prominence became the weapon by which he damaged his own political career, and the episode gave yet another warning to lawmakers to watch what they send over the Internet. He faces an ethics investigation — called for by Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi — and an uncertain future in both congressional and New York politics. “To be clear, the picture is of me and I sent it,” Weiner said of a photograph of him in gray underwear that surfaced a week and a half ago and whose origin he had previously questioned. It%u2019s hard to say where rock bottom is, but Weiner, who said he won%u2019t resign, hopes it was his news conference in which he apologized. Even before Weiner could appear, conservative publisher Andrew Breitbart took the stage to address the media and answer their questions in an impromptu opening act for the main event. Breitbart had first brought attention to the underwear photo and later posted shots of a bare-chested Weiner on his website, biggovernment.com. Breitbart sought vindication: Weiner originally told the world that his Facebook account had been hacked — a story he recanted at Monday%u2019s news conference. “I am deeply regretting what I have done, and I am not resigning,” Weiner said at a Manhattan hotel, as the political universe watched in amazement — some observers feeling sympathy for Weiner%u2019s wife and others pure schadenfreude, according to a deluge of tweets. “If you%u2019re looking for some deep explanation, I don%u2019t have one, except that I%u2019m sorry,” Weiner said. Only time will tell whether sorry is enough. In addition to a potentially embarrassing ethics investigation, Weiner faces questions of whether he can survive primary and general election races, and political insiders speculated that his district could now become an easy target in the redrawing of New York%u2019s congressional map for the 2012 elections. Pelosi%u2019s call for an ethics investigation, quickly seconded by Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel of New York, also gives cover to party leaders who would otherwise be pressured to render judgment on Weiner. ABC News reported Monday afternoon that it had “dozens of photos, emails, Facebook messages and cellphone call logs that [a woman named Meagan Broussard] says chronicle a sexually charged electronic relationship with Weiner that rapidly evolved for more than a month, starting on April 20, 2011.” “I have my own life, my own things where I%u2019m from, and I just wanted to go ahead with them. I thought I could just be private about it, but there%u2019s no reason for me to hide,” Broussard told ABC. “I didn%u2019t do anything wrong. I don%u2019t know him. I%u2019m just putting my story out there before anyone else tries to.” Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56379.html#ixzz1OcIC3CF9

• 2011-06-07T17:06:05+00:00
• Duration: 01:45

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