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Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner
By Michael V. Cusenza
Oh what a tangled worldwide web he weaves…
Disgraced former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner on Wednesday reportedly entered into a rehabilitation facility for sex addicts, days after he and the voting public learned that a federal investigation into an allegedly inappropriate online relationship between Weiner and a 15-year-old girl has significantly impacted the presidential race.
During its probe of Weiner’s alleged digital dalliance with a minor, the Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered emails on a laptop that both Weiner and estranged wife, Huma Abedin, used. Abedin is a top aide to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and the emails on the laptop reportedly featured the U.S. State Department’s “state.gov” email extension.
Though the FBI over the summer had officially closed its exhaustive investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server for official State Department business, agency Director James Comey wrote a letter last weekend to eight members of Congress.
“In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear pertinent to the investigation,” Comey said in the missive via CNN. “I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.”
Abedin announced in September that she and Weiner were separating following a New York Post report featuring an alleged Weiner crotch-selfie that also captured the couple’s son Jordan, 4, who was lying next to his indecent dad. Weiner allegedly sent the pic, and several others, to a woman with which he had been sexting some months prior to the Post piece.
That, apparently, was the final straw for Abedin, who purportedly was “furious and sickened” by the picture.
“After long and painful consideration and work on my marriage, I have made the decision to separate from my husband. Anthony and I remain devoted to doing what is best for our son, who is the light of our life. During this difficult time, I ask for respect for our privacy,” Abedin said in a statement.
In the summer of 2009, Weiner now (in)famously mass-tweeted a d*ck-pic instead of messaging an image of his member directly to the intended target: a Seattle college student. Initially, the former Forest Hills resident claimed he had been hacked. After a self-imposed two-week leave of absence, the seven-term congressman decided to resign and step down from the 9th District seat.
Weiner (somewhat) triumphantly returned to the political fray in 2013 to run for mayor. His promising campaign was violently derailed when fresh sexts and compromising photos – sent under the bizarre alias “Carlos Danger” – forced Weiner to once again abandon his career in public service.
