Anthony Weiner plans to step down, New York press conference scheduled

UPDATED 11:06 a.m. ET

Rep. Anthony Weiner

/ Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Embattled Rep. Anthony Weiner is throwing in the towel.

After nearly three weeks of pressure building on Weiner to call it quits, the New York Democrat has planned a news conference for 2:00 p.m ET Thursday afternoon in Brooklyn to announce his resignation.

The scandal had become a distraction for House Democrats, who had raised pressure on Weiner to resign in recent days after he admitted June 6 to exchanging lewd photos and messages with women he met online.

Weiner late Wednesday told House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of his plan to step down Thursday, two Democratic aides told CBS News. Pelosi had called for his resignation Saturday and President Obama weighed in late Monday, saying if it were him, he would resign. House Speaker John Boehner called for his resignation Tuesday.

Democrats had three days in late May of talking about a special election in upstate New York that they hoped could serve as a launching pad for reclaiming control of the House of Representatives in next year's elections before Weiner's story broke and changed the topic.

Several House Democrats had signaled the resignation was coming this week.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) said Weiner was waiting his wife, Huma Abedin, to return from an overseas trip with her boss Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Abedin returned to Washington Wednesday.

And Democratic leaders had planned a meeting for later Thursday where it was possible they could have begun steps to strip him of his committee assignments in Congress. The House Ethics Committee on Monday began a preliminary inquiry that could have bloomed into a full investigation had he decided to stay in office.

The scandal got even stranger Wednesday, when a stripper who exchanged emails and messages with Weiner said he asked her to lie about their interactions and called for him to step down.

Ginger Lee, a former porn actress who currently works as a "feature dancer" in nightclubs, said today that Weiner tried several times to engage her in sexual communication but that she never took the bait.

The White House had no immediate comment on news that Weiner would step down.

CBS News Congressional Correspondent Nancy Cordes discusses today's developments below:

19 Photos

Political sex scandals

[noloyalisti]

I think that instead of calling the conservatives Republicons, we should start calling them REGRESSIVES to distinguish them from us progressives. The regressives want everybody in the country to work for their slave master corporations.

[meboard]

by justme2012 June 16, 2011 2:19 PM EDT
"Where is the democrat's cries to get Lee re-instated?????"
---

Oh...gosh darn justflee2012, that seat is already taken. BY A DEMOCRAT!!!! HHHHAAA HHHHAAAAAAA HHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

[justme2012]

What kind of man resigns for being a lying pervert and then thanks his parents for the values they instilled in him????

[tpartier]

John Ensign - anyone?

[aintfakin]

once again all the overcompensating little Weiners get rid of another big Weiner mostly because his confident politics make the little Weiners look bad and expose them for the little Weiners they are

[bradkt1]

You knew the weiner was gone when the Wicked Witch of the West (Gloria Alred) crawled out from under her rock with her poor little porn-star "victim"...Ginger Lee. According to Mistress Gloria, our little innocent Ginger only wanted to talk about health care and was scandalized when a man wanted to talk about sex with her.

Poor thing! Maybe Ginger shouldn't have gone into the porn business if she didn't want to talk about sex...but the weiner should have known better according to Mistress Gloria. I'm sure that dancing naked with that pole and making all of those explicit XXX-rated videos was probably a dead giveaway that she wanted to talk about health care, too.

As for the weiner, we are going to miss him. Comedians and public alike will be suffering from 'Weiner Withdrawal Syndrome" over the next few days...maybe even weeks.

The End

P.S. - So which idiot do we get to talk about next?

[RealWorldNow]

Great view of reality!

[morriswise]

GOTCHA was the name of the game corporate media played with Weiner. As a former private investigator I found It easy to find a a bit of dirt on the cleanest person. I once was given the job of searching for a bit of dirt on a small town sheriff , he was suspended for 30 days after I caught him shutting his eyes while on duty. Even God cannot protect the best of us once a hound dog is sent to sniff us out.

[justme2012]

ROFLMAO

So now it's the media's fault that he's a pervert who accidently stupidly sent out a picture of his crotch on his twitter account and then called press conferences and did talk shows so he could lie and pretend he was hacked.

You people make me laugh!

[dodinyc]

While admittedly his conduct has been creepy and sad with regard to his family life, there are people still serving in Washington who have done worse, and more importantly illegal things like Vitter and Rangel. I think what made this so sensational is it all played out in the public eye. If we had transcripts of Vitter's conversations and pictures of those whose services he used, would he really still be serving in congress? I think not and it's a double standard.

[andie52]

He sure isn't smiling anymore and having a pregnant wife didn't help his cause.

[justme2012]

What makes this so sensational is that Weinerhead thought he could actually call press conferences, then go on the talk show circuits and pretend he was hacked and try to let others take the blame.

If he'd owned up to his stupid crotch pic, the news would have died down in a couple of days.

He's an idiot!

[thomasmc1957]

So when is the Republican leadership going to finally call on David Vitter to Resign? Hypocrites!

[justme2012]

Lee took a picture of his bare chest and resigned within hours.

Weiner took a picture of his crotch and lied and refused to resign for weeks.

Where is the democrat's cries to get Lee re-instated?????

[dodinyc]

Whoa Agnes - Talk about a double standard. Vitter kept quiet while the press muttered rumors about what he had done. It was only AFTER the feds announced they had proof of his involvement did he come forward and "repent". Also, what Vitter did was illegal...this was not. I do not in the least defend Weiner's actions but your response is highly hypocritical.

[knewsreply]

Isn't in comforting to know that Weiner is the only person in the present Congress to be guilty of a moral transgression?

[justme2012]

No but it is comforting to know that finally if a democrat calls a press conference for the purpose of lying to everyone and trying to blame others, he's now gone!!!!

[tpartier]

What? Vitter hasn't resigned yet? Man, that guy's taking way longer than Weiner to do the right thing.

And what's with this Peter King dweeb abdicating his oath to the Constitution with his vile targeting of an entire group based solely on their religious background? He should be resigning, too.

[tpartier]

@agnesdeo

How do you call anyone who has banged a prostitute behind his wife's back, a person of integrity? And we saw how swiftly they demanded Ensign resign didn't we? Those guys were Senators - supposed to be the more mature folks. What about Coburn and his negotiating services?

What's the difference between the lie - which Ensign and Coburn have both done at any rate - and the act itself? Just another degree of corruption. You can bet the conniving of Coburn was far more heinous than anything Weiner did. People's lives were thoroughly trashed by their shenanigans.

Now - onto you not answering the absolute rejection of Constitutional obligations by Peter - just call me McCarthy - King?

What a repulsive piece of dung that guy is.