Weiner pleads guilty to sexting with minor
Former congressman tells judge there is ‘no excuse’ for his actions
Former congressman Anthony Weiner, tearfully acknowledging a “sickness” and “destructive impulses,” pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges of transmitting sexual material to a minor and could face a prison term.
The 52-year-old Democratic politician from New York, who resigned from Congress in 2011 over an earlier sexting scandal, will have to register as a sex offender.
Weiner, who is separated from top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, appeared before a federal judge in Manhattan and agreed not to appeal any sentence between 21 and 27 months in prison. He was released on bail pending a final sentencing hearing in September. The charge carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
In court, Weiner cried as he apologized to the teenager with whom he exchanged the sexually explicit texts.
“I accept full responsibility for my conduct,” he said. “I have a sickness, but I do not have an ex- cuse. I apologize to everyone I have hurt. I apologize to the teenage girl, whom I mistreated so badly. I am committed to making amends to all those I have harmed.”
He told the court that this fall he “came to grips for the first time with the depths of my sickness. I had hit bottom,” Weiner said. “I entered intensive treatment, found the courage to take a moral inventory of my defects, and began a program of recovery and mental health treatment that I continue to follow every day.”
Weiner told the judge “these destructive impulses brought great devastation to family and friends and destroyed my life’s dream of public service. And yet I remained in denial even as the world around me fell apart.”
Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim, speaking afterward to reporters, said Weiner’s conduct “was not only reprehensible, but a federal crime, one for which he is now convicted and will be sentenced.”
According to the charges, prosecutors said, Weiner used online messaging and video chat apps to communicate with a girl “he knew to be 15 years old.”
Prosecutors said he “transferred obscene material to the minor victim, including directions to engage in sexual conduct and sexually explicit images.”