[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."
Share your reaction to Rep. Weiner's press conference
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... YOUR TYPICAL democRAT!!! He lied continually and accused people of committing crimes (hacking is a federal crime)... but won't resign?!? He is shameful!
Bring back the good ole days of pure TREASONOUS GREED of Republican reign.
Light up another joint! TREASONOUS GREED take a look in the mirror. Hope your enjoying your $4.20 a gallon gas and your rising food prices. Who's getting screwed on that one!!
What a weiner.
Congratulations NY... Your representative sends naked pictures of himself to young girls! Aren't you proud of him? Don't you feel CONFIDENT in his decision making?!?!
LOL, love it!
I suppose a naked pic is better than a love child...
That still makes it right? Great job! You need to clean your mental glasses...
Still a naked pic is better than starting two wars
So is giving gulf drilling contracts to Brazil and not to the US. It's the lesser of two evils but it still doesn't make it right. Great to see your following the talking points and pulling Bush out of your ass since obama used his policy to get OSB and continued with patriot act because it works.
“Look, you got the Republicans who are playing games with the debt limit, you’ve got a Supreme Court justice whose refusing to recuse himself despite conflicts of interest, you have a health care act that is under siege, you know, this is a distraction. I get it, I was hacked, it happens to people, you move on.”
You are a joke!
Cole, I agree Justice Kagan should definitely recuse herself on the Supreme Court discussion of health care.
He's showing his chest because he has a democrat weiner. Ouch!
I actually hope Weiner sticks around for a long time... HE IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU VOTE DEMOCRAT.
The ENTIRE corrupt, perverted, demented Democrat leadership is what you get when you vote Democrat. And it's also what you get when you have a big "media" that is corrupt to the core and covers for these miscreants.
Vote Democrat you get someone who stands up for this country, is not afraid to show their chest to the world, someone who is firm in their love for this country....I can go on.....
If Democrats "love the country" so much, why are they trying to "fundamentally transform" it?
ROBO keep going! LOL I need a good laugh! Anything about john kerry? LMAO
He never met any of the women that he was emailing... So he set himself up for blackmail.. WTH! This is your NY congressman.. How can you be so narcissistic!!!! The thing is the women were more that likely big fat guys in there underwear with wife beater shirt on and harry backs hunched over their laptops!!
Don't be sayin mean things about my man Rush Limbaugh.....
Could be but my guess is Richard Trumka..
Hey Chris Mathews, are you getting a shiver up your leg now!!!!
Where are all the hapless, bucktoothed sheep who blamed Breitbart for Weiner's perversion and lies?
Right here......baaaaaahhh. But Breitbart is still a big doos-bag.
No, he's just right on. As usual.
Robo, the Democrat party is lucky to have clueles sheep like you as loyal subjects.
People call the DNC!!!
You mean the OPP
so a guy named weiner emails inappropriate pics to random women......thats awesome
keep your weiner in your pants, Anthony. I do feel bad for his wife & kids tho. The man is classless
Dem or Rep doesn't matter. He is just another lying politican who will not be held accountable for his actions and continue to feed off our tax dollars like all the rest of Washington.
And your point is....? The phrase lying politician is redundant, it's like saying fatally killed.
Whatever. People get so bent out of shape for unimportant things. Let the guy flirt, it's none of our business.