Skip to main content

News crews try to get comments from Anthony Weiner as he leaves his Park Avenue apartment, Wednesday, July 31, 2013, in New York.Louis Lanzano/The Associated Press

Anthony Weiner doesn't want to "quibble" about whether or not he's still sexting.

Asked in his latest interview whether "another woman's shoe is going to drop" during his campaign, the mayoral candidate said he had no idea.

"These are people who I thought were friends, people I trusted when I communicated with them. But who knows what they might do now," he said. "You can quibble about beginnings, middles and ends but what we're talking about is over a year ago."

Mr. Weiner is keen to keep the focus on the allegations already against him, shying away from speculation about what else might be out there. But his comments stand to reason that there may be more disclosures ahead.

Mr. Weiner has done this kind of prefacing before. Initially, when he began his race for office, before the so-called "second wave" of scandalous headlines, Mr. Weiner says he was clear to the press that it was likely on the horizon.

"As inartfully as I did it, I told anyone who would listen that there might be another issue coming up from my past. People wrote headline stories about more to come. He doesn't know how many there are. I knew it would happen but I didn't want to lead a conversation about that. That was a mistake. I handled that part of my [candidacy] announcement wrong," he told The New York Daily News.

Sure, looking back it makes sense for Mr. Weiner to regret losing ownership over the narrative early. But here we are, quite possibly in the same situation on a smaller scale. And this time it seems Mr. Weiner is doing exactly the same thing, quietly gambling that any remaining partners or unexamined exchanges won't come forward.

As much as Mr. Weiner can release short videos about how quitting "isn't the way we roll in New York City," he knows this isn't something he can roll up his sleeves and fix. Anthony Weiner's fate is ultimately in the hands of the women he sexted with, and Sydney Leathers, the most recent, didn't hesitate to exploit her situation for media attention – and the feeling of sheer power.

"I shall ruin his campaign one way or another. Muahahaha," she reportedly said to a Facebook friend. She said she was excited to earn "hundreds of thousands of dollars" from the exposure.

Interact with The Globe