Former congressman Anthony Weiner, whose penchant for sexting strangers online ended his political career and led to an investigation that upended the presidential race, will appear in federal court Friday to plead guilty to charges in connection with his online communications with a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina, officials said. Huma Abedin has filed for divorce from former Rep. Anthony Weiner, a move she made prior to Weiner pleading guilty Friday to transferring obscene material to a minor, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. As part of his plea agreement, federal prosecutors said they would consider a term between 21 months and 27 months “fair and appropriate.”

The plea deal appeared to seal the demise of a once-promising political career derailed by a series of scandals, stemming from what Weiner described in court as a compulsive need to seek sexual attention from women on social media. The minor told the newspaper she would not seek to press charges against the New York congressman because “she believes her relationship with Weiner was consensual,” but agreed to be interviewed “out of concern that Weiner may be sexting with other underage girls.”

The revelation led to Weiner’s separation from his wife, Huma Abedin, who at the time was serving as the top aide to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (she formally filed for divorce from Weiner on Friday). "Weiner agreed to surrender his iPhone as part of the plea agreement and he must register as a sex offender.The investigation of his laptop led to the discovery of a cache of emails from Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to her aide Huma Abedin, Weiner's wife.In October, just days before the election, FBI director James Comey stunned the country by announcing that his agency was reopening its closed investigation into Clinton's handling of State Department business on a private email server so it could analyze the newly discovered correspondence.That inquiry was brief. The investigation into Weiner has been blamed in part for Hillary Clinton Hillary Rodham ClintonTrump renominates 2 highest military officers 'West Wing' press secretary thinks Spicer should 'just quit' Clinton 'burst out laughing' at footage of Trump debate prep MORE’s loss in the 2016 presidential election to President Trump. “I engaged in obscene communications with this teenager, including sharing explicit images and encouraging her to engage in sexually explicit conduct, just as I had done and continued to do with adult women.”

Investigators say Weiner, then 51, began exchanging illicit text messages with a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina in January 2016.
Former U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner pleads guilty to sexting with a 15-year-old girl.