Anthony Weiner involved in new sexting scandal as wife campaigns for Hillary Clinton

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday

Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

Former New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner has been accused of sending racy twitter messages again, three years after another sexting scandal saw his election hopes dashed.

The latest alleged indiscretion happened at about 3am on 31 July last year, according to the New York Post, when Mr Weiner and an unnamed woman were reportedly talking about massage parlours near his former apartment.

“Someone just climbed into my bed,” he told the woman.

He then sent a picture of his crotch. His young son was cuddled up against his left side, asleep.

Moments later he reportedly worried he had posted the image on his public timeline and not as a private, direct message - like in 2011 when his twitter followers saw he had uploaded a picture of himself, posing in grey underwear.

The recipient of the messages is reportedly a supporter of Donald Trump and National Rifle Association.

She insisted to the Post that the pair, who continued to send messages until earlier in August, had never met, although he had asked her several times to come to New York.

Mr Weiner could not be immediately reached for comment.

The messages were reportedly filled with lewd innuendoes, and even cartoon images of tissues, hand lotion and masturbation.

He claimed she was his "fantasy". When the woman told him that being sexually aroused was like a "disease", he replied: "You are the carrier."

His twitter account disappeared just hours after the details emerged in the Post.

Mr Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, is a senior aide to Hillary Clinton. Bill Clinton presided over their wedding in July 2010.

In 2012, the couple told People that Mr Weiner had been to therapy since the first scandal and he said he was happy as a stay-at-home father.

"I feel like a different person," he said.

The disgraced congressman and avowed socialist was close to beating Bill de Blasio in the polls in 2013 until it was discovered that he had begun messaging women under the pseudonym "Carlos Danger" again.

The recovery from disaster, and the plunge back into scandal, was made into a documentary this year called "Weiner".

He joined a crisis PR firm last July, but was let go two months later. The cricumstances of his departure are under dispute, as the firm claimed he resigned.