He’s hanging tough.
Disgraced Rep. Anthony Weiner fought back yesterday against an orchestrated campaign by fellow Democrats to convince him to resign.
“I’m not,” Weiner told The Post when asked if he was going to call it a career as his sexting scandal escalates.
“I betrayed a lot of people, and I know it. I’m trying to get back to work now and trying to make amends to my constituents and, of course, to my family,” he said in an exclusive interview outside his lawyer’s office.
Meanwhile, Weiner continued his telephone apology campaign as he tried to convince fellow House Dems not to join the “he must go” bandwagon.
The number of Democrats on Capitol Hill publicly calling for his resignation grew to at least 11 yesterday, including Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, and Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey.
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Leahy, the Senate’s second-most-senior Democrat “believes that a decision by Congressman Weiner to voluntarily leave office would be in the best interest of his constituents and the House,” his spokesman said.
Lautenberg said, “To me, this was a guy who was smart, capable, very much liked by his constituents. Once there was a waver of the truth — I think the best thing he could do for himself and his family is leave.”
“Enough is enough,” said Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.). “His actions have disgraced the Congress.”
Another salvo came from Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah). “His behavior was reprehensible,” said Matheson, who serves with Weiner on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “The initial act was reprehensible; the effort to mislead people after the fact was not appropriate either.”
“It’s time for him to go,” he added.
A Democratic legislator told CNN there is a concerted, stepped-up effort by party leaders, in public and private calls, to convince Weiner to quit “to preserve his own dignity.”
Democrats fear the issue will be a distraction when Congress returns next week.
“We really thought by now, after [Weiner’s Monday] press conference, we would be able to talk about the Republicans’ Social Security privatization bill, and instead we keep talking about Anthony Weiner,” said the legislator, who was not identified. “And people are getting angrier and more resentful.”
David Axelrod, President Obama’s longtime political adviser and head of his 2012 re-election campaign, said he expects Weinergate to end “one way or other . . . fairly quickly.”
“I’m sure [Weiner is] doing a lot of soul-searching,” Axelrod said.
Weiner told The Post, “I exchanged inappropriate things with people, and I’ve now got to deal with those consequences. I was completely honest on Monday after I had not been for a while.
“I’m going back to my community office and try to get some work done.”
It doesn’t appear he tried very hard.
There was no indication he had gone to any of his three district offices all day, and he wasn’t spotted again until around 6:30 last night, when he returned to his Forest Hills home.
One Washington insider said the Queens-Brooklyn congressman will come under increasing pressure to quit because he’s never been popular with other Capitol Hill lawmakers.
“For most other members, you have some good will with your colleagues, Democrat and Republican, people who are willing to stick their neck out a little bit,” the source said. “But it does not seem like Anthony has garnered any good will among his colleagues in the dozen-plus years in the chamber that he’s got.
“That, to me, is probably why you’re seeing this move down a steeper hill faster for him than for others.”
No senators or representatives have spoken up for Weiner since his Monday confession to lying about his widespread sexting with women while married.
Several prominent Democrats have danced away from commenting on the scandal.
“I just view it with great surprise and dismay. That’s all I can say,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said.
Asked whether Weiner’s troubles complicate the party’s efforts ahead of the 2012 elections, Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said, “Of course,” before escaping into an elevator.
Rep. Peter King (R-LI) said Weiner might as well quit. “He is not going to be effective in Congress. I don’t see how he can represent his constituents,” he said.
“What he does in the next few days is up to him, but I just think it’s gonna spiral so fast, so I don’t see how he stays on,” King added. “But right now, I leave that decision to him.”
Additional reporting by S.A. Miller in Washington and Andy Soltis in New York