THE US CONGRESSMAN at the centre of a Twitter controversy after sending lewd images of himself to people online has acknowledged being in contact with a teenage girl over the internet, but denied such communication was explicit.
A 17-year-old girl has been interviewed by police and police said they had not been informed about any criminal activity.
Through his spokesperson, Weiner confirmed he had exchanged messages with the teenager, but that these were “neither explicit nor indecent”.
Weiner is under pressure to resign following his recent Twitter controversy. Initially, he denied recent reports he sent an image of his underwear-clad genitals to his Twitter followers. However, he later admitted he had done so and apologised for his “terrible mistakes”.
He said he had intended to send one photo as a private message to a woman in Seattle as a joke, but accidentally sent it out to all his followers and subsequently insisted that his account had been hacked. Weiner, who has served in the US House of Representatives for 13 years, said he would not be stepping down from office over the incident.
A recent poll of registered voters in Weiner’s constituency showed that the majority (56 per cent) say he should remain in office, while 33 per cent said he should resign.
Last night, as reporters stood outside the family home of the teenage girl who had been in communication with Weiner online, a shirtless man approached and threatened them with an axe. He was taken into custody by local police.
Other neighbours told reporters they thought too much attention was being given to the Weiner episode.
- Additional reporting by the AP
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say