Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

"Rep. Anthony Weiner, New York Democrat, has “retained counsel”

"A spokesman for Rep. Anthony Weiner, New York Democrat, told The Daily Caller the Congressman’s team has “retained counsel” and is exploring the “proper next steps” after his official Twitter account posted a picture of a man’s erect penis underneath gray boxer shorts. The internet-driven scandal has come to be known online as “Weinergate,” a pun on the Congressman’s last name."

Ace of Spades

Not being terribly Twitter savvy, there are several things I do not understand.

Weiner is back to tweeting today. Does this mean the "hacker" gave him control back? Seriously, does this mean the "hacker" figured out the password and gave that info back to Weiner, who reset his password?

Also why would this girl say that she was being harassed by a person who was known to her, when the pic was listed as being Weiner's? As a defense, this doesn't seem to, um, make any, um, SENSE.

Just askin.' Not terribly bright or insightful questions, I suppose, but ones I don't get.

It all seems so stupid. Personally I don't care what he does with his personal life; what concerns me is national security and predatory behavior on the part of a person with government power toward young people.

There is no quote from Weiner in the linked article. Funny that ;) MFM Fail.

“It happens to people,” Rep. Weiner asserted, “You move on.” (and retain counsel)

CNN

Unfortunately for Congressman Weiner, Weinergate jumps to the MSM which found this a hard story to ignore.

NY Daily News

CBS manages to get the very first thing about the story wrong: the Congressman didn't say it. His spokesman did. The Congressman, who normally can't be chased away from in front of a camera with a firehose, is suddenly uninterested in speaking directly to the press.

In a given situation, an innocent person can be expected to act a certain way. When the alleged victim claims to be the victim of a very public and embarrassing crime and doesn't get the immediately involve the authorities, perhaps no crime has actually taken place.

First, have to figure out what it is. Then, have to determine what is is.

I'll say it again:

Pornstars
High school girls
Pictures of private parts
Girls tweeting that Weiner is their 'boyfriend'
Weiner's PR guy lies about the timeline of what happened
Weiner erases all evidence when hacking the account of a Congressman would certainly be investigated as a Federal crime
Leftwing media sites go into damage-control mode by ignoring story when you know if this were Todd Palin...

I wonder what Weiner's wife thinks of all this?

"Also why would this girl say that she was being harassed by a person who was known to her"

My thought was that the one sensible "out" that Weiner had was if he claimed that a handful of staffers had access to his twitter account for campaign/communications type uses. That would be easily explainable, and fit all the known facts. He would just need to find a staffer to take the blame.

The opportunity to make that claim is long past, and the other explanations offered seem to now contradict that as a possibility.

The CBS story is curious on two counts, First, they did not ask the obvious question, or if so, declined to report on it.

Weiner says his Twitter account was hacked. The obvious question: "Congressman, did you file a criminal complaint, and if so, with whom?"

Secondary questions:

"If the hack succeeded, why were you back on tweeting on your account within four minutes of this "tweet" being sent? Weren't you concerned about security of the account?

How did you get back in almost immediately? Did the hacker leave your password on your account intact?

At least make the guy explain!

After not reporting on it for a considerable period of time -- with the exception of the initial Politico story -- some stories, such as the one at Daily Caller, are now reporting a backup claim (ht Viator above):

"We’ve retained counsel to explore the proper next steps and to advise us on what civil or criminal actions should be taken," Weiner spokesman Dave Arnold said in an email. "This was a prank. We are loath to treat it as more, but we are relying on professional advice."

That "it was only a prank" defense indirectly addresses why he may not have filed a criminal complaint. But think about it for a second. He might just as well say he has no intention of filing a criminal complaint (or a civil complaint). It is essential to act very quickly in such a situation to preserve as much of the factual record as possible. You don't sit around for several days pondering whether on not to take action! You at least initiate an investigation to determine who might have "hacked" into your account, and you then ponder how hard to press the matter -- whether civilly or criminally. Otherwise, how could he know it was only a prank?

But perhaps the oddest part of the CBS story is that the girl who was the object of this and other tweets from him, Genette Cordova, is telling reporters a somewhat different story from his. She is quoted saying that the tweet did not come from his account.

From her statement as printed in full by the NY Daily News and, as quoted in the report by CBS:

For her part, the woman who allegedly received the photos also said Rep. Weiner was almost certainly not responsible. In a statement, Genette Cordova said "The account that these tweets were sent from was familiar to me; this person had harassed me many times after the Congressman followed me on Twitter a month or so ago. Since I had dealt with this person and his cohorts before I assumed that the tweet and the picture were their latest attempts at defaming the Congressman and harassing his supporters.

After being called everything from "Anthony Weiner's 21-year-old coed mistress" to the person responsible for the hack, and after her friends and family were also allegedly harassed, Cordova said: "All of this is so outlandish that I don't know whether to be pissed off or amused, quite frankly."

Ooooops! Sez she: "Different account" . . . Sez he: "I wuz hacked!" . . . two entirely different stories.

What CBS did not say is that she also says she never saw the original "tweet" that was sent to her from Weiner's Twitter account, only the "retweets."

"There have never been any inappropriate exchanges between Anthony Weiner and myself, including the tweet/picture in question, which had apparently been deleted before it reached me. I cannot answer the questions that I do not have the answers to.
. . . . (my emphasis added)

Funny how CBS failed to catch that one! How could she conclude the tweet did not come from Weiner if she never saw the original tweet?

Some of Congressman Weiner's other 195 friends:

RIGHTNETWORK

Other MSM coverage:

NY Times, 05/29 pm post, here 5/30 article. The story -- Congressman Weiner alleges his twitter account was hacked. Does not address issue of whether he has reported the incident, nor whether he will. Does not mention fact that the Tweet was addressed specifically to 21 year-old student, but was instead sent out on his public twitter stream. Notes that incident was first reported on Big-Government a site "run by the conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart." References claim by "a woman" that she was one who received photo, as first reported in NY Daily News. She now says she never saw the "original" tweet.

Washington Post 5/30 blogpost in Entertainment section here The story -- "Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) says he's the latest congressional victim of a Twitter hacking, BigGovernment.com reported early Saturday." (Did not single out BigGovermment as "conservative.") Does not address issue of whether he reported the incident, nor whether he will, but quotes spokesman saying, "we will be consulting on what steps to take next." Does not touch on fact that it was addressed specifically to 21 year old, but instead was sent out on his public twitter stream. Quotes her confusing claim that she was "familiar" with the the accounts sent from -- those were re-tweets, she later said she never saw the original tweet, but that is not mentioned in this story.

Wall Street Journal Today prints short AP story laying out the "prank defense," with strong presumption that his account was "hacked."

NEW YORK — New York Rep. Anthony Weiner (WEE'-nur) has hired a lawyer to investigate what steps to take regarding a lewd photo sent from his hacked Twitter account.

His spokesman, Dave Arnold, says the Democrat believes it was a prank. But he's retained a lawyer to advise him on what civil or criminal actions should be taken."
. . . .

Whoa . . . hold your seats! CNN has now apparently jumped on the reasonable reaction bus! CNN, folks!

The CNN clip is posted at Big Government, here:

And here is the teaser portion posted on that Big Government post:

CNN's John King asks a great question:

"There's one way the congressman could try to put this to rest, and that would be to call the Capitol Police or call the FBI and say 'come on in, please launch an investigation because I was hacked.' Why hasn't he done that?"

According to Dana Bash, Rep. Weiner's office did not respond to that question but informed CNN that the congressman instead has hired a lawyer.

As John King says: "Curious."

John King??!! Dana Bash??!!

More from CNN . . . Ed Morrissey at HotAir has posted a devastating CNN video showing Rep. Weiner trotting out what Ed characterizes as the "time to move along" defense to a skeptical gaggle of reporters, and refusing to answer any further questions.

As any viewer can tell the reporters now sense a balk, given this sudden "downgrade" of his, in which he is now calling the alleged "hacking" of his Twitter and other accounts just "a prank," coupled with the Congressman's reluctance to call for an investigation.

In short, now even many in the MSM are starting to think this may be a case of an organ "donation" gone wrong.