ERIE, Pa. — On Tuesday afternoon, Erie resident Jason Brendel formally announced he was running for a seat on City Council.

On Wednesday, Brendel is defending himself after several images on Facebook appear to show him smoking crack cocaine. Brendel said the images that are circulating were taken in 2015 at a home in Erie.

Brendel said the person who took the pictures had a vendetta against him. One of the images shows Brendel with what appears to be a crack pipe, with the pipe in his mouth.

Action News asked Brendel if he was smoking drugs from the pipe during an interview Wednesday.

Q: But they are images of you with a crack pipe, smoking crack?

Brendel: But does it show me in the act of it? It might show me with the pipe itself, it might show me with the torch, but does it show me inhaling or exhaling?

Q: OK, let me ask you. Did you inhale and exhale?

Brendel: No, I did not. That’s stupid.

Because Action News does not have the rights to the images, we are unable to use them.