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Rep. Weiner Says He Won't Resign Over Lewd Photo

RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:

And I'm Linda Wertheimer.

Congressman Anthony Weiner 'fessed up yesterday. After days of lying, Weiner called a press conference yesterday afternoon. He admitted that in fact he did post a sexually explicit picture of himself on the internet. NPR's Andrea Seabrook reports on the New York Democrat's public confession and his plans for the future.

ANDREA SEABROOK: Weiner's story started out like this.

Representative ANTHONY WEINER (Democrat, New York): I did not send that tweet. My system was hacked, I was pranked.

SEABROOK: That was last week on ABC. Then it got weirder in an interview with NBC's Luke Russert.

Rep. WEINER: I'm an easy name to make fun of, and I think that that's what happened.

Mr. LUKE RUSSERT (NBC): That's not a picture of you?

Rep. WEINER: You know, I can't say with certitude. My system was hacked. Pictures can be manipulated. Pictures can be...

SEABROOK: Then, finally, Weiner called a press conference yesterday afternoon to tell what really happened.

Rep. WEINER: Last Friday night I tweeted a photograph of myself that I intended to send as a direct message as part of a joke to a woman in Seattle. Once I realized I had posted it to Twitter I panicked. I took it down and said that I had been hacked. I then continued with that story, to stick to that story, which was a hugely regrettable mistake.

SEABROOK: Weiner took personal responsibility for the whole episode.

Rep. WEINER: To be clear, the picture was of me and I sent it. I am deeply sorry for the pain this has caused my wife Huma, and our family, and my constituents, my friends, supporters and staff.

SEABROOK: It wasn't just the one picture, he said, of his bulging boxer shorts.

Rep. WEINER: In addition, over the past few years I have engaged in several inappropriate conversations conducted over Twitter, Facebook, email and occasionally on the phone with women I have met online. I have exchanged messages and photos of an explicit nature with about six women over the last three years.

SEABROOK: Weiner said most of these exchanges took place before his marriage, but some came afterwards as well. He was adamant that he'd never met these women, or had any physical relations with them. At times in his statement, Weiner broke down into tears.

Rep. WEINER: I haven't told the truth, and I've done things that I deeply regret.

SEABROOK: If people are looking for some deep explanation for why he did this, he said, he doesn't have one. He said it was just dumb. He said his wife is very disappointed in him, but still loves him and they are planning to stay together.

Oh, and one other thing.

Rep. WEINER: I am deeply regretting what I have done and I am not resigning.

SEABROOK: Not resigning. Weiner said he had not used federal property in his escapades, using a personal BlackBerry or his home computer, though he couldn't be certain about every one of his digital liaisons.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi has called for an ethics investigation to test these statements. And there will be intense pressure for him to resign, both from others in Congress and from his constituents.

After the news conference, NPR member station WNYC caught up with a few of those constituents in Queens, part of Weiner's New York district.

Mrs. JAY GOSS: I think it's gone past the point and I really think he probably should step down.

Mr. NINO CIACCIO: It's not that he did it and that's the reason he should step down. I think it's because he denied it so vehemently and turned out that he was very untruthful.

Ms. TSADIQAH YISRAEL: And if he's lying on something as simple as that, then what else is he lying about?

SEABROOK: That's Mrs. Jay Goss, Nino Ciaccio and Tsadiqah Yisrael.

There were others in the district who didn't think what he'd done was that bad, like Jonathan Smith-Goldman.

Mr. JONATHAN SMITH-GOLDMAN: It wasn't a terrible thing to do. He's human. It's no big deal. Give him a break.

SEABROOK: Weiner says he hopes to convince more of his constituents to give him a break, even if they do think he showed poor judgment.

Rep. WEINER: You know, people can draw their own conclusions about that. But I'm not resigning. And I'm going to try very hard to go back to work a better person and a better man. And I'm going to try to be a better husband, too.

SEABROOK: Standing at the podium yesterday, Weiner said the next election couldn't be further from his mind. But if he does stay in office, that is likely to change.

Andrea Seabrook, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Andrea Seabrook covers Capitol Hill as NPR's Congressional Correspondent.