Anthony Weiner Has Resigned

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Update 2:33 p.m. Anthony Weiner resigned from office in a short speech that reflected on his family and middle class values. It began apologetically--"I'm here again to apologize for the personal mistakes I have made," Weiner said. It continued with Weiner speaking over hecklers who cheered and called him a pervert when he announced that he was resigning. According to Andrea Mitchell on Twitter: "NY reporters say heckler was Benji from Howard Stern radio show - natch. Escorted out by police. Weiner supporters tried to shout him down."

Original Post: Anthony Weiner is expected to announce his resignation at a 2 p.m. press conference at a senior center in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. That neighborhood is the same one where Weiner began his political career winning a seat on the New York City Council in 1992. The presser comes after reports that Weiner consulted his friends as well as Democratic leadership about the decision and ahead of a meeting in which House Dems were to strip Weiner of his congressional committee assignments. Watch the presser below when it begins, and we'll add updates to this post as they arrive.

2:30 p.m. Weiner's speech ends without time for questioning. That was quick.

2:28 p.m. Weiner resigns. Hecklers in the back of the room volley back with "Bye, bye, pervert!" And the heckling continues to interrupt the speech. Weiner, visibly distressed, speaks over them.

2:26 p.m. Weiner steps onto stage and begins to speak. According to Ben Smith, "Huma's not here."

2:25 p.m. As we wait for Weiner--now 25 minutes late, of course--here are a collection of terrible slash creative tweets, many with more bad puns.

• Choire Sicha, editor of The Awl: At least Weiner is never premature I guess. #sorry #beneathme
• HuffPost Hill: How awesome would it be if Weiner takes the podium and just re-delivers his Congressional Correspondents Dinner speech?
• Ann Friedman, senior editor of GOOD: I make the case: Anthony Weiner's wife should run for his seat http://su.pr/1K5QtQ (Now with a working link!)
• TJ Ortenzy, social media producer at The Washington Post: Quick. Someone get a Skype convo going and put iPhone on the Weiner podium // RT @FishbowlDC: FNC has Breitbart by phone.

2:12 p.m. Weiner is so far 12 minutes late.

1:59 p.m. Politico's Maggie Haberman is tweeting from the senior center and offers some interesting context of what it's like in the room: 

• "Seniors at Weiner presser seem befuddled, less than thrilled by mass media collective here"
• "Weiner isn't taking q's. Two hours of waiting but it will be a statement."
• "Andrea Peyser of NYP missed front row seat at Weiner presser (Kramer got one). Peyser dragged over seat and is sitting with photogs"

1:47 p.m. In the flurry of press speculation before the announcement, an NBC cameraman reports via Twitter that the press gaggle outside of Anthony Weiner's office has been evacuated after a suspicious package was found. It's unclear whether Andrew Scritchfield is joking: "A tourist left a gift shop bag in the hall by #Weiner's office and now we're evacuated. #WOW http://yfrog.com/h0943nkj"

Brian Beutler, however, is almost certainly joking: Empty box with hole in it found outside Weiner's office. #partinggift.

Emily Miller, senior editor of The Washington Times, tweeted this shot of the evacuation:

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.