Weiner apologizes for lying, 'terrible mistakes,' refuses to resign - CNN.com

Weiner apologizes for lying, 'terrible mistakes,' refuses to resign - CNN.com: "Weiner apologizes for lying, 'terrible mistakes,' refuses to resign"

(CNN) -- A week after claiming a hacker had posted a lewd photo to his Twitter account, U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner on Monday apologized for lying about the ordeal and admitting carrying on inappropriate relationships with several women he'd met online.

Weiner, a New York Democrat, said he is not resigning his seat, nor is he planning on separating from his wife. But he said he took responsibility for his actions -- both the relationships and for lying about sending photos.

"I have made terrible mistakes," Weiner told reporters. "I have not been honest with myself or my family... I should not have done this, and I should not have done this particularly when I was married.

"This was destructive," he added. "It was deeply, deeply hurtful."

Weiner claimed that he didn't believe he used any government resources while sending various photos to women he'd met online, "mostly on Facebook." The congressman claimed that he never met any of the women, with all of the relationships occuring exclusively over the Internet.

Earlier in the day, Weiner faced fresh questions with the release of two new images, including one that appears to show the New York Democrat shirtless.

The images were published on BigGovernment.com, a conservative website run by Andrew Breitbart. The site said the images were sent to an unnamed woman on May 20 via an e-mail address she claims belonged to Weiner.

Before Weiner spoke at his scheduled 4 p.m. press conference, Breitbart -- who claimed he happened to be staying at a hotel few blocks down -- unexpectedly took over the podium to challenge Weiner and the media and defend his site's story.

"This is an ongoing story, this is a compelling story," said Breitbart, bristling at reports he orchestrated the issue for political purposes and was responsible for hacking Weiner's account. "I did not like that he doubled down that this is about Breitbart."

The conversative blogger also claimed that he had, in his possession, another "X-rated" photo allegedly from Weiner that he said he wasn't releasing because he hoped "to save (Weiner's) family."

"I'd like an apology," a defiant Breitbart said. "This was his strategy, which is to blame me for hacking."

During his press conference, Weiner apologized "to everyone that I misled in the media" -- including Breitbart -- but most of all a wife.

"This was me doing a dumb thing, and doing it repeatedly, then lying about it," Weiner said.

Breitbart's website was the first to publish an incriminating photo, sent via Twitter from Weiner's account of a man's bulging underwear.

Weiner initially released written statements claiming that he was the victim of a hacker and a prank. Then, during a testy press conference, he dodged questions about whether the photo was of him and why he hadn't asked law enforcement to investigate if his account had, indeed, been compromised.

The following day, in a series of interviews, he said he could not say with "certitude" if the photograph was of him. He has also deflected recent questions from CNN, saying he's hired an attorney at the firm of Baker Hostetler to look into the matter.

Many Democrats first rallied around the liberal congressman. But members of the House Democratic leadership have talked repeatedly in recent days to try to get him to end what has become an unwelcome political distraction, a member of the party's leadership told CNN.

"It's frustrating because we'll talk to him, and say clean it up, and then he goes out and does stuff," said the member of the House Democratic leadership, who declined to speak on the record about private discussions with Weiner."

"He's got to put the period at the end of the sentence," the Democratic source said. "It's painful."

Dominique Strauss-Kahn in Court: Trial of Century Begins - TIME

Dominique Strauss-Kahn in Court: Trial of Century Begins - TIME: "The Chase: Following Dominiqu

The scrum of reporters assembles in the pre-dawn quiet two blocks from the border of Chinatown. It is more than two hours before Dominique Strauss-Kahn is scheduled to make an appearance, but it doesn't matter. On Monday the curtain will lift on Act I of the trial of the new century, and the courtroom has precious few seats. Two hours early might be too late.

After being herded through metal detectors, we ride the nearest elevator to the 13th floor. The doors open, and middle-aged Europeans to my left and right take off in a dead sprint. I don't realize why until I see a line assembling behind a velvet rope: the people are seeking admission to an exclusive club. I played two sports in college, and though I'm well out of my prime shape, I am able to catch up and elbow my way into the throng.

The hallway outside of Part 51 at the Manhattan criminal court looks like an old, crumbling train station. Faded marble walls flank scuffed green linoleum floors; a sign over one restroom reads "Public Toilet-Women." There is little air conditioning, and soon the hallway became stifling with the cluster of humanity. Inside the courtroom, the white walls are half covered with faded wood paneling, and the benches for the observers might resemble church pews, save for the wood dividers separating one person's bum from the next.

The crime Strauss-Kahn is accused of committing allegedly occurred in a $3,000-a-night hotel suite in midtown Manhattan. When he was arrested, he was yanked from a first-class seat on a flight to Paris. What might he be thinking as he sits in this aging hall of justice, little changed since it was built in 1941 under Mayor F.H. LaGuardia?

After a few minutes, two enormous gentlemen sit right in front of me in the first row, nearly blocking my view. I think they are detectives until I recognize their faces from the pictures of the defendant being led from his temporary home. They are his bodyguards, probably hired by Stroz Friedberg, the firm handling Strauss-Kahn's security to the tune of $200,000 a month.

Outside, maids from the New York housekeeping union wear uniforms of light blue, black and white. They stand arm in arm protesting the alleged mistreatment of one of their own. In the rest of the building, dozens of trials are under way: people accused of drug possession or DUIs or assaults plead guilty and not guilty, and are sentenced or set free. But in Part 51 on the 13th floor, reporters from around the world wait silently, their cell phones in their laps, having been told repeatedly that any attempted picture taking will result in confiscation. Strauss-Kahn finally walks in dressed in a black suit and dark blue tie. He is stone-faced as he takes his seat next to Benjamin Brafman, the legendary defense lawyer who wrote the book, or at least the lectures, on the trial process.

When the bailiff reads the charge, Strauss-Kahn and his lawyers stand up. In past decades, the reporters would have been ready, pens and pads in hand; today they hold their breath as they clutch their phones and Strauss-Kahn utters the two words everyone knows is coming: "Not guilty." The defense requests that the prosecution present all relevant information within a 45-day period of discovery. Judge Michael J. Orbus agrees and sets the date for the next hearing: July 18, at 2 p.m. E.T.

The court officers bellow, "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Please rise and move out of the courtroom." The scrum prods its way out the doors to what looks like a horse pen set up in front of the building, where each side fires their opening salvos. Brafman calls the two-word plea a "powerful statement." Kenneth P. Thompson, representing the accuser, says she is a woman of dignity and respect; all she wants is justice. As more than a hundred reporters clutching cameras and recorders fight for position, an old lawyer says to me, "I've seen a lot of trials here. I was here for the trial after John Lennon was shot. I've never seen anything like this." But as they'd say in a potboiler, we ain't seen nothing yet.e Strauss-Kahn in New York"

Time of partitions is gone

Head of the Kosovo Assembly Jakup Krasniqi rejected the possibility of Kosovo splitting into two whereby Serbia and Albania would each get one part. “The request of Serbian officials that Serbia should discuss with Albania over splitting of Kosovo is too late, by at least twenty years or more,” said Krasniqi. He said that when there was the time for talks, the Serbian politicians demanded to march all the way to Tirana. Krasniqi said talks between Kosovo and Serbia should focus on mutual recognitions.

While former Prime Minister of Montenegro, and current leader of the Democratic Party of Socialists, Milo Djukanovic, said in an interview for Dnevnik that relations between Kosovo and Serbia are an open issue that should be resolved. “When I say this, I do not think that the solution lays on making pressure to Belgrade to recognize Kosovo’s independence, because I do understand that Serbia is not currently ready to do this,” said Djukanovic adding that a solution should be found. Asked about the division of Kosovo Djukanovic said “Serbia, starting from reality, should recognize Kosovo’s independence, then the two countries should turn towards future and Euro Atlantic integrations.