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The beginning of the end for Anthony Weiner came on Sunday, June 5, when his closest advisers realized he had been lying to them — and the world.
For more than a week before that crucial day, Weiner completely misled his closest staffers by denying he sent a tawdry crotch photo from his Twitter account to a Washington state co-ed.
Acting on that bad information, the aides were scrambling to do damage control on his behalf. For days, they fired off e-mails and held frenetic conference calls.
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To both the aides and the public, Weiner brushed the photo off as a “hack” — and they believed him.
But after repeated conversations with the lawmaker that Saturday and Sunday — and a lot of tough questions — they finally concluded that he was just covering his tracks.
“By Sunday night, the advisers believed he was going to have to acknowledge that this was him, and he would have to address it,” one of the insiders told The Post. “It was no longer a question — it was him.”
That evening, his trusted aides began a concerted effort, in tense, one-on-one conversations through the night, to persuade Weiner to come clean.
The next day, he held a circus-like press conference, confessing to having “inappropriate” sexual communications with six women over three years.
He then thought that the issue was over and that he could soldier on, betting that no more damaging disclosures would emerge.
On Tuesday, the delusional Weiner held a conference call with his staffers and political advisers.
“Anthony was going right into his back-to-work mode,” an adviser said.
But his staff was far from convinced.
“We need a plan for the day, a plan for the week, and a plan for the month,” Weiner told his staff, according to the insider.
A congressional staffer dramatically stopped him there, saying: “We’re not going to be able to plan a month out here. Let’s plan a few days at a time.”
Weiner was stung by the frank assessment that the scandal wasn’t over yet.
Two days later, a cascade of orchestrated calls came from Democratic leaders for him to resign.
And some of his close advisers agreed.
“By Wednesday, the details were still unfolding, and there was a sense from people within his circle of how bad this was — and people started urging him to resign,” recalled one of those advisers.
“It’s fair to say that, by the middle of last week, there was a growing number of advisers who thought he should step down. There were others who were evaluating as he was and some people supporting him, telling him to stay.”
Sen. Charles Schumer, Weiner’s mentor, kept out of the debate.
“It was his way of staying loyal,” a Democratic source said. “He never urged him to stay or step down.”
Throughout those frantic days, Weiner was on an emotional roller coaster.
“He was alternately combative, wanting to fight this,” the insider said. “He was frequently very distressed by his own actions and how they affected people who were close to him — first and foremost, Huma and their families. And then at other times, witty, funny, bantering with people.”
According to a Democratic source, the paranoid Weiner even kept some staffers out of the loop.
“The staff, they haven’t always been the first to know,” the source said, adding, “Poor [press secretary] Dave Arnold.”
When they finally realized their boss was going to leave, staffers were described as “hurting” and “not taking it so well.”
“It was a real gut shot to some of them,” according to a source.
Additional reporting by S.A. Miller