Anthony Weiner's 'cringe-inducing' resignation

(Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

The video: Nearly three weeks after he set off a sexting scandal by accidentally tweeting a photo of his bulging underwear, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) resigned Thursday, saying he had hoped to stay on but "unfortunately, the distraction that I have created has made that impossible." (Watch Weiner's announcement below.) In a brief appearance at the same senior center in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, where he first announced his run for New York's City Council in 1991, the congressman again apologized to his constituents, and to his wife, Huma Abedin, who reportedly convinced him to step down. (Abedin did not attend the press conference.) Ignoring a Howard Stern Show heckler who called him a "pervert," Weiner also said he wanted to "continue to heal from the damage that I have caused." He did not say when his resignation would take effect, but noted that he would "be looking for other ways to contribute my talents."

The reaction: This "was a cringe-inducing end to a sleazy episode," says Howard Kurtz at The Daily Beast. But Weiner seemed "much more at peace than at his teary press conference 10 days ago," say Maggie Haberman and Jennifer Epstein in Politico, when he first admitted to his serial sexting after days of adamant public denials. Now that he's resigned, Weiner officially becomes "Twitter's first major political casualty," says Greg Sargent at The Washington Post. But if he follows the footsteps of other scandal-stained politicians, we won't have to live long without the congressman, says Choire Sicha at The Awl. "See you in your new job on MSNBC soon, most likely. Blech." Watch Weiner announce his resignation: