Anthony Weiner Says Sexting Continued After Resignation, Now 'Entirely Behind Me'
Weiner polling ahead of field in mayoral race two years after leaving Congress.
July 23, 2013— -- With his wife Huma Abedin by his side, New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner acknowledged today that he sent previously undisclosed explicit messages and inappropriate photos to a woman during summer of 2012, during the year after he publicly resigned from Congress amid a scandal for similar behavior.
Abedin, who has been on the campaign trail with her husband, also spoke emotionally about the scandal today for the first time since Weiner resigned two years ago.
"Our marriage like many others has had its ups and its downs. It took a lot of work a whole lot of therapy to get to a place where I could forgive Anthony," Abedin said. "It was not an easy choice in any way, but I made the decision that it was worth staying in this marriage.
"That was a decision I made for me, for our son and for our family," she added. "So really what I want to say is, I love him, I forgive him, I believe in him and as we have said from the beginning we are moving forward."
The acknowledgment comes after new allegations Monday on gossip website "The Dirty" that Weiner sent sexually charged messages to women after he left Congress in disgrace.
Weiner today said said that the behavior was "entirely behind" him when he got into the mayoral race. He said "can't say exactly" when he sent his last message to a woman who was not his wife, but it might have been "sometime last summer."
Weiner first acknowledged in a statement today that some of the allegations in the "The Dirty" report were true and he confirmed in a press conference that the messages continued after he resigned from Congress.
The anonymous woman said she was 22 when her relationship with Weiner began July 12, 2012, after he found her on the social messaging site Formspring, according to a new post on "The Dirty" today. She also claims that her relationship with Weiner began to fizzle out in November 2012.
"I said that other texts and photos were likely to come out, and today they have," Weiner at the press conference today. "As I have said in the past, these things that I did were wrong and hurtful to my wife and caused us to go through challenges in our marriage that extended past my resignation from Congress.
"With 49 days left until primary day, perhaps I'm surprised more things didn't come out sooner," he said.
According to "The Dirty," racy messages were allegedly posted under the pseudonym Dangr33 on social media site Formspring in 2012. "The Dirty" also alleges that Weiner communicated with the woman through Facebook.
Weiner, 48, resigned from Congress in 2011 after he admitted to sending sexual photos of himself to women on Twitter.
In one post, Weiner appears to be communicating with a woman through his Facebook page, which includes a photo of his wife and their young son Jordan as his avatar.
The authenticity of all the allegations in "The Dirty" account could not be independently verified by ABC News. And Weiner said in his statement that while some of the allegations are true, others are not.
Two of Weiner's opponents, New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Democratic candidate Sal Albanese called for the former congressman to withdraw from the race Tuesday.
Weiner offhandedly dismissed the comments.
"I'm sure many of my opponents would like me to drop out of the race," he said.
Nik Richie, the author of the "The Dirty" story, wrote in an email to ABC News through another employee who goes by the name "Scooby Sunday," "I'm just doing my job."
The Weiner campaign has not yet responded to requests for clarification.
The allegations published in "The Dirty" were reported by BuzzFeed this morning, but the Weiner campaign declined to comment until releasing the statement hours later.
Last week, a Quinnipiac University poll showed Weiner to be a front-runner in the mayoral race, supported by 25 percent of registered Democrats and followed closely by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn with 22 percent.
