Anthony Weiner, the former New York congressman who pleaded guilty to sexting with a minor, is scheduled to be released from prison three months earlier than his original sentencing stipulated.
Federal Bureau of Prisons records show that Weiner is scheduled to be released on May 14, 2019, after serving 18 months in prison. He was originally sentenced to 21 months and had been scheduled for release in August 2019.
Weiner is being released for good conduct in prison, CNN and Politico confirmed Tuesday with a Bureau of Prisons spokesperson.
The former congressman and ex-husband of Hillary Clinton’s longtime aide Huma Abedin turned himself over to the FBI and pleaded guilty to a federal obscenity charge in May 2017. In front of a judge in a Manhattan federal court, Weiner admitted that he met a 15-year-old high school student on the internet and “engaged in obscene communication with this teen, just as I had done and continued to do with adult women.”
“I accept full responsibility for my conduct,” Weiner said in a statement. “I have a sickness but I do not have an excuse. ... I apologize to the teenage girl who I mistreated so badly.”
Weiner, who served as a Democrat in the House of Representatives for over a decade, resigned from Congress in 2011 after he was caught exchanging sexually explicit photos with women on social media. He then lost a bid for New York City mayor after more explicit messages became public.
In late August, the New York Post reported that Weiner had sent photos of his crotch to another woman, including a photo in which he was posing next to his 4-year-old son. Hours after the story was published, Abedin announced she was separating from Weiner. She later filed for divorce.
Federal officials and the New York City Police Department began investigating Weiner in September 2016 after the Daily Mail published a story accusing him of sending sexually explicit text messages to a 15-year-old girl.
Weiner’s text messages played a role in the 2016 presidential campaign. During the probe of Weiner’s conduct, federal agents found emails from Abedin on his laptop, prompting then-FBI Director James Comey to reopen an investigation into the private email server Clinton used during her time as U.S. secretary of state.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated the length of Weiner’s service in Congress.