NEW YORK ― Former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) pleaded guilty on Friday to a federal obscenity charge after he sent explicit text messages to a minor.
Weiner turned himself over to the FBI on Friday morning, and by 11:30 a.m. he was a convicted sex offender. He stood in a suit in Manhattan federal court, sobbing as he described how he met a stranger online “whom I knew to be 15 years old.”
“I engaged in obscene communication with this teen, just as I had done and continued to do with adult women,” Weiner said in front of Judge Loretta Preska.
He read from a letter he prepared for his plea, often pausing as he tried to compose himself.
“I accept full responsibility for my conduct,” he said, crying. “I have a sickness but I do not have an excuse. ... I apologize to the teenage girl who I mistreated so badly.”
The plea, filed in the Southern District of New York, comes nearly six years after Weiner, once considered a rising star of the Democratic Party, resigned from Congress after tweeting lewd images. Later reports revealed he had sent sexually explicit messages to multiple women.
“Weiner’s conduct was not only reprehensible, but a federal crime, one for which he is now convicted and will be sentenced,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.
Weiner is set to be sentenced Sept. 8. As part of his plea deal, he faces between 21 months and 27 months in prison. If sentenced to fewer than 27 months, he won’t be allowed to appeal.
Huma Abedin, his estranged wife and a close aide to Hillary Clinton, filed for divorce Friday in Manhattan Supreme Court, according to the New York Post.
Weiner’s lawyers negotiated with federal prosecutors to avoid child pornography charges, the New York Daily News said.
Weiner leaves federal court in New York on Friday. (Photo: TIMOTHY A. CLARY via Getty Images)
Officials began to investigate Weiner over the allegations last year, and the probe into Weiner even affected the 2016 presidential campaign. Federal agents seized Weiner’s laptop and other electronics, on which they found emails belonging to Abedin. Just days before the presidential election, then-FBI Director James Comey publicly informed Congress of the existence of the new emails pertaining to an investigation into Clinton. Clinton has said Comey’s decision is part of the reason she lost the election.
Weiner ran for mayor of New York City in 2013, but lost badly in the Democratic primary after it was revealed that he had exchanged explicit messages with more women after he resigned from Congress.
Rep. Anthony Weiner, who was facing a possible run-off election with Fernando Ferrer for the Democratic mayoral nomination, concedes the race during a news conference outside his parents' home in Park Slope, Brooklyn on January 1, 2002.
Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., talk during the markup of the bill which would establish the Department of Homeland Security on July 10, 2002.
Rep. Anthony Weiner leaves the New School after a forum for Democratic mayoral candidates run by the National Jewish Democratic Council on May 15, 2005.
Rep. Anthony Weiner campaigns for mayor with his mother, Fran (left), in the F train subway station in Park Slope, Brooklyn on June 10, 2005.
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn and Queens) speaks on the steps of City Hall after receiving the endorsement of Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz of the Bronx in his run for mayor on June 27, 2005.
Rep. Anthony Weiner greets supporters outside the Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle before a debate with other Democratic mayoral hopefuls on August 16, 2005.
: U.S. President George W. Bush (C) prepares to sign a bill as (L-R) Rep. Mark Green (R-WI), first lady Laura Bush, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA), Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) look on during a signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House January 5, 2006 in Washington, DC. Bush signed the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 into law on January 5, 2006.
U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) speaks as Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) listen during a mark up hearing on the health care bill before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Capitol Hill July 30, 2009 in Washington, DC.
U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) (R) speaks to the media regarding a lewd photo tweet May 31, 2011 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) attends a House markup on Capitol Hill June 2, 2011 in Washington, DC. Weiner declined to comment further this morning on the recent incident involving his Twitter account and a photograph that was sent from that account.
U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner, a Democrat from New York, pauses while speaking at a news conference in New York, U.S., on Monday, June 6, 2011. Weiner apologized today for sending inappropriate photos and texts to women via Twitter and said he isn't resigning.
A television's volume is turned up in the House of Representatives Press Gallery on the third floor of the U.S. Capitol as former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) announces his resignation from Congress June 16, 2011 in Washington. Weiner resigned after a scandal erupted over lewd messages and photographs he sent to several women over Twitter.
New York Daily News front page on April 25, 2013.
Former US Representative Anthony Weiner (C) greets voters in Harlem on May 23, 2013, after he announced he is running for New York City Mayor.
Huma Abedin, wife of Anthony Weiner, a leading candidate for New York City mayor, speaks during a press conference on July 23, 2013 in New York City. Weiner addressed news of new allegations that he engaged in lewd online conversations with a woman after he resigned from Congress for similar previous incidents.
Former US Congressman Anthony Weiner leaves Federal Court in New York on May 19, 2017 after pleading guilty to one count of sending obscene messages to a minor, ending an investigation into a 'sexting' scandal that played a role in last year's US presidential election.
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