BY Alison Gendar and Corky Siemaszko
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Thursday, June 16th 2011, 2:38 PM
Craig Warga/News
Congressman Anthony Weiner announced his resignation Thursday after weeks of being embroiled in a scandal over lewd text messages.
Rep. Anthony Weiner finally stepped down Thursday after a three-week cybersex scandal that turned the once promising politician into a laughingstock.
"I had hoped to be able to continue the work that the citizens of my district elected me to do,” Weiner said. “But the distraction that I have created has made that impossible."
Then Weiner said he was resigning his seat and in a sign of how low his stock had fallen in a district that reelected him handily several times, some in the crowd actually broke into cheers - and one man was heard yelling "bye-bye pervert."
Weiner paused for a moment and then finished his statement.
It was an unusually terse statement from the normally loquacious liberal.
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And his pregnant wife, Huma Adedin, was not by his side to witness the final act of her husband's spectacular fall from grace.
Weiner agreed to step down after consulting his wife - and after days of defying the Democratic leadership's call for his resignation.
"What broke him is Huma," said the source. "She said she can't see him continuing."
Weiner then called top Democratic leaders and said he would resign his seat. He chose to make his exit from the Sheepshead Bay senior center where he launched his first run for office in 1992.
Abedin stayed behind in their Kew Gardens apartment when Weiner left to face the cameras - and the music.
Abedin has said nothing about the scandal. Nor has she acknowledged reports that she is pregnant with their first child.
It remains to be seen whether their 11 month marriage will survive.
Weiner staffers have already cleared out of their Washington offices and locked the door behind them.
Abedin, 35, took off on a diplomatic mission with her pal and boss, Secretary of State Clinton, shortly after her husband's scandal broke two weeks ago.
She returned to the couple's apartment in Washington early Wednesday.
On Thursday morning, word leaked out that Weiner was stepping down.
Weiner notified House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Steve Israel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, on Wednesday night by phone while they were at a White House picnic.
Pelosi told Weiner they were planning to strip him of his committee seats Thursday and "basically said they would not rest until it was done," a Democratic source said.
Mayor Bloomberg called Weiner's fall "tragic" but a "positive step" for the country.
"You can't just let this go on and on," he said. "It's become a diversion away from all the important things this country has to deal with."
Weiner's congressional colleagues said they were relieved that the disgusting drama was almost over.
"I'm sorry it has come to this, but I think it's best for both him and his family and for the Congress," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, (D-Manhattan). "While the disclosures of his behavior have been incredibly disappointing, I'm going to choose to remember all the good things he's done for his district and our city."
Weiner, 46, had been under massive pressure to quit after his kinky computer antics with Internet ingenues and repeated lies turned him into a political pariah and a late-night punchline.
The scandal began after Weiner accidentally sent out a bulging crotch shot via Twitter - which was followed by an increasingly appalling series of nude and semi-nude photos of the congressman.
Every day seemed to bring a new indignity, from President Obama's rebuke to a porn star going public with word that Weiner had asked her to lie about their cyber-relationship.
The Democrat - once considered a front-runner in the race for City Hall - finally came clean at a tearful news conference where he acknowledged wooing a half-dozen woman via Twitter, Facebook and text messages.
The creepy congressman even exchanged Facebook messages with a 17-year-old high school girl from Delaware. Those turned out to be G-rated.
Weiner took a two-week leave from Congress and reportedly went into rehab. But that wasn't enough to silence the critics demanding his ouster.
Weiner will be the third member of Congress to resign in disgrace this year for sexual shenanigans.
Rep. Chris Lee (R-Niagara) quit abruptly after posting a shirtless photo of himself on craigslist looking for a lover.
Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) stepped down as an ethics committee was probing his affair with a former aide and an attempted cover-up.
With Lillian Rizzo, Trevor Kapp, Kenneth Lovett, Jonathan Lemire and Larry McShane
csiemaszko@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/06/16/2011-06-16_anthony_weiner_resigns_disgraced_congressman_calls_it_quits_over_sexting_scandal.html#ixzz1PTUJ0gV1
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