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Weiner: "I Tweeted a Photo of Myself"
Aired June 06, 2011 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Any second now, Congressman Anthony Weiner is going to address members of the media. All of this comes one week after he began to answer questions by lewd pictures from his twitter account. We have a crew in Manhattan. We will take him live as soon as we see him there.
But I do want to go to Capitol Hill to Kate Bolduan. Kate, take us back in the last week and what has evolved in this story.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure, absolutely. And to wrap up kind of quickly and of course stop me if this press conference starts, Brooke, this all started last week and it kind of really heated up. This was a controversy surrounding the congressman's Twitter account and a lewd photo that was sent to a college student in Washington State through his Twitter account. There were several press conferences. My colleagues asked very good questions, very hard questions, and that press conference got a little testy at one point.
But, in the end, what happened is that the congressman decided to hold sit down interviews with the networks, and he sat down with our own Wolf Blitzer, as we all thought, to answer very clearly once and for all some very honest, easy questions, how this happened, did -- is this photo -- was that photo of him and did it come from his Twitter account.
He did say that he did not send that photo to that college student but his answer to a very easy question -- "Is this photo of you?" -- is what really has continued to raise more questions than actually offer answers. He said repeatedly, "I cannot answer or say with certitude if this photo is of me or not," basically. He couldn't say he was sure that -- whether it was a photo of him. And that basically has a lot of people scratching their heads here on Capitol Hill as well as in the media, trying to understand really what the situation is with that, Brooke. And we have exactly what's happening today -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: And again, any moment now, we should be hearing him speak live from this Manhattan hotel. But I want to back up to a point you made where we heard from him and he did a lot of talking, the congressman did a lot of talking last week --
BOLDUAN: He did.
BALDWIN: -- but ultimately saying, you know, with certitude whether or not that photo, that lewd photo was in fact his. What has the reaction been like on Capitol Hill among fellow Democrats, as well as Republicans?
BOLDUAN: I would say right after it came out, many Democrats and many Republicans basically, many lawmakers didn't want to have anything to do with it, not surprisingly. Many people have come out to say that this is a personal issue for him. Some of his close friends in the Democratic side have said this is a personal issue for him and he will deal with it as we should.
But we have heard privately more and more people as very honestly that this story has kept going throughout the week and people have said this is basically distracting them from their message, what -- the issues that they really want to be talking about. This is distracting everyone from those and kind of taking front and center in the media spotlight.
And so, it's been frustrating for many members, Democratic members who would like this story to go away so they could be talking about issues that they care about. And so, that's why we -- I spoke with the number two Democrat in the House and asked him about the political fallout of that Twitter photo and this whole controversy and he said that he's had a conversation with Anthony Weiner and that he needs to clear it up and he needs to be forthright with the public and said that, I think, Thursday of last week.
So, that's been kind of the reaction. On the Republican side, it will not surprise you, Brooke, that Republican aides are happy to stand back and watch Democrats being thrown off their message. They really don't need to add anything at this point. They think they can just watch the story play out, as -- really, as we've heard.
He is -- Anthony Weiner does what he wants to do. He doesn't really listen to advice, even if it's given to him, some people have said to me. But he does what he wants to do. And so, people say that this is something that he himself needs to deal with.
BALDWIN: And he has been talking -- again, we are looking at pictures that was from May 31st. There he is talking on the Hill -- for quite a bit of length of time to our colleague, Dana Bash, back and forth, trying to get him to answer certain questions. At times evasive, at times not.
But since really midweek last week, Kate, he has been quiet. He hasn't tweeted. He's a congressman who tweets quite a bit. He sort of perhaps he canceled a number of events. I know it was Friday and through the weekend.
So, he's fallen under the radar up until now.
BOLDUAN: And he came out, I believe it was Thursday morning, if my memory serves me correctly, that I was standing outside of his office, along with other reporters, waiting there to see if he would come out and speak to the media, as he basically had done every day prior to that. He came out and made a statement to the media that said basically, "Look, I'm going to get back to work. I've answered all of your questions and now I'm going to get back to the job that the people are paying me to do" and he walked away and he really hasn't answered any questions since.
But that doesn't stop the fact that the answers that he's offered to our questions about the photo -- that Twitter photo is of him or not, have not been answered clearly.
And then, today, as we're now learning, a new photograph has surfaced on this conservative blogger and activist Web site, a Web site run by Andrew Breitbart, that as we've been very careful to say, it appears to be the congressman but we cannot verify it. We are not 100 percent sure and cannot verify that it is him.
But, now, hours after that photo has surfaced, this hastily called press conference or media availability is about to begin. So, we'll have to wait and see, as we've been asking around, Brooke, to many people on Capitol Hill, and people do not know or at least are not telling us that they know what he's going to say.
BALDWIN: OK. Kate Bolduan, do me a favor. Stand by.
BOLDUAN: Of course.
BALDWIN: I want to go to Mary Snow who is inside of that packed room at the Sheraton Hill where we should be seeing the congressman, hopefully, any minute now.
Mary, can you just paint the picture for us, atmosphere in the room? And also if you have learned anything as far as what he may specifically be addressing?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, Brooke, what we're seeing right now is a little bit surreal. Andrew Breitbart, who is a conservative blogger and who's begin BigGovernment.com, the Web site that's posting these pictures, came to the press conference and he's up at the podium now just minutes. There's a packed room here with reporters waiting for Congressman Weiner to show up. It's unclear what he is going to say.
And Andrew Breitbart showed up and he's talking to reporters and asked him, "Why are you here?" And he said, "I'm here to watch myself be vindicated," and he is saying that he was angry, there is a left-wing blog that accused him of being behind this prank. He said he was in New York and decided to come to this press conference.
So, it's a little surreal right now that he has taken over this conference that Anthony Weiner had called.
BALDWIN: And so, explain for people who don't know the story, using Andrew Breitbart's words, that he wants to be vindicated. Vindicated from what?
SNOW: He says that he is angry that he was accused, he said, of hacking into Congressman Weiner's Twitter account. And these latest photos that surfaced throughout the day are on his Web site, BigGovernment.com. He says that he wants to vindicate himself saying that there was more to the story, that it wasn't a hacking, and that he had been falsely accused of hacking the congressman's Twitter account and that's he says why he says he is here today.
BALDWIN: OK. So, he is speaking there. We're not going to take the sound, but we do see Andrew Breitbart speaking where we should be seeing Congressman Weiner any moment now.
How many people are in the room, Mary? Do we -- do we anticipate that Congressman Weiner's wife might be there? Are you learning anything about who will be in attendance?
SNOW: That is the big question. Everybody is waiting to see whether his wife will be with him. You know, I have to tell you, Brooke, we have had a crew in his home district, in Queens, today, we have not seen him yet today. So, it's unclear, you know, if he will be alone or not.
And this room is packed and it was packed very quickly because it was not a lot of advanced notice about this news conference. So, the press really has scrambled to get over here.
BALDWIN: Let's just be totally transparent, Mary. I mean, when you say scramble, at what point in time did you learn that this thing would be held at the top of the hour?
SNOW: I have to say it was after 2:00, almost close to 3:00 when it was fully confirmed that there was going to be a press conference here. So, I would say in about two hours of advance time, in terms of how much advance warning we knew about this press conference.
BALDWIN: So, this thing, it would be fair to say that this thing was not planned before earlier today?
SNOW: And as you heard, probably as Kate was reporting throughout the day, that there were calls into Congressman Weiner's office, repeated calls into his office and we had not heard from his office throughout the day. So, this was the first indication this afternoon that the congressman was going to say anything. And, you know, it was late in the afternoon, a couple hours ago that this was called.
BALDWIN: Now, we did hear -- CNN did learn that friends of Congressman Weiner had this ballroom booked ahead of time. So, that would tell me that they did anticipate having some sort of an event in this room perhaps at this time today.
SNOW: That's really unclear, Brooke, in terms of what exactly was on the congressman's schedule today, and whether he plans to speak with reporters. As you know from reporting, there are these photographs that had been trickling out throughout the day on Andrew Breitbart's Web site and his organization had been trying to contact the congressman to get some clarification about these photos.
So, this has been an ongoing thing throughout the day to try to get some kind of reaction from him.
BALDWIN: I was talking to Kate Bolduan on Capitol Hill about how Congressman Weiner had very much so, you know, come out in the forefront last week after that, you know, initial photo, the lewd photo, was out from his Twitter account. He was talking. He did a round of interviews, a round-robin as we say. And then I know he canceled a couple of appearances over the weekend.
Do you know, Mary, how he spent his weekend, kind of under the radar?
SNOW: We don't know. And here in New York, that was the big story. I mean, yesterday, when there was a day parade, he was not at that parade. And his absence was certainly noted in the New York press. It is unclear where he was this weekend, how he spent that time. Spoken to other congressional members in New York and they didn't really know or couldn't say where he was this weekend.
BALDWIN: OK. Mary Snow, stand by for me. We'll be coming back to you as soon as we eventually see not this man but Congressman Anthony Weiner there speaking, as he was supposed to, about 10 minute ago there from this Manhattan hotel. Again, as Mary was explaining, there is a packed ballroom.
And here is Andrew Breitbart who perhaps just so happened to be in the area there, from BigGovernment.com. And it was his Web site where a lot of those photographs have been shown -- to quote Mary, he says he wants to be vindicated.
Again, we're waiting to see Congressman Weiner. We're going to get a quick break in. We've got crews in New York, crews on Capitol Hill. We're all over the story. Be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right. Welcome back to CNN. Breaking news here as we are now looking at an empty podium.
Folks, just want to be totally honest, this has been a surreal past 15 minutes as we have watched right-wing blogger Andrew Breitbart of BigGovernent.com essentially taking to the stage of Congressman Anthony Weiner's press conference.
So, we have now learned, thanks to CNN's Kate Bolduan -- Kate, you are now learning that the congressman is waiting in the wings.
BOLDUAN: Yes. Full disclosure, this is an unfolding situation. As we know, things are changing by the minute. But my colleagues Xuan Thai called the congressman, Congressman Weiner's New York office and they confirmed to her that he has scheduled this press conference, this media availability. That he legitimately has scheduled this.
So, as far as we know from their office, he scheduled this and we are all waiting to see if -- expecting that it should be begin at any moment.
What now, since Andrew Breitbart said that he's wanted to -- that Andrew Breitbart showed up at this press conference, if anything changes, we don't know yet, Brooke. But we do know from the congressman's New York office that he has scheduled this media availability, that we are all standing by to watch.
BALDWIN: Yes, again, we have been reporting. It's now 4:14 on my watch. We have been reporting that we were supposed to be seeing the congressman, you know, 14 minutes ago, that he would be seeing to the media.
BOLDUAN: Right.
BALDWIN: Four clock, you know, has come and gone. But at least now you are confirming that we should be seeing the congressman and, again, as I take a sneak peak, still no sign of Anthony Weiner. Perhaps we'll be seeing him momentarily.
Mary Snow -- is Mary Snow she still on the phone?
(INAUDIBLE)
BALDWIN: Mary Snow, to you, if you can hear me, if you can just sort of describe the feeling in the room. And where members of the media surprise to be seeing Anthony Breitbart showing up and speaking as long as he did? Andrew Breitbart?
SNOW: Very surprise, Brooke. He walked into the back of the ballroom. You know, there are dozens of reporters here and cameras here waiting for this news conference and Andrew Breitbart walked in the back. Of course, reporters recognized immediately and started asking him questions. Everybody surrounded him, asking him why he was here and then they said, could you go up to the podium? So, he then --
BALDWIN: So, wait, let me interrupt you -- let me interrupt you. So, you're saying it was members of the media who said, hey, Andrew Breitbart, go ahead and speak?
SNOW: Yes. Because he walked in, reporters had surrounded him in the back of the room, and cameras, everybody was asking him, why was he here, that this was -- in a way, it was for Congressman Weiner. And some members of the press suggested that he go up to the podium since it was already set up. He walked up to the podium and started taking questions from the press.
And when you saw -- it was a thing where he walked up and started answering questions as we were waiting for Congressman Weiner. I've been looking for Congressman Weiner to see his whereabouts because obviously the time has lapsed. It was a little bit before 4:00 when Andrew Breitbart went up there and started answering questions.
And as you saw, it was surreal that he kind of took this presser on and started -- you know, was up there at the podium.
BALDWIN: I mean, it all depends on, you know, is it that he hijacked the press conference? Did he just so happen to be there? I mean, was it this sort of serendipity that he was in the area?
SNOW: He said he was in the area, but he certainly found the room, as you know, and as Kate has just reported, that there was the scheduled 4:00 press conference with Democratic New York Congressman Anthony Weiner. That had been set and Andrew Breitbart said that he was in New York, he was about three blocks away, and he decided that he was going to come over to this press conference.
BALDWIN: OK. Mary Snow, stand by for me.
Again, we are all waiting and watching for Congressman Anthony Weiner who was supposed to speak 17 minutes ago now.
Kate, I want to go to you and I want to go back to a point that I appreciate that you made earlier. Just a little bit of context here on the New York congressman -- the fact that, you know, he has a sense of humor. He's a bit witty, media-savvy on Twitter all the time.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
BALDWIN: You know, all of those things.
BOLDUAN: He's well known on the Capitol Hill. He's not only known to be a reliably liberal Democrat, Democrats like having him on their side and in arguments. Republicans, while they don't agree with him politically on many issues, they definitely see him as a worthy opponent. He's known to be very fiery. There's been often replayed the video of a debate that happened on the House floor where he very passionately was taking on a fellow New York congressman in a passionate debate over health benefits for 9/11 for first responders.
He is also known to be quite witty and often self-deprecating with. He often makes fun of the fact that he has a giggle-worthy last name, if you will. So, he as often takes that on kind of right up front.
And even this past week when we've spoken to him, Brooke, he has tried to make light of the issue and tried to joke about how this all came about. I don't think now that he is laughing at this point as things have gotten a little more serious and a little more tense, and the allegations seem to be more serious now at this point with these new photos that are coming out.
BALDWIN: OK, Kate Bolduan, thank you. And again, my thanks to Mary Snow.
Folks, we'll just have to keep standing by and waiting -- 4:20 just about here on my clock and still no Congressman Weiner. We're waiting. Let's get a break in.
We'll take you back to New York right after this. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Welcome back. Breaking news here.
Four-twenty-one on the clock, Eastern Time,4:22 now, and still no Congressman Anthony Weiner. Again, live pictures. You can see the crush of media there inside of this manhattan hotel room, the Sheraton, where we were supposed to be seeing the New York congressman at the top of the hour.
Now, 22 minutes have passed. It looks we lost that live signal. Here we go. There's another one.
We will go to him obviously as soon as we take him take to that podium.
But in the meantime, I just want to remind all of you that the last time Congressman Weiner spoke here to CNN was with my colleague, Wolf Blitzer, this was last Wednesday. He made a media rounds and Wolf was one of the folks he spoke to.
This was Wolf and Congressman Weiner from last week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Did you send that picture to that college student in Washington state?
REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: I did not. She says she never got it and doesn't know me. I certainly don't know her.
This seems like it was a prank to make fun of my name. You know, when you're named Weiner, that happens a lot. I got 45,000-some odd Twitter followers. Hundreds of people that I follow. This seems like a prank that has gotten an enormous amount of attention.
BLITZER: Have you ever taken a picture like that of yourself?
WEINER: I can tell you this: that there -- I have photographs. I don't know what photographs are out there in the world of me. I don't know what things have been manipulated and doctored. And we're going to try to find out what happened.
But the most important reason that I want to find out what happened is to make sure that it doesn't happen again. Obviously, someone got access to my account. That's bad. They sent a picture that makes fun of the name Weiner. I get it. You know, Touche, Dr. Moriary, you got me.
At the time it happened, I tweeted right away that I got the joke and continued on with my life and I think, frankly, that's what I would encourage everyone to do. I don't believe that this is a big federal issue.
BLITZER: Are you protecting anyone?
WEINER: Yes.
BLITZER: Who?
WEINER: I'm protecting my wife, who every day is waking up to these insane stories that are getting so far from reality. You know, we've been married less than a year. To watch her watch these stories, gets crazier and crazier about what is essentially a prank, a hoax. Weiner went to bed that night not batting an eye. This was a goofy thing that happened.
She married a congressman, OK? She knows a little something about living in public life. She knows with that goes a certain amount of aggravation. I don't think she imagined that it would be this -- these bizarre stories about people who are connected to me by eight or nine rings of connection on social media.
I'm protecting her the best I can. I can handle this. These poor people were getting drag into this with this more and more bizarre conspiracy theories. I'm protecting people who are so offended when CNN puts this Breitbart guy on and says outlandish things about complete innocent people.
You know, I can take the flack but at some point when I say, you know what, I'm not going any more questions about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And here he comes -- we're breaking away -- Congressman Anthony Weiner.
(JOINING LIVE PRESS CONFERENCE)
WEINER: Thank you very much for being here and good afternoon.
I'd like to take this time to clear up some of the questions that have been raised over the past 10 days or so and take full responsibility for my actions. At the outset, I'd like to make it clear that I have made terrible mistakes, that have hurt the people I care about the most, and I am deeply sorry. I have not been honest with myself, my family, my constituents, my friends, and supporters and the media.
Last Friday night, I tweeted a photograph of myself that I intended to send as a direct message as part of a joke to a woman in Seattle. Once I realized I had posted it to Twitter, I panicked, I took it down, and said that I had been hacked. I then continued with that story and to stick to that story which is a usually regrettable mistake.
This woman was unwittingly dragged into this and there's absolutely no responsibility. I'm so sorry to have disrupted her life on this way.
To be clear, the picture was of me and I sent it. I am deeply sorry for the pain this has caused my wife Huma and our family and my constituents, my friends, supporters, and staff.
In addition, over the past few years, I have engaged in several inappropriate conversations conducted over Twitter, Facebook, email, and occasionally on the phone with women I have met online. I've exchanged messages and photos of an explicit nature with about six women over the last three years.
For the most part, these relations -- these communications took place before my marriage, though some have sadly took place after. To be clear, I have never met any of these women or had physical relationships at any time.
I haven't told the truth and I've done things that I deeply regret. I've brought pain to people that I care about the most and the people who believe in me, and for that, I am deeply sorry.
I apologize to my wife and our families, as well as to our friends and supporters. I'm deeply ashamed of my terrible judgment and actions.
I'd be glad to take any questions that you might have.
REPORTER: Congressman, should you go ahead and resign?
WEINER: I came here to accept the full responsibility for what I've done.
(CROSSTALK)
WEINER: I am deeply regretted and regretting what I have done and I am not resigning. I have made it clear that I accept responsibility for this and people who draw conclusions about me are free to do so. I've worked for the people of my district for 13 years and politics for 20 years, and I hope that they see fit to see in the light that it is, which is a deeply, regrettable mistake.
(CROSSTALK)
REPORTER: Congressman, (INAUDIBLE) before you were married and after you were married, and you were a member of Congress before then. (INAUDIBLE)
WEINER: I think it's more inappropriate the things that I have done since I've been married. My primary -- my primary sense of regret and my primary apology goes to my wife. I should not have done this. And I should not have done this particularly when I was married. That's why I make that distinction.
REPORTER: Why would you do this after you were married? The questions people, the constituents and a lot of us, that is, what were you thinking?
WEINER: You know, I don't know what I was thinking. This was a destructive thing to do and I'm apologetic for doing it. It was deeply, deeply hurtful to the people I care about the most. It was something that I did that was just wrong and I regret it.
(CROSSTALK)
REPORTER: -- for this kind of activity and is that a violation of the public trust?
WEINER: I did not.
REPORTER: Did you use the congressional phone, congressional emails and congressional --
WIENER: No, I didn't do -- listen, I'm going to try to tell you everything that I can remember. It was my BlackBerry is not a government BlackBerry. My home computer is usually where I did these things. I don't have the knowledge of every last communication but I don't believe that I used any government resources.
WEINER: -- Blackberry is not a government Blackberry. My home computer is usually where I did these things. I don't have the knowledge of every last communication but I don't believe that I used any government resources.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) not more than 20 minutes ago and claimed you had an X-rated photo of you. Can you say that that is not true?
WEINER: No, I cannot. I regret not being honest about this. This was a big mistake to -- I was embarrassed. I was humiliated. I'm still to this moment.
I was trying to protect my wife. I was trying to protect myself from shame. It was a mistake, and I really regret it.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
WEINER: This was a mistake, and I'm very sorry for it and I take it seriously but I am -- and where I go from here and what steps I take, I take it seriously. This was a destructive thing to do that I deeply regret.
QUESTION: Congressman, your wife is not here. Are you going to split up with your wife because of this?
WEINER: I love my wife very much. I love my wife very much, and we have no intention of splitting up over this. We have been through a great deal together, and we will -- we will weather this. I love her very much, and she loves me.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Where is she?
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
WEINER: These are generally -- in some cases I initiated them. Generally women that I met on Facebook.
QUESTION: Do you have anything to say to Andrew Breitbart?
WEINER: I'm deeply apologetic, first and foremost, to my wife, for the many people that put so much faith and confidence in me, that watched me make this terrible mistake. But everyone that I have misled -- everyone in the media, my staff, the people that I lied to about this, they all deserve an apology.
QUESTION: But after Chris Braddock, after Eliot Spitzer, why would you do such a thing, especially as a member of public office?
WEINER: This was a very dumb thing to do and it was a destructive thing to do. But it wasn't part of any plan to be hurtful to my wife, it wasn't a plan to be deceitful to you, it wasn't part of a plan to be -- it wasn't part of a plan. It was a destructive thing that I did, that I accept responsibility for. But if you're looking for some kind of deep explanation for it, I simply don't have one except that I'm sorry.
QUESTION: When (INAUDIBLE0 sent that photo, did that make you stop and think maybe I shouldn't do that (INAUDIBLE)?
WEINER: I didn't think of it that way. I would think about -- from time to time, I would say to myself, this is a mistake or this conversation, someone could listen in on or translate to someone else. This was a -- I know that there is the sense that everything is part of a plan and it was thought through and calculated. In this case, it was just me doing a very dumb thing. And for that I accept the responsibility.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) Can you tell us when you sent the pictures?
WEINER: I didn't see any of the pictures that were released today. I can tell you that there were some women that I had conversations with that - that inappropriate things were sent by me. And I accept responsibility for that.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
The last thing on this day when I have done this harm to my wife and my family, that I'm standing before all of you and accepting responsibility for this shameful thing, is thinking about next year's election or the election after that. The first thing I need to do is make sure that obviously that this never, ever happens again and that I make it up to my wife and my family and to all of the people that I have harmed.
QUESTION: Are you going to receive professional help?
WEINER: I have not -- I'm going to try to handle thi, and I haven't ruled out perhaps seeing someone. But I'm not blaming anyone. This is not something that can be treated away. This is my own personal mistake. This is not something that -- this is a weakness, a deep weakness that I have demonstrated, and for that I apologize.
(CROSSTALK)
WEINER: Some of these relationships, some date back, I think, as much as three years.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) -- When did you decide that you couldn't stick with your original story and you'd have to come out yourself.
WEINER: Almost from the moment that I -- you know, when you say something like that that was so wrong -- I was embarrassed. And I didn't want it to lead it to other embarrassing things. And I did -- it was a dumb thing to do, to try to tell lies about it because it just led to more lies. But almost immediately after I said the lie, I knew that I was putting people in a very bad position and I didn't want to continue doing it.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
WEINER: Excuse me?
QUESTION: Did any of the women ever ask you for money in exchange for not coming forward? (INAUDIBLE)
WEINER: No.
QUESTION: Was Megan one of the women?
WEINER: Megan (INAUDIBLE) was one of the women.
QUESTION: Sir, when did you tell your wife? When did you tell your wife?
WEINER: My wife has known about some of these online relationships since before we were married and we spoke frankly about them because -- we've always spoke frankly about them. But she didn't know until this morning that I had not been telling the truth about whether I had posted the Twitter posting last week.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) -- CNN?
WEINER: I'm here primarily to express my apologies to my wife and family but anyone who were misled, all of you who were misled, the people who I lied to, I have an apology for all of them
QUESTION: But not specifically to him?
WEINER: Look. I believe that - I'll - I believe that everyone deserves an apology here, and I'll be -- here's what --
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Where is your wife right now?
WEINER: I apologize to Andrew Breitbart. I apologize to the many other members of the media that I misled. I apologize first and foremost to my wife and to my family.
QUESTION: Where is she right now? Where is she right now?
WEINER: She is not here.
QUESTION: Where is she?
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE).
WEINER: I don't have -- that's -- no. I have a loving wife. I don't -- it's not anything like that. I treated it as a frivolous thing, not acknowledging that it was causing harm to so many people and would eventually come out. Yes, sir?
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
WEINER: I spoke briefly to Leader Pelosi before I came over here. She said to be truthful, and she said to say what you know and was thankful that I was doing that today.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE).
WEINER: She was not happy. Told me as much. She -- my primary apology, as I've said several time, is to my wife, Huma. But she made it very clear that she thought what I did was very dumb and she was not happy. So, and she is very disappointed. And she also told me that -- that she loved me and wanted us to, you know, pull through this.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE).
WEINER: I'm sorry, sir?
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE).
WEINER: I did a regrettable thing, and for that I apologize.
QUESTION: You said that you were on the phone. Did you have phone sex with these women. Did you ever have an affair with one of these women?
WEINER: I've never, as I said in any statement, I never met any of these women.
QUESTION: Did you have phone sex?
WEINER: I never was in the same room with them. I never had any physical relationship whatsoever.
I am reluctant to, for their privacy and since their names are confidential (ph), but I am not going to but I'm not going to rebut anything or dispute anything that any of the women that have come forward have said. They have every right to do so. So, I am not going to make any evidence to characterize those conversations.
QUESTION: -- oath of office to - to do this while you may not have used congressional phone, congressional e-mail, but to do it on congressional time as a congressman --
WEINER: Well, I guess -- I mean, congressional time could theoretically be anything. Congressmen work long hours. But I don't believe I did anything here that violates any law or violates my oath to my constituents.
What I did is something that demonstrated a very deep personal failing, and that's why I'm here to apologize.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: When you say (ph) in the photos that exist, is there any other type of behavior that in the privacy (INAUDIBLE) you've conducted as a congressman that you could be ashamed of? Is there anything - have you solicited or engaged in any service with women or --
WEINER: No, I've never had sex outside my marriage. And I've done these things, and I regret them. But I have never done anything -- never done anything that you described. And I don't know where else to get it.
QUESTION: Was there alcohol or drugs involved in --
WEINER: I'm not making any excuses for my behavior. I don't do drugs. I was not drinking. That wasn't the cause of this. This was me doing a dumb thing and doing it repeatedly and then lying about it. And that's all there is.
I'm here to accept responsibility for this. I'm not asking to shift the blame to anyone else or to any external force or anything else.
QUESTION: Congressman, have you had contact with Miss Cordova after --
WEINER: I did. I did. I didn't speak to her. We exchanged some text messages. Mostly from me to express my abject apologies for how she got dragged into this.
QUESTION: Have you ever spoken to her before via --
WEINER: No. Yes. Yes. We had exchanged some perfunctory direct messages, but there wasn't -- we had never spoken.
(CROSSTALK)
WEINER: I have not. And I just -- look, my wife is a remarkable woman. She's not responsible for any of this. This was visited upon her. She's getting back to work, and I apologize to her very deeply.
QUESTION: Congressman, how --
WEINER: We'll have to make that determination. I mean, I'm here to state my apologies. I'm here to take responsibility.
But beyond that, my constituents have to make that determination. It's up to them that believes that they don't want to vote for me, I'm going to work very hard to win back their trust and to try to persuade them. This is a personal failing of mine that I have worked very hard for my constituents for a very long time, very long hours. And nothing about this should reflect in any way on my official duties or on my oath of office.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
WEINER: I'm sorry, sir?
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
WEINER: I'll leave that for people to - I certainly used bad judgement here, that's for sure. And if someone wants to draw that conclusion, I can't stop them. I'm here to accept responsibility for some very bad decisions.
QUESTION: These girls were very young, 21 years old. Does it bother you that they are very young --
WEINER: I don't know the exact ages of the women and they --
QUESTION: That could be your children.
WEINER: I don't know the exact ages of the women, and I don't know if you do. I'm going to respect their privacy. But they are all adults. At least to the best of my knowledge, they were all adults and they were engaging in these conversations consensually.
QUESTION: But if you don't know how old they are, how do you know they are adults?
WEINER: Well, all I know is what they publish about themselves in social media. Someone could have been fibbing about it. And that's a risk --
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
WEINER: No.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
WEINER: No.
QUESTION: Congressman, are you surprised by the reaction that your colleagues have had about this issue (INAUDIBLE) given your delegation and other people (INAUDIBLE)?
WEINER: Look, this - this -- I wasn't telling the truth. I had done something that was dishonorable. I had lied. I don't begrudge anyone for not leaping to my defense in that circumstance. This was -- you know, I don't -- this isn't anyone else's fault. This isn't -- didn't demonstrate their bad judgment or their mistakes. This was me. I did it. And I take responsibility for that, and I'm not looking to point blame or share responsibility with anyone.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
WEINER: I'm going to go back to work and I'm going to try to convince them that this was a personal failing, that is an abberation from which I have learned, and all I can do is just keep doing what I've done, which is work hard every day.
There wasn't anything about this I would say that changes my ability or my record of getting bills passed or filling potholes or fulfilling community service. This was a personal failing. I hope that they see it that way. And I don't begrudge them if they see it as such a personal failing and won't vote for me, that's - that's their decision. And I'm going to have to work very hard.
QUESTION: Congressman, members of Democratic leadership called on Mark Foley, called on (INAUDIBLE) to resign. Do you see any hypocrisy in the fact that you've (INAUDIBLE)
WEINER: Well, I don't want to get into anyone else's situation, but I can tell you about mine. And it's one that I regret that it didn't have to do with my government service per se. It had to do with a personal weakness, but people can draw their own conclusions about that. But I'm not resigning, and I'm going to try to go back to work a better person and a better man. I'm going to try -- try to be a better husband, too.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: What did your wife say?
WEINER: She was very unhappy. She was very disappointed, and she told me as much. And she also said that she loved me and said we were going to get through this -
REPRESENTATIVE ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: And she told me as much and she also said that she loved me and said we were going to get through this, but she deserves much better than this and I know that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you explain why here, why now you come out and say this?
WEINER: Look, my primary concern about the entire incident to begin with was my concern about some of these relationships that I had becoming public and it seems that what I had done by denying the original action had only served to make things worse and only served to lead to people being asked longer, tougher questions.
It's really true, you know, that the smarter better thing to do would be to just tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may, even if they came to this place. And that was the mistake and that's why I'm here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you cheat? Was this a frat boy antic? Are you addicted to --
WEINER: I'll leave it to someone else. I mean, all I can do is give you the facts that I laid out in my statement. I know that I never met these women and I know never really had much desire to and to me it was almost a frivolous exchange among friends that I don't think I made an important enough distinction about how hurtful it was and how inappropriate it was.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where, you know, certitude that you say that is not something that you can rely on, how do you know that these women are not underage or they are not truthful about their own self?
WEINER: You know, of course, no one ever knows that, but I know that I never had any intention of having any interaction with underage women and no information that I have now shows that I did.
But, yes, whenever you engage with anyone, and that's true of -- that's always true in social media that you're relying upon their characterizations and I took them at those characterizations.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you at all disturbed about the fact that --
WEINER: Look, I am sorry and I continue to be, but I don't see anything that I did that violated any rules of the House. I don't see anything that I did that certainly violated my oath of office to uphold the constitution.
I engaged in inappropriate online conversations with people that included the photographs and it was a mistake to do that, but I don't believe that I did anything that violates any law or any rule.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were you worried that you were going to get caught at some point and that was part of the appeal of it?
WEINER: No, I didn't have the sense that they were complete strangers. These were people that I had developed relationships with online and I believed that we had become -- we had become friends, but that was clearly a mistake and I clearly regret that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But they were young enough to be your daughters.
WEINER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) these women --
WEINER: We had -- I mean, I don't know her and I still don't really know her. She was a follower who we had cursory direct message contact. She was having trouble with some people that were tweeting about her and giving her a hard time because she was following me.
And it was a mistake and I just want to make it very clear, of all the -- there are a long list of people that I harmed here but this poor woman was one of them as well and I deeply regret that she got dragged into it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The perils of social media of public officials, would you subject that they remove their Twitter accounts?
WEINER: No, I suggest that not to people stop engaging with their constituents via social media, but not to do dumb things like this that are dishonest to their families, that are deceitful to the press when they are asked about them, to not do things like this.
There is nothing inherently wrong with social media. There is nothing inherently wrong with these outlets. What I did was a mistake.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you shut down your Twitter account?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you approach her or tell her not to --
WEINER: At no time did I or any member of my staff try to do anything to cover anything up. She did reach out to me and express what -- how she had been set upon and I expressed my apologies to her, but there was no coaching of any sort going on. And it was basically me saying what I have said here today, which is how deeply sorry I am for my actions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) were admired, Congressman?
WEINER: No, my staff has never had any contact with her. My staff did not know the actual story here. I misled them as well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you telling your staff now?
WEINER: They only heard the full story kind of late this afternoon as I was getting ready to come over here. They are -- and they've worked -- they are another group of people that I have letdown. In fact, they knew nothing and I deeply regret putting them into the circumstance of having to defend me when I knew myself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was there any predatory about your behavior?
WEINER: Look, the women that I have been in contact with, without violating their privacy. They are not uniformly young women. I don't know their ages, but the people that I've had these engagements with on Facebook are not -- are not young per se.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this violation of your oath of office?
WEINER: I am deeply sorry that I lied about this, but at the end of the day, I lied because I was embarrassed. I lied because I was ashamed of what I had done and didn't want to get caught. But did I violate the constitution of the United States by lying about posting a Twitter post?
I certainly don't think so and I haven't spoke to anyone who did, but if people want to say that this is a violation of my oath because I sent a Twitter that I regretted and I lied about it and obviously people are entitled to their --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).
WEINER: I don't believe I'll use it the same way, that's for sure. And I deeply regret the way I've used it today, but for my use of Twitter.
I mean, it's not -- it's something that I found useful and Facebook is a way to get out some message. But I certainly wouldn't obviously do the things that I had done that led me to this place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).
WEINER: Of course, I would. I did not. I did not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you help to support Arnold's love child?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Congressman --
WEINER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) in the first place.
WEINER: They were inappropriate. They were part of a consensual, you know, exchanges of e-mails and I don't want to violate the privacy of the women who were involved, but it was clearly mistaken, one that I deeply regret. Thank you.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Seven term congressman, Anthony Weiner, standing up at that podium for just about half an hour taking question after question after question from members of the media.
Essentially saying this, that he lied, that he lied to his wife, he lied to his constituents, to members of the media, that that photograph, that lewd photo was in fact sent from him, intended to be a direct message to that woman in Seattle and instead it was tweeted it out and that is how this whole thing began.
A couple of other notes I took, he did admit to engaging in multiple inappropriate conversations, all of this over social media, all of this with women who he was led to believe were of age 18 and older, he mentioned in total six women over the course of the last three years.
He said that his wife, who by the way he has just married in the last year, in fact, President Clinton married them. She works at the State Department under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She was aware of some of these inappropriate relationships, prior to their marriage.
But according to Congressman Weiner just now did not know until this morning that it was her husband who posted the tweet pic from two Fridays ago. He said, quote, "I haven't told the truth and have done things I deeply regret." Also, quote, "I regret what I have done and I am not resigning."
Wolf Blitzer, I am sure you have been watching this thing right along with me, right along with many, many people who have been watching CNN. Wolf, it was with you with whom he spoke last Wednesday. You to whom he said, this wasn't me. WOLF BLITZER, THE SITUATION ROOM: Yes. You know, he was clearly lying. Not just to his friends and his family, but he was lying to all of us because I asked them several questions and he now admits he didn't tell us the truth.
When I asked specifically, did you send that picture to that woman in Washington State, that young college student? He said no, absolutely no and now he's acknowledging that it was a lie. When I said, what about other pictures, did you send other pictures? You knew if they were your underpants, for example.
You know, he came up with a whole explanation that photos can be doctored, sometimes you send stuff from one account and it looks like it's coming from another twitter account. All of that was now seen as a lie. So, you know, he was honest today. He should have been honest last week because, as you know, Brooke, in Washington it's always the cover up, which is very often so much worse than the initial sin or crime or if there was a crime, of a wrongdoing, whatever.
But then when he went on television and he ridiculed and lambasted reporters, including our own Dana Bash and Ted Bariner (ph), excellent producer up on Capitol Hill calling him a bad word, I don't even want to repeat it right now. You know, it was just ridiculous and then the next day, when he did that series of interviews with all the actors and reporters in Washington including a very long one with me.
You know, it's just heartbreaking and it's especially heartbreaking because those of us who know his wife, Huma who is a wonderful woman who has worked for the secretary of state for a long time. They have been married for less than a year, it must be so painful for her family, his family, for all of their friends to see what's going through and you saw him almost breakdown and cry on several moments.
BALDWIN: Several times.
BLITZER: He must be going through hell and you know, you obviously acknowledged at the end maybe he needs some therapy, maybe he needs some help to deal with these problems because, you know, it's just a bad, bad situation all around.
BALDWIN: Wolf, I know you need to get ready for "THE SITUATION ROOM," which begins in four minutes and you have quite a bit to tackle so I'm going to let you go and let you get ready for your show.
In the meantime, I want to go back to Mary Snow who is inside that ballroom when this bombshell was dropped. Mary, here is one of the things. I was in communication with my producers as we were both watching this together.
One thing that really struck us, was the fact that he stood there for nearly half an hour taking question after question. You know, essentially opening himself up to media scrutiny.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and Brooke, he only cut it off now because someone had come in who is not a reporter started blurting out comments and statements and that's when he decided to cut it off. But yes, he was taking all of those questions. As you mentioned a moment ago when you were talking to Wolf, you know, there were several times when his voice started cracking, almost every time when he mentioned his wife and when asked how she was doing or when he told her, his voice -- he really started breaking up and it looked like he was going to start crying.
You know, he said that he told his wife only this morning about the truth and he said that it was time to tell the truth and only told his staff this afternoon and that he had been in touch with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
He said she advised him to be truthful, but it was, you know, also as we mentioned kind of surreal moment here because during that press conference at one point, Andrew Breitbart who has posted pictures on his web site, big government.com had shown up again during that press conference to listen to what Congressman Anthony Weiner had to say.
BALDWIN: I think Mary Snow surreal is quite an appropriate word. Mary, thank you so much for your reporting there at Manhattan. I'm sure you're staying there, of course, for "THE SITUATION ROOM."
I do want to end with going to Sunny Hostin. Sunny, I want to ask you, just in terms of legally, did Congressman Weiner break the law? Did he break law? Let's just start there.
SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION" on TRUTV: Well, we don't know, but it's quite possible and I would suspect that a congressional investigation is forthcoming. Perhaps it's an ethical committee investigation. I think that would probably be appropriate.
There were questions as you heard during this news conference about the ages of the women. So are we talking about sexting? Are we talking about exchanging perhaps pornographic images that are inappropriate? Are we talking about using congressional office resources like a computer, like a Blackberry?
And so those are all questions that I'm sure a congressional ethics committee would have and they would have to look into that, whether or not a law was broken or whether or not ethics violations are a possibility. I think this is something that we're going to hear more about, Brooke.
BALDWIN: So it sort of the legal issues versus ethical issues just to bottom line it.
HOSTIN: And sometimes they are combined. So we may see a little bit of both.
BALDWIN: That's right. Sunny Hostin, thank you so much and I just want to thank all of you for joining me this last what, one, two chaotic hours we had intended to report on those five young american men lost in Iraq today.
Implications of the 9.1 percent unemployment rate and two key countries on the brink, Yemen and Syria, that as you just saw play out live here on CNN, changed in a matter of moments.
Now more on the confession of Congressman Anthony Weiner in "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer. Wolf --
