NEW YORK (AP) — A former porn actress who said she exchanged emails and messages over Twitter with Rep. Anthony D. Weiner said Wednesday he asked her to lie about their online communications.
Ginger Lee said she and Mr. Weiner, New York Democrat, exchanged about 100 emails between March and June, beginning after Ms. Lee posted a supportive statement about the congressman on her blog. She said they mostly discussed politics, but he often would turn the conversation to sex.
“’I have wardrobe demands too. I need to highlight my package,’” Mr. Weiner wrote Ms. Lee in an email read aloud at the news conference by Ms. Lee’s attorney, Gloria Allred.
Mr. Weiner acknowledged last week that he had sent lewd photos and texts to women after a photo of his crotch was posted on Twitter. In an interview two weeks ago, he acknowledged that he had exchanged messages with Ms. Lee but didn’t elaborate.
Ms. Lee said she did not send sexually suggestive messages to Mr. Weiner.
“Any time that he would take our communications in a sexual direction, I did not reciprocate,” she said.
Mr. Weiner sent Ms. Lee an email after the photo of his crotch was sent out on his Twitter account, and “he asked me to lie” about their contact, she said.
Ms. Lee said she put out a three-sentence statement on the matter at his request. She said she then went into hiding, and on June 2 he called her and told her to avoid press.
She said she was coming forward now to tell the truth and to deny reports that she was in an online sexual relationship with him.
Ms. Allred is a Los Angeles attorney who has represented figures in high-profile sex scandals, including a woman who said she was a girlfriend of Tiger Woods and a former child actress who said she had an affair with former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
A Weiner spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment. Mr. Weiner has taken a two-week leave from the House for treatment of an undisclosed disorder at an undisclosed location.
House Democratic colleagues are looking for him to step down this week amid a growing chorus for him to resign. Even President Obama has suggested he should leave.
Adding to the drama, Mr. Weiner’s pregnant wife, Huma Abedin, returned Wednesday from a trip to Africa with her boss, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
A fellow member of Mr. Weiner’s New York Democratic delegation, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, said she’s heard from Mr. Weiner’s friends that the congressman was waiting for his wife to come home before making any decisions about his political future. Mrs. McCarthy also cited talk among Mr. Weiner’s friends about the possibility he could resign this week.
House Democrats huddled behind closed doors Tuesday for their regular party meeting, but they decided against taking action against Mr. Weiner in hopes that he’ll resign soon.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, reiterated her call for Mr. Weiner to quit, saying after the meeting that she wanted to make sure nobody missed her earlier resignation call while members were on a weeklong recess.
Rep. Sander M. Levin, Michigan Democrat, said: “I think we should send a strong message to him that he should resign, and let’s see what happens. The more of us who say it, the more telling it will be.”
House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, earlier was content to let Democrats wrestle with the embarrassing scandal, but when asked Tuesday whether Mr. Weiner should resign, he responded, “Yes.”
The furor over sexually suggestive photos and other revelations about the 46-year-old congressman has been a distraction for Democrats seeking momentum as they gear up for the 2012 elections. Besides Mrs. Pelosi, several other Democrats have called for Mr. Weiner to quit, including the chair of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida.
Associated Press writer Andrew Miga in Washington contributed to this report.
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