Weiner Seeks Treatment, Won't Resign
Top Democratic leaders called on the lawmaker to step down but he will ask for leave from House.
| Posted Sunday, June 12, 2011, at 12:49 PM
UPDATE 2: Early Sunday morning, TMZ posted 11 photos of Rep. Anthony Weiner that it claims were taken in the House members gym at the Capitol, which is open to current and former lawmakers only. The self-portraits shot with his BlackBerry and the help of a mirror "were sent online to at least one woman," according to TMZ.
UPDATE: Rep. Anthony Weiner is struggling to hang on however he can. After he was abandoned by the party leadership Saturday, he announced he will be seeking "professional treatment" and a leave of absence from the House of Representatives.
“Congressman Weiner departed this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person,” Weiner’s office said in a statement, according to Politico. “In light of that, he will request a short leave of absence from the House of Representatives so that he can get evaluated and map out a course of treatment to make himself well.”
The move came after several key Democratic Party leaders issued statements within minutes of each other calling on the embattled New York lawmaker to resign, suggesting he needed professional psychiatric help. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi urged Weiner to seek “help without the pressures of being a member of Congress” as part of a move that seemed destined to make it clear the party does not support his efforts to remain in office.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee chairwoman, called Weiner's behavior "indefensible" and said the “sordid affair has become an unacceptable distraction” while Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chiarman Steve Israel from New York also called on Weiner to step down saying he needed treatment for “inappropriate behavior.” The statements were issued after Pelosi and Israel privately called on Weiner to quit but he refused, according to Politico.
Original post: New York Rep. Anthony Weiner acknowledged he exchanged messages via Twitter with a 17-year-old high-school student from Delaware. Police questioned the girl on Friday and said she “disclosed no information regarding any criminal activity,” according to the Associated Press. The girl’s mother told the New York Post the messages weren’t obscene. That coincided with a statement released from Weiner’s office Friday night, “According to Congressman Weiner, his communications with this person were neither explicit nor indecent.”
On Saturday, Weiner was met by a throng of reporters and onlookers when he walked to his local dry cleaners and insisted none of the five messages he exchanged with the 17-year-old after she heard him speak in Washington were inappropriate. “I think the record is pretty clear—nothing explicit, nothing indecent, nothing inappropriate,” he said. Weiner also insisted he has no plans to resign but pressure continues to increase for him to step down and some say the latest revelations could amount to the final straw. “He is not being realistic about what he will face if he returns on Monday,” a senior House Democratic aide tells ABC News.
Ultimately, the messages exchanged with the girl “might seem innocent enough were it not for the other revelations about Weiner’s chronic online behavior,” points out the Los Angeles Times. The girl posted a private message from Weiner on Tumblr where he seems to compare himself to a superhero. “I came back strong. Large. Tights and cape.” When Weiner admitted to exchanging lewd messages with women across the country he said that “to the best of my knowledge” they “were all adults.”
