Ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner Pleads Guilty In Sexting Case
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NEW YORK (CBSMiami/AP) — Disgraced former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner has pleaded guilty to charges related to a sexting investigation.
Weiner pleaded guilty to transmitting sexual material to a minor and could get years in prison.
He has agreed not to appeal any sentence between 21 and 27 months in prison.
A 15-year-old North Carolina girl claimed in a published report last September that Weiner sent her shirtless photos of himself and more graphic messages, even though she made it clear she is underage.
The report appeared in Britain's Daily Mail and claimed that the two traded sexually charged messages for several months.
At the time, Weiner said: "I have repeatedly demonstrated terrible judgment about the people I have communicated with online and the things I have sent," he said. "I am filled with regret and heartbroken for those I hurt. While I have provided the Daily Mail with information showing that I have likely been the subject of a hoax, I have no one to blame but me for putting myself in this position. I am sorry."
The revelations came a month after photos surfaced of Weiner sexting a woman while his 4-year-old son was sleeping in his bed.
Shortly afterward, Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, announced her separation from Weiner. The separation occurred after photos of another sexting scandal appeared in the New York Post.
The investigation into Weiner's online communications led FBI agents to seize his laptop computer, which led to the discovery of a new cache of emails that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had sent to Abedin, her aide.
In October, just days before the election, FBI director James Comey stunned the country by announcing that his agency was reopening its closed investigation into Clinton's handling of State Department business on a private email server so it could analyze the newly discovered correspondence.
That inquiry was brief. Comey announced shortly before the election that the new emails contained nothing to change his view that Clinton could not be charged with a crime. But Clinton partly blamed her election loss to Republican Donald Trump on Comey's announcement.
Weiner resigned from Congress in 2011 in the wake of a sexting scandal. In 2013, he mounted a bid for mayor, but became embroiled in a second scandal and lost the Democratic primary to Mayor Bill de Blasio.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
