[Updated at 5:30 p.m. ET] U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner said Monday he has sent inappropriate photos to and had inappropriate communications with about six women over the past three years - some after he was married - and says he's "very sorry."
The photos include one - sent on his Twitter account more than a week ago - that he had previously claimed was a result of a hacker's prank, the New York Democrat told reporters Monday afternoon at a New York City hotel.
He said he's made "terrible mistakes and ... hurt the people that I care about the most," but he won't step down from Congress and has no intentions of separating from his wife.
"I'm deeply regretting what I’ve done, and I’m not resigning," he said.
The women are "generally women that I met on Facebook," Weiner said. He said he never met the women in person, and has never had sex outside his marriage.
Of the photo that got the media's attention late last month - a picture of a man in underwear that was sent on Weiner's Twitter account - he said that he mistakenly tweeted it publicly. "I intended to send (the photo) as a direct message to a woman as part of a joke to a woman in Seattle," he said.
When reporters asked him about it at the time, he said that he was the victim of a hacker and a prank.
"Once I realized I had posted to Twitter, I panicked, I took it down and said that I’d been hacked," Weiner said Monday. "I then continued with that story - to stick to that story - which was a hugely regrettable mistake. This woman was unwittingly dragged into this and bears no responsibility. I'm so sorry to have disrupted her life in this way."
"To be clear, the picture was of me, and I sent it."
He added that he's "deeply sorry for the pain this has caused" to his wife, friends and constituents.
Weiner said whether he would run for re-election is "the last thing on my mind."
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Earlier in the day, Weiner faced new questions after BigGovernment.com, a site run by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, posted a picture of a bare-chested man that it says a woman claims came from Weiner.
[Posted at 4:16 p.m. ET] U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-New York, is scheduled to address members of the news media late Monday afternoon in a New York City hotel, according to his office.
CNN will have live coverage of the address.
News of Weiner's planned address comes amid more than a week of controversy over photos that are alleged to have come from him or his Twitter account, including one released Monday by BigGovernment.com, a site run by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart. The site has posted a picture of a bare-chested man that it says a woman claims came from Weiner.
CNN has been unable to independently confirm that the image is that of the congressman or was sent by him.
As reporters waited for Weiner to make his address Monday afternoon, Breitbart appeared at the hotel, and - apparently at the urging of reporters - took to a podium and spoke to the media, CNN's Mary Snow reported.
The latest photo emerged more than a week after a different photograph - one of a man in underwear - was sent on Weiner's Twitter account. Weiner has said that he didn't send that photo, and that he was the victim of a hacker and a prank.
Weiner disappears into crack!
Weiner tried to bann this free electricity website... *** BANNEDINAMERIKA.COM ***
Weiner hacked by Bobitt
Food for thought... Should Weiner have hired a Virtual Dating Assistant (http://www.VirtualDatingAssistants.com) to protect himself from his own stupidity? 🙂
Heck, if my husband had a chest like that I would post it to twitter or facebook or whatever!
Lewd pictures to other women-between Weiner and his wife. Lying about it-between Weiner and Amerca!
Who cares? You see the difference between someone like Weiner and someone like Ensign is that Anthony Weiner doesn't campaign for or pretend to be some sort of morally just family values paladin. It's the politicians that slam gay marraige and then fly off to Thailand to bang 13 year old boys that really get under my skin.
No one cares really a chest????? Be concered if it was someones genitals....i mean really people everyone isnt perfect...the man made a mistake get off his back he said sorry....move along now we have far bigger things to worry about in this world.
He sent below the waist shots in tighty whities
Weiner is do-little, big-mouthed, me-first windbag who has consistently annoyed other liberals who at least work for the nonsense they believe in. Now we also know that he is also a liar and an adulterous hypocrite. So much for this great champion of the little guy.
here! here!
What he did was wrong no doubt. Let's put it into perspective. It's not like he lied about WMD's in Iraq and 5,000 soldiers died. If we asked everyone in Washington to step down for lying it would be a ghost town.
Who lied about WMD's? The Clinton's? They were on board with the WMD world-wide intelligence. What a moron.
Obviously you don't know what all he has lied about. He simply got caught. He should resign. How does anyone in the congress take him at his word when he has shown to the world that his word is not worth anything.
nice chest O_O
His marital infidelity isn't the problem. It's that he lied to you about it. And now he's promised to work with the investigation... Ha. You don't think he'd lie again?
Fool you twice, shame on you.
Nice job CNN!! I love how you cutoff the picture so you cant see the photos of Obama and the wall that clearly shows that this was taken in his congressional office! Report the story. Stop defending the liberal agenda on this one. PLEASE!