It’s official.  Former Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY), who resigned in disgrace over a bizarre sexting scandal this past June, was NOT hacked.

Today, eight months after the congressman first claimed he was the victim of a hacking or a prank, the NY Daily News has broken the story that Anthony Weiner spent more than $13,000 in campaign funds to hire private investigators to track down a hacker that never existed.

Weiner paid T&M, a Manhattan-based firm, $13,290 for “legal services” in the fourth quarter of 2011, financial statements filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission reveal.

Sources told the Daily News, however, that Weiner hired T&M — a firm loaded with former NYPD sleuths — when he was in full spin mode over the controversy that eventually led to his resignation from the House.

[...]

Two sources familiar with Weiner’s downfall said the Queens pol told investigators the same story. T&M investigated — and learned Weiner had sent them on a fool’s errand.

“They did their job, and then it was time to sit down with lawyers,” another source said. “Self-denial, it dies a slow death.”

Surprised? No, neither were we.

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You might recall this extraordinary press conference on May 31, 2011, when then-Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) called a reporter a “jackass” in refusing to answer questions about his (false) allegation that someone had hacked his Twitter account.

Instead, he wanted to talk about the debt ceiling: “We are, tonight…going to be casting a vote on something has monumental importance to our economy…I want to focus on that.”

Later that evening, a staggering bipartisan majority voted down the “clean” debt ceiling increase that President Barack Obama had wanted.

Until that point, Democrats had been in the midst of a full-throttle “Mediscare” campaign, alleging that Paul Ryan’s new budget proposal would literally kill senior citizens. The left had successfully linked Republicans’ reluctance to raise the debt ceiling to Republicans’ enthusiasm to reform entitlements.

Then Weinergate happened–and Weiner, unwisely, kept it going. And on June 2, in the midst of the scandal, Moody’s became the second credit ratings agency to warn of a possible downgrade of U.S. debt. In April, the White House had dismissed Standard & Poor’s warning of a possible U.S. downgrade. By June 2, that was no longer possible.

Americans weren’t quite paying attention. We weren’t paying attention to “Mediscare” anymore, either. We were watching the Weinergate drama.

But in those crucial few days in late May and early June, the terrain of the debt ceiling debate quietly shifted. Instead of being about Republican stinginess, the debt ceiling issue became connected to the broader problem of Democrat spending.

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From the New York Post:

Anthony Weiner’s wife is taking time off from her senior job with the State Department – as well as time off from the randy former representative, The Post has learned.

While Weiner, 46, heads to an “intensive” rehab program to recover from the sexting scandal that cost him his congressional career, his 35-year-old spouse, Huma Abedin, will be relaxing at an undisclosed location.

“She is definitely taking time off away from her husband and chilling,” a source said. “And he’s going some place for at least a couple of weeks.”

Huma, who is in the early stages of pregnancy with the couple’s first child, has been seen infrequently since she returned from a trip to Africa with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

She returned just before the Democrat announced his decision to quit his Brooklyn-Queens seat in the House after six terms. It was also reported that she had decided to try to make their marriage work. (more…)

BigGovernment has been informed by trusted sources that Rep. Anthony Weiner will step down today.

From The New York Times:

Representative Anthony D. Weiner has told friends that he plans to resign his seat after coming under growing pressure from his Democratic colleagues to leave the House in the wake of revelations of his lewd online exchanges with women, said a person told of Mr. Weiner’s plans.

The news comes as Democratic leaders prepared to hold a meeting on Thursday to discuss whether to strip the 46-year-old Congressman of his committee assignments, a blow which would severely damage his effectiveness.

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From TODAY:

In an exclusive interview with TODAY’s Ann Curry that will air on Tuesday’s show, President Barack Obama said that if he were Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner right now, he would resign in the wake of the scandal in which Weiner admitted to sending explicit photos of himself to women online.

“I can tell you that if it was me, I would resign,’’ Obama told Curry.

Weiner has been the talk of the nation since he was caught sending lewd photos of himself to various women on multiple social media platforms, prompting the head of the Democratic National Party to call for him to step down and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi to demand an ethics committee investigation.

“When you get to the point where, because of various personal distractions, you can’t serve as effectively as you need to, at the time when people are worrying about jobs, and their mortgages, and paying the bills — then you should probably step back,’’ Obama said. (more…)

From ABC News:

ABC News’ Ann Compton (@AnnCompton) reports: Through his Press Secretary, President Obama has finally joined the chorus of other Democrats declaring the behavior of Congressman Anthony Weiner a problem.

“The President feels, we feel at the White house this is a distraction,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters on board Air Force One when they asked about the unravelling developments. “Obviously as Rep. Weiner has said himself, his behavior was inappropriate. Dishonesty was inappropriate.”

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From the Associated Press:

The second-ranking House Democrat on Sunday joined the party leadership in urging Rep. Anthony Weiner to quit because of his sexting scandal, a request the New York lawmaker has sidestepped in favor of a temporary leave of absence.

The Republican Party chairman criticized Democratic leaders for not taking a more forceful stand earlier on the affair, which has overshadowed much of the legislative business on Capitol Hill over the past week.

Weiner has acknowledged exchanging messages and photos ranging from sexually suggestive to explicit with several women online, and the latest to surface appeared on the entertainment website TMZ.

The photos posted Sunday were purportedly taken in the House members’ gym and show a shirt-less Weiner with a towel around his waist and his hand on his crotch. TMZ said the photos were sent online to at least one woman.

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Cross-Posted: TobyToons (Conservative Political Cartoons)

UPDATE: From National Journal:

Weiner told them that he would not make a move until his wife Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, returned from her trip to Africa and the Middle East with Clinton. Abedin is expected back on Wednesday.

***

Anthony Weiner does not intend to resign right away, but is apparently seeking a leave of absence from Congress to attend sex rehab.  It looks like calls to resign from Nancy Pelosi and Debbie Wasserman Schultz were not persuasive to him.  If Pelosi isn’t enough, we can think of only one Democrat leader who could put a stop to this saga now: Barack Obama.  The President has been radio-silent on this issue thus far.  It might be time for him to offer his sage wisdom.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Rep. Anthony Weiner is asking for a temporary leave of absence from the House while he seeks professional treatment in the wake of his Twitter scandal.

A spokeswoman for the New York Democrat says he has left for professional treatment and will focus on “becoming a better husband and healthier person.”

Spokeswoman Risa Heller says Weiner wants the leave of absence so he can be evaluated and work out a course of treatment.

The statement doesn’t say what Weiner would be treated for.

Just before the statement, leading Democrats demanded that Weiner step down. (more…)

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) – U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, who has been under fire after admitting to sending graphic photos to women online, acknowledged Friday that he had online contact with a 17-year-old girl in Delaware but said the communications were “neither explicit nor indecent.”

New Castle County police officers went to a high school junior’s home north of Wilmington Friday afternoon to speak with the girl about her contact with the New York Democrat, police have confirmed. The interview was first reported by FoxNews.com, which had a reporter at the home when police arrived.

Weiner spokeswoman Risa Heller said in a one-sentence statement Friday night, “According to Congressman Weiner, his communications with this person were neither explicit nor indecent.”

A police spokeswoman confirmed that officers had interviewed an area teenager about online contacts with the congressman.

“They were made aware of an alleged contact between Congressman Anthony Weiner and an area teen,” said Officer Tracey Duffy, a New Castle County police spokeswoman. “The teen has been interviewed and disclosed no information regarding any criminal activity.” (more…)

From Fox News:

NEW CASTLE, Del. — Police on Friday afternoon came to the home of a 17-year-old high school junior to ask her about direct online communications she has had with Rep. Anthony Weiner.

Two officers from the New Castle County Police Department arrived at the girl’s home around 4:30 p.m. and asked to speak with the girl’s mother about the daughter’s contact with Weiner. Another officer appeared at the home a short time later. A FoxNews.com reporter was at the home when the police arrived.

[...]

Sources close the student said the girl followed Weiner on Twitter after seeing him speak during a school trip to Washington on April 1. Weiner direct-messaged the girl back on April 13, the sources said, though it is not clear what other communication the two may have had between or after those dates. (more…)

By now, everyone has heard about the controversy Rep. Weiner is embroiled in known as ‘Weinergate‘. Given Weinergate has taken the media by storm and outcries of ‘resign’ are being made even from Democrats (Pelosi has even called for an ethics investigation) we at MRC TV went out to see what people on the street thought Weiner should do: Resign or stay in office.

Here are their reactions….

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No two people are more responsible for creating the genre of Citizen Journalism than of course Andrew Breitbart and James O’Keefe.

As is well known by now Andrew took center stage at the dramatic press conference in New York recently where Rep. Anthony Weiner admitted to sending lewd photo’s via twitter after spending days claiming Breitbart had hacked his account.

Prior to that press conference I spoke with Andrew for the behind the scenes story of how it is he broke Weinergate.

Our conversation ranged from where he was and what he was doing when he first learned of the now infamous tweet; to how he says left-of- center news sites such as Salon, The Daily Kos and Talking Points Memo “have been in a lie escapade of epic proportion.”

Andrew says it all began around 7:30pm on a Saturday evening when he and his wife were just about to open a bottle of wine and enjoy the weekend.  Here’s the interview with the behind the scenes story:

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Have you seen the movie Dinner for Schmucks? Now we have a sequel, Twitter for Schmucks starring Congressman Anthony Weiner. I’m a Libertarian. I don’t want government in my bedroom, or my boardroom, so I’m generally hands-off (excuse the pun) about what politicians do in their private time. But this is different. Weiner must resign.

If this was just an affair…Okay. People have affairs every day. But what people- let alone Congressmen- don’t do every day is send photos of their penis to strangers. That’s far worse than an affair. It’s mental illness. Weiner is a pervert, an electronic, high-tech version of the naked man in the raincoat from yesteryear who walks up to pretty female strangers and opens his raincoat. Weiner is a schmuck- and for that he must go.

Here is what the case boils down to:

#1) Weiner thinks we’re the schmucks. Any man so sick he must send photos of his penis, bulging underpants, naked chest, and talk dirty over Twitter and Facebook with complete strangers has a deep-rooted sexual and mental illness. Since he claims he never had a physical affair, Weiner thinks he should be forgiven. I’d rather hear he’d slept with them. I can understand sex talk and photos between lovers. But a Congressman sending crotch shots over Twitter to complete strangers? This man is in dire need of mental help. He has an addiction or perhaps a deep-seated need to destroy his career. Either way, he’s too self destructive to be sitting in the United States Congress.

Remember, this is the Congressman who introduced a bill to loosen immigration requirements for foreign models. I can only assume his goal was more potential Weiner Twitter victims.

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From the New York Times:

Their marriage has become the subject of intense speculation and scrutiny amid an embarrassing online sex scandal.

Now, Representative Anthony D. Weiner and Huma Abedin are about to make news of a different kind: they are expecting their first child.

Ms. Abedin, 35, is in the early stages of pregnancy, according to three people with knowledge of the situation.

The pregnancy, which the couple has disclosed to close friends and family, adds a new dimension to questions about the future of their marriage.

Mr. Weiner, 46, who has admitted to engaging in salacious online conversations with at least six women over the last few years, has declared that he and his wife have no intention of splitting up, even though some of the exchanges occurred during their marriage. (more…)

FOX News reported this afternoon that Andrew Breitbart is “mortified” after talk radio hosts Opie and Anthony snagged a photo of Rep. Weiner’s “junk” and posted it online today. Breitbart told FOX News it was a breach of contract. Breitbart said Opie Hughes secretly took the picture when he was on the show this morning.

“It was a complete violation of trust.”

Eric Shawn at FOX News reported:

Mr. Breitbart said he’s been holding it back and did not want to make it public.

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From The Hill:

Senate Democrats were also distancing themselves from the embattled New Yorker on Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) paused for several seconds when journalists asked if Weiner should resign.

“I know Congressman Weiner — I wish there was some way I can defend him,” Reid said, plainly not defending the embattled congressman.

When a reporter persisted in asking whether Weiner should resign, Reid said: “I’m not here to defend Weiner. That’s all I’m going to say.”

When another reporter asked what Reid would say if Weiner called him for advice, Reid said he would tell him to “call somebody else.”

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Congressman Wiener is in a tough spot.  It is a spot of his own making, but it is tough.  He now has some serious thinking to do, beyond his Congressional seat.  He certainly should resign, and not just because Republicans have been run out for lesser offenses, but because he is compromised.  Even voters who would vote for a man as smug, arrogant and malicious as Mr. Wiener deserve good representation.  I do not think they can have it from him.   However, should he decide to remain in office and take his chances with voters in 2012, he needs to answer some more questions and then take a new stand without question.

As a lawmaker, I found myself pulled into issues I never expected.  One issue really stuck with me.  There was a young man raised in relative affluence, groomed to take over  his father’s dental practice.  He went away to the best schools, studied hard, made the grades, and picked up a habit.  Shortly after returning home, he went to meet a 13 year old girl for sex.  The girl turned out to be a cyberdetective.  The cop was hired in part due to a funding program I created.  The laws used to prosecute and sentence him were also enhanced through my legislation.  His arrest was not something that I celebrated.  I found it really sad.   It made a chilling point that I make anytime I speak at the University level or elsewhere;  The only thing possibly worse than your child becoming the victim of a predator is your child becoming the predator.   Mr. Weiner is an addict, bent on a destructive path from which he could not extricate himself.  I cannot celebrate this either.  This is sad.

I was drawn to the issue of stopping sexual predators because Bill O’Reilly once challenged our state saying “Missouri is a state that does not care about kids”.  He was referencing the critical Megan’s Law and Jessica’s Law recommendations and the fact that Missouri scored so poorly in adopting them.  The words resonated for me because my brother, a probation officer for sexual predators often told me the frustrating stories of people our state turns loose.  So, having that wonderful honor of being a public servant, and  ability to do something about it.  I went to work.  Congressman Wiener should too.

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From The Associated Press:

So far, House Democratic leaders haven’t publicly demanded Rep. Anthony Weiner resign after admitting he sent suggestive photos of himself in his underwear via Twitter and then lied about it to everyone within earshot. But they’ve made it clear they’d appreciate it if he’d go away. And soon.

In statements within an hour of Weiner’s stunning admission on Monday, not a single Democrat volunteered support for the man long mentioned as a possible future mayor of New York. And notably, none chose to comment on his defiant vow: “I am not resigning.”

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the party leader, said she was “disappointed and saddened.” She and other Democrats called for an ethics committee investigation to determine whether Weiner had broken any House rules.

Other Democrats said they agreed.

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