WEEPY WEINER: I’M SICK & SORRY
Prison stretch looms as he admits sexting teen
Disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner sobbed in Manhattan federal court Friday as he pleaded guilty to exchanging sexually explicit messages with a 15-year-old girl.
“I have a sickness, but I do not have an excuse,” Weiner, 52, whimpered, breaking down several times as he read a statement to Judge Loretta Preska.
“I engaged in obscene communications with this teenager, including sharing explicit images and encouraging her to engage in sexually explicit conduct, just as I had done and continued to do with adult women,” said Weiner, whose once-promising political career was destroyed by a series of sexting scandals that culminated with Friday’s plea.
“I knew this was as morally wrong as it was unlawful,” he added.
Still wearing his wedding ring, Weiner pleaded guilty to a single felony count of transferring obscene material to a minor as part of a plea agreement with the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan.
The charge carries up to 10 years in prison, but as part of Weiner’s plea deal, which requires him to register as a sex offender, prosecutors are calling for a sentence of 21 to 27 months behind bars. A judge will decide his fate on Sept. 8. Revelations of Weiner’s X-rated contact with the high-school student, whom he allegedly asked to dress up as a schoolgirl and be part of his “rape fantasies,” capped a stunning fall from grace for Weiner.
Weiner is married to Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton, and the investigation into his lurid behavior led the FBI to reopen its probe into Clinton’s private e-mail server days before the 2016 presidential election.
In his apology, Weiner didn’t directly mention Abedin, who filed for divorce Friday. She did not appear in court.
“I apologize to everyone I have hurt,” he said. “I apologize to the teenage girl, whom I mistreated so badly.”
Dressed in a navy suit, Weiner appeared pained as he revealed that his online sex trolling apparently started a decade earlier than had been thought — from the beginning of his time in Congress in 1999.
Weiner, a Democrat from Brooklyn, resigned from Congress in 2011 after a photo of his crotch appeared on his Twitter account. He initially blamed hackers but eventually admitted he’d had inappropriate online relationships with six women.
He said in court that he “hit bottom” last fall and entered a treatment program.
His teen sexting partner revealed her months-long online relationship with Weiner to the Daily Mail last year, saying he would contact her via the instant-messaging app Kik using the handle “T Dog.”
During their chats, he boasted about his sexual skills and sent the high-schooler shirtless photos of himself.
Asked whether he thinks Weiner deserves to go to prison, the teen’s uncle told The Post Friday, “I do.”
Sydney Leathers, whom Weiner had sexted in 2013 using the name “Carlos Danger,” agreed, describing the fallen politician as a “predator’’ in an interview with “Inside Edition.’’ She added, “I don’t feel bad for him in any way.’’
Under the plea deal, Weiner had to surrender the iPhone he used to chat with the teen. His Internet access will likely be monitored by the state after his prison stint, experts said.
Weiner was released on $150,000 bond. Arriving back at his Irving Plaza apartment building, the typically talkative former lawmaker said, “Sorry, guys, I have nothing to say.”