FoxNews.com
With his wife by his side, Anthony Weiner said Tuesday he's not dropping out of the New York City mayoral race despite new revelations that he sent additional lewd photos and text messages after he left Congress in disgrace for his prior online chats.
Weiner, who resigned his House seat in June 2011 after acknowledging having sexual conversations with at least a half-dozen women, told a hastily called news conference he would stay in the race despite the new onslaught of negative publicity.
“I’m sure many of my opponents would like me to drop out of the race but I’m not going to do it,” he said, adding, he hoped the people of New York were "willing to still continue to give me a second chance."
Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, told reporters that she loved her husband and had forgiven him.
“Our marriage has had its ups and its downs,” Abedin said standing next to Weiner. “It took a lot of work and a whole lot of therapy to get to the place where I can forgive Anthony. It was not an easy choice but I made the decision that it was worth staying in this marriage. It was a decision I made for me, my husband and our son.”
Weiner said that while acknowledging responsibility for his behavior, "in many ways, things are not that much different than they were yesterday. This behavior that I did was problematic to say the least, destructive to say the most, caused many stresses and stains in my marriage. But I am pleased and blessed that she has given me a second chance ."
The newest allegations against Weiner come just weeks after launching his bid for New York City mayor.
The congressman fessed up to the naughty texts after sexually explicit photos and online chats between "Carlos Danger," allegedly the pseudonym for the city hall hopeful, and an unidentified woman surfaced on the blog, TheDirty.com.
The reports claim that that the conversation between the pol and an unidentified 23-year-old woman took place on the social media website Formspring in August 2012, a year after he resigned from his post in Congress after being caught the first time -- and nearly seven months after his first child with wife Abedin was born.
The woman claims on the blog that she first started talking online with Weiner in July 2012 and it became intense by August 2012, when he offered to find a Chicago condo where they could meet up.
She also alleges that they had phone sex and that they exchanged nude photos of each other. She claims she received photos from Weiner of his penis sent from a Yahoo email account under the “Carlos Danger” name. The purported image was later posted on TheDirty.com.
Weiner released a written statement on Tuesday afternoon, which he read again at the press conference,admitting to additional raunchy conversations.
"I said that other texts and photos were likely to come out, and today they have,” he said in the statement, referring to comments he made two months ago during the start of his mayoral campaign. “As I have said in the past, these things that I did were wrong and hurtful to my wife and caused us to go through challenges in our marriage that extended past my resignation from Congress. While some things that have been posted today are true and some are not, there is no question that what I did was wrong. This behavior is behind me.”
Weiner did not elaborate on which of the new reports are true or false and whether or not it took place last summer. He went on to publicly apologize again to his wife.
“I've apologized to Huma and am grateful that she has worked through these issues with me and for her forgiveness. I want to again say that I am very sorry to anyone who was on the receiving end of these messages and the disruption that this has caused. As my wife and I have said, we are focused on moving forward.”
The online conversations between "Carlos" and his would-be paramour are quite explicit.
"I like [sic] to whisper in your ear while I make love to you. That ok," reads one of the tamer messages, apparently from Weiner.
"More than okay. Just the idea of it turns me on so much. I want to connect with you on every level," the woman responds.
"Why are you awake? What are you thinking about today? How do look [sic]," he asks in another conversation.
She responds: "I don't sleep a lot. Obviously I'm thinking about you. And I've been doing some painting today. Right now I have no [makeup] on. And I'm topless."
It's unclear how the lewd news will impact Weiner's campaign. Some New Yorkers have shown a willingness to forgive his past indiscretions since he announced his mayoral campaign via YouTube in May.
He has since shot to the lead in the polls, with a Quinnipiac University survey last week showing he held 25 percent of the vote.
Officials from Anthony Weiner’s mayoral campaign did not respond to requests for additional comment from FoxNews.com.
FoxNews.com's Perry Chiaramonte contributed to this report.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/07/23/anthony-weiner-facing-new-allegations-lewd-online-behavior/#ixzz2Zuh2GtT6
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