As the political world's collective attention was trained on the New York Sheraton hotel where Rep. Anthony Weiner was scheduled to address the media, Andrew Breitbart unexpectedly took the stage and held an impromptu press conference of his own -- from the same podium at which Weiner is expected to speak.
Further confirming what we reported earlier, Breitbart said he has an even more damaging photograph of Weiner in his possession, and defied the media to name one "lie" he has told about Anthony Weiner.
UPDATE - Breitbart has departed, and Anthony Weiner is now at the mic. He admits that the infamous clothed erection photo *is* him, and that he did, in fact, send it. He has admitted to lying, and is fighting back tears. This has been a surreal 30 minutes. Stay tuned for updates....
UPDATE II - Weiner speaks: "The photo was of me, and I sent it." / "I haven't told the truth." / "I apologize to Andrew Breitbart." / "I haven't violated the law." To his credit, Weiner is refusing to shift blame to anyone, or anything, else. He repeatedly insists he will not resign. His voice shakes whenever his wife is mentioned, says she "was not happy" when he told her the truth...this morning. "I'm here to accept responsibility for some very bad decisions." He says, "I lied because I was embarrassed and I was ashamed, and didn't want to get caught." Refuses to say that he violated his oath of office.
UPDATE III - Wow. The presser just ended. Weiner said he never met with, and had no intention of meeting with, any of the six women with whom he now admits exchanging texts, tweets, and messages. Hmm. He says these personal failings will not destroy his marriage, and will not cause him to resign from Congress. Curiously, he also made this assertion: "At no time did I or any member of my staff try do anything to cover anything up." Aside from...flagrantly and repeatedly lying to the whole country on national television? Oof: Weiner says he can't be sure if all of the women were legal adults.
UPDATE IV - Partial video added:
UPDATE V - Here come the investigations:
@nationaljournal BREAKING: Pelosi calls for an ethics investigation of @Weinergate: http://njour.nl/kJSKLN
UPDATE VI - Oh dear.
UPDATE VII - Meagan Broussard speaks:
Talking to him was sometimes a turn-off because he was so open and just so full of himself, as if he were looking, searching for something. I don’t know if he loved telling me his personal business. I didn’t want him to say more, didn’t want to hear stories about sex with famous people. But I guess he needed to express himself.
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