Rep. Cohen: Deleted tweets were to my daughter

A congressman whose Twitter messages to an aspiring model 40 years his junior generated two days of salacious speculation has a surprising explanation for his tweets: the woman is his daughter.

"There has been much written and said about my tweeting a very beautiful 24-year-old woman during the State of the Union," Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., said tonight. "I haven't been able to say this until now, and I only found out three years ago, but I've known since then that the young lady is my daughter."

Tuesday night during President Obama's address, the 63-year-old Cohen said he was tweeting to his constituents from the House chamber when Victoria Brink (@victoria_brink) spotted him on TV and sent him a message saying she saw him.  Cohen replied, publicly, "pleased u r watching .ilu", short for "I love you."  He then followed up with another tweet which read: "nice to know you were watchin SOTU(state of the union).Happy Valentines beautiful girl. ilu". 

Cohen deleted the messages within minutes but the Sunlight Foundation, via its "politwoops" project, saves and publishes deleted tweets from members of Congress.

The story blew up on the internet the next day prompting Cohen to tell CBS News earlier today that Brink "is the daughter of a very good friend of mine, she's like family, like a child. This has nothing to do than anything other than an older person's appreciation of a younger person and their future. And everything that's been suggested in the press is sick."

Later, he announced she was his long-lost daughter and he was simply responding "to her and told her I love her, which I do.

"I'm very proud and happy to have a 24-year-old, beautiful, sweet, loving daughter. But I haven't been able to talk about this publicly because it wasn't known to others about this relationship. It had been kept secret for years," Cohen continued.

"Because of all these stories she has talked to others and let them know that I'm father. I'm pleased that we can have a better, more public relationship, even though we have started to develop one. She has a private life, I have a public life, and it has been hurtful to her to have things said about her on tweets and on comments and on scurrilous publications suggesting some type of March-November relationship."

[robert1129]

The Congressman handled this badly to begin with but she is his daughter (baby). Nothing there a father would not say to his child. Anything someone else says different is a sympton of one sick puppy.

[No_Absolutes]

So in politics this week, a thirsty republican took a sip of water and democrat dad tweeted "hello" to his daughter...our media is pathetic.

[jtdev1]

Yeah, a "daughter" he met on craigslist...


LOL

[No_Absolutes]

I just don't get these people. Turns out the truth is a sweet and decent story, but he decided to 1st make up a story saying she was the daughter of a friend which is creepy. Very weird.

[keote_poet]

Stay tuned for republican reaction..it might be related to Benghazi..

[KPeters_from_UK]

Anyone else getting tired of Rubio's water-gate and some guy saying he loves his daughter "scandal"? Are we simply grabbing at trivial everyday moments and making them into shocking offences?

[No_Absolutes]

the answer to both questions is yes

[kcreligion]

I am going to stay away from judging him as I don'y really know (or want to) the rest of the facts. Could be very true, I just don't know. What I do know is that the Sunlight Foundation that follows these deleted tweets looking for bits of news to sell or further their agenda are as bad as the surveliance drones the government is trying to put over our heads. At the the current rate we will all lose our privacy within a few months. People can be tracked where ever you go with your cell phone. Soon television will probably become able to reverse view you in your home to make sure you are only doing gov't approved activity. What ever happened to the pursuit of happiness ? Life? Liberty?

[bobnjersey]

[Tuesday night during President Obama's address, the 64-year-old Cohen said he was tweeting to his constituents from the House chamber]
---------------------------------------------------
so ... he wasn't paying attention to the speech?

[jky54]

Some of You remind me of Job's "miserable comforters" (in in the Bible) all you add to the article is your own bitterness. We've got to get past this polarization if we are going to get anything done in America.

[pammmmmm]

creepy

[KPeters_from_UK]

My dad said he loved me at Christmas. He also said that he loved my new hair cut. Should I be worried?

[galbraith78]

um dna would prove otherwise its not his child and the truth is still out there