US Representative Anthony Weiner, a once-promising politician whose Brooklyn roots and scrappy style made him a leading candidate to be the next mayor of New York, resigned his seat on Thursday, ending a three-week scandal over his lewd online behavior that startled his constituents and alienated many of his colleagues.
Weiner made the decision after long and emotional discussions with his political advisers and his wife, Huma Abedin, whom friends described as devastated by the behavior of her husband of 11 months and worried about the couple’s financial future.
In a chaotic four-minute news conference at a senior center in his district, Weiner, 46, strained to be heard as a small group of hecklers hollered vulgar questions at him and called him a “pervert” while puzzled elderly constituents looked on.
Photo: Reuters
“I am here today to again apologize for the personal mistakes I have made and the embarrassment I have caused,” Weiner said.
A seven-term Democrat, Weiner had hoped his declaration last weekend that he would seek mental health treatment and take a temporary leave from Congress would ease the pressure from Democratic leaders for him to step down. However, their demands only grew louder as revelations about his conduct continued.
“I am announcing my resignation from Congress, so my colleagues can get back to work, my neighbors can choose a new representative and most important so that my wife and I can continue to heal from the damage I have caused,” Weiner said at the news conference.
Abedin was with Weiner at his Queens apartment as he prepared to make his statement, but did not appear at his side at the event.
The announcement brought swift relief to his Democratic colleagues, who had become increasingly uneasy as details emerged about Weiner’s online contacts with women — including his sending of explicit photos of himself to them over Facebook and Twitter. Democratic leaders had prepared to hold a meeting on Thursday to determine whether they should strip Weiner of his committee assignments, which would severely impair his effectiveness.
Weiner reached his decision late on Wednesday and seemed at peace with it, after days of appearing frazzled and torn, a person who spoke to him said. He began telling his most trusted advisers on Wednesday night, then held a conference call with his entire staff, informing them that it no longer seemed fair to his constituents and his colleagues for him to remain in office.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared martial law in an unannounced late night address broadcast live on YTN television. Yoon said he had no choice but to resort to such a measure in order to safeguard free and constitutional order, saying opposition parties have taken hostage of the parliamentary process to throw the country into a crisis. "I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free
‘ANCIENT AND MODERN’: The project, which took 22 years to complete, unearthed more than 300,000 treasures now on display across the network It caused untold commotion, decades of disruption and — among historians and archeologists — controversy and despair, but at midday on Saturday, the antiquities-rich subterranean world of Thessaloniki opened to a world of driverless trains and high-tech automation with the inauguration of its long-awaited subway. The excitement on the streets of the northern Greek port city is almost palpable. “Archaeologically, it has been an extremely complex and difficult endeavor,” said Greek Minister of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs Lina Mendoni of the more than 300,000 finds made since construction began 22 years ago. “To get here required a battle on many
The US deployed a reconnaissance aircraft while Japan and the Philippines sent navy ships in a joint patrol in the disputed South China Sea yesterday, two days after the allied forces condemned actions by China Coast Guard vessels against Philippine patrol ships. The US Indo-Pacific Command said the joint patrol was conducted in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone by allies and partners to “uphold the right to freedom of navigation and overflight “ and “other lawful uses of the sea and international airspace.” Those phrases are used by the US, Japan and the Philippines to oppose China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the
‘AMERICA FIRST’: Patel, 44, previously called for stripping the FBI of its intelligence-gathering role and purging its ranks of anyone who refuses to support Trump’s agenda US president-elect Donald Trump has tapped Kash Patel to be FBI director, nominating a loyalist to lead the chief US law enforcement agency — which Trump has long derided as corrupt. Patel rose to prominence expressing outrage over the agency’s investigation into whether Trump’s campaign conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. With the nomination of Patel, Trump is signaling that he is preparing to carry out his threat to oust FBI Director Christopher Wray, a Republican first appointed by Trump during his first term as president, whose 10-year term at the FBI does not expire until 2027. FBI
RSS