Update 11:39 a.m.: Former Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner on Thursday pleaded guilty to sending obscene material to a minor as part of an investigation into a sexting scandal.
Federal prosecutors in New York said Weiner admitted to sending sexually explicit photos and “directions to engage in sexual conduct” to a 15-year-old girl. He was aware of her age, said acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney John H. Kim.
“Weiner’s conduct was not only reprehensible, but a federal crime,” Kim said.
A charge of transferring obscenity to a minor carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Bloomberg News reported Weiner’s plea agreement called for a sentence between 21 and 27 months. Weiner will have to register as a sexual offender, according to Bloomberg.
Weiner cried in court as he apologized to the 15-year-old girl at the heart of the sexting case, The Associated Press reported.
“I have a sickness, but I do not have an excuse,” Weiner said.
He was released on bail Friday ahead of a sentencing hearing scheduled for Sept. 8.
Original story: A former Democratic congressman who was brought down over sexting scandals is scheduled to plead guilty Friday.
Anthony Weiner will plead guilty in federal court to one count of transferring obscene material to a minor, two unnamed sources told The New York Times.
Weiner's expected guilty plea is part of a plea agreement. He was in FBI custody Friday morning after turning himself in, ABC News reported.
An investigation was launched last September into reports that Weiner had been sending sexually explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina, The Times reported. That investigation is what prompted the final review in Oct. 2016 of Hillary Clinton's private server, ABC News reported last year. During the investigation into Weiner's alleged text message to the teen, at least one device had been found to have allegedly been used by both Weiner and his now estranged wife Huma Abedin, Clinton's aide. Abedin had an email account on Clinton's private server, ABC News reported. Days before the November presidential election, now-former FBI director James Comey told Congress about the FBI investigation into emails between Clinton and her aides, The Times reported last year. Two days before the election, Comey wrote a second letter to Congress stating that no new evidence against Clinton was found, Fox News reported. The Comey letters and late-in-the-election investigation have been blamed for Clinton's loss to President Donald Trump, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Comey testified on May 3 that it makes him "mildly nauseous" that the letters to Congress could have changed the election outcome, NPR reported, but he stood by that he believes he did the right thing.
May 9, Trump fired Comey after the now-former FBI director's testimony, NPR reported.
Credit: Mario Tama
Credit: Mario Tama
Weiner resigned from Congress in June 2011 after explicit pictures in an unrelated case became public, CNN reported.
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