Rep. Anthony Weiner on Twitter Photo Scandal: 'I Was Pranked' — Transcript

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1. 0:00we'll Turn the Page now to the internet
2. 0:03which has revolutionized politics from
3. 0:04fundraising to organizing to election
4. 0:06day Logistics and it also every once in
5. 0:08a while leaves a politician dearly
6. 0:11wishing they hadn't posted that photo or
7. 0:13sent that email well it's unclear what
8. 0:16role Congressman Anthony Weiner played
9. 0:18in the Scandal that currently surrounds
10. 0:20him what is clear is that it's not very
11. 0:23safe for cpan here's Jonathan
12. 0:25Carl this is the picture that started
13. 0:28the controversy tweeted from the account
14. 0:30of one of congress's brightest
15. 0:31Democratic stars and directed to the
16. 0:34Twitter name of this 21-year-old college
17. 0:36student but it was the congressman's
18. 0:38response that created The Firestorm I am
19. 0:42not going to permit myself to be
20. 0:44distracted by this issue any longer
21. 0:46answer the question wasn't from you or
22. 0:47not permit permit me do you guys want me
23. 0:50to finish my answer every reason will
24. 0:52you do the questions I do the answers
25. 0:54and this jackass interrupts me how about
26. 0:55that as the as the the new rule of the
27. 0:56game at the end of that disastrous press
28. 0:59conference he insisted Ed he wasn't
29. 1:00going to talk about it anymore but today
30. 1:03with a growing media circus outside his
31. 1:05office Congressman weiner a little
32. 1:07calmer decided to talk some more this
33. 1:10whole thing would just go away if you
34. 1:11just answer a couple really basic
35. 1:13questions right did you send the Tweet
36. 1:16is that a photograph of you and why not
37. 1:20call for an investigation the answer is
38. 1:21I did not send that tweet it my system
39. 1:24was hacked I was pranked it was a fairly
40. 1:27common one people make fun of my name
41. 1:28all the time when you name weener it you
42. 1:30kind of get that I've asked a firm to
43. 1:33take a look at this they're hiring an
44. 1:34Internet Security operation we want to
45. 1:36make sure that it doesn't happen again
46. 1:38weer is a genuine power player
47. 1:40considered a top candidate to be the
48. 1:42next mayor of New York he's married to
49. 1:44one of Hillary Clinton's closest friends
50. 1:46and advisers Bill Clinton presided over
51. 1:48their wedding he is also one of the most
52. 1:51colorful and loudest members of Congress
53. 1:54the gentleman will observe regular order
54. 1:56and sit down I will not with a wick
55. 2:00sense of humor I do the weener jokes
56. 2:02around here guys and
57. 2:04uh and really like who is Boehner
58. 2:06fooling what am I like Anthony wayer
59. 2:08what am I I mean like but on this
60. 2:09controversy there's one basic question
61. 2:12he says he just can't answer tell me
62. 2:14definitively is that a photograph of you
63. 2:17we're trying to find out this where that
64. 2:19photograph came from and whether it was
65. 2:21manipulated whether part of it might be
66. 2:23from something that that was in my
67. 2:25account this is kind of strange you
68. 2:27can't tell me definitively that is a
69. 2:29photo you or it is not a photo of you
70. 2:31look here's what I I'm reluctant to say
71. 2:33to you definitively anything about this
72. 2:35at a c point I got to say it sounds I
73. 2:37mean if somebody had a picture of me my
74. 2:39underwear I think I would know it was a
75. 2:41photog what if it was a picture of you
76. 2:43that was manipulated that wasn't a
77. 2:44picture of you or was taken from your
78. 2:46account or put into your account what if
79. 2:48it was a picture of yours but let me let
80. 2:49me ask you but I'm I'm I'm telling
81. 2:52here's here's here's all that here's all
82. 2:53that I can do is that I I said let's try
83. 2:56to figure out who how what this how this
84. 2:59Frank went down how we make sure it
85. 3:01doesn't happen again the controversy has
86. 3:03generated ample material for late night
87. 3:05comedians including Weiner's friend John
88. 3:08Stewart from this the only thing that
89. 3:09Anthony Weiner and this gentleman here
90. 3:12appear to have in common is uh that they
91. 3:14both lean hard to the extreme left
92. 3:17boom
93. 3:20boom weiner with more than 40,000
94. 3:22followers is one of the most active
95. 3:24tweeters in Congress but these days most
96. 3:27members of Congress have Twitter
97. 3:29accounts today in an exclusive interview
98. 3:32we asked Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi
99. 3:34about the alleged breach of Weiner's
100. 3:36account do you think this issue should
101. 3:38be investigated to see if there was a
102. 3:40hack and how it happened I'm late a late
103. 3:42Comer to the issue but I'm sure I have
104. 3:44confidence in Anthony Wier that uh if an
105. 3:46investigation is in order that will take
106. 3:48place 5 days after the alleged hack
107. 3:51weiner hasn't even reported it to law
108. 3:53enforcement it was a hoax it was someone
109. 3:56sending a picture of a wiener on
110. 3:57Weiner's account it's one of the jokes
111. 3:59I've been getting since I was 5 years
112. 4:00old this was a gag this was a joke that
113. 4:03someone committed on me to try to
114. 4:04distract me and you can say all right
115. 4:06let's have more and more investigations
116. 4:08maybe let's call it the let's call the
117. 4:10FBI the CIA you can call Twitter and ask
118. 4:12them right to find out like that one of
119. 4:14the things that we've asked this this
120. 4:15firm to do who's going to have an
121. 4:17internet an internet privacy firm kind
122. 4:19of come in and try to figure out what
123. 4:20happened but let's see what they come up
124. 4:23with if if if they come back to me and
125. 4:25say oh yes this is a this Rises to the
126. 4:27level of national security or or this
127. 4:30was no this was you being sloppy with a
128. 4:32password or this was you being sloppy
129. 4:34with your cell phone do we really want
130. 4:36to have the taxpayers pay for a big
131. 4:38investigation of that I think not so
132. 4:40let's let let's let's let the chips fall
133. 4:42where they may and I'm I'm certainly
134. 4:43prepared to wherever those chips fall
135. 4:45weer hopes that now he's done talking
136. 4:47about it for real for Nightline I'm
137. 4:50Jonathan Carl in Washington