Disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner says his conviction for sexting a minor is ‘not a good enough reason’ for voters to dismiss him as he mounts a political comeback.
Weiner, 60, who is a registered sex offender after his sick sex scandal was exposed by DailyMail.com almost a decade ago, faced The View panelists as they grilled him about his run for New York City Council.
Panelist Ana Navarro confronted Weiner about his ‘many’ scandals, which also included sexting women under the pseudonym ‘Carlos Danger’, which the politician said he was not shying away from.
‘With all that said, why should New Yorkers give you a shot at a political comeback?’ Behar questioned.
Weiner responded: ‘Let me just say this – all of that happened. I accept responsibility for it.
‘You won’t hear me do what some other people like Donald Trump or Andrew Cuomo or Eric Adams have done,’ he said, adding that he does not brand himself as being ‘persecuted or a victim.’
The politician said he realizes now that he was suffering from ‘an addiction’ at the time of his scandal, but said he deserved forgiveness for accepting the public humiliation instead of playing victim.
‘I didn’t ask for a trial, I pled guilty, I served my time in prison, did probation and tried to do good work for the formerly incarcerated,’ he said.
Disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner says his conviction for sexting a minor is ‘not a good enough reason’ not to vote for him as he mounts a political comeback
Weiner pleaded guilty in 2017 to carrying on a months-long online sexual relationship with a 15-year-old and served 21 months in prison, but he is now launching a political comeback
‘I guess what I’m saying to people is, maybe don’t vote for me in spite of what they know about me, but maybe consider that journey, that idea that we all go through things,’ Weiner continued.
Weiner noted that although he is Jewish, he likes a notion commonly found in Catholicism that people ‘suffer for a reason so you can be of service on the other end.’
‘So, I’m doing the opposite of what a lot of politicians do in my position… I’m saying, yes, I did these things, I got into recovery, I tried to make my life better, and now I can be of service,’ he continued.
‘And I’m a damn good politician.’
When Weiner’s underage sex scandal was exposed by the Daily Mail in 2016, the 15-year-old he was sexting with said he asked her to dress up in ‘school-girl’ outfits for him on a video messaging application and pressed her to engage in ‘rape fantasies.’
But he said on The View that this should be ‘not a good enough reason’ for New Yorkers to dismiss him, ‘just because I have bad things in my past.’
‘All I can ever be is who I am right now,’ he continued.
Panelist Ana Navarro confronted Weiner about his ‘many’ scandals, which also included sexting women under the pseudonym ‘Carlos Danger’, which the politician said he was not shying away from
Panelist Alyssa Farah Griffin likened Weiner to politicians such as Donald Trump who have had brushes with the law, saying that figures like them are why Americans have such a low level of trust in their representatives.
Weiner responded: ‘I think what politicians sometimes don’t realize, is that voters don’t expect you to be some kind of paradigm of greatness.
‘They want you to be an honest, authentic, full person.’
His appeal to voters appeared to land poorly with panelist Joy Behar, who also lumped Weiner in with other male politicians who have had sex scandals such as former New York Governors Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo.
‘I’m listening to you now and I’m thinking, what do these people have in common? Cuomo, Clinton, Trump, Wiener, Spitzer, they’re all men, they are all men,’ Behar said.
‘We were talking about this before, about trying to appeal to these men out there. Why is it that two qualified women could not beat all of you guys? These women can never beat you.
‘They’re more qualified than almost anybody on that list, including you, I’m sorry.’
Weiner was married to ex-Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin (pictured together) at the time
DailyMail.com saw evidence of extremely lewd messages he sent the victim when we exposed his scandal in 2016
Weiner agreed that women are often held to a higher standard than men, but countered Behar’s point to say that he suffered consequences, including being booted from office and serving time behind bars.
‘I mean, I hate to correct you. Bill Clinton was impeached, Eliot Spitzer was thrown out of office, I was thrown at of office, Andrew Cuomo was thrown out of office, so we do pay a price,’ he said.
‘The question is, if you are gonna say to those people, how do you judge their record in totality? I do believe that women get judged much more harshly than men do.’
