Anthony Weiner Sentenced to 21 Months in Prison for Sexting

Former Rep. Anthony Weiner was sentenced Monday to 21 months in prison and three years probation for sexting with a 15-year-old girl in a case that rocked Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the White House in the closing days of the race and may have cost her the presidency.

Weiner, 53, dropped his head into his hand and wept as the sentence was announced by Judge Denise Cote. He must surrender to prison officials by Nov. 6.

The sentencing completed the sordid downfall of the New York Democrat, whose penchant for exchanging lewd messages and photos with young women online destroyed his career in Congress in 2011, doomed his bid for mayor of New York in 2013, wrecked his marriage to Clinton’s closest aide, Huma Abedin, and became entangled in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Admitting “I have a sickness, but I do not have an excuse,” Weiner pleaded guilty in May to transferring obscene material to a North Carolina teenager, agreeing not to challenge a sentence of up to 27 months.

But Weiner still sought to be spared from prison, tearfully telling Cote on Monday that the crime he committed was his “rock bottom.” He said he accepted "complete and total responsibility" for it, and was "profoundly sorry" to the victim.

Weiner also told the court, "I'm an addict," adding that his brother Seth was killed by an addiction he did not name but said "that's not me."

Weiner described a rigorous program of therapy and daily meetings he's attended for nearly a year, and a "smaller" life where his young son is "my salvation."

"I know it's real," he said of his recovery. "I don't ask you to trust me. I ask you for the opportunity to prove it is real." 

It appeared that Judge Cote would side with the defense as she announced her sentence, referring to Weiner's "first serious engagement with treatment" and no evidence of any deviant interest in teenagers.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Kramer had urged Cote to give Weiner a significant prison sentence not only to deter others from such a serious crime, but to deter the defendant from re-offending. She said "there is a history that cannot be ignored" with respect to his sexting and previous claims about getting help. 

The FBI was investigating Weiner’s contact with the high school student when it came across emails on his laptop between Abedin and Clinton, prompting then-FBI Director James Comey to announce in late October 2016 that he was reopening the probe of Clinton’s use of a private computer server.

Two days before Election Day, the FBI announced there was nothing new in the emails. But Clinton has blamed Comey’s handling of the episode more than any other factor for her loss to Donald Trump. In a recent NBC interview, she called the FBI director’s intervention “the determining factor” in her defeat.

Weiner’s lawyers had argued in court papers that he was undergoing treatment and was profoundly sorry for subjecting the girl to his “deep sickness.” They also portrayed her as an instigator, saying she wanted to generate material for a book and possibly influence the presidential election.

Prosecutors responded by arguing the victim’s motives were irrelevant to the punishment and said Weiner’s habit of getting caught sexting “suggests a dangerous level of denial and lack of self-control.”

Weiner, wearing his wedding ring, seemed pensive just before Monnday’s hearing began. His parents were in the courtroom but not his wife. He and Abedin are currently going through divorce proceedings.

Weiner’s behavior in all its lurid detail — including his online alias “Carlos Danger” and a selfie of his bulging underwear — turned him and his last name into an irresistible punchline for late-night comics and mortified his wife again and again. 

In her new memoir, “What Happened,” Clinton revealed that Weiner’s wife “looked stricken” and burst into tears upon learning her husband had triggered Comey’s “October surprise.”

“This man is going to be the death of me,” Abedin was quoted as saying.