Anthony Weiner Resignation Calls Mount From Both Sides In Wake Of Photo Scandal (VIDEO)

WASHINGTON -- Embattled New York Rep. Anthony Weiner's prospects for political survival dimmed precipitously on Wednesday with the appearance on the Internet of an X-rated photo said to be of the congressman – and the first calls from fellow Democrats for him to step down.

"In light of Anthony Weiner's offensive behavior online, he should resign," Pennsylvania Rep. Allyson Schwartz, a member of the party campaign committee's leadership, said in a statement that was quickly followed by similar expressions from other Democrats.

Separately, as the political scandal increasingly roiled the Democratic Party, several officials said that Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, was pregnant. An official at the State Department, where Abedin serves as deputy chief of staff to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, had no comment. Abedin was traveling with Clinton on an official trip to the Mideast and Africa.

Weiner, 46, has admitted sending explicit photos and messages via the Internet to about a half-dozen women over the past three years. He vowed at a news conference on Monday to remain in office, and one lawmaker who spoke to him on Wednesday said Weiner indicated he still hopes to ride out the furor and remain in Congress. That lawmaker spoke on condition of anonymity, saying it was a private conversation.

But the appearance of a photo of a man's genitals added yet another aspect to what appears to be a sex scandal without actual sex in the age of social media. According to conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, Weiner sent the picture of himself to one of the women with whom he corresponded online.

The Associated Press has not been able to independently confirm that the photo is of Weiner. On Wednesday, spokeswoman Risa B. Heller noted in a statement that Weiner had said at a news conference on Monday that he "has sent explicit photos. To reiterate, he has never met any of these women or had physical contact with them."

The photo made its way to the website Gawker by a circuitous route, after Breitbart showed it to the hosts of Sirius XM radio's "Opie and Anthony Show."

One of the women whom Weiner sexted, Lisa Weiss, a 40-year-old blackjack dealer from Las Vegas, said the online relationship started as flirtations, and he escalated the graphic comments.

"Yes. I was very shocked at the beginning. ... I would want to talk politics," she said in an interview on Inside Edition. "But he would turn it creepy."

By day's end Wednesday, at least six House Democrats had called for Weiner to step down.

Schwartz was the first, and politically the most significant because of her position as a senior leader on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Weiner's predicament has rocked the Democratic Party, particularly the women who hold leadership posts and have faced a choice between calling for a resignation or hoping that refraining from doing so would lead him to quit without being told.

In the interim, few pass up the chance to signal to Weiner that he should step down.

The head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Sen. Patty Murray, told reporters during the day that Weiner's troubles "of course" complicate the party's efforts ahead of in the 2012 elections.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. said, "I just view it with great surprise and dismay. That's all I can say."

Feinstein and Murray were first elected to the Senate in 1992, the so-called Year of the Women that was a watershed in Democratic political history.

The party's leader in the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California has called for an ethics committee investigation to see whether Weiner's actions violated any House rules.

Pelosi and the party's chairwoman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, declined to respond directly on Tuesday when the Republican chairman, Reince Priebus, urged them to say whether they believe Weiner should step down.

The Democratic National Committee has adamantly refused to comment, while a spokesman in Wasserman Schultz's congressional office has said only that she supports Pelosi's call for an ethics investigation. By contrast, the former Democratic Party chairman, Tim Kaine, has urged Weiner to quit. Kaine is running for the Senate in Virginia.

While declining to make any public comments since Monday, Weiner has been on something of an apology tour by telephone. He has contacted fellow House members and former President Bill Clinton, who officiated at the congressman's wedding to Abedin nearly a year ago.

The officials who spoke about the telephone calls did so on condition of anonymity, saying they were private matters.

___

Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman in Washington and Beth Fouhy in New York contributed to this report.

Comments

[blueflogger]

10:59 AM on 06/13/2011

this weiner is a real dic.
he's going to have a hard time in treatment.
i bet when he gets out of treatment he softens up a bit...won't be such a hard liner.
still can't believe pelosi gave him the shaft.
i'll give him credit for going to treatment though - takes real balls to admit you've a problem.

[Hufrelief]

03:13 AM on 06/12/2011

The real scandle here is the inability for Congress to act upon the business of the nation.

[Hufrelief]

03:11 AM on 06/12/2011

Congress you should ask yourselves to step down. You have brought more shame to Congress than Weiner. You really have. Your inability to move this nation forward is totally unexceptable.

[Hufrelief]

03:08 AM on 06/12/2011

If he goes. Congress should follow right behind hin. Every last one of them. All of them are lazy and lack vision to move this nation forward. A few of them have good minds, like that Congress member that has come up with that 1% transaction account, but it shows he is thinking. The rest have lost their minds and have become incapable to handle the nation's business.

[Ramon Noches]

05:07 PM on 06/11/2011

Too bad, we do not all have crystal balls or all seeing eyes. If we did, I am sure we would find collectively in Congress things that would make the Mona Lisa blush. Recall when Republicans were hot on President Clinton’s trail, only to find later some of the same people later resigning for committing actual acts of sexual misconduct. While several million pixels may sink Weiner's ship, he is not the only one riding that boat.

[bereablueeyes]

10:57 AM on 06/11/2011

Why should Wiener resign when Bill Clinton didn't? What Bill Clinton did was even worse than Weiner. Clinton did it in the Oval Office. You can't do much worse than what Bill Clinton did. He should have been thrown out of the office and the country. I don;t care how good of a President he was. He was a disgrace to our Country and we have been losing our morals ever since. Even Barney Frank is a disgrace to this Country. It is unbelievable as to what we are electing to office in this country. And to think we trust these people when their own wives and family can't trust them. If they lie to their spouse just think how bad they lie to the people that elect them. Kind of scary isn't it.

[annieR]

02:02 PM on 06/11/2011

The real disgrace is the sick, hungry, and homeless. All of those accused in your message are champions of the vulnerable in this country.

[dave ashe]

07:05 AM on 06/11/2011

this flap represents an opportunity for americans to begin weening flakes out of congress. the mechanisms are available for the voters in a district to take the scag out...and it should be started now....other districts in our system also have scags representing the people...they too should be moved out of the public work station...Weiner is but one of the many lucky pols who have gotten on the proverbial gravey train with the perks, health bennies, pension....(which he is desperately working to keep before bailing) and need to be shown the door.....just sayin

[pickles n pops]

03:52 AM on 06/11/2011

Well lessee, who stands to gain from a successful (if unlikely) effort to oust Congressman Weiner from office? The Norquist No-nothings (pun intended)? Check. The ruling elite? Check. The plutocrats? Check. The Blue Dogs and their ilk? Check. The Obama Administration? Check.

And, who wants Congressman Weiner to remain in office, more focused, more committed than ever, continuing to do the People's business? His constituents? Check. Everyone who believes in representative democracy? Check.

Guess it's settled.

[pezmusic]

02:28 AM on 06/11/2011

Pelosi said she drain the swamp....... Rangle still there and she ok if Weiner stays......

[annieR]

07:47 PM on 06/10/2011

Tim Kaine doesn't get a vote. He was MIA the entire time he was chair of the DNC. Howard Dean was very visible even in the wasteland of Arizona.

[annieR]

07:39 PM on 06/10/2011

Only the voters want Weiner to stay. I personally don't care if some label him kinky, his voice is needed in the House. Recall Shakespeare's line in Hamlet: "Use every man after his desert, and who should 'scape whipping?"

[live by the golden rule]

07:12 PM on 06/10/2011

Republicans? Did they say that Repubican Senator Vitter should resign for having sex with prostitutes? No titillating pictures that we know of, but still. How about Republican Congressman Lukens of Ohio, who was convicted THIS WEEK of having sex with a 16 year old girl? Why don't we hear about them from the Republicans? So do I think they really care, or they're just scoring points? http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/27/us/ohio-congressman-convicted-sex-case-but-aide-says-he-ll-run-for-re-election.html

[lmunoz]

02:34 PM on 06/10/2011

David Vitter is still in office and I dont hear republicans complaining about him, yet his "encounters" were not virtual ones and he yes, also, lied...
To all these idiots who want to pretend that Weiner has broken laws and or "used resources for personal purposes" I say go on and prove it.
He was wrong to lie, but please tell me one politician who hasnt done the same once or twice. The congressman was stupid to do this but his service and record happen to be outstanding. In a real democracy it should be up to his constituents to decide whether he stays or goes. If sexting is to be considered a crime then what about those who sell themselves to corporations? This has real impact on peoples lives and works against the public interest. If he were caught taking money or lying to protect one of his donors then I would be the first one to protest. That aside, I couldnt care less if he likes showing his penis to other adults who seem to want to see it. He can do a porno and post it online for all I care, as long as he defends the interests of the people in his constituency and country. By the way I dont think the republican who sent shirtless pictures of himself should have resigned that was even sillier.

[Highly Opinionated]

12:02 PM on 06/10/2011

The Republicans need to step back from this. Let it rot from the inside. If he hangs on even better. Poster Rep. for the party along with Barney Frank, Charley Rangel and Nancy Pelosi. Was hard for me to pick those other three to represent the Democratic House, there are so dang many that are equally worthy. Teeming nuclear waste swamp.

[Ricardo01]

11:40 AM on 06/10/2011

I say get rid of all of the elected politicians that actually committed crimes first (coughIssa). Only after they are removed from office, then go after the ones that didn't commit crimes, like The Weiner.