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At a news conference in Midtown Monday afternoon, Representative Anthony D. Weiner tearfully confessed to sending a photo of himself in his underwear to a woman via Twitter and then lying about it.

Mr. Weiner said the indiscretion was part of a pattern of sending inappropriate and at times explicit photos and messages to women he met over the Internet.

Mr. Weiner, 46, a popular and brash Democrat from Queens who has been considering a run for mayor of New York City and is known for aggressive and sometimes intemperate political commentary on Twitter, apologized repeatedly.

“I have made terrible mistakes that have hurt the people I care about the most and I’m deeply sorry,” Mr. Weiner said. “I have not been honest with myself, my family, my constituents, my friends and supporters and the media.”

He said he had no intention of resigning, that he had broken no laws and that while his wife “made it clear that she thought that what I did was very dumb,” his marriage was not ending. He said he never met any of the women.

After Mr. Weiner’s appearance, the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, called for an ethics investigation of her Democratic colleague to see if he broke any House rules. Mr. Weiner responded that he would “fully cooperate” with it.

Mr. Weiner’s speech and question-and-answer session was the culmination (so far) of a drama that began over Memorial Day weekend when the conservative blog BigGovernment.com published a close-up of a man in underwear that appeared to have gone out over Mr. Weiner’s Twitter account to the attention of a woman in Seattle. Mr. Weiner had maintained ever since that he had not sent the photograph, though he said he could not be certain whether he was the person in it.

On Monday, though, BigGovernment.com published a series of embarrassing photos of Mr. Weiner that it said he had sent to another woman last month, prompting Mr. Weiner to call a 4 p.m. news conference at the Sheraton hotel in Midtown.

Mayor Bloomberg, at a news conference in Elmhurst, Queens, was asked whether he thought Mr. Weiner still had the confidence of his constituents. “It’s always up to the constituents,” he said. “Look, this is time to get back to the serious business in this country. We have problems with our budget, with immigration. The world around us has lots of wars going on and revolutions. Time to get back and focus on the serious things.” Representative Joseph Crowley, at the same news conference, was asked whether Mr. Weiner should resign. He declined to comment until he had heard Mr. Weiner’s words himself. “I still think everything is premature,” said Mr. Crowley, a Democrat who represents parts of Queens and the Bronx. He said he had been in touch with Mr. Weiner since the Twitter photo first broke. “Congressman Weiner is dealing with the issue, and I think we’d all like to see this rectified sooner rather than later,” Mr. Crowley said. He was asked what advice he would give to an incoming congressman about digital photographs. He laughed, then said, “Way out of my range. ” — JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ

On Monday evening, Mr. Weiner, who has kept a conspicuously low profile in recent days, canceled an appearance at a forum at Queens Pride House in Jackson Heights on the implications of health care reform for the gay community. On Sunday, the congressman canceled an appearance at the Salute to Israel Parade for the first time in years. He also skipped a speech Friday at the convention of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and on Sunday did not appear at a gay pride march in Queens. Pauline Park, President of Pride House, said Mr. Weiner, a proponent of gay rights, would have found a sympathetic crowd at the community center, which has hosted events ranging from Nepalese dance troupes to support groups for H.I.V-positive mothers and fathers and mixers for overweight, bearded gay men, who call themselves bears. Several of those who came to see Mr. Weiner said they were disappointed. “He should not have sent the lewd photo of himself in his underwear, but everyone makes mistakes,” said Faheem Abdus-Shakur, a transgender blogger who writes on sexual politics and who also goes by the name Michelle. “But barring what had happened to him recently, Weiner is a stand-up guy, he is progressive and has an interest in gay issues. And he came clean about what he did.” — DAN BILEFSKY

Richard Perry/The New York Times Mr. Weiner said that he never met any of the women he corresponded with and that he had never had sex outside his marriage. “I have never met any of these women or had physical relationships at any time,” he said. But he said that some of the photographs and messages had been explicit. “I am deeply ashamed of my terrible judgment and actions,” he said.

Mr. Weiner said that he did not think he had used government resources for his inappropriate communications, and he was adamant that he had broken no laws. “My BlackBerry is not a government BlackBerry,” he said. “My home computer is usually where I did these things.” “I am sorry and I continue to be, but I don’t see that anything I did violates the rules of the House. I don’t see that anything I did violates my oath of office to uphold the Constitution.” As for the effect the scandal might have on a run for mayor in 2013, Mr. Weiner said that future elections were the furthest thing from his mind and that he was concentrating on repairing the damage he had caused to his family.

Mr. Weiner, who paused several times to collect himself, said repeatedly that he had no explanation to offer for his conduct. When a reporter asked, “What were you thinking?” he replied, “I don’t know what I was thinking. These were destructive things to do.” He added, “If you’re looking for some kind of deep explanation for it, I simply don’t have one except that I’m sorry.”

“I have made terrible mistakes that have hurt the people I care about the most and I’m deeply sorry,” Mr. Weiner said. “I have not been honest with myself, my family, my constituents, my friends and supporters and the media.” Mr. Weiner said that after he sent the underwear photo on Twitter on May 27 and intended it to be a private “direct message” to the woman “as part of a joke.” Instead, he posted it in his public feed. “Once I realized I had posted it on Twitter I panicked, I took it down and said that I had been hacked,” he said. He called sticking to the cover-up story over the ensuing days “a hugely regrettable mistake.” He added, “This woman was unwittingly dragged into this and bears no responsibility. I’m sorry to have disrupted her life in this way. “To be clear, the picture was of me, and I sent it.” Mr. Weiner said he had inappropriate communications with six women over the past three years as part of a “consensual exchange of e-mails” with the women. Most of the photos were sent before Mr. Weiner married Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, last year, Mr. Weiner said. “Some, sadly, took place after,” he said. Though Ms. Abedin did not appear at Mr. Weiner’s side, he said, “I love my wife very much and we have no intention of splitting over up this. I love her very much and she loves me.” When asked where she was, Mr. Weiner replied, “She is not here.” He added: “She made it clear that she thought that what I did was very dumb.”

Around 4:25 p.m. a tearful Mr. Weiner took the stage and said he had sent a closeup photograph of himself in his underwear to a woman on Twitter, then lied about it and claimed he had been hacked. He apologized to his wife, his supporters, his staff, the woman he sent this photo to and to Andrew Breitbart, the blogger who revealed the indiscretion. Mr. Weiner said he had had inappropriate communications with six women over three years, mostly before he was married last year, but some after. He said he would not resign, and that his marriage was not ending.

Two people close to Mr. Weiner said that he would not resign at the news conference, but would instead express some responsibility for his actions. He is still expected to speak at the event, they said.