Ana Navarro grills Anthony Weiner about being sex offender on ‘The View’

The View cohost Ana Navarro turned up the heat on controversial politician and former congressman Anthony Weiner, as the Republican commentator grilled him about his status as a registered sex offender during his attempted comeback in New York City politics.

After fielding a few other talking points at the top of his interview, Navarro dove into Weiner’s numerous headline-making incidents over the years, which she laid out in full at the top of her question for the current New York City council candidate who was previously imprisoned over “illicit online contact with a 15-year-old girl,” the Associated Press reported in 2019.

“Let’s talk about some of these giant scandals. You’ve had numerous of them,” Navarro began. “You resigned from Congress in 2011 over a sexting scandal. Two years later, you stepped down from the mayoral race after sexting again under the alias Carlos Danger. Then, in 2016, you sent lewd texts to a minor and served 15 months in prison, in addition to becoming a registered sex offender.”

Navarro eventually got to her question, looking toward Weiner as she asked, “With all that said, why do you think, or why should New Yorkers give you a chance at a political comeback?”

Weiner answered by acknowledging that “all of that happened,” before saying, “I accept responsibility for it.”

He stressed that he wouldn’t label himself as “a victim” of political persecution, but added, “I was dealing with very serious problems, I was dealing with what I now understand to be addiction.”

Weiner continued, “I accept it. I didn’t ask for a trial, I pled guilty, served my time in prison, served in a halfway house, served probation, went to try to do good work for the formerly incarcerated. I guess what I’m saying to people is, maybe don’t vote for me in spite of what they know about me, but maybe consider that journey, that idea that we all go through things and we come out the other side.”

The 60-year-old, who’s classified as a low-tier offender, doesn’t appear in public searches on New York City’s sex offender registry as a result, also invoked a Catholic ideology. He summarized it as, “you suffer for a reason so you can be of service at the other end.”

Weiner also noted that he’s “doing the opposite of what a lot of politicians do” in similar situations.

“[They] ignore that problem, pretend it didn’t happen, blame someone else,” he observed. “I’m saying, yes, I did these things. I got into recovery, I tried to make my life better. Now, if I can be of service — and I’m a damn good politician — I come up with answers, I talk to people directly, I don’t try to butter over things, I try to be direct. Why shouldn’t I? If it’s just because I have bad things in my past, that’s not a good enough reason. All I can ever be is who I am right now, and that brought me to this space.”

The View audience applauded Weiner’s words before the conversation shifted to other topics.

In an email to Entertainment Weekly following the interview, Weiner says Navarro’s inquiry included “tough but totally fair questions” on the air.

“I was convicted of an obscenity crime that usually doesn’t result in registry requirements. But, I accepted it as part of my guilty plea and as part of my commitment to acceptance of responsibility,” Weiner continues of the legal development, which he says also involves “no restrictions of any sort on movements and not public…usually.”

Later on The View, Joy Behar asked Weiner about sexism in politics. He then brought the topic back to his marriage to ex-wife Huma Abedin from 2010 to 2017, after he began a relationship with her while she worked for Hillary Clinton at the State Department and was later heavily involved in Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

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“She’s amazing” Weiner observed of Abedin, before highlighting what he felt were unfair expectations for women in politics. “I would watch the standard, we had our courtship during the 2008 campaign, so I was right there up close to watch. The standards that women have to live up to, everything from what they wear to how they talk to the intonation to the inflection. The number of times I heard someone comment about Hillary Clinton’s laugh…. I think there is something to [your point].”

As Navarro noted on The View, Weiner previously attempted a political comeback in a bid to become mayor of New York City in 2013 — a move camera crews documented for the 2016 documentary Weiner.

The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on ABC.