Tearful US congressman admits to online, phone sex

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Pressure was building today on New York congressman Anthony Weiner, who openly wept as he refused to resign amid stunning admissions that he lied about extramarital online and phone sex with several young women.

Observers of US politics were debating Weiner’s future after his nationally televised press conference on Monday, where he said he was “deeply ashamed” for maintaining a string of lewd online relationships.

The 46-year-old Democrat admitted he had sent a close-up picture of an aroused male member in underpants to a woman in Seattle via his Twitter account.

For a week he hotly denied sending the picture and claimed to have been hacked, but wiping away tears, Weiner confessed: “The picture was of me and I sent it. I am deeply sorry for the pain this has caused.”

He said he had been sending naughty pictures online and sexting with about six women over the years and:”we had become friends”.

But he said he had not met any of them and had not had a physical relationship outside his year-old marriage to Huma Abedin, an aide to secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

Weiner, a seven-term congressman who until now was seen as a leading candidate to take over as New York mayor in 2013, said he does not intend to resign his seat in the US House of Representatives.

“I don't know what I was thinking. This was a destructive thing to do,” he said. But “I am not resigning. I have made it clear that I accept responsibility for this.”