A former porn actress says Rep. Anthony Weiner pestered her with sexually charged messages that mentioned his "package" and asked her to lie about their relationship.
Ginger Lee and her attorney, Gloria Allred, held a news conference in New York on Wednesday to explain Lee's relationship with the congressman who has admitted having numerous inappropriate relationships with women online.
Lee, from La Vergne, Tenn., said the pair exchanged about 100 emails between March and June, but said she never received photos from Weiner and never sent him any. She said she followed him on Twitter because she liked his stance on Planned Parenthood funding and health care, and that he repeatedly tried to turn the conversation into sexual banter.
"My package and I are not going to beg," Weiner emailed at one point, according to Allred. Another email said "I have wardrobe demands too -- I need to highlight my package."
"I did not reciprocate," Lee said Wednesday.
Lee said as Weiner's Twitter scandal was unfolding, the married lawmaker gave her a statement to put out, which read:
"I haven't met Rep. Weiner. I follow him on Twitter because I support him & what he stands for. I have been hounded by his political opponents, but that hasn't changed my view of him and what he fights for."
Lee, who vowed to cooperate with the House ethics investigation if needed, did not specify what exactly Weiner asked her to lie about. Shortly after she released the statement in early June, she said he called her and told her "if neither of us said anything over the weekend, the story would calm down and die."
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Weiner came clean the Monday afterward, admitting during a tearful news conference that he had mistakenly sent a photo of his groin on Twitter, and then lied about it. He also said he had engaged in inappropriate relationships with several other women online.
Allred said Wednesday that Weiner appeared aware of the danger behind his actions. She said he had mentioned to Lee that "a Twitter scandal might occur and that conservatives were behind it."
Weiner's House Democratic colleagues are looking for him to step down this week amid a growing chorus for him to resign. Even President Barack Obama has suggested he should leave.
Adding to the drama, 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 Weiner's New York Democratic delegation, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, said she's heard from Weiner's friends that the congressman is waiting for his wife to come home before making any decisions about his political future. McCarthy also cited talk among Weiner's friends about the possibility he could resign this week.
Weiner is on a temporary leave of absence from Congress, in treatment for an undisclosed disorder at an undisclosed location.
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