Rep. Anthony Weiner denies he sent link to photo of a man in underpants

Anthony Weiner cannot confirm nor deny that the crotch shot is of him, but the New York congressman has finally gone on the record to say that he did not send the link of the image to a 21-year-old female student via Twitter.

"I did not send that photo. My system was hacked. I was pranked," Weiner told ABC News on Wednesday.

"Somebody sent a picture of a wiener from Weiner's account. I've been hearing that joke since I was 5," the Democrat said, acknowledging the endless barrage of puns levied against him in what is being deemed Weiner-gate.

The controversy began Friday when a lewd photo of a man in gray underwear appeared on Weiner's Twitter page directed to Gennette Cordova, a student at Western Washington University [Correction: a previous version of this story said Cordova attended Washington State]. Cordova is one of the 198 people that the congressman follows on the social network. She has since deleted her original Twitter account and relaunched a new one.

The tweet in question was quickly deleted from Weiner's page but not before Dan Wolfe (who describes himself on his Twitter profile as a "Conservative Reagan Republican") retweeted the message adding "Anthony Weiner tweets X RATED PIC TO FOLLOWER!"

Weiner's defenders have gone to great lengths to discredit Wolfe using a several screen shots from a variety of websites to track the curious history of this tempest in a tweet. Others have noted that Wolfe has been obsessively tweeting about the congressman, 287 times since April.

Meanwhile, some bloggers have noticed that Weiner, who is married, recently made reference to an appearance he was going to make on television and tweeted what time it would air in Seattle -- the city Cordova is from. Of note is the fact that she retweeted that message before she deleted her original Twitter account, making Dan Riehl ask, "Why would Weiner be mindful of the time in Seattle"?

Will America finally get to the bottom of the mystery of who the man in the underpants is? Perhaps, but right now the representative is keeping his mouth zipped on whether the photo is of his... you know.

"I'm reluctant to say anything definitively about this because I don't know to what extent our system was hacked," Weiner said.

Cordova, however, is on Twitter condemning those who call her a co-ed and quoting Oliver Wilde.

She also released a statement Sunday, soon after the scandal began to spread. An excerpt:

I have seen myself labeled as the “Femme Fatale of Weinergate,” “Anthony Weiner’s 21-year-old coed mistress” and “the self-proclaimed girlfriend of Anthony Weiner.”

All of this is so outlandish that I don’t know whether to be pissed off or amused, quite frankly. This is the reality of sharing information online in the 21st century. Things that I never imagined people would care about are now being plastered all over blog sites, including pictures of me from when I was 17 and tweets that have been taken completely out of context. I tweeted once (it was reported that I said it twice) that “I wonder what my boyfriend @RepWeiner is up to.”

I am a 21-year-old college student from Seattle. I have never met Congressman Weiner, though I am a fan. I go to school in Bellingham where I spend all of my time; I’ve never been to New York or to DC. The point I am trying to make is that, contrary to the impression that I apparently gave from my tweet, I am not his girlfriend. Nor am I the wife, girlfriend or mistress of Barack Obama, Ray Allen or Cristiano Ronaldo, despite the fact that I have made similar assertions about them via Twitter.

RELATED:

Weiner calls dust-up over Twitter photo a 'distraction'

N.Y. Rep. Weiner hires lawyer after alleged Twitter hacking

 -- Tony Pierce
twitter.com/busblog

Photo: U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) leaves after speaking to the media regarding a lewd photo tweet May 31. Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

 

Comments

[Sandra Frost]

Well someone has their information incorrect.....Ms. Cordova states that she goes to school in Bellingham and spends all her time there. Your article says she attends Washington State University, which is in Pullman. Western Washington University is in Bellingham. Details, I know, but your details are incorrect.

[J]

Funny, how this guy cries for investigations , but regarding his business, it was just a prank....... If it was my acct, I sure would want the person responsible, found and brought to justice........especially if I am a Senator!

[Tony Pierce / LA Times]

Thank you Sandra, that error has been corrected.

[Gabriel]

Congressman Weiner please answer the question!!
ARE THOSE YOUR UNDERPANTS YES OR NO!?

[nick]

Thats a lie he won't agree or disagree if he sent the pic ,he is so arrogrant he is advoiding the question .

[michael carson]

Too little, too late. He repeatedly refused to deny he sent the picture. He also refused (and still does) to deny it's him in the picture. He repeatedly refused to ask for an investigation. Clearly, his handlers have finally convinced him that refusing to deny he did it could reasonably be interpreted as an admission of guilt. They also have clearly informed him that to call it a hacking into his account while refusing to ask for an investigation looks suspicious. Now, he's downgraded it and calls it a "prank". All signs point to this married congressman posting a disgusting picture of his privates on his account and sending it to a nubile, college co-ed who is only one of nearly 200 babelicious friends he follows on twitter. Bet he's sleeping on the couch these days!

[horacemanoor]

Why doesn't he want the FBI to look into it?

[Mark Alperni]

He's a Weiner!

[Doug504]

Why aren't the media hounding Dan Wolfe about how he got the photo/tweet since it was "quickly deleted"? Or asking Andrew Brietbart about his relationship with Dan Wolfe?

Brietbart has at least one follower who has broken the law to discredit the opposition. And Brietbart has other followers who are willing to implicate innocent people to make their point.

I don't know Rep. Weiner but I do know about PhotoShop and hacking Twitter accounts and dirty tricks.

Come on folks! There are crooked politicians and there are crooked wanna be politicians. Certain people in our country want to win at all costs. They will lie, cheat, fake evidence, etc because "the ends justify the means". The ends do NOT justify the means!

[michael carson]

In 8 hours all you've been able to approve, or all you've received, is 5 comments. I sent you a comment hours ago. Don't bother to approve it. Clearly, no one nationally cares about the Los Angeles Times!

[Frank Hummel]

Amazing.

The world economy teeters on the brink, as the US economy "slows further".

The Fukushima meltdowns proceed apace with dumping radioactivity into the broader environment (and also, along with other NATURAL components of the disaster, continue to steadily zap the Japanese economy).

Civil wars simmer in the (un)Holy Land and Arab countries --- where the indigenous folks have, after many long years, HAD IT with DICTATORSHIPS that in many cases were actually INSTITUTED by, and have long been, in reality, SUSTAINED by “us” (“wittingly” or not on “our” part --- either way the net effective result is the same) by way of perpetuating “our” abject, addictive dependency on all those "easy" oil resources that "we" (in “our” supposed beneficence) have endeavored to "control".

But the antics of Congressional bozos of the ilk of THIS Wiener (aptly named!) are what end up garnering prime coverage in "the Media".

What a hoot.

[RoBoTech]

All I can say to the Socialists posting here is:
If this was a Republican, you would be screaming for his resignation.
What a bunch of hypocrites.
Have Republicans done similar? YES. Have they ALL resigned due to the political pressure from Socialists?
YES.
In fact, NY-26 was an election directly caused by a Congressman showing his abs publicly.
He resigned.
And the socialists here doesn't think a married man showing his "wee wee" to a a young lady is as bad?
And I can't believe the majority of Democrats, even for a minute, believe this whiny baby Socialist (Weiner) wouldn't have prosecuted a hacker in a minute. That's his personality and he has stepped outside his normal pattern.
He did it, and when the investigation is actually done (and there will be an investigation, as a GOP Congressman on the Security Committee as called for one), you will see Weiner disappear before it ever gets completed.
Client 19 all over again.
Yet my Liberal friends continue to be hypocrites, and showing their double standard idiocy.

[Oregon Jim]

What a joke. Big mouth Weiner calls for investigations at the drop of a Republican hat but is suddenly worried about spending our money. Seems to me he just wants control of the investigation so he can declare himself innocent. Something that might not happen if the Feds are called in. This loud little man is himself an distraction. It took what, four days to get him to deny he sent it.

Nice cover piece though...if he was a Republican you guys would have him out of Washington by now.

[Startha Mewart]

With a last name like that, that poor guy has probably gotten more pranks pulled on him than most lol, so I wouldn't be surprised if his account was hacked by some wise guy. Same with Boehner. Yeah, I know it's pronounced bay-ner but still. I feel sorry for anyone with the name Kuntz or variations thereof. I'd be changing my name if I were them ha ha

[Dylan Darling]

There are plenty of other stories out there that deserve much more air time than this. I'm sick of seeing it all over the news. Who cares!

[Rick]

Funny how Breitbart and Wolfe mysteriously found out about it long before anyone else did...

Its almost like it was planned or something.

[Barry Hussein]

Its a conspiracy, all right. Weinergate has popped into the public awareness. This twit is never going to live his folly down. He is just a victim of his own bad judgement.