Weiner comments on new sexually charged messages
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(CNN) - New York mayoral candidate and former congressman Anthony Weiner said Tuesday that some sexually explicit online chats that were published by a gossip website happened after his resignation from Congress in 2011.
Original Story:
(CNN) – Former Rep. Anthony Weiner, who resigned from Congress amid a sexting scandal, confirmed Tuesday that some newly emerged, sexually-tinged exchanges he had with an unnamed woman are real.
"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," Weiner said in a statement. "While some things that have been posted today are true and some are not, there is no question that what I did was wrong.
In the statement, Weiner pointed to previous comments he made around the time he announced his bid for New York City mayor, in which he said it was possible for more photos to come out as he made a re-entry into politics.
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While Weiner did not reference the specific allegations Tuesday, screenshots of conversations and photographs appeared on a gossip website that are allegedly between Weiner and the woman last summer, a year after Weiner resigned. CNN has not independently confirmed the messages.
"I said that other texts and photos were likely to come out, and today they have," he said Tuesday.
The exchanges surfaced Tuesday, about a year after they allegedly took place and in the middle of Weiner's Democratic primary campaign for New York mayor.
Weiner did not comment on when these newly emerged messages took place, but was apologetic.
"This behavior is behind me. I've apologized to Huma and am grateful that she has worked through these issues with me and for her forgiveness," he said. "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."
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The statement came after chat messages purporting to be from Weiner were published on the website TheDirty.com. The post cited a "solid" source alleging Weiner engaged in lewd online conversations with her, and reproduced lengthy chats that were sexual in nature.
The woman, aged 22, says Weiner vowed to secure her a place on a panel hosted by Politico, as well as purchase a condominium for her in Chicago.
"I just want people to really know he's lying when he acts like he has changed," the unnamed woman told TheDirty.
In one instance, an explicit photo was published that the site claimed Weiner sent to the woman online. The name Weiner used online was "Carlos Danger," according to TheDirty.com
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Weiner, who represented parts of Brooklyn and Queens, resigned from Congress in 2011 after admitting to sending lewd photographs to multiple women online. At first he hedged on whether the photos were of him, including in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
"It certainly doesn't look familiar to me, but I don't want to say with certitude to you something that I don't know to be the certain truth," Weiner said at the time.
After more reports of online exchanges with other women surfaced, fellow Democrats encouraged Weiner to resign, which he ultimately did after confessing to the indiscretions.
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In the run-up to his mayoral bid, which he launched in May, he said more photos could emerge.
"If reporters want to go and try to find more, I can't say they're not going to be able to find another picture, find another person who may want to come out on their own," he told RNN Television. "But I'm not going to contribute to that. The basics of the story are not going to change. It's behind me. It was a huge mistake."
– CNN's Ashley Killough, Kevin Liptak, and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.