Congressman denies posting lewd photo

(CNN) -- A liberal Democratic congressman who came under fire for a lewd photo that briefly appeared on his Twitter account over the weekend told CNN Wednesday that he did not post the image.

Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner spoke to CNN's Wolf Blitzer a day after a contentious exchange with reporters in which he refused to directly answer any questions about the picture.

On Wednesday he said he had hired a law firm to look into the matter. But he declined to directly answer whether he appeared in the photo.

"Photos can be manipulated. Photos can be of one thing and changed to something else. We're going to try to get to the bottom of what happened," he said. The photo showed the lower body of a man wearing underwear.

A conservative blogger who broke the story has called for a full investigation of what he said was either the hacking of a congressman's account or something Weiner wants to hide.

But Weiner told CNN he did not think such steps are necessary to deal with what he said was internet spam, an issue that many Americans face.

"Just because it happened to Congressman Weiner on his personal account doesn't mean that the taxpayers should pay for an investigation," he said. "I'm going to turn it over to some people who are going to give me advice on what to do next.

"This seems like it was a prank to make fun of my name, the name Weiner. It happens a lot," he added.

Asked whether he was protecting anyone, Weiner replied, "Yes, I'm protecting my wife, who every day is waking up to these insane stories that are getting so far from reality. You know, we've been married less than a year."

He also declined to say what he had written in direct messages to Twitter followers.

"I'm not going to get into how I communicate with people on social media. There was nothing ... inappropriate," he said.

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An e-mail that Twitter sent to members of Congress Wednesday lists several online security tips, according to a copy of the e-mail CNN obtained. The message does not specifically mention the photo posted on Weiner's page, but notes that questions about account security have surged recently.

"Some of you inquired today about the security of Twitter accounts," Twitter's Adam Sharp wrote. "While we won't comment on individual accounts, news reports of the past few days are a good reminder of the importance of actively protecting your account credentials."

Weiner on Tuesday told reporters he wasn't interested in talking about the issue any more, saying he already made statements over the Memorial Day weekend after the photo turned up on his Twitter account Friday night.

In a heated exchange with reporters, he repeatedly dodged direct questions about the photo.

"If I were giving a speech to 45,000 people, and someone in the back threw a pie or yelled out an insult, I would not spend the next two hours of my speech responding to that pie or that insult. I would return to the things that I want to talk about," Weiner said in response to a question about whether he sent the lewd photo to a Seattle woman.

He also refused to say why he hasn't asked law enforcement to investigate if in fact his account was hacked, as he has said it was.

Despite repeated efforts by reporters, Weiner did not directly answer questions about the photo.

In earlier comments, when asked if the photo was of him, Weiner deflected the question.

"I'm not going to talk about this anymore," he said, adding: "I'm going to get back to the conversation I care about," including economic issues and what he calls a conflict-of-interest situation involving conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on the health care reform law. The New York Democrat is a leading liberal voice in Congress.

Asked several questions about the Twitter situation Tuesday, Weiner stuck to his message.

"I understand you're doing your job, but I'm going to go back to work now," Weiner said at one point. When asked if he was concerned about being hacked, he responded: "I'm going to return to working on the things I care about. I participated in the story a couple of days now, given comments on it. This is a distraction and I'm not going to let it distract me."

When a reporter noted the distraction might go away if he answered the questions, Weiner answered: "I'm not convinced of that.

"I'm not convinced there's any value of me talking about it," Weiner said.

Asked again if he was the man in the photo, Weiner responded again that he had made previous statements and now it was time for him to get back to work.

On Wednesday, Weiner told CNN that he regretted "the way that I handled it yesterday and I'm trying to do a better job today."

Previously, Weiner blamed the photo on a hacker who got control of his social-networking accounts and played a prank. Weiner's spokesman, Dave Arnold, said Monday the congressman has retained an attorney to look into the situation.

No formal criminal investigation has been launched, which rankles Andrew Breitbart, whose conservative website biggovernment.com first reported the photo on Weiner's Twitter account in connection with a tweet to a Seattle woman.

Breitbart, who has been involved in questionable tactics against Democrats and liberals in the past, told CNN on Tuesday that the case warrants further investigation.

"There's something fundamentally different between a prank and a hack -- a prank is innocuous, a hack is criminal," Breitbart said, later adding he wanted a full investigation by the FBI and Capitol Police.

However, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said Tuesday he believed the situation was a harmless prank unworthy of further investigation.

"Twitter is not a very secure environment," Toobin said, noting that information on the site can be unreliable "and doesn't even come from the people it appears to come from."

He added: "There's a famous expression -- don't make a federal case out of it."

CNN's Kate Bolduan, Dana Bash and Rachel Streitfeld contributed to this story.

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NY rep says hacker sent lewd photo from Twitter (AP)

NEW YORK – A lewd photograph of a crotch sent from the Twitter account of U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner is just "a distraction" perpetrated by a hacker, his spokesman said Sunday.

Dave Arnold told The Associated Press in an email that the tweet, directed at a woman, was "a distraction" from the married New York Democrat's "important work representing his constituents."

"Anthony's accounts were obviously hacked," Arnold said. "He doesn't know the person named by the hacker, and we will be consulting on what steps to take next."

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 Seattle woman.

The photo was quickly deleted.

Weiner later joked about the account hacking on Twitter, asking whether his kitchen blender would be next to "attack" him.

Weiner represents New York's 9th District, which covers parts of Queens and Brooklyn, where he was born and raised. He failed in a 2005 bid for the Democratic nomination for mayor of the city but still is widely considered a contender for the office.

He has worked on issues including public housing, homeland security and energy for his constituents.

Weinger, 46, is married to Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

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Live Nation, Guy Oseary launch online photo gallery (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – This week, Untitled Entertainment partner Guy Oseary and Live Nation are going live with a joint web venture RockPaperPhoto.com, an online art gallery selling largely unpublished, hand-signed, limited-edition prints of more than 1,000 singers and acts ranging from B.B. King and James Brown to Green Day and Gwen Stefani.

The site features the work of 70 photographers including such recognized names as Baron Wolman, Ian Dickson, Deborah Feingold and Michael Putland. RockPaperPhoto museum-quality processes include silver gelatin, archival chromogenic, platinum print and archival print, with entry prices at $250 running to a top-tier of $10K.

The website is a bit of a passion project for Oseary, who manages the careers of Madonna and Alex Rodriguez among others and is also the exec producer of "Last Call with Carson Daly." He was the architect of Madonna's landmark 2007 deal with Live Nation.

"I've been collecting photos for a long time, I mean since I started making money. But what you have had to go through to find a good photo is like a needle in the haystack sometimes. You'll drive from one gallery to the next gallery to the next gallery. It's not an easy process. It's a very ancient model that just hasn't caught up with the times," says Oseary. "So I really came up with this idea out of frustration."

Oseary first discussed the concept with Live Nation CEO/president Michael Rapino over dinner a few years ago. "We've been talking about it for a while and we finally said, 'Just go for it.' I really wanted to create a place where you could just sit back and be able to discover great photography instead of specifically going to a gallery to find one," says the manager.

He says his own collection of photos numbers around 200, including a number of shots of The Sex Pistols and John Lennon by Bob Gruen (who is not featured on the site). "Those were the ones that when I made my first dollar I decided to invest in," he says.

Says photographer Tom Murray, whose famous 1968 photos of the Beatles are on the site: "It runs the gamut from Frank Sinatra to Justin Bieber and it suits everyone's pocketbooks. It's all limited editions - they are interested in low numbers and high quality."

Among Murray's photos is his famous, or perhaps infamous, shot of John Lennon playing dead in a park while his three bandmates look on.

"We were taking other pictures and suddenly he dropped to the ground and pretended to be dead. Twelve years later when it actually happened it was very spooky. It's a very controversial picture. Beatles fans either love it or hate it," says Murray.

RockPaperPhoto shares profits 50/50 with artists, a traditional split in the bricks-and-mortar art gallery world.

The site is one of many recent forays into the digital world by Oseary. He was instrumental in developing GrouponLive, a discount-tickets joint venture, announced May 11, between Groupon (for whom he advises) and Live Nation.

Last year, he formed a digital investment partnership with Ashton Kutcher called A-Grade which has helped fund such recent start-ups as video-chat service TinyChat, anonymous-flirting hub LikeALittle and GrubWithUs, a website for finding like-minded people to dine with. "We are making a lot of investments," says Oseary.

(Editing by Zorianna Kit)

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Obama rejects bin Laden photo release

Washington (CNN) -- Despite mounting pressure from some lawmakers and dissent within the ranks of his top advisers, President Barack Obama decided not to release photos of Osama bin Laden's dead body, a White House spokesman said Wednesday.

"It is not in our national security interest ... to allow these images to become icons to rally opinion against the United States," White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters.

"We have no need to publish those photographs to establish that Osama bin Laden was killed," he said.

Shortly after U.S. officials announced the decision, a news agency published photographs it said were taken by a Pakistani security official shortly after the raid.

The images, published by Reuters Wednesday, showed three men lying in pools of blood and the wreckage of a U.S. helicopter abandoned during the assault. None of the pictures appeared to show bin Laden's dead body.

White House officials remained firm in their assertion that releasing graphic photos of bin Laden could incite more violence.

To further explain the controversial choice, Carney read Obama's remarks from the transcript of a Wednesday afternoon interview.

"That's not who we are. We don't trot out this stuff as trophies. The fact of the matter is that this is someone who is deserving of the justice he received. ... We don't need to spike the football," Obama told CBS News.

Obama's decision settles the debate over whether the United States will release the images. But opinions about whether the U.S. government's photographs should be public were anything but unanimous among U.S. lawmakers and members of the public at home and abroad.

Some argued releasing the images would put to rest any critics or conspiracy theories, while others countered that the graphic photos would only inflame jihadists.

A senior Democratic official close to the White House told CNN that the president was "never in favor" of releasing the photos, even as CIA chief Leon Panetta made it sound like their release was imminent.

Carney said Obama consulted Cabinet and security officials before he made his choice Wednesday morning, and a majority of them weighed in against releasing the photographs.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were among those who supported Obama's inclination to keep the pictures classified, the senior Democratic official said.

But Panetta said Tuesday he thought a photograph of bin Laden's body would be released at some point. "I just think it's important -- they know we have it -- to release it," the CIA director said.

The president's inner circle was not happy with those remarks, the senior Democratic official said.

But a senior Obama administration official said debates over the pros and cons of releasing the photos were "not at all contentious." The official admitted that "leaks are possible," but said that did not sway the president from reaching his decision.

Carney stressed that Obama wanted to hear differing perspectives to inform his choice.

"He wanted to hear the opinions of others, but he was very clear about his view on this," Carney said.

"There are obviously arguments to be made on either side."

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called the decision a "mistake."

"I know bin Laden is dead. But the best way to protect and defend our interests overseas is to prove that fact to the rest of the world," he said in a written statement. "I'm afraid the decision made today by President Obama will unnecessarily prolong this debate."

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California, also said Obama made the wrong choice about the photos.

"I want to see them, personally," he said. "I did three tours. I'm not talking as a member of the Armed Services Committee -- (but) as a Marine who did three tours because of 9/11. As Americans we deserve to see them."

But House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said he shares the president's view.

"In my opinion, there's no end served by releasing a picture of someone who has been killed, and I think there is absolute proof that Osama bin Laden was in fact the person ... killed," he said.

Lawmakers involved in national security began debating the issue well before Obama's decision.

The top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee has argued they should be made public right away.

"I think the question is, what's the negative that could come from it?" asked Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia. "One of these days they're going to be released; it's a question of whether it be now on our terms or (let) somebody else do it."

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, who chairs the Armed Services Committee -- and who has not seen the photos -- had argued that the United States should wait to allow the emotions of people around the world who may be sympathetic to bin Laden to cool down.

"I'd let a little time pass so we that we don't play into the hands of people who want to retaliate with what obviously will be a sensational picture. I would not want to feed that sensation, so I'd wait days or weeks," he said.

Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson suggested temporarily keeping the photos confidential, but releasing them eventually.

In a letter sent to the White House Wednesday, he proposed establishing a review process "to release all relevant photographs as early as 10 years from now," or when the president "determines their release would no longer endanger the lives of Americans."

While some Republican leaders criticized Obama, the debate over the photographs did not entirely split along party lines.

Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers of Michigan said he was against releasing any photos, saying that he didn't want to make the job of U.S. troops abroad "any harder than it already is."

"Imagine how the American people would react if al Qaeda killed one of our troops or military leaders, and put photos of the body on the Internet. Osama bin Laden is not a trophy -- he is dead and let's now focus on continuing the fight until al Qaeda has been eliminated," he said.

House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King, a Republican from New York who has argued that the photographs should not be classified, said he understood Obama's call.

"While I have said that a photo release may be a good way to combat the predictable conspiracy theories about bin Laden's death, this is a decision for the President to make, and I respect his decision," he said in a statement.

Obama's choice comes as a poll shows that a majority of Americans support making the photographs public.

In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Tuesday, 56% of those asked said yes, the government should release a photo of bin Laden's body. Another 39% said no. The poll of 700 adults had a sampling margin of 3.5%.

The government has said it matched DNA to confirm that the body was bin Laden's, and most have accepted that news as evidence of the outcome of the operation.

Some groups, however -- including the Taliban -- have questioned the assertion.

"Obama has not got any strong evidence that can prove his claim over killing of the Sheikh Osama bin Laden," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mojahed said. "And secondly, the closest sources for Sheikh Osama bin Laden have not confirmed" the death.

And at a university in the affluent Pakistani town where U.S. officials say troops killed bin Laden, a group of students clamored to tell CNN why they doubted the al Qaeda leader had been killed in the raid.

"If it is true, then why they are not showing his body?" one asked.

Similar doubt and demands for evidence that bin Laden is dead echoed on the streets of Islamabad.

"I believe this is all fake," one man said. "Wherever he is, he's alive."

But the White House has dismissed such criticisms.

"There are going to be some folks who deny it. The fact of the matter is, you will not see bin Laden walking on this Earth again," Obama told CBS.

None of the photos published by Reuters appeared to show bin Laden. One photo shows a man, clad in a T-shirt, lying in a large pool of blood that appears to spread from the back of his head. Two other men pictured appear to have died from extensive head and chest wounds.

The White House has received three sets of photographs, according to a senior U.S. official. One batch, which clearly shows bin Laden's body, was taken at a hangar in Afghanistan, the official said.

The official described one of the images as a clear, but gruesome, picture of the al Qaeda leader's face. Bin Laden is shown with a massive open head wound across both eyes, the official said, adding that the image would not be appropriate for the front pages of newspapers.

The other photos include the raid on the compound and bin Laden's burial at sea, according to the official.

CNN's Ed Henry, John King, Jessica Yellin, Ted Barrett, Ed Hornick, Dana Bash, Dan Lothian, Susan Candiotti, Nick Paton Walsh and Leone Lakhani contributed to this report.

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Obama nixes bin Laden photo release, but debate continues

Washington (CNN) -- Despite mounting pressure from some lawmakers and dissent within the ranks of his top advisers, President Barack Obama decided not to release photos of Osama bin Laden's dead body, a White House spokesman said Wednesday.

"It is not in our national security interest ... to allow these images to become icons to rally opinion against the United States," White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters.

"We have no need to publish those photographs to establish that Osama bin Laden was killed," he said.

Shortly after U.S. officials announced the decision, a news agency published photographs it said were taken by a Pakistani security official shortly after the raid.

The images, published by Reuters Wednesday, showed three men lying in pools of blood and the wreckage of a U.S. helicopter abandoned during the assault. None of the pictures appeared to show bin Laden's dead body.

White House officials remained firm in their assertion that releasing graphic photos of bin Laden could incite more violence.

To further explain the controversial choice, Carney read Obama's remarks from the transcript of a Wednesday afternoon interview.

"That's not who we are. We don't trot out this stuff as trophies. The fact of the matter is that this is someone who is deserving of the justice he received. ... We don't need to spike the football," Obama told CBS News.

Obama's decision settles the debate over whether the United States will release the images. But opinions about whether the U.S. government's photographs should be public were anything but unanimous among U.S. lawmakers and members of the public at home and abroad.

Some argued releasing the images would put to rest any critics or conspiracy theories, while others countered that the graphic photos would only inflame jihadists.

A senior Democratic official close to the White House told CNN that the president was "never in favor" of releasing the photos, even as CIA chief Leon Panetta made it sound like their release was imminent.

Carney said Obama consulted Cabinet and security officials before he made his choice Wednesday morning, and a majority of them weighed in against releasing the photographs.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were among those who supported Obama's inclination to keep the pictures classified, the senior Democratic official said.

But Panetta said Tuesday he thought a photograph of bin Laden's body would be released at some point. "I just think it's important -- they know we have it -- to release it," the CIA director said.

The president's inner circle was not happy with those remarks, the senior Democratic official said.

But a senior Obama administration official said debates over the pros and cons of releasing the photos were "not at all contentious." The official admitted that "leaks are possible," but said that did not sway the president from reaching his decision.

Carney stressed that Obama wanted to hear differing perspectives to inform his choice.

"He wanted to hear the opinions of others, but he was very clear about his view on this," Carney said.

"There are obviously arguments to be made on either side."

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called the decision a "mistake."

"I know bin Laden is dead. But the best way to protect and defend our interests overseas is to prove that fact to the rest of the world," he said in a written statement. "I'm afraid the decision made today by President Obama will unnecessarily prolong this debate."

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California, also said Obama made the wrong choice about the photos.

"I want to see them, personally," he said. "I did three tours. I'm not talking as a member of the Armed Services Committee -- (but) as a Marine who did three tours because of 9/11. As Americans we deserve to see them."

But House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said he shares the president's view.

"In my opinion, there's no end served by releasing a picture of someone who has been killed, and I think there is absolute proof that Osama bin Laden was in fact the person ... killed," he said.

Lawmakers involved in national security began debating the issue well before Obama's decision.

The top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee has argued they should be made public right away.

"I think the question is, what's the negative that could come from it?" asked Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia. "One of these days they're going to be released; it's a question of whether it be now on our terms or (let) somebody else do it."

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, who chairs the Armed Services Committee -- and who has not seen the photos -- had argued that the United States should wait to allow the emotions of people around the world who may be sympathetic to bin Laden to cool down.

"I'd let a little time pass so we that we don't play into the hands of people who want to retaliate with what obviously will be a sensational picture. I would not want to feed that sensation, so I'd wait days or weeks," he said.

Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson suggested temporarily keeping the photos confidential, but releasing them eventually.

In a letter sent to the White House Wednesday, he proposed establishing a review process "to release all relevant photographs as early as 10 years from now," or when the president "determines their release would no longer endanger the lives of Americans."

While some Republican leaders criticized Obama, the debate over the photographs did not entirely split along party lines.

Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers of Michigan said he was against releasing any photos, saying that he didn't want to make the job of U.S. troops abroad "any harder than it already is."

"Imagine how the American people would react if al Qaeda killed one of our troops or military leaders, and put photos of the body on the Internet. Osama bin Laden is not a trophy -- he is dead and let's now focus on continuing the fight until al Qaeda has been eliminated," he said.

House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King, a Republican from New York who has argued that the photographs should not be classified, said he understood Obama's call.

"While I have said that a photo release may be a good way to combat the predictable conspiracy theories about bin Laden's death, this is a decision for the President to make, and I respect his decision," he said in a statement.

Obama's choice comes as a poll shows that a majority of Americans support making the photographs public.

In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Tuesday, 56% of those asked said yes, the government should release a photo of bin Laden's body. Another 39% said no. The poll of 700 adults had a sampling margin of 3.5%.

The government has said it matched DNA to confirm that the body was bin Laden's, and most have accepted that news as evidence of the outcome of the operation.

Some groups, however -- including the Taliban -- have questioned the assertion.

"Obama has not got any strong evidence that can prove his claim over killing of the Sheikh Osama bin Laden," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mojahed said. "And secondly, the closest sources for Sheikh Osama bin Laden have not confirmed" the death.

And at a university in the affluent Pakistani town where U.S. officials say troops killed bin Laden, a group of students clamored to tell CNN why they doubted the al Qaeda leader had been killed in the raid.

"If it is true, then why they are not showing his body?" one asked.

Similar doubt and demands for evidence that bin Laden is dead echoed on the streets of Islamabad.

"I believe this is all fake," one man said. "Wherever he is, he's alive."

But the White House has dismissed such criticisms.

"There are going to be some folks who deny it. The fact of the matter is, you will not see bin Laden walking on this Earth again," Obama told CBS.

None of the photos published by Reuters appeared to show bin Laden. One photo shows a man, clad in a T-shirt, lying in a large pool of blood that appears to spread from the back of his head. Two other men pictured appear to have died from extensive head and chest wounds.

The White House has received three sets of photographs, according to a senior U.S. official. One batch, which clearly shows bin Laden's body, was taken at a hangar in Afghanistan, the official said.

The official described one of the images as a clear, but gruesome, picture of the al Qaeda leader's face. Bin Laden is shown with a massive open head wound across both eyes, the official said, adding that the image would not be appropriate for the front pages of newspapers.

The other photos include the raid on the compound and bin Laden's burial at sea, according to the official.

CNN's Ed Henry, John King, Jessica Yellin, Ted Barrett, Ed Hornick, Dana Bash, Dan Lothian, Susan Candiotti, Nick Paton Walsh and Leone Lakhani contributed to this report.

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CIA says release of Osama bin Laden's photo likely

Washington (CNN) -- CIA Director Leon Panetta said Tuesday he thinks a photograph of Osama bin Laden's body will be released at some point, but that it is up to the White House to make the final call.

A senior administration official said that no decision has been made yet as to whether to release the photo.

"I just think it's important, they know we have it, to release it," Panetta said.

He did not know when the photograph might be made public.

Two Democratic senators, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Tuesday night they expected a photograph to be released shortly, but they did not have an exact time frame either.

Osama bin Laden's dead, now what?

An image of bin Laden's body could help to convince doubters about his death, but it could also inflame passions against the United States. U.S. officials have said they are weighing the appropriateness of such a release.

According to a senior U.S. official, the White House has received three sets of photographs. The first batch, which clearly show bin Laden's body, was taken at a hangar in Afghanistan, the official said.

The official described one of the images as a clear, but gruesome, picture of his face. Bin Laden is shown with a massive open head wound across both eyes, the official said, adding that the image would not be appropriate for the front pages of newspapers.

The other photos include the raid on the compound and bin Laden's burial at sea, according to the official.

Widely distributed photo is a fake

Tuesday, Sen. Diane Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she saw no need to release an image since there is other evidence to prove bin Laden is dead.

"I just don't see a need to do it," she said. "The DNA has been dispositive."

But Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman said it may be necessary to release an image to erase any doubts.

"I've said unless al Qaeda acknowledged that bin Laden was dead, it was important for the United States to release pictures of his body to confirm he is dead," he said Tuesday.

CNN's Jessica Yellin and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.

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