Anthony Weiner sentenced to 21 months

By: The Associated Press

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NEW YORK, N.Y. (AP) — Anthony Weiner has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for sexting with a 15-year-old girl in a case that may have cost Hillary Clinton’s the presidency.

The former Democratic congressman from New York had faced up to 27 months in prison on Monday after his guilty plea to one charge of transferring obscene material to a minor.

Prosecutors say he broke the law by having illicit contact with a 15-year-old girl using Skype and Snapchat.

Weiner’s sexting habit destroyed his career in Congress, his campaign for mayor and his marriage to Huma Adedin, a former aide to Clinton.

It also became an issue in the closing days of 2016 presidential election when then FBI Director James Comey cited emails discovered on a laptop used by Weiner to justify reopening the probe of Clinton’s private computer server.

Weiner called his crime his “rock bottom” as he spoke just before a judge in New York City sentences him for his sexting crime.

Weiner fought back tears and occasionally cried Monday as he read from a written statement on a page he held in front of him in Manhattan federal court. He said he was “a very sick man for a very long time.” He asked to be spared from prison.

The Democrat’s lawyer, Arlo Devlin-Brown, had asked that Weiner serve no prison time. A prosecutor recommended he serve between 21 months and 27 months in prison.

A prosecutor has urged a judge in New York City to sentence Anthony Weiner to a significant prison sentence to end his “tragic cycle” of sexting.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Kramer told a Manhattan federal court judge Tuesday that Weiner on three occasions in 2016 asked a 15-year-old girl to display her naked body online and to perform for him.

The prosecutor noted that sexting had already ruined Weiner’s congressional career and spoiled his run for mayor of New York City before he began interacting with the teenager.

Kramer said Weiner should go to prison for between 21 months and 27 months.

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