Yesha Callahan, Chris Lee Shirtless Photo Recipient, Comes Forward

Yesha Callahan, the woman on the other end of the Craiglist correspondence with former Rep. Chris Lee (R-N.Y.), has gone on the record with her story, broken earlier this week by Gawker.

"I didn't do this for the attention or, you know, notoriety or money or whatever," a Callahan told the Washington Post of her decision to come forward. "Now I just want to go about my daily business."

On Wednesday, Callahan provided to Gawker a picture of a shirtless Lee, which the congressman, who had claimed to be a 39-year-old, "6ft 190lbs blond/blue," "divorced" "lobbyist," had sent her in response to a Craigslist posting.

"I assumed that other people have probably come across him as well, and he had lied to them," she said, according to the Post. "I felt annoyance at just the audacity of people thinking that they're not going to get found out when they are lying."

Lee resigned a few hours after the scandal broke, claiming that he had "made profound mistakes" and didn't want to distract from the important business of his district.

Callahan told Loop 21 in an anonymous interview earlier this week that "People cheat everyday, but only dumb people get caught." Explaining her decision to turn to Craigslist, she lamented that "Dating in D.C. sucks."

But now Callahan, who the Post describes as "a faculty specialist for the University of Maryland and single mother of a preteen son," seems to want to clarify that Craiglist is not her only source of potential suitors.

"I have no problems finding dates elsewhere," she told the Post. "At that moment, I was online looking and it was just something to do."

RadarOnline obtained exclusive photos of Callahan. Take a look here.

Watch ABC's report below:

Comments

[VoteObama2012]

11:45 PM on 02/16/2011

Think I'll post some ads on CL and see if I can real some two-faced GOPers in.

[only livin boy in NY]

07:29 PM on 02/16/2011

no shirtless pic?

[BobSF94117]

04:28 PM on 02/16/2011

Oh, she's looking for "suitors". Yeah, right.

[sfcalle]

12:55 PM on 02/16/2011

Craigslist? Whatever!

[CessnaDriverI72]

02:51 PM on 02/12/2011

This is another Larry Craig situation, where the danger is part of the erotic thrill.

Am I the only one who noticed that Craig went out of his way to say that he wasn't "gay" but never denied being homosexual?

[DFWMoneyCoach]

02:13 PM on 02/12/2011

....."divorced lobbyist"....sounds like a premonition to me....."39"....more like wishful thinking...

[Captain Hindsight]

02:09 PM on 02/12/2011

he was probably the one member of the House with a completely developed sense of ethics. he did something really dumb and rather have all of his future decisions clouded by this moment he decided to step down.

[larmarch5]

01:14 PM on 02/16/2011

"a completely developed sense of ethics"?
So, if your wife were exchanging "shirtless" pics with strangers on line, is that the phrase you would choose to describe her?

[SnapShots]

09:58 PM on 02/16/2011

Exactly

[thepoliticalcat]

01:57 PM on 02/12/2011

She's a pretty lady. And he's a lying dawg, but we all knew that.

[ReadALot]

01:48 PM on 02/12/2011

Lots of people browse the "free ads." Nothing came of the chat but I do suspect that the lady took revenge because Lee stopped chatting. It's all a storm in a teapot.

[thepoliticalcat]

02:02 PM on 02/12/2011

I doubt it. She wasn't the one sending topless pictures.

[ReadALot]

03:04 PM on 02/14/2011

Here's how it works. They exchange pictures to see if they're mutually compatible. The usual courteous response when one party doesn't want to continue the chat is "Sorry, we're not a match." . . . or one party just ends chatting and usually that's the end of it. In this case I sense that etiquette wasn't followed. It's still a "tempest in a teapot."

Human behavior is too complex for any of us to pass judgement on how people act in these situations since we can never get into their minds. I say let it go.

[CessnaDriverI72]

02:31 PM on 02/12/2011

Why do you suspect that?

[kkrimmer]

01:46 PM on 02/12/2011

Yet another neo-con republican bites the moral dust... funny how the party that pretends so hard to be moral is anything but.

[Witkacy]

01:38 PM on 02/12/2011

Wait - THAT Yesha Callahan? Man, I just sent a manly topless pic to her, like, two weeks ago! Dang! I have sinned against you, O my Lord...

[thepoliticalcat]

02:02 PM on 02/12/2011

Does your wife know?

[Witkacy]

06:01 PM on 02/13/2011

In reality (since I was only joshing), a "blue-blond" conservative Republican pol would offer the perennial line to his mistress, with mock sadness: "Well...it's been falling apart/over for awhile..."

[Rmchairphilo]

01:29 PM on 02/12/2011

Ms. Callahan exposed a cockroach to the light, nothing more. Don't blame her. she's not the one trolling for a side piece; remember, she is a single, free adult. The fact that he resigned so quickly just says that she's not his first.

[thepoliticalcat]

01:59 PM on 02/12/2011

Oh, youbetcha. I can't wait for the others to step forward and tell their stories. Somewhere, somehow, some woman is sitting at her computer or TV checking out this story and going, "Waitaminnit ... that looks like ... No! Can't be!" And then she's going to sell her story to the tabloids. And that's when the fit will hit the shan.

[larmarch5]

01:21 PM on 02/16/2011

I agree there are likely several women; however, at least some were probably also "posing" (pun intended) and will not jeopardize their marriage/relationship by coming forward. By the way, CL might be ok for light reading, but there are other better ways to actually meet people. I met my husband at a singles dance place where I always had a good time dancing, making women and men friends. People who dismiss them as "meat markets" are are like someone complaining that they get wet when they walk in the rain. Yes, it's a meat market, but hello folks, we are after all flesh and blood and we are after all in the market. Get over it and have a good time.

[jusathot]

01:28 PM on 02/12/2011

I really do not care so much about that he was cheating (yes, flirting with another woman is cheating)--people can be tempted, especially after years of being married, but to act on it with half naked pictures--shows an attitude of arrogance, and complete lack of recognition of his position. There is no way he could have thought he could remain annonymous for long. Risky behavior all around.

[larmarch5]

01:22 PM on 02/16/2011

Narcissism

[jusathot]

05:51 PM on 02/16/2011

Well, he will have a lot of time now to indulge in it, whatever it is.

[want2run527]

01:39 PM on 02/12/2011

Yes, because the man in this scenario was oh so trustworthy.

[Stephen Stafford]

01:41 PM on 02/12/2011

How sad that your mother is not trustworthy. They say that is where it all begins. Perhaps long term therapy could be helpful.

[somefool]

12:15 PM on 02/12/2011

This guy's lucky that the Daily Show, and Colbert are on hiatus this week. They would have had a field day with him.