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

By: Corbett B. Daly
Topics: Domestic Issues ,; Congress

UPDATED 11:06 a.m. ET

Rep. Anthony Weiner

(Credit: 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

View the Full Gallery »

Corbett B. Daly
Corbett B. Daly is CBSNews.com's deputy politics editor.
Follow on Twitter »

91 Comments +

Add a Comment

See all 91 Comments


by noloyalisti June 17, 2011 3:50 PM EDT: 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.; Reply to this comment


by TalMD June 16, 2011 2:33 PM EDT: Tiger help!; Reply to this comment


by TalMD June 16, 2011 2:31 PM EDT: Thank you Twitter & Teleprompter!; Reply to this comment


by meboard June 16, 2011 2:28 PM EDT: 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!!!!!!; Reply to this comment

by justme2012 June 16, 2011 2:27 PM EDT

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

Reply to this comment


by tpartier June 16, 2011 2:28 PM EDT: John Ensign - anyone?


by aintfakin June 16, 2011 2:22 PM EDT: 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; Reply to this comment


by TalMD June 16, 2011 2:22 PM EDT: YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN!
Homer Simpson/Weiner for 2012!; Reply to this comment

by bradkt1 June 16, 2011 2:20 PM EDT

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?

Reply to this comment


by RealWorldNow June 16, 2011 4:51 PM EDT: Great view of reality!


by TalMD June 16, 2011 2:03 PM EDT: YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN!
Weiner for 2012!; Reply to this comment

by morriswise June 16, 2011 1:55 PM EDT

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.

Reply to this comment


by justme2012 June 16, 2011 2:15 PM EDT: 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!