Anthony Weiner sexting scandals
Anthony Weiner is a former member of the United States House of Representatives from New York City who has been involved in multiple sex scandals related to sexting.
The first scandal began when Weiner was a Democratic U.S. Congressman. He used the social media website Twitter to send a link that contained a sexually suggestive picture of himself to a 21-year-old woman. After initially denying reports that he had posted the image, he admitted that he sent a link to the photo, which was described by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as an "erection barely covered by a man's underwear"[1] and by iPolitics as a "man-bulge in boxer briefs".[2] He also sent additional sexually explicit photos and messages to women before and during his marriage. He denied ever having met or having had a physical relationship with any of the women. On June 16, 2011, Weiner announced his intention to resign from Congress effective June 23.
Weiner returned to politics in April 2013 when he entered the New York City mayoral race. After additional pictures of Weiner were released, Weiner admitted sexting at least three women since his resignation from Congress. He remained in the race until the end, placing fifth in the Democratic primary.
Following a report from the Daily Mail in September 2016, the FBI investigated Weiner for sexting with a 15-year-old girl. His laptop was seized and emails related to the Hillary Clinton email controversy were found on it, causing a controversy late in the presidential election. On May 19, 2017, Weiner pled guilty to one count of transferring obscene material to a minor. His wife, Huma Abedin, filed for divorce prior to Weiner's guilty plea. In September, he was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison. He served his sentence at Federal Medical Center, Devens, in Ayer, Massachusetts.[3]
2013 mayoral race and second scandal
In April 2013, the former congressman announced his return to politics as candidate for mayor of New York City. He soon became the front runner against Democratic primary-opponent City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.[56]
On July 23, 2013, more pictures and sexting allegedly by Weiner were released by the website The Dirty.[57][58] They were allegedly sent under the alias "Carlos Danger" to a 22-year-old woman named with whom Weiner had contact in late 2012, as late as April 2013,[58] more than a year after Weiner left Congress. The woman's identity had yet to be confirmed. At a news conference that same day, with his wife Huma by his side, Weiner responded, "I said that other texts and photos were likely to come out, and today they have." He also said he would not drop out of the mayoral election for the City of New York.[59]
On July 24 Weiner's sexting partner's identity was confirmed as Sydney Leathers[60] on CNN by a personal friend. Later The New York Times print edition called for Weiner to withdraw from the mayoral race in an editorial titled "Mr. Weiner and the Elusive Truth".[61] In a joint NBC 4 New York/The Wall Street Journal/Marist Institute for Public Opinion poll taken that day, Weiner's favorability rating had dropped over 20 points, and he had lost the lead in the primary race to councilor Quinn, now leading him 25 to 16 percent.[62]
On July 25, the New York Daily News reported that, at a news conference in Brooklyn that day, Weiner admitted that he had sexted with three women in the months after his resignation from Congress, and that there had been six to ten women involved in total, not "dozens and dozens".[63] Weiner's campaign manager Danny Kedem quit the weekend after the news conference.[64]
Following the primary election on September 10, 2013, the press reported that Sydney Leathers, the young woman at the center of the second scandal, attempted to enter Weiner's campaign party that night, without an invitation.[65][66] Weiner lost decisively in the election, finishing in fifth place with 4.9% of the vote.[67]
Criminal conviction and divorce
On August 28, 2016, the New York Post reported that Weiner had engaged in sexting with another woman, including sending one picture in July 2015 while lying in bed with his toddler son sleeping next to him.[68] The New York Times reported the next day that Weiner and his wife intended to separate.[69] Weiner had served as a contributor to NY1, which put him on indefinite leave.[70]
On September 21, 2016, the Daily Mail published an article claiming that Weiner had engaged in sexting with a 15-year-old girl.[71] It's not known how the Daily Mail learned of this incident as in the Daily Mail article the girl's father says he did not contact the police and this article was used as reason for the FBI and NYPD to begin investigating Weiner. Devices owned by Weiner and Abedin were seized as part of the investigation into this incident.[72] Emails pertinent to the Hillary Clinton email controversy were discovered on Weiner's laptop, prompting FBI Director James Comey to reopen that investigation late into the 2016 US presidential election.[73] Hillary Clinton has cited Comey's decision as one reason why she lost the election to Donald Trump.[74]
On January 31, 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported that federal prosecutors were weighing whether to bring child pornography charges against Weiner over the incident.[75] On May 19, 2017, The New York Times reported Weiner had surrendered to the FBI that morning, and under a plea bargain he intended to plead guilty to a single charge of transferring obscene material to a minor.[76] Abedin reportedly filed for divorce prior to his guilty plea.[77] On September 25, 2017, Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York agreed to a plea agreement sentence totaling 21 months in federal prison, three years supervised release, and for Weiner to register as a sex offender.[78] Weiner reported to Federal Medical Center, Devens on November 6.[79] He was released from prison on February 17, 2019,[80] and was ordered to register as a sex offender in April that year.[81]
In popular culture
The first scandal was used as the inspiration for part of the plot line of seasons 1–2 of the Showtime series Homeland, where a protagonist, a war hero (played by Damian Lewis), is invited to run for Congress (and subsequently gets elected) after the political career of "Congressman Dick Johnson" comes to a sudden end after his sexting pictures are publicized. An article in The Washington Post, noting that the Weiner story broke just in time for script purposes, quotes Alex Gansa, co-creator of Homeland: "We were looking for a way that our lead character could become a congressman in a very quick period of time. This presented itself on a platter."[82] A Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode titled "October Surprise", used the Wiener scandal as inspiration for a New York City mayoral candidate inappropriately texting with women online.[83] Similarly to Weiner, the mayoral candidate refused to drop out of the race.[84]
The 2016 documentary Weiner covers his resignation from Congress and his 2013 run for Mayor of New York City.[85][86]