New York Democrat Rep. Anthony Weiner held what MSNBC’s Luke Russert called “an extraordinary” press conference this afternoon, admitting he sent lewd, inappropriate images to a series of women over a series of years. Following days of news coverage, Weiner admitted that a tweet showing a cloth-covered erect penis was sent by him. Over the course of the press conference, Weiner apologized numerous times for his behavior, calling it “dumb,” “inappropriate,” “stupid,” among other terms.
Among the facts we learned:
- Weiner meant to send the tweet that started the press coverage as a direct message on Twitter. For those of you not familiar with how twitter works, think of a direct message as a short, private email communication visible only to the two parties involved. A tweet, like Weiner sent, is visible to anyone who follows the account or searches for it. Once he realized his mistake, Weiner “panicked” and lied in order to prevent further personal embarrassment.
- The series of relationships with women dates back at least three years. Many of the inappropriate relationships occurred before Weiner was married, but some of them occurred after he married long-time Hilary Clinton aide Huma Abedin last year.
- Weiner never met any of the women and never engaged in sex outside of his marriage. The congressman met most of the women via Facebook and spoke with several of them by phone. He refused to answer whether he engaged in phone sex with any of them.
- Before beginning the press conference, Weiner spoke with Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi. She urged him to tell the truth and expressed her disappointment in his behavior. Pelosi later opened an ethics investigation into Weiner’s behavior.
- Weiner issued a blanket apology to everyone affected by his bad judgement. The apology included right-wing commentator Andrew Breitbart who broke the scandal and shockingly took to the podium before Weiner spoke.
- The congressman denies using governmental resources to have the discussions, saying they occurred at home and own personal devices. He does not plan to resign.
Also, noteworthy:
- ABC News lands the first interview with one of the women Weiner communicated with.
- Radar Online claims to have sexually explicit text messages that Weiner sent and publishes some of them.
- Breitbart publishes pictures of a bare-chested Weiner.
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