Weiner Sentenced to 21 Months in Prison
Former congressman pleaded guilty to transferring obscene material to 15-year-old girl
Former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner was sentenced Monday to 21 months in prison in a sexting scandal that scuttled his career and might have implications on the 2016 presidential election.
In court Monday, Weiner called the crime his “rock bottom,” The Associated Press reported.
Weiner did not take questions from reporters after the sentencing.
According to Newsday reporter Nicole Fuller reported that Weiner will also have to pay a $10,000 fine that he has to start paying during his stint in prison. He will also have to surrender himself by 2 p.m. on November 6 to start his sentence.
The sentence is the minimum amount that a prosecutor had recommended, as Weiner faced between 21 and 27 months in prison.
Weiner pleaded guilty in May to transferring obscene material for sending sexually explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl.
Prosecutors also say he broke the law by asking the girl to perform sexual acts via Snapchat and Skype.
Weiner’s conduct led to a federal investigation. Weiner’s wife Huma Abedin, an aide to Hillary Clinton, also announced she would leave Weiner.
The investigation led then-FBI Director James B. Comey to inform Congress that emails on discovered Weiner’s laptop were related to the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server.
Clinton and Democrats believe Comey’s letter tipped the presidential election in favor of Donald Trump’s election.
Weiner resigned from Congress in 2011 after his first sexting scandal.
He attempted a political comeback in 2013 and ran for mayor of New York, but revelations that he had continued sending explicit messages doomed his campaign.
Weiner’s lawyers said he is receiving treatment and has apologized to the girl, who is a high school student in North Carolina.
But they also said that the girl instigated contact to influence the 2016 election and write a book.
Prosecutors responded by saying that the girl’s intentions are irrelevant and that Weiner made similar statements about changing after his initial scandal in 2011, but continued messaging adult women.
