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Update 6:45 p.m.: On Friday, Bob Filner offered his resignation as mayor of San Diego as part of a negotiated deal between the politician's legal team and the city. The city accepted his resignation effective August 30, 2013. Speaking before the council, Filner offered a "deep apology" for his part in the scandal, before moving on to an apology to his supporters, who cheered in the meeting room in response. He also apologized to his former fiancee.
Then, Filner addressed the allegations against him — eighteen accusations of sexual harassment from — by comparing them to "the hysteria of a lynch mob." He said: "In a lynch mob mentality, rumors become allegations, allegations become facts, facts become evidence of sexual harassment."
Before the closed vote by the council to accept Filner's resignation, 40 city residents, speaking for a minute each, participated in a public comment period. The comments were a mix of support for the mayor and praises for his impending resignation. Filner was the first progressive mayor of San Diego in decades, and several Filner supporters seemed to believe that the accusations against him were part of a conspiracy by his political opponents to remove him from office. In a recent poll, however, 81 percent of city voters wanted the mayor to resign.