X-Rated Picture With A Twist

June 8th, 2011
07:36 PM ET



..By the CNN Wire Staff

Explicit photo is latest twist in Weiner scandal

(CNN) -- A photo that conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart claims shows the naked genitals of Rep. Anthony Weiner made its way to the Internet on Wednesday.

Breitbart, appearing on the "Opie and Anthony" show on the Sirius XM radio network, showed the picture on his cell phone during the interview, according to Breitbart and the show's hosts.

A television camera recorded the image of the cell phone with the picture on its screen, and that image was then sent out on Twitter by the show host known as Opie, whose real name is Gregg Hughes.

According to Breitbart, he got the photo from a woman who communicated with Weiner online. The woman told Breitbart that Weiner sent her the photo.

Dems privately urge Weiner to resign

On Monday, Breitbart told reporters he had an "X-rated" photo that had been sent to a woman by Weiner. Breitbart said then he wasn't going to release it publicly for now.

Democrats offer Weiner advice

When asked by a reporter later Monday if he could deny Breitbart's claim that an X-rated photo existed, Weiner said: "No, I cannot."

Both Breitbart and the "Opie and Anthony" hosts said Wednesday that the public release of the photo occurred without Breitbart's knowledge.

In a video posted on YouTube explaining what happened, Hughes said a viewer using screen-capture technology sent co-host Anthony Cumia the televised image of Breitbart's phone showing the photo.

What was Weiner thinking?

Hughes said he then took a cellphone photo of Cumia's cellphone showing the screen-captured image of Breitbart's cellphone with the photo on its screen.

"At that point, it was race to see who could tweet the picture the fastest, and that's exactly what we did," Hughes said in the YouTube video.

"I'm convinced that Andrew Breitbart did not want this picture to be released at this time," Hughes continued. "Unfortunately it was. What're you going to do?

In his own statement, Breitbart said he regretted the photo had entered the public domain.