Weiner admits sending lewd messages after his resignation from Congress

Posted July 23, 2013 By Claire Moses & Laura Nahmias

Anthony Weiner’s “sexting” habit didn’t end with his career in Congress.

In a hastily arranged press conference, the Democratic mayoral candidate admitted Tuesday that he had sent sexually explicit messages even after similar messages forced his resignation in June 2011, with some messages sent as recently as summer 2012.

The latest messages, revealed earlier Tuesday on gossip website The Dirty, included explicit exchanges between a 22-year-old former Obama for America organizer and Weiner, who operated under the alias “Carlos Danger.”

With 49 days left until the Democratic mayoral primary, Weiner vowed to continue his campaign.

“This is entirely behind me,” Weiner promised on Tuesday evening. Weiner said the conversations took place last summer but didn’t name an exact date.

The conversations revealed on Tuesday allegedly took place over the course of six months, according to The Dirty.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Weiner campaign released a statement admitting to the messages and apologizing once more to his wife.

“I said that other texts and photos were likely to come out and today they have,” he said. “As I have said in the past these things that I did were wrong and hurtful to my wife.”

With the primary on September 10 vastly approaching, “perhaps I’m surprised that more things didn’t come out sooner,” Weiner said.

Mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin, talk to reporters on Tuesday afternoon. Photo: Claire Moses

He dodged reporters’ questions about the possibility that other messages could surface in the future.

Crowded together in a small, hot room on the seventh floor of GMHC, prior to a scheduled mayoral debate on HIV and AIDS, reporters tried to get the exact dates of the last exchanged messages.

“How can we trust your judgment?” one reporter asked, seated on the floor of the packed room, asked.

Weiner didn’t answer.

Abedin, who said she had never spoken at a press conference before, said in a soft, calm voice that she still believes in her husband.

“I love him. I have forgiven him,” she said. “We are moving forward.”

Abedin said it took a very long time and a lot of “ups and downs” to get where the couple is today. “It took a lot of work,” she said. “And a whole lot of therapy.”

While Weiner said that some of the posts were true and some were not, he declined to elaborate about which exactly were true or false.

Several mayoral candidates, including Sal Albanese, John Catsimatidis and Bill de Blasio, called on Weiner to drop out of the race.

“Enough is enough. I’m calling on Anthony to withdraw from this race — for the good of the city that I know he loves as much as all of us,” wrote de Blasio, the city’s Public Advocate, on Tuesday afternoon.

Democratic candidate and Comptroller John Liu said it’s up to the voters to decide.

“I’m not calling for him to get out of the race,” Liu said. “The propensity for pornographic self portraits is something for the voters to consider.”

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<h1>Weiner admits sending lewd messages after his resignation from Congress</h1>Anthony Weiner’s “sexting” habit didn’t end with his career in Congress.
In a hastily arranged press conference, the Democratic mayoral candidate admitted Tuesday that he had sent sexually explicit messages even after similar messages forced his resignation in June 2011, with some messages sent as recently as summer 2012.
The latest messages, revealed earlier Tuesday on gossip website <a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/http://thedirty.com/');" href="http://http://thedirty.com/">The Dirty</a>, included explicit exchanges between a 22-year-old former <a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/here-is-the-woman-linked-to-anthony-weiner-in-sex-chats');" href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/here-is-the-woman-linked-to-anthony-weiner-in-sex-chats">Obama for America organizer</a> and Weiner, who operated under the alias “Carlos Danger.”
With 49 days left until the Democratic mayoral primary, Weiner vowed to continue his campaign.
“This is entirely behind me,” Weiner promised on Tuesday evening. Weiner said the conversations took place last summer but didn’t name an exact date.
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/oybmt0fTq-M" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0"></iframe>
The conversations revealed on Tuesday allegedly took place over the course of six months, according to The Dirty.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Weiner campaign released a statement admitting to the messages and apologizing once more to his wife.
“I said that other texts and photos were likely to come out and today they have,” he said. “As I have said in the past these things that I did were wrong and hurtful to my wife.”
With the primary on September 10 vastly approaching, “perhaps I’m surprised that more things didn’t come out sooner,” Weiner said.
<div id="attachment_11512" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.thenewyorkworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/IMG_1592.jpg');" href="http://www.thenewyorkworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/IMG_1592.jpg"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-11512" class="size-medium wp-image-11512 " alt="Mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner and his wife Huma Abedin talk to reporters on Tuesday afternoon. " src="http://www.thenewyorkworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/IMG_1592-300x225.jpg" width="300" height="225" srcset="thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/IMG_1592-300x225.jpg 300w, thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/IMG_1592-1024x768.jpg 1024w, thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/IMG_1592-400x300.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a>Mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin, talk to reporters on Tuesday afternoon. Photo: Claire Moses</div>
He dodged reporters’ questions about the possibility that other messages could surface in the future.
Crowded together in a small, hot room on the seventh floor of GMHC, prior to a scheduled mayoral debate on HIV and AIDS, reporters tried to get the exact dates of the last exchanged messages.
“How can we trust your judgment?” one reporter asked, seated on the floor of the packed room, asked.
Weiner didn’t answer.
Abedin, who said she had never spoken at a press conference before, said in a soft, calm voice that she still believes in her husband.
“I love him. I have forgiven him,” she said. “We are moving forward.”
Abedin said it took a very long time and a lot of “ups and downs” to get where the couple is today. “It took a lot of work,” she said. “And a whole lot of therapy.”
While Weiner said that some of the posts were true and some were not, he declined to elaborate about which exactly were true or false.
Several mayoral candidates, including Sal Albanese, John Catsimatidis and Bill de Blasio, called on Weiner to drop out of the race.
“Enough is enough. I’m calling on Anthony to withdraw from this race — for the good of the city that I know he loves as much as all of us,” wrote de Blasio, the city’s Public Advocate, on Tuesday afternoon.
Democratic candidate and Comptroller John Liu said it’s up to the voters to decide.
“I’m not calling for him to get out of the race,” Liu said. “The propensity for pornographic self portraits is something for the voters to consider.”

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