REP. WEINER: Thank you very much for being here, and good afternoon. I’d like to take this time to clear up some of the questions that have been raised over the past 10 days or so and take full responsibility for my actions.
At the outset, I’d like to make it clear that I have made terrible mistakes that have hurt the people I care about the most, and I’m deeply sorry. I have not been honest with myself, my family, my constituents, my friends and supporters and the media.
Last Friday night, I tweeted a photograph of myself that I intended to send as a direct message as part of a joke to a woman in Seattle. Once I realized I had posted it to Twitter, I panicked. I took it down and said that I had been hacked. I then continued with that story — to stick to that story, which was a hugely regrettable mistake. This woman was unwittingly dragged into this and bears absolutely no responsibility. I am so sorry to have disrupted her life in this way.
To be clear, the picture was of me, and I sent it. I am deeply sorry for the pain this has caused my wife Huma and our family and my constituents, my friends, supporters and staff. In addition, over the past few years, I have engaged in several inappropriate conversations conducted over Twitter, Facebook, email and occasionally on the phone with women I had met online. I’ve exchanged messages and photos of an explicit nature with about six women over the last three years. For the most part, these communications took place before my marriage, though some have sadly took place after. To be clear, I have never met any of these women or had physical relationships at any time.
I haven’t told the truth, and I’ve done things that I deeply regret. I brought pain to people I care about the most and the people who believed in me. And for that I’m deeply sorry. I apologize to my wife and our family, as well as to our friends and supporters. I’m deeply ashamed of my terrible judgment and actions.
And I’d be glad to take any questions that you might have.
(Cross talk.)
Q: Congressman, do you expect to —
Q: (Off mic) — stay as congressman, or should you go ahead and resign?
REP. WEINER: I came here to accept the full responsibility for what I’ve done.
(Cross talk.)
REP. WEINER: I —
Q: (Off mic) — to resign?
REP. WEINER: I am deeply regretting what I have done, and I am not resigning.
Q: Do —
REP. WEINER: I have made it clear that I accept responsibility for this. And people who draw conclusions about me are free to do so. I’ve worked for the people of my district for 13 years and in politics for 20 years, and I hope that they see fit to see this in the light that it is, which is a deeply regrettable mistake.
(Cross talk.)
Q: Congressman, why do you — Congressman, why do you draw the distinction between — you explained that you texted or tweeted before you were married and after you were married. But you were a member of Congress before — (inaudible). Do you think it was inappropriate because you were married?
REP. WEINER: I think it is more inappropriate, things that I have done since I married.
Q: Then why —
REP. WEINER: My primary — my primary sense of regret and my primary apology goes to my wife. I should not have done this, and I should not have done this, particularly when I was married. That’s why I make that distinction.
(Cross talk.)
Q: But why would you do this after you’re married? You know it’s — you know it’s wrong. The question people, your constituents, and a lot of us have is, what were you thinking?
REP. WEINER: You know, I don’t know what I was thinking. This was a destructive thing to do. I’m apologetic for doing it. It was deeply, deeply hurtful to the people I care about the most. It was something I did that was just wrong, and I regret it.
(Cross talk.)
Q: Congressman —
Q: Did you use government resources for this kind of activity? And if so, is that a violation of the public trust?
REP. WEINER: I did not.
Q: You didn’t use a — congressional phones, congressional email, on congressional time —
REP. WEINER: No, I didn’t do — listen, I’m going to try to tell you everything that I can remember was — my BlackBerry’s not a government BlackBerry. My home computer is usually where I did these things —
Q: Usually?
REP. WEINER: I don’t have a knowledge of every last communication, but I don’t believe that I used any government resources.
(Cross talk.)
Q: Andrew Breitbart — (inaudible) — standing up more than 20 minutes ago and implied that he had an X-rated photo of you. Can you say that is not true?
REP. WEINER: No, I cannot.
Q: Congressman, why lie about it so long?
REP. WEINER: I regret not being honest about this. This was a big mistake to — I was embarrassed. I was humiliated — I’m still to this moment. I was trying to protect my wife. I was trying to protect myself from shame. It was a mistake. And I really — and I really regret it.
Q: Well, Congressman —
(Cross talk.)
Q: (Off mic) — and I’d like to ask you, do you think you should check yourself into some kind of a clinic to get at some kind of help or counseling to help you get over this?
REP. WEINER: This was — this was a mistake, and I’m very sorry for it, and I take it seriously. But I am — and where I go from here and what steps I take, I take it seriously. This was a destructive thing to do that I deeply regret.
Q: Congressman, will your marriage survive?
Q: Congressman? Congressman? Congressman, your wife is not here. Are you going to split up with your wife because of this?
REP. WEINER: My — I love my wife very much —
Q: Are you going to split up?
REP. WEINER: I love my wife very much, and we have no intention of splitting up over this.
Q: What kind of — (off mic) — relationship —
Q: Where is she?
REP. WEINER: We have been through — we have been through a great deal together, and we will — we will weather this. I love her very much, and she loves me.
Q: Where is she? Where is she? Where is she? Sir, where is she?
Q: (Off mic) — relationships begin? I mean, who initiated it and how did it begin? Are they all — are they constituents or are they — you know, whether they are —
REP. WEINER: These are generally — in some cases I initiated them; they’re generally women that I met on Facebook.
Q: Do you have anything to say to Andrew Breitbart?
REP. WEINER: I’m deeply apologetic first and foremost to my wife, to the many people that put so much faith and confidence in me, that watched me make this terrible mistake. But everyone that I misled — everyone in the media, my staff, the people that I — that I lied to about this — they all deserve an apology.
Q: But after Chris Bragg, after Elliot Spitzer, why the decision to do such a thing, especially as a member of public office?
REP. WEINER: This was a very dumb thing to do, and it was a destructive thing to do. But it wasn’t part of any plan to be hurtful to my wife. It wasn’t part of a plan to be deceitful to you. It wasn’t part of a plan to be — it wasn’t part of a plan. It was a destructive thing that I did that I accept responsibility for. But if you’re — if you’re looking for some kind of deep explanation for it, I simply don’t have one except that I’m very — except that I’m sorry.
Q: When Chris Lee sent that photo and was caught and had to resign, did that make you stop and think, maybe I shouldn’t be doing this because I could be caught next? Did that ever go through your mind?
REP. WEINER: I didn’t think of it that way. From — I would think about — from time to time, I would say to myself, this is a mistake or this conversation — someone could listen in on or translate to someone else. This was a — I know that there is the sense that everything is part of a plan, and it was thought through and calculated. In this case, it was just me doing a very dumb thing, and for that I accept the responsibility.
(Cross talk.)
REP. WEINER: Yeah, sure.
Q: There were pictures that were released today. Can you tell us when you took them — (off mic)?
REP. WEINER: I didn’t see any of the pictures that were released today. I can tell you that there were some women that I had conversations with that — inappropriate things were sent by me, and I accept responsibility for that.
Q: Have you spoken to any of these women to apologize?
Q: What — (off mic) — run for mayor — (off mic)? Is this going to change anything? Or — (off mic)?
REP. WEINER: Look, the last thing on this day when I have done this harm to my wife, to my family — that I’m standing before all of you and accepting responsibility for this shameful thing — is thinking about next year’s election or the election after that. The first thing I need to do is make sure that, obviously, this never, ever happens again, and that I make it up to my wife and to my family and to all the people that I’ve harmed here.
Q: Will you seek professional help?
REP. WEINER: I have not — you know, I’m going to try to handle this, and I haven’t ruled out perhaps seeing someone. But I’m not blaming anyone. This is not something that can be treated away; this is my own personal mistake. This is not something — this is a weakness, a deep weakness, that I have demonstrated, and for that I apologize.
Q: You’re not sure about the times that you sent these pictures —
Q: Can you speak to how long this has gone on?
REP. WEINER: Some of these relationships — some date back as, I think, much as three years.
(Cross talk.)
Q: Congressman, is Meagan Broussard one of the women?
Q: Congressman, when did you realize that — when did you realize that what you were saying wasn’t true and that you couldn’t stick with your original story, that you had to come out here today?
REP. WEINER: Almost from the moment that I — you know, when you say something like that that’s so wrong — I was embarrassed, and I didn’t want it to lead to other embarrassing things. And I did — I did a — it was a dumb thing to do to try to tell lies about it because it just led to more lies.
But almost — but almost immediately after I said the lie I knew that I was putting people in a very bad position. And I didn’t want to continue doing it.
(Cross talk.)
Q: (Inaudible) — in exchange for not coming forward, Congressman, at any time, did they —
REP. WEINER: Excuse me?
Q: Did any of these women ever ask you for anything in exchange for not coming forward, or threaten you with coming forward?
REP. WEINER: No.
Q: Was Meagan Broussard one of the women?
REP. WEINER: Meagan Broussard was one of the women.
Q: When did you tell your wife? When did you tell your wife?
REP. WEINER: My wife has known about some of these online relationships since before we were married. And we spoke frankly about them because — well, we spoke frankly about them. But she didn’t know until this morning that I had not been telling the truth about whether I posted the Twitter posting last week.
Q: What do you say to Andrew Breitbart — what do you say to Andrew Breitbard, who was accused of hacking your account by many left-wing blog and people on CNN, even? What do you say to him?
REP. WEINER: I’m here primarily to express my apologies to my wife and family, but anyone who was misled — all of you who were misled, the people who I lied to, I have an apology for all of them.
Q: But not specifically for him? Not an apology?
REP. WEINER: I — look. If — I believe that everyone deserves an apology here, and I certainly am — I’m — I’ll be — here’s what —
Q: Where’s your wife right now?
REP. WEINER: I apologize to Andrew Breitbart, I apologize to the many other members of the media that I misled. I apologize first and foremost to my wife and to my family.
Q: Where is she right now? Where is she right now?
REP. WEINER: She is not here.
Q: Where is she?
Q: Why did you get involved in this activity? Were you lonesome, were you alone a lot?
REP. WEINER: I don’t have — that’s — no. I have a loving wife, I don’t — it’s not anything like that. I treated it as a frivolous thing, not acknowledging that it was causing harm to so many people and would eventually come out.
Yes, sir?
Q: (Inaudible) — reaction to any of the — (inaudible) — the congressional leadership, Leader Pelosi or —
REP. WEINER: I spoke briefly to Leader Pelosi before I came over here.
Q: What’d she tell you?
Q: (Inaudible) — (the Capitol ?) —
REP WEINER: She said — she said to be — to be truthful. And she said to say what you know, and was thankful that I was doing that today.
Q: What was the answer — (inaudible) — just on the intent?
Q: Why did you use — (inaudible) —
REP. WEINER: My — she was not happy. Told me as much. She — my primary apology, as I’ve said several times, is to my wife Huma. But she made it very clear that she thought what I did was very dumb, and she was not happy about it. But she also — and she’s very disappointed — and she also told me that she loved me, and wanted us to, you know, to pull through this.
(Cross talk)
REP. WEINER: I’m sorry, sir?
Q: Are you a sex addict? Would you describe yourself as such?
REP. WEINER: I did a regrettable thing, and for that I apologize.
Q: You said you were on the phone. Did you too have phone sex with these women? Did you ever have an affair with one of these women?
REP. WEINER: I’ve never, as I said in my statement, I never met any of these women.
Q: Did you have phone sex?
REP. WEINER: I never was in the same room as them, I was never — had any physical relationship whatsoever.
I am reluctant to — for their privacy, and since their names are coming out — of characterizing our exchanges except that they were consensual. But I’m not going to — I’m not going to rebut anything or dispute anything that any of the women that have come forward are saying. They have every right to do so. And so I’m not going to make any efforts to characterize those conversations.
Q: Isn’t your oath of office to do — (inaudible) — you know, you may not have used the congressional phone or congressional email, but to do it on congressional time, as Congressman. Have you —
REP. WEINER: Well, I guess by — I guess — I mean, congressional time could theoretically be anything; congressmen work long hours. But I don’t believe that I did anything here that violates any law or violates my oath to my constituents. What I did — what I did was something that demonstrated a very deep personal failing, and that’s why I’m here to apologize.
Q: (Inaudible) — contact with Gennette Cordova?
Q: Aside from the — (inaudible) that you say and the photos that exist, is there any other type of behavior that in the privacy — what you thought was privacy — was conducted as a congress member, that you could be ashamed of? Is there anything, have you solicited or engaged with any service with women or anything —
REP. WEINER: No, I’ve never — I’ve never had sex outside my marriage. And I’ve done these things, and I regret them. But I don’t — I have never done anything — never done anything that you described. And I don’t know where to (get at ?).
Q: (Off mic)?
REP. WEINER: I’m not making any excuses for my behavior. I don’t do drugs, I was not drinking, that wasn’t the cause of this. This was — this was me doing a dumb thing, and doing it repeatedly, and then lying about it.
And that’s all there is. I’m here to accept responsibility for this. I’m not — I’m not asking to shift the blame to anyone — to anyone else or to any external force or anything else.
Q: Congressman, did you want to —
Q: Congressman —
Q: Congressman —
Q: Did your office have any contact with Ms. Cordova?
Q: Congressman, why were you —
Q: Did your office have any contact with Ms. Cordova —
REP. WEINER: I did.
Q: — about that statement?
REP. WEINER: I did.
Q: You spoke to Ms. Cordova after the —
REP. WEINER: I didn’t speak to her. We exchanged some text messages.
Q: Have you —
REP. WEINER: Mostly for me — mostly for me to express my abject apologies for how she got dragged into this.
Q: Congressman —
Q: Have you ever spoken to her before?
REP. WEINER: No.
Q: Like your team —
REP. WEINER: Yes, yes. We had exchanged some perfunctory direct messages, but there wasn’t — we had never spoken.
Q: Congressman, why —
Q: (Off mic) — did you speak to Secretary of State Clinton yourself?
REP. WEINER: I have not. And I just — look, my wife is a — my wife is a remarkable woman. She’s not responsible for any of this. This was visited upon her. She’s getting back — getting back to work. And I apologize to her very deeply.
Q: Congressman, how long have you been doing this?
(Cross talk.)
Q: (Off mic) — but how can anybody trust you? I mean —
REP. WEINER: People have to make that determination. I mean, I — I’m here to express my apologies. I’m here to take responsibility. But you know, beyond that, look, my constituents have to make the determination if — it’s up to them. If they believe that this is something that means that they don’t want to vote for me, I’m going to work very hard to win back their trust and to try to persuade them that this is a personal failing of mine; that I’ve worked very hard for my constituents for a very long time, very long hours; and that nothing about this should reflect in any way on my — on my official duties or on my oath of office.
(Cross talk.)
Q: But does it reflect on your judgment, sir?
Q: Mr. Weiner — (off mic) — additional photos? (Off mic.)
REP. WEINER: I’m sorry, sir?
Q: Does it reflect on your judgment?
REP. WEINER: I’ll leave that for people to — I certainly used bad judgment here, that’s for sure. And if someone wants to draw that conclusion, I can’t stop them. I’m here to accept responsibility for some very bad decisions.
Q: These were young girls, very young, 21 years old. Does that bother you, that they’re — the youngest —
REP. WEINER: I don’t know the — I don’t know the exact ages of the women, and they —
Q: Young enough to be your children.
REP. WEINER: I don’t know the exact ages of the women, and I don’t know if you do. I’m going to respect their privacy. But they were all adults — at least to the best of my knowledge they were all adults — and they were — and they were engaging — and they were engaging in these conversations consensually.
Q: But if you don’t know how old they are, how do you know they’re adults?
REP. WEINER: Well, all I know is what they publish about themselves in social media. Someone could theoretically be — have been — have been fibbing about it, and that’s a risk.
Q: Has one of your staff asked any of these women to lie for you?
REP. WEINER: No.
Q: Mr. Weiner, did you —
Q: Congressman, are you surprised by the reaction —
Q: — take any more photos in your Capitol Hill office?
REP. WEINER: No.
Q: Congressman, are you surprised by the reaction that your colleagues have had about this issue? There’s been a deafening silence from members of the New York delegation and other people who have not stepped forward while you were trying to claim your innocence.
REP. WEINER: Look, this — I wasn’t telling the truth. I had done something that was dishonorable. I had lied. I don’t begrudge anyone for not leaping to my defense in that — in that circumstance.
This was — you know, I don’t — this isn’t anyone else’s fault. This isn’t anyone else didn’t — didn’t demonstrate their bad judgment or their mistakes. This was me. I did it. And I take responsibility for that, and I’m not looking to point blame or share responsibility with anyone.
Q: So what’s your next step in rebuilding the trust that you know you’re (going to live with ?)?
REP. WEINER: Well, I’m going to go back to work and I’m going to try to convince them that this was a personal failing that is an aberration from which I’ve learned. And all I can do is just keep doing what I’ve done, which is work very hard every day. There wasn’t anything about this, I would say, that changes my ability or my record of getting bills passed or filling potholes or filling community service. This was a personal failing, and I hope that they see it that way. And I don’t begrudge them if they see it as such a personal failing they wouldn’t vote for me. I — that’s their decision. And I’m going to have to work very hard.
(Cross talk.)
Q: Can you explain what —
Q: Congressman, members of the Democratic leadership called on Mark Foley and called on Chris Lee to resign. Do you see any hypocrisy in the fact that you’ve not been called on to resign? Do you see any distinction between their two situations and yours?
REP. WEINER: Well, I don’t want to get into anyone else’s situation, but I can tell you about mine. And it’s one that I — that I regret, that didn’t have to do with my government service per se, and had to do with a personal weakness. But you know, people can draw their own conclusions about that. But I’m not resigning, and I’m going to try very hard to go back to work a better person and a better man, and I’m going to try to be a better — a better husband, too.
Q: Can you explain —
Q: What was your wife’s reaction, sir? Can you —
REP. WEINER: She was very unhappy, she was very disappointed, and she told me as much.
And she also said that she loved me and said we were going to get through this. But she deserves much better than this, and I know that.
(Cross talk.)
Q: Can you explain what led to today? Why here? Why come out now and say it? Why was the processing up to now?
REP. WEINER: Well, look, my primary concern about the — about the entire incident to begin with was my concern about some of these relationships that I had becoming public, and it seems that what I had done by denying the original action had only served to make things worst and only served to lead to people being asked longer, tougher questions. It is really true that, you know, that the smarter, better thing to do would just be to tell the truth and then let the chips fall where they may, even if they came to this place. And that was — that was a mistake, and that’s why I’m here.
(Cross talk.)
Q: Social media has characterized it that what you did — did you cheat? Were you just — was this a frat boy antic? Are you addicted to online (sexting ?)?
REP. WEINER: I’m going to — I’ll leave it to someone else. I mean, all I can do is give you the facts as I’ve laid out in my statement. I know I didn’t — I never met these women, and I know I never really had much desire to, and to me, it was — it was, you know, almost a frivolous exchange among friends; that I don’t think I made an important enough distinction about how hurtful it was and how inappropriate it was. And I — and I certainly do.
(Cross talk.)
Q: (Inaudible) — social media has a realm where, you know, certitude, as you say, is not — is not something that is — that you can rely on. How do you know that these women are not underage or — you know, that these women are not truthful about their own selves?
REP. WEINER: I — you know, I — of course no one ever knows that. But I know that I never had any intention of having an interaction with underage women, and no information that I have now shows that I did.
Q: But they —
REP. WEINER: But yes, whenever you engage with anyone — and that’s true of — that’s always true in social media — that you’re relying upon their characterizations. And I took them at those characterizations.
Q: How old did they tell you they were?
(Cross talk.)
Q: Congressman, are you at all concerned about any action being taken — (off mic) — against you?
REP. WEINER: Look, I am sorry, and I continue to be, but I don’t see anything that I did that violated any rules of the House. I don’t see anything that I did that certainly violated my oath of office to uphold the Constitution. I engaged in inappropriate online conversations with people. That included, you know, photographs, and it was a mistake to do that. But I didn’t — I don’t believe that I anything that violates any law or any rule.
(Cross talk.)
Q: But you were sexting complete strangers!
Q: Congressman — (off mic) — taking those pictures of yourself —
Q: Were you worried that you were going to get caught at some point? Was that part of the appeal of it?
REP. WEINER: I didn’t — no, I didn’t have the sense that they were complete strangers. These were people that I had developed relationships with online, and I believed that we had — we had become — we had become friends.
Q: (Off mic) —
REP. WEINER: But that was — that was — that was clearly a mistake, and I’m — and I clearly regret that.
(Cross talk.)
Q: They were young enough to be your daughters — (off mic).
Q: What about the Twitter pictures? Was that accurate when you said that — (off mic) —
REP. WEINER: Yes.
Q: — (off mic) — a direct message?
REP. WEINER: Yes.
Q: (Off mic) — didn’t know her either, right?
REP. WEINER: No, we had — I mean, I don’t know her, and I still don’t really know her. She was a follower who — we had cursory direct message contact that she had — was having trouble with some people on — that were tweeting about her and giving her a hard time because they were — she was following me. And it was — it was a mistake.
And I just want to make it very clear. Of all the — you know, there are a long list of people that I harmed here, but this poor woman, who is — was one of them as well, and I deeply regret that she got dragged into it.
Q: Are you going to take down your Twitter account?
Q: (Inaudible) — the perils of social media for public officials? Would you suggest that all public officials remove their Twitter accounts?
REP. WEINER: No. I suggest that — not that people stop engaging with their constituency via social media but not do dumb things like this that are dishonest to their families, that are deceitful to the press when they’re asked about them; to not do things like this. There’s nothing inherently wrong with social media. There’s nothing inherently wrong with these outlets. What I did —
Q: Congressman —
REP. WEINER: — what I did was a mistake.
Q: Congressman, did you —
Q: You going to shut down your Twitter account?
Q: (Off mic) — encourage her not to come clean — (off mic)?
REP. WEINER: At no time did I or any member of my staff try to do anything to cover anything up. She did reach out to me and express what — how she’d been set upon, and I expressed my apologies to her. But there was no coaching of any sort going on. And it was basically me saying what I’ve said here today, which is how deeply sorry I am for what happened. (Cross talk.)
Q: Congressman, because these women weren’t minors, Congressman —
Q: (Off mic) — staff?
REP. WEINER: No, my staff has never had any contact. And my staff did not know the — did not know the actual story here. (Cross talk.) I had missed them as well.
Q: (Off mic) — your wife this morning. When did you tell your staff? When did they know the full story?
REP. WEINER: They only heard the full story kind of late this afternoon, as I was getting ready to come up — to come over here.
They are — and they’ve worked — they are another group of people that I have let down. And — but they knew nothing. And I deeply regret putting them into the circumstance of having to defend me when I knew myself —
Q: Congressman, these women were younger admirers of yours — younger admirers of yours. Was there anything predatory about your behavior?
Q: Yeah.
REP. WEINER: Look, I — the women that I have been in contact with, without — you know, without violating their privacy, they are not uniformly young women. I don’t know their ages. But the people that I’ve had these engagements with on Facebook are not young, per se.
Q: (Inaudible) — for more than a week, trying to cover up, naming other people, (how do you ?) see it’s a violation of your oath of office?
REP. WEINER: I am deeply sorry for — that I lied about this. But at the end of the day, I lied because I was embarrassed. I lied because I was ashamed of what I had done and didn’t want to get caught. But my — did I violate the Constitution of the United States by lying about posting a Twitter post? I certainly don’t think so, and I haven’t spoken to anyone who did. But if people want to say that this is a violation of my oath because I sent a Twitter that I regretted and I lied about it, then obviously they are — people are entitled to that viewpoint.
(Cross talk.)
Q: Did you promise anything to these women?
Q: (Inaudible) — will you continue — (inaudible) — your Twitter account as a place to — (inaudible)?
REP. WEINER: I don’t believe I’ll use it the same way, that’s for sure. (Laughter.) And I deeply regret the way I’ve used it to date. But for my use of Twitter, I mean, it’s not — it’s something that I found useful, and Facebook, as a way to get out the message. But I certainly wouldn’t, obviously, do the things that I have done that led me to this place.
Q: (Are you trying to have sex with other woman ?)? (Laughter.)
Q: (Inaudible)?
REP. WEINER: Of course. Of course. Of course I would.
Q: (Inaudible) — (on the strength of these ?) conversations?
REP. WEINER: No. I did not.
Q: Did you make offers of advancement?
REP. WEINER: I did not.
Q: Will you help to support — (inaudible) — love child?
Q: (Inaudible.)
REP. WEINER: Yes.
Q: (Inaudible) — in the first place?
REP. WEINER: They were inappropriate. They were part of a — of consensual, you know, exchanges of emails. And I don’t want to violate the privacy of the women who were involved. But it was clearly a mistake, and one that I deeply regret.
Thank you.
Q: (Inaudible) — were you fully erect?
Q: What made you decide to —
Q: Were you fully erect? (Inaudible.)