A Seattle, Wash. college student came forward nearly a week after receiving a lewd photo of Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) that has sparked a political firestorm that could engulf the progressive firebrand’s career in the House.
In an interview following Weiner’s admission June 6 to sending a racy photo of himself over Twitter, a social networking site, 21-year-old Genette Cordova, a student at Seattle’s Whatcom Community College recently detailed her story with the Seattle Times.
Cordova explained that she was initially drawn by the congressman’s political style and started following him on Twitter in April. She said she would often tweet words of support for him as a politician and would “retweet” or re-post some of his tweets.
Later, Cordova explained that the lawmaker, a political progressive who is a vocal supporter of President Obama, thanked her for her support in a private direct message and signed up to follow her on the social networking site.
Shortly thereafter, Cordova said she began receiving harassing messages from Weiner’s critics and she and the politician exchanged text messages about their feelings towards the detractors. Then, one evening, she said she logged on to Twitter and saw that the congressman had sent her a revealing photo of himself in gray boxer-style underwear.
“It didn’t make sense,” Cordova told the Times. “I figured it must have been a fake.” She added that she had never sent him any suggestive messages and was always surprised by his informal tone during their previous conversations.
During the news conference, Weiner explained that he sent the picture “as part of a joke,” but also confessed to having inappropriate online relationships with other women. Many of these women have already come forward to detail their interactions with the politician. Amid the controversy, Weiner has announced that Huma Abedin, his wife, is pregnant. He explained that they do not have plans to separate.
“My wife has known about some of these relationships since before we were married,” he said in a statement, according to the Huffington Post. “But she did not know until this morning that I had not been truthful about the Twitter posting last week,” he said during the June 6 news conference. “I’m here primarily to express my apologies to my wife and family.”
According to CBS News, many lawmakers are calling for Weiner’s resignation. A chorus of Democrats in Congress have asked him to step down, including Indiana Congressman Joe Donnelly who announced that he would give the $5,000 he received from Weiner’s campaign committee to charity.