Rep. Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat, attracted unwanted attention during the State of the Union address, when press reported on what appeared to be flirtatious tweets sent to a very pretty 24-year-old blonde. It didn't help Cohen's case when he then deleted the tweets just a few minutes. Oh no, it's another Weinergate only not as exciting because there's no penis photo, the conservative media crowed. Turns out Rep. Cohen actually has a very pretty 24-year-old daughter, a fact that has been kept secret from the public for, well, 24 years. Scandal dodged. Sort of. 
 
 It's actually pretty sweet story. Cohen told NBC News the whole thing on Thursday. Yes, Brinks has a secret daughter. Her name is Victoria Brink, and she appears to have had some sort of career as a bikini model. The congressman only found out about her three years ago. "I googled her mother, found out she had a child and the math looked pretty accurate," he said. "The mom told me we had a lot of catching up to do." Since then, Cohen's done his best to be a good dad. He's given her a tour of the Capitol and even took her to the White House Christmas party, where he asked the official photographer to take two pictures — one with him and Brinks together and one without Brinks — since nobody else knew about the situation. After that, Brinks took a trip to Memphis, Cohen's home district, though it's unclear if she hung out with dear old dad. 
 
 Cohen shows me picture of him and his daughter Victoria at White House Christmas party twitter.com/LukeRussert/st… — Luke Russert (@LukeRussert) February 14, 2013 
 
 All that said, the circumstances of Cohen's revealing his relationship with Brink are sketchy at best. That is to say, we can see how some people might think she was some sort of mistress. Cohen is not married, though his spokesperson says that he "has a longtime girlfriend in Memphis." Accounts vary as to when Cohen actually found out that Brinks was his daughter. His spokesperson says he's known her "pretty much since she was born" while NBC News says it's only been three years. There are a bunch of pictures on the Internet of Brink in skimpy bikinis, not that there's anything wrong with that. But again, we can see how some people would draw the conclusion that Brink is Cohen's secret lover, not his secret daughter. 
 
 One thing is absolutely clear: Cohen is bad at Twitter. Initially, Cohen's spokesperson said that the tweets were meant to be "private" direct messages to "the daughter of a longtime friend." You can almost smell Weinergate's return. As for the tweets themselves, Cohen says it was just good old fashioned paternal pride that compelled him to send them. "When she let me know she was watching the State of the Union address I was thrilled that she wanted Steve Cohen to be part of her," he told NBC News. "I had such joy, that I couldn't hold back from tweeting her." Everybody all at once: Awwwww. 
 
 The Sunlight Foundation maintains a website called Politwoops that archives politicians' deleted tweets, and this is not the first time that Cohen's tweeted at Brink. New York Magazine's Joe Coscarelli traces their Twitter relationship back to February 2012, almost exactly one year before the State of the Union, when Cohen favorited Brinks' first tweet. Tweets since then have been pretty adorable, especially Cohen's classic dad-just-learned-to-text spelling tricks — "miss u/wil call later_-give me a good time." 
 
 There will inevitably be a group of people that thinks Cohen is lying, that he made up an elaborate story about a long-lost daughter to avoid his own Weinergate. It's a pretty terrible cover story, though, you have to admit. Brazen at best. While we're eager to find out more details in the story of the Tennessee congressmen and his secret bikini-clad daughter, we're in no rush to dive into another Twitter-induced political scandal. There are more important things going on in the world. 
 
 Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire. 
 
 Adam Clark Estes ||||| Porn Star Says Weiner Sent Her a Private Message 
 
 Ginger Lee—a porn star, stripper and fan of Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY9)—was ecstatic on March 13 2011: 
 
 Ginger Lee’s tweet said: You know it’s a good day when you wake up to a DM from @RepWeiner. (I’m a fangirl, y’all, he’s my trifecta of win.) 
 
 [NOTE: DM is a Twitter abbreviation for Direct Message, in which a tweet is sent privately and only to the one recipient. To send a DM, the person you wish to message must be following you on Twitter. Ginger must have been following @RepWeiner for him to DM her. He would not necessarily have to have been following her to send the DM. However, a tweet was publicly broadcast by @patriotusa76 back on April 12 saying that Weiner only followed 91 people at that time, and it names “PORN star Ginger Lee” as one of them. PatriotUSA76 aka Dan Wolfe appears to have been on Weiner’s trail for some time now and has been tweeting his curious finds to various blogs and conservative websites, apparently to no avail.] 
 
 Following Ginger’s excited announcement of receiving a DM from Weiner, a few Ginger and/or Weiner fans piped up with questions: 
 
 @MilesLord asks @GingerLee: How do u DM people, and why the heck is Congressman Weiner DM-ing u??? To which @GingerLee replies: Because he is one of my heroes, & a DM from him is like a DM from Buddha. 
 
 And then there was this: 
 
 Ginger Lee tweeted to @starchild111: He thanked me for the shout-outs and said he likes my blog. (I died a little inside…in a good way.) 
 
 A couple months ago, around the time of this message, @Starchild111 was a high school girl who was trying to get Weiner to be her prom date. She was overjoyed when he followed her, upset when conservatives laughed that Weiner was trolling the school yard, and dismayed when he unfollowed her. Starchild has deleted her twitter account. I only just found her last night, so I have no knowledge of when she deleted it, but I have found tweets by her as recent as May 18. 
 
 Starchild is not the only teenage girl with a crush on Weiner that he has followed. There’s another one that he has apparently had an on-again, off-again following involvement with for a couple months. And he’s currently following her again now. 
 
 This pattern of behavior, following and DMing young women that apparently have no relation to his district or his work, fits in with the suspected behavior of him DMing a crotch shot to a college girl in Seattle. Weiner is claiming his Facebook account was hacked, which doesn’t explain how the photo was uploaded to his yfrog account and then tweeted from his twitter account (that he was tweeting on around that time, including after the supposed hacking). 
 
 For more coverage on #Weinergate, see these excellent roundups: 
 
 I have more that I have found. Still sorting through it to see if there’s anything else to contribute to fleshing out the full extent of #Weinergate. 
 
 UPDATE [5/29/11 6:00pm] 
 
 Thanks to The Other McCain for the linkage. Welcome, TOMers. 
 
 Yukyuk: In a bit of irony, back in May 2004, Rep. Weiner introduced legislation to stop sexual harassment on college campuses: 
 
 “Institutions of higher learning have a responsibility to establish clear boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable conduct on campus,” said Rep. Weiner. “That means putting students on notice from day one that sexual harassment of any kind will not be tolerated.” 
 
 Perhaps Weiner’s just been conducting online research for some new legislation? 
 
 UPDATE II: [5/29/11 6:30pm] 
 
 Thanks for the links from JustPaste.It and Uncoverage.net 
 
 UPDATE III: [5/29/11 7:15pm] 
 
 Thanks for the links, DaTechGuy and DailyCaller! 
 
 UPDATE IV: [5/29/11 7:25pm] 
 
 Oops…and not to forget, thanks to Velvet Hammer at Ironic Surrealism, Gateway Pundit and AceOfSpades. 
 
 Another yukyuk: The Wall Street Journal has posted a very short little AP story regarding Weinergate. Note the pronunciation key they give in the first sentence. When was the last time you read an AP story that had that?: 
 
 NEW YORK — A spokesman for New York Rep. Anthony Weiner (WEE’-nur) says a lewd photograph sent from the Democrat’s Twitter account is just “a distraction” perpetrated by a hacker. Weiner spokesman Dave Arnold told The Associated Press in an email Sunday the Twitter episode was “a distraction” from the congressman’s “important work representing his constituents.” The photo showed a man’s bulging underpants. It first was reported Saturday by BigGovernment.com, a website run by conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart. The site said the photo was tweeted to a woman in Seattle. The photo was quickly deleted. Weiner later joked about it on Twitter, asking whether his kitchen blender would be next to “attack” him. 
 
 UPDATE: [5/30/11 9:00am] 
 
 Thanks for links from Doug Ross, The Pajamas Media Tatler, American Power and Verum Serum. 
 
 UPDATE: [6/1/11 1:30am] 
 
 Thanks to the following linkers (and welcome to their readers!) 
 
 Daily Beast 
 
 Gawker 
 
 American Spectator 
 
 Patterico 
 
 Plus, thanks to Socialite Life, Carolyn Castiglia, Newsvine, Just Barking Mad, Temple of Mut, Ragan’s PR Daily, Conservative Blogs Central, and Texas Sparkle. 
 
 UPDATE [6/1/11 11:45] 
 
 The Daily Caller has a new story in which Ginger Lee emailed them a nonresponse to all of their questions, except to say: 
 
 “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.” ||||| Rep. Anthony Weiner says his Twitter account was "hacked" and that he didn't send that picture of his bulging penis to that college student. 
 
 Is that true? Or is Anthony Weiner lying? 
 
 Odds are he's lying. 
 
 How do we know? 
 
 Because here's what Weiner says about that picture: He "can't say with certitude" that the picture is not of him. 
 
 As John Podhoretz of the New York Post observes, that is just a political way of saying that the picture is of him. 
 
 There is only one way to shoot a picture like that (see below): Take your pants off, hold a camera at shoulder level, and aim it down. Because of this, Weiner has to know if a picture like that was ever taken of him--and when and by whom (odds are, by him). 
 
 If such a picture was NOT taken, or if Weiner does not own underwear like the ones in the picture, Weiner would be able to say with almost 100% certainty that the picture was NOT of him. 
 
 He didn't say that. 
 
 He said he can't be sure the picture isn't of him. 
 
 And that means it is almost certainly of him. 
 
 To "hack" Weiner's Twitter account and post the picture, therefore, someone would have to break into his computer or phone or wherever the picture is stored, gain access to his Twitter account, and upload the picture--all without alerting him to the fact that his phone/computer and Twitter account had been hijacked. 
 
 Having your Twitter account and computer hacked and having lewd, fabricated pictures of yourself sent to a college student is serious business if you're a politician. It's potentially career-destroying. It is also unequivocally a crime (not a "prank," as Weiner and his people have said). 
 
 If Weiner's account had been hacked in such a fashion, he would likely have instantly freaked out and called the authorities. Upon being questioned about the incident, he also would have immediately issued a full, categorical denial. 
 
 Weiner didn't do any of that. Instead, he made a joke on Twitter about how his "FB account" had been hacked. Then, for three days, he blew up at reporters for daring to ask him questions about the affair. 
 
 Is it possible that Weiner is telling the truth? 
 
 Anything's possible. 
 
 But the far more likely explanation is that he tried to send the college student a Direct Message with the picture of his crotch, accidentally blasted it out to his whole Twitter list, and then tried to cover up his mistake with a b.s. story about how he had been "hacked" (which was presumably the first thing that popped into his head after he realized with horror what he had done and deleted the tweet). 
 
 It would hardly be the first time someone has screwed up with an "accidental DM." And it also would hardly be the first time a married politician has followed his penis into trouble and then lied about it. 
 
 (And, by the way, there's an obvious explanation for why Weiner and his people have called their lawyers, instead of the police: Because they know the police will instantly be able to determine who sent the picture. We'd place a nice, big bet on the fact that they really don't want that to happen.) ||||| The GOP staffer who called Malia and Sasha Obama classless has resigned today following a storm of outrage over her comments. 
 
 Elizabeth Lauten wrote a diatribe on Thanksgiving, slamming the First Daughters, aged 16 and 13, for wearing casual clothing and looking sullen during the White House turkey pardon. 
 
 Today, after thousands of calls for the self-professed media expert to be sacked, Lauten has agreed to resign from her post as communications director for Rep Stephen Fincher of Tennessee. 
 
 Scroll down for video 
 
 Resigned: Elizabeth Lauten has stepped down as communications director for Rep Stephen Fincher after writing this (left) diatribe against Malia and Sasha Obama on Thanksgiving, slamming their attire and attitude 
 
 'Classless': Lauten told the girls to 'dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar' in her Facebook post 
 
 Lauten told NBC News by phone on Monday morning that her resignation is already 'in the works,' four days after her controversial post on Facebook went viral. 
 
 'Dear Sasha and Malia,' she wrote in the post, 'I get you're both in those awful teen years, but you're a part of the First Family, try showing a little class.' 
 
 Lauten added: 'Act like being in the White House matters to you. 
 
 'Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar. 
 
 'And certainly don't make faces during televised public events.' 
 
 Sasha, 13, was dressed in a short maroon dress with a long cream cardigan that matched her thick cream socks, worn over bare legs. Her sister Malia, 16, wore black tights under a mini kilt with a grey and cream jumper. 
 
 The Obama Administration responded to Lauten's comments on Monday, with White House spokesman Josh Earnest saying he was surprised a congressional staffer would use a Thanksgiving-themed event to criticize the first family. 
 
 He says individuals who frequently speak publicly tend to be mindful of how their words are perceived. Earnest added that it's common sense that first daughters should be off-limits to criticism. 
 
 Lauten apologized for her post hours later, writing that 'judgmental feelings truly have no place in my heart', saying that 'hours of prayer' had shown the error of her ways. 
 
 Apology: Hours later she removed the original outburst, issued an apology and set her page to private 
 
 The girls' expressions during their father's Thanksgiving address prompted playful comments on social media. 
 
 After the President had pardoned the designated bird, a four-month-old 49-pounder called Cheese, he asked Malia if she wanted to pet the turkey. 
 
 'Nah', she replied, in a rare departure from her usual, gracious disposition, which prompted a flurry of remarks from viewers. 
 
 But Lauten's reaction sparked outrage. 
 
 Dear Sasha and Malia... dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar Elizabeth Lauten's Facebook post 
 
 The incident was not Lauten's first social media slip-up. 
 
 In August, she posted a tweet from her boss's verified Twitter account about 'shagging'. 
 
 Stephen Fincher's followers were baffled when he tweeted: 'God I love this song. And beach music. AND shagging #pandora,' in reference to an Embers playlist on Pandora radio. 
 
 Lauten later deleted the post and apologized for the 'accident' - but insisted 'shagging' is a dance term rather than a sexual reference. 
 
 'It had nothing to do with Stephen Fincher. I don't think he knows what Pandora is; he certainly doesn't have it,' she said, according to Politico. 
 
 Following mass outrage to her post on Thursday, Lauten deleted it, set her profile to private, and issued an apology: 'I reacted to an article and quickly judged the two young ladies in a way that I would never have wanted to be judged myself as a teenager. 
 
 Reaction: The girls prompted soft criticism for sullenly scowling at their father, the President, on Thanksgiving 
 
 Twitter users rushed to defend the girls who Lauten said 'deserve a spot at a bar' rather than the White House 
 
 'After many hours of prayer, talking to my parents and re-reading my words online, I can see more clearly how hurtful my words were. 
 
 'Please know that these judgmental feelings truly have no pace in my heart. 
 
 'Furthermore, I'd like to apologize to all of those who I have hurt and offended with my words, and pledge to learn and grow (and I assure you I have) from this experience.' 
 
 Over the weekend, Lauten's critics defended Malia and Sasha by tweeting the renowned picture of George W Bush's daughter Jenna drunkenly tumbling over her friend on to the floor of a frat party, cigarette in hand, while her father was in office. 
 
 The 2001 photo, which earned the then 19-year-old the nickname Jenna And Tonic, went viral with the hash tag '#classy'. 
 
 Other responses included a picture of the moment Jenna, one of the former president's twin daughters, stuck out her tongue at White House photographers while riding in the presidential limousine. 
 
 Unimpressed: The First Daughters looked bored and unimpressed by their father's jokes about turkey 
 
 Clothing: Sasha wore a maroon dress and cardigan while Malia wore a mini kilt with black tights and boots 
 
 'Awful teenage years': The cyber-bullying post addressed to the young girls said they are at an 'awful' stage 
 
 'Did you forget that jenna bush got photographed at the age of 19 knocking someone over at a FRAT party? good lord,' one Twitter user wrote. 
 
 Another commented: 'The Bush twins used fake ID's to get into bars. & Jenna Bush stuck out tongue at press. Is that 'classy?' @DCGopGirl #tcot #UniteBlue.' 
 
 One wrote: 'Where were your ignorant comments on the Palin family brawl, the Bush girls (Jenna & Tonic).' 
 
 'So Sasha and Malia Obama have no class? Two words: Jenna Bush. #ElizabethLauten,' one tweet read. ||||| President Donald Trump praised the work of law enforcement in arresting the suspect in connection with the 14 package bombs that were intercepted across the country this week, but also bemoaned how the coverage of the bomb scares has drowned out other news. 
 
 "I am pleased to inform you that law enforcement has apprehended the suspect and taken him into custody. Incredible job by law enforcement," Trump said at a White House event for young black leaders on Friday. 
 
 "These terrorizing acts are despicable and have no place in our country," he said. 
 
 "We will prosecute them, him, her, whoever it may be, to the fullest extent of the law," Trump added. "We must never allow political violence to take root in America." 
 
 Later at the same event, Trump referenced the investigation, saying that his announcement on drug prices was "competing with the story that took place." 
 
 There were sporadic shouts of "fake news," "CNN sucks" and "Soros" from individuals in the crowd at the event, which is not uncommon for Trump campaign rallies but more unusual from inside the White House. 
 
 Trump's comment about the news coverage was the second time in several hours that Trump appeared to complain about the focus of media coverage about the investigation into the suspected package bombs that were addressed to a series of high profile individuals and Democratic politicians. 
 
 Friday morning, Trump tweeted his concerns that media's coverage of the ongoing bomb crisis has been overshadowing the midterm elections, even as his staff insisted he has been "receiving constant information" about the ongoing security situation. 
 
 "Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this “Bomb” stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows - news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!" Trump tweeted at 10:19 a.m. Friday. 
 
 Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this “Bomb” stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows - news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2018 
 
 Earlier this morning, the president wrote a half-sentence tweet criticizing CNN, deleted it, then wrote a full tweet criticizing CNN "and others" the same week the television network was mailed a bomb. 
 
 "Funny how lowly rated CNN, and others, can criticize me at will, even blaming me for the current spate of Bombs ... yet when I criticize them they go wild and scream, 'it's just not Presidential!'" Trump tweeted at 3:14 a.m. Friday morning. 
 
 Funny how lowly rated CNN, and others, can criticize me at will, even blaming me for the current spate of Bombs and ridiculously comparing this to September 11th and the Oklahoma City bombing, yet when I criticize them they go wild and scream, “it’s just not Presidential!” — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2018 
 
 At 2:48 a.m., he'd tweeted: "Funny how lowly rated CNN and others can criticize." 
 
 That tweet was quickly deleted, but ABC News obtained a screengrab. 
 
 Obtained by ABC News 
 
 This comes after Trump, at a rally earlier this week, bragged about "how nice I'm behaving tonight." 
 
 In addition to former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, other politicians who were addressed in the various packages include former Vice President Joe Biden, former Attorney General Eric Holder, Rep. Maxine Waters, and Sen. Cory Booker. 
 
 ABC News 
 
 Democratic donor George Soros and actor Robert De Niro, who was critical of the commander in chief at this year's Academy Awards, were also the targets of suspicious packages. 
 
 During an introduction of Bruce Springsteen, De Niro said: "First, I wanna say, 'F--k Trump. It's no longer, 'Down with Trump,' it's 'F--k Trump.'" 
 
 The president responded by calling the two-time Oscar winner "a very Low IQ individual." 
 
 To date, 13 suspicious packages believed to have explosive devices have been found in various locations across the country, all addressed to high-profile Democratic politicians or public figures who have been open in expressing their criticism of the Trump administration.
– Note to tweeting politicians: Watch what you post, because Politwoops will remember it forever. The transparency-minded website is safeguarding politicians' deleted tweets, enabling the rest of us to giggle or ponder over them at our leisure, The Atlantic reports. The site's current 6-month stash includes a few doozey deletions, including John McCain mocking Vladimir Putin's tears and Rep. Jeff Miller posting a link to a poll that asked, "Was Obama born in the United States?" A few deletions are more odd than obvious, begging us to ask what politicians were thinking. Why, for example, did Rep. Tom Graves remove a tweet about going out one night with his wife? Or Rep. Kathy Hochul delete one about her visit to a cancer institute? Perhaps Rep. Stephen Fincher's tweet comparing The Bachelor to The Hunger Games is a more obvious case, but the online avenues of a politician's mind can be dimly lit indeed.