Weiner Denies Sending Lewd Photo
Rep. Anthony Weiner responded to questions Wednesday about "Weinergate" — in which a photo of a man's nether regions was sent from the congressman's Twitter account to a young woman in Seattle. Weiner has said his account was hacked.
ROBERT SIEGEL, Host:
NPR's David Welna has the story.
WELNA: Last night's news on the ABC affiliate in Congressman Anthony Weiner's hometown of New York City led with a report focused on the 46-year-old congressman himself.
U: On camera, combatively answering reporters' questions about a lewd picture sent from his Twitter account to a 21-year-old woman.
WELNA: Yesterday, CNN reporter Dana Bash and her producer Ted Barrett tried getting Weiner to confirm or deny what the young woman said.
M: Is that true? Did you follow her on Twitter? And if so, how did you find her? What was the reason?
SIEGEL: You know, I have, I think, said this a couple of ways, and I'll say it again: I am not going to permit myself to be distracted by this issue any longer.
M: All you have to do is say no to that question.
SIEGEL: You're very good at...
M: If you're not following her on Twitter, say no.
SIEGEL: Why don't you let me do the answers, and you do the questions.
M: As soon as you answer the question asked you, sir, we will.
WELNA: Weiner then crudely referred to CNN producer Barrett.
SIEGEL: You do the questions. I do the answers, and this jackass interrupts me? How about that as the new rule of the game.
WELNA: Today, Weiner sat down with MSNBC to try to explain yesterday's outburst and why he thought the news media were making too big of a deal.
SIEGEL: I was frustrated. I'll be honest with you. You know, I talked about this on - this was a prank that I tweeted about jokingly the moment it happened and went to bed calmly that night, thinking this was a funny, moderately funny way that someone hacked me, answered questions about it the next day, answered questions about it the day after that.
WELNA: Asked why he had not gone to the police or the FBI if he thought his account had been hacked, Weiner again played down the incident.
SIEGEL: It was a prank. You know, it is not a national security thing. I'm not sure I want to put national federal resources into trying to figure out who posted a picture on Weiner's website of whatever. I'm not really sure it rises, no pun intended, to that level.
WELNA: Weiner insisted he had not sent out the photo, but when MSNBC reporter Luke Russert asked whether he was the man in the photo, Weiner would not say yes or no.
SIEGEL: You know, I can't say with certitude. My system was hacked. Pictures can be manipulated. Pictures can be dropped in and inserted.
WELNA: Weiner, who recently married a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, insists he now intends to put this episode behind him. But one expert on scandals doubts that will happen.
M: When you are the scandal figure, it takes you 10 times as long to realize you have a problem than everybody else.
WELNA: Eric Dezenhall heads a Washington, D.C., firm that specializes in political damage control. He says Weiner's got a lot more explaining to do.
M: But what this is suggesting is that it really wasn't a hacking, that it was something else.
WELNA: David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.
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