Which is to say, it won’t be happening anytime soon. Less than 18 hours after Weiner “apologized” and “accepted full responsibility,” he’s already been caught out in his first big lie. “At no time did I or any member of my staff try to do anything to cover anything up,” said the prevaricating pic-perv. “There was no coaching of any sort going on.”
Congressman Anthony Weiner instructed one of his Internet women how to lie about their relationship … and even offered PR help from his team, which could create major legal issues for him … TMZ has learned.
Weiner and former porn star Ginger Lee exchanged scores of sexual emails over a long period of time. When the underwear scandal broke on May 28, Lee began receiving calls from the media, and Weiner was more than happy to help her control the situation … by lying.
On June 2, Weiner emailed Lee, “Do you need to talk to a professional PR type person to give u advice? I can have someone on my team call. [Yeah, my team is doing great. Ugh].”
It’s unclear if Weiner’s PR team is from his Congressional staff. If so, Weiner could run afoul of House Ethics Rules as well as the law.
Weiner put on a full court press, urging Lee to lie about their relationship. On June 1, he emailed her: “The key is to have a short, thought out statement that tackles the top line questions and then refer people back to it. Have a couple of iterations of: ‘This is silly. Like so many others, I follow Rep. Weiner on Twitter. I don’t know him and have never met him. He briefly followed me and sent me a dm saying thank you for the follow. That’s it.'”
On June 2, Weiner sent Lee a proposed statement she could give to the press: “I have nothing to do with the situation involving Rep Weiner. I follow his twitter feed. And for a brief time he followed me. Much has been made of the fact that I have posted about my admiration for Rep Weiner and his politics. All I can say about that is that I’m a fan of his. Rep. Weiner sent me one short direct message thanking me for following him. I have never met Rep. Weiner and he has never sent me anything innappopriate (sic) …”
Let’s compare Weiner’s helpful coaching of Lee to what she told TheDC’s Matthew Boyle. On June 1:
“I haven’t met Rep Weiner. I follow him on twitter because I support him & what he stands for,” Lee said in an email to TheDC. “I have been hounded by his political opponents but that hasn’t changed my view of him and what he fights for.”
And June 2:
“Thank you, but I stand by my original statement,” Lee said when TheDC asked if she’d like to weigh in on what the scandal-embroiled congressman said about their communications on CNN.
Well, she certainly knows how to follow orders. You might call it a career skill. And she unlearned another important career skill by keeping her mouth shut.
As for Weiner’s previous characterization of his online relationship with his actress friend:
“I — most likely what she’s referring to is, as a pro forma thing, thank you for following Congressman Anthony — thank you for following me, please stay tuned to AnthonyWeiner.com for updates of other things going on,” Weiner said. “That’s probably what she’s referring to.”
Boy, if you can’t trust a New York politician and a porn star… Could somebody please do a Venn diagram of the various lies already, and how they overlap? It’s probably just easier to assume nothing Weiner says is the complete truth.
Ginger Lee is a good porn name, and it’s not like she needs to change it because it’s been tainted by scandal. If anything, this whole thing must have boosted her day rate. But if she’s looking for a new moniker, and considering her fondness for the congressman, how about… Anita Weiner?
P.S. Call the fight. No, wait, don’t.