Anthony Weiner 'can't say' lewd photo wasn't him
The congressman, Anthony Weiner, denies he sent the waist-down photo showing a man's bulging underwear. But he says he does not know if the photo is of him. That uncertainty has kept alive a story that has dominated U.S. cable news programs and Web sites for dayss
The scandal is an embarrassing distraction for Democrats as they look ahead to the 2012 congressional and presidential races. It's also damaging for Weiner, a high-profile 14-year congressman who is considering running for mayor of New York.
Weiner, married recently to an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is one of the more prolific tweeters in Congress and he has more than 50,000 followers, a number that has grown the past two days.
After a combative news conference Tuesday in which he refused to answer questions about the incident, Weiner spent Wednesday in a series of interviews trying to explain the situation. But some answers — and his attempts at humour — seemed to make things worse.
"We know for sure I didn't send this photograph," the seven-term congressman told reporters in the Capitol. But he told MSNBC he "can't say with certitude" that the photo wasn't of him.
Pressed by reporters, Weiner said: "We don't know where the photograph came from. We don't know for sure what's on it."
At his news conference Wednesday, Weiner couldn't resist several double entendres, explaining why he didn't report the alleged hacking to Capitol Police.
"I'm not sure I want to put national, federal resources into trying to figure out who posted a picture on Weiner's website, uh, whatever. I'm not really sure it rises, no pun intended, to that level."
Later, he quipped that maybe the alleged hacking was just "the point of al-Qaida's sword."
Weiner said he had hired a private security firm to investigate and an attorney to advise him on what civil or criminal actions should be taken.
Democratic strategist Steve McMahon said the congressman botched the first rule of crisis communications: getting out the facts as soon as possible.
"His answers have raised more questions than they've resolved," McMahon said. "I'm amazed somebody as smart and media savvy as he is can't see the impact of how he's handled it."
The sexually suggestive photo was posted Friday and sent to the student in Seattle. The tweet of the lewd photo first was reported Saturday by BigGovernment.com, a website run by conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart.
Weiner has not explained why he was following the student on Twitter, one of just 198 people he follows on the social media site.
The woman has been identified by media outlets as Gennette Cordova. Despite multiple calls to phone numbers and an email address for Cordova, she could not be reached for comment by The Associated Press.
Cordova told the New York Daily News that the offending photo was sent from a hacker who has "harassed me many times after the congressman followed me on Twitter a month or so ago."
Cordova also told the Daily News she never had met Weiner, and that there had "never been any inappropriate exchanges" between her and the congressman.
Weiner, 46, married Clinton aide Huma Abedin last July, with former President Bill Clinton officiating. Before that, Weiner had been known as one of New York's most eligible bachelors.
Weiner failed in a 2005 bid for the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City, but is considered a likely front-runner in the race to succeed Mayor Michael Bloomberg when the mayor's third and final term ends in 2013.
Source:yahoo
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