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JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL

Will Murder Charges Be Dropped Against Andrea Sneiderman?

Aired July 24, 2013 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: Breaking news tonight. Outrage over late- breaking reports that prosecutors will drop murder charges against alleged black widow Andrea Sneiderman in the next two days. This is stunning new revelations surfaced.

And I`ve got the documents in my hands, detailing Andrea`s relationship with the man who gunned down her husband, the father of her kids. Will Andrea`s sobs turn to tears of joy? Is this woman getting away with murder? Or is she an innocent, falsely accused?

Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, coming to you live.

The suburban mom is currently charged with playing the puppet master, manipulating her boss/alleged lover into executing her husband by viciously gunning him down. But why are prosecutors reportedly backing away from the murder charges against her just days before trial?

Could newly-revealed, intimate e-mails prove that Andrea is telling the truth, that killer Hemy Neuman was an obsessed madman who acted alone? Or do they prove they were having an affair, which cops say was the motive for murder?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREA SNEIDERMAN, ACCUSED IN HUSBAND`S DEATH: Who would think that this would be happening right now? Whose boss kills someone else`s husband?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The gun in this case was in Hemy`s hand. But the trigger, I respectfully suggest, was pulled by Andrea Sneiderman. Sophia and Ian`s daddy`s blood is on the hands of Andrea Sneiderman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now Hemy Neuman gunned down his alleged lover`s husband, Rusty Sneiderman, as he, a doting dad, dropped off one of his Young sons at daycare in upscale Atlanta. He is serving life in prison.

After the trial, a jaw-dropping twist: Prosecutors insisted Andrea, the supposedly grieving widow, masterminded the entire murder.

Tonight, newly-released court documents, and we`ve just gotten them in. We`re analyzing them. But they appear to show Neuman told a close friend he believed he and Andrea were soul mates. He sounded obsessed with her. In e-mails, he said, quote, "We left the flight with a kiss today. As much as it killed me, I did not contact her. I don`t want to lose her," end quote.

Andrea has repeatedly denied having an affair with Neuman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any idea why the defendant would have these feelings towards you?

A. SNEIDERMAN: I think I`m a pretty nice person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. Well, that`s what she thinks. What do you think? Is this woman getting away with murder? Or is she an innocent widow who became the target of a madman`s obsession? Call me: 1-877-JVM- SAYS, 1-877-586-7297.

Straight out to the Lion`s Den. Andrea still faces 13 charges, including perjury. But why on earth are prosecutors taking murder off the table right now?

And I`m going to start with Jay Apt, who is very deep inside this case. In fact, you represent Andrea Sneiderman`s former BFF, best friend.

JAY APT, ATTORNEY FOR SHAYNA CITRON: Yes. Jane, I`m -- you know, I`ve got from good sources inside the D.A.`s office that they are, in fact, going to drop all of the most serious charges, and to me, that`s pretty shocking.

If I were Don and Marilyn and Steve Sneiderman, I would be livid. I would be so angry and betrayed and upset.

And I`ve got to tell you, you know, it just -- as a defense lawyer, where there is a presumption of innocence and you do have to be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and we do have all these protections for the accused in our Constitution, I`d be pretty outraged if I were Andrea Sneiderman that they kept me on house arrest for 11 months before they dropped the charges.

But the real egg here is on Robert James`s face. And Robert`s a friend. He`s a friend of mine, a personal friend.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You`re talking about the prosecutor.

APT: The D.A.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Not everybody knows every last detail of this case.

APT: No. The D.A.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK, here`s Andrea Sneiderman, wearing a big heart on her chest as she is led away in handcuffs. So yes, either way they`re wrong. You`re staying either way they goofed up. If she is guilty, they`re letting a murderess go free. If she`s not guilty, then they humiliated and persecuted a woman for months on end who had nothing to do with this.

APT: Look, Robert is a professional and excellent trial lawyer. He is...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me go -- I want to go -- let me go to Heather Hansen, criminal defense attorney. I hear -- you`re shaking your head and sighing a lot.

HEATHER HANSEN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Jane, the thing is, there`s still 13 counts against her, so there`s -- she is still being charged for all these counts of perjury. She`s being charged for the counts of concealment. She still could face up to 130 years in prison. So it`s not as if she`s just being left go on her merry old self...

APT: I`ve tried cases with -- I`ve tried cases with this judge.

HANSEN: Listen, the problem is, if you can`t prove your case, you`re not going to -- you`re not going to...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: But why are they just figuring that out now, though? That`s my question.

And Tanya Acker, maybe you know why.

TANYA ACKER, ATTORNEY: Well, look, I think there could be a couple of things going on here.

But first I have to say it`s a complete mistake to assume simply because they drop these charges now that they are precluded from bringing them again later. I mean, if anything, I think it`s better, frankly, for Rusty`s family that the prosecution not try to move forward on an overcharged case if they don`t have the evidence.

If they drop it now before jeopardy attaches, before the trial begins, and they`re able to pull a murder charge together later, there`s nothing to stop them from doing that.

And actually, beyond that, Jane, the fact that this is happening at the 11th hour may not be all that surprising.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: What?

ACKER: I mean, it could be a tactic by Robert`s office...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Please.

ACKER: No, because this -- this could have been for leverage.

HANSEN: Let me jump in and let me say this, Jane. What I think is exactly what Tanya`s saying, that there could have been leverage involved here. And a lot of times prosecutor will do that.

When I was a D.A. or when I was a prosecutor, sometimes you use that leverage to see if they will fold. It`s almost like playing chicken to see, OK, we`re going to go forward on these charges if you don`t take a plea.

And at the end of the day, what this shows to me, Jane, is that there`s just not enough evidence. There`s no admission. There`s no physical evidence. I mean, we`re talking about a mother of two with no criminal history. And so, of course, the prosecutor has an ethical duty not to go forward on charges if they believe that they cannot prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, which we all know in the highest (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You say there`s no evidence, so let me read you, because we have some court documents that we just obtained and we`ve been analyzing.

Now, Hemy Neuman told a close female friend of his that he thought Andrea and he were soul mates. That`s what he used, the word.

Prosecutors want to bring in this as evidence, and she told the attorneys, quote, Hemy and Andrea decided they were soul mates, but Andrea was adamant that she would not leave her husband and kids.

Still, during a trip together, Hemy said she came into his room, they kissed and fondled each other and had everything but intercourse. Everything but intercourse. That doesn`t sound like a one-way obsession to me.

So straight out to the Lion`s Den. Here`s the rub, although maybe I shouldn`t use that phrase in connection with this case. If Andrea did, indeed, say she would not leave her husband and kids, doesn`t that bolster her claim that, well, maybe she did have a little hanky-panky with this guy. She didn`t have anything to do with his murder.

So -- go ahead.

APT: The real evidence -- I mean, look, she`s -- I think she`s obviously having an affair with him. That`s sort of, you know, additional circumstantial evidence. There`s no direct evidence in the case.

But the real strong evidence to convict her, which Robert James could do, is the timeline of the phone calls. I said this many times to you, Jane, a lot of other places. If you look at the timeline and phone calls in the case, there`s no way Andrea Sneiderman could have known that her husband had been shot, unless she was in on it, and then she told two people within minutes after the murder took place, that she knew her husband had been shot. The only way she could have known about that is...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think she could have had fears about it, given the fact that he was -- he was obsessed. He was crazy. She was afraid of him. She certainly could have jumped to the conclusion that he was shot by him.

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: As a matter of act -- as a matter of fact -- go ahead and finish, because I have a statement here that I`m looking for, and it`s actually really the fact that he called police a week before. Exactly a week before the husband calls police and says there`s a creep in my yard, and that creep turned out to be Hemy Neuman.

APT: And yet Andrea deflected him away from the police for six weeks after the murder.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Listen...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The timing might be suspect, but we`re talking about speculation here. And this is all circumstantial and we all know circumstantial cases are very difficult for a D.A. to prove.

ACKER: But it also does -- there`s something about her in terms of the murder charges and being perhaps a party to this plan to kill her husband that to the prosecutors doesn`t smell right. I think that you really did -- you know, one of the other guests made the really great point about that very damning piece of evidence, about how she somehow knew about Rusty`s death before she was told. That may not be enough. That`s not enough to connect her to the murder, but it`s enough to suspect that there is something else..

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And additionally -- hold on a second. Additionally - - look, the prosecution...

APT: What the prosecutor has been doing -- He`s a great prosecutor...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: The prosecution says Andrea told Hemy Rusty`s schedule so that he would know when and where to go to kill him. Now Rusty, as I mentioned, caught Hemy dressed in disguise and loitered around their house, and he called cops on his ultimate killer just a week before this guy kills him. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSTY SNEIDERMAN, MURDER VICTIM (via phone): There`s a man who is sleeping in my backyard. He`s running. I think he has a gun in his back pocket, and now he`s running away. I don`t know who the hell he is, and I don`t want him by my house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. This is a house, you said? OK, tell us what he looked like: black, white, Hispanic?

R. SNEIDERMAN: He looked Hispanic with a mustache. He was wearing a hat and earmuffs, black mustache. It scared the hell out of me. I walked around the side of the house, and there`s some guy laying there sleeping on the side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: That poor man who you heard talking is dead. He`s the one who was murdered by Hemy Neuman. And Hemy Neuman was the guy who was in disguise, loitering around his house.

So John Lewis, reporter, WSB, you`ve broken this whole issue with them dropping the charges, your station. Could it be that she could just say hey, listen, my husband called 911 a week before. I was scared, so therefore, I assumed he had been shot because he had been targeted previously.

JOHN LEWIS, REPORTER, WSB (via phone): She testified during the Hemy Neuman trial that she did not learn of the shooting until she made it to Atlanta Medical Center, about an hour or so after the shooting. And the emergency room doctor took her into a room that she called the death room, and that`s when he told her her husband had been shot. She said that`s when she first learned of the shooting. That`s what got everything going here, because by her own admission, she didn`t know about the shooting ahead of time. She speculated. She didn`t know about it until she got to the hospital.

But let me just say this: charging her with murder is so different than proving the murder, and that`s what the D.A. has here.

In Atlanta, while we were covering this -- the first trial, the Hemy Neuman trial, so many people asked me about this: "Are you covering it? What about this? What about that?" They want her to be guilty. They want her to be guilty of murder. But just because you want something, just because your emotions are high doesn`t mean that`s going to happen.

I think the D.A. finally came to their senses and said, "Look, we can`t prove this, at least not right now, not with the evidence we have or don`t have. So let`s drop this."

Someone said earlier, she`s still facing 13 counts of perjury and false statements. She`s still looking at a very, very lengthy sentence if convicted. So she`s not getting off the hook.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Good point, John, and the panel. But we have to take a break. But still, I don`t think that`s how a D.A. Should operate. It should be a search for the truth and justice. More on the other side, and we`re taking your calls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

A. A. SNEIDERMAN: Killed someone else`s husband.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The gun in this case was in Hemy`s hand. But the trigger, I respectfully suggest, was pulled by Andrea Sneiderman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

A. SNEIDERMAN: I fell to the floor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You found out at the hospital Rusty had been shot?

A. SNEIDERMAN: That`s correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you say the death room. At that point, did they indicate to you Rusty was, in fact dead?

A. SNEIDERMAN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that the first time you found out he was dead?

A. SNEIDERMAN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you found out he was shot?

A. SNEIDERMAN: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: WSB reporting that that woman will no longer face murder charges within a couple of days, that prosecutors have decided they just do not have the evidence.

Let`s go out to the phone lines. Lisa, Canada, your question or thought, Lisa, Canada?

CALLER: Oh, hi, Jane. Thank you.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Your question or thought?

CALLER: Can I please say, my thing I`m going to think about right now is Andrea, the so-called woman, how come No. 1 this person knows where to find the daycare? And how come he knew when the husband would be there? Did she tell him?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, that`s an excellent question. I mean, that`s what everybody is saying: how would he know to go there? But let`s face it: people have schedules. If he was obsessed enough to hang out on this guy`s yard, in his front lawn, dressed in an outfit, a disguise, he would be obsessed enough to figure out.

He`s the boss of this woman, so he could just say, "Where do you go to daycare? What time does your husband drop off the kids?" It`s that simple. It doesn`t necessarily prove anything.

But here`s what I think, the biggest shocker for me in this case, or one of them, in many shockers: Prosecutors now say that Andrea had a sexual affair with Hemy Neuman and then convinced him to gun down her husband because, are you sitting down? She wanted to be intimate with a third man, somebody named Joseph Dell.

Police listened to dozens of conversations between Andrea and this male friend while she was in jail. This male friend reportedly told her he loved her during one conversation. Listen to this from CBS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did the police ever ask you about your relationship with her?

JOSEPH DELL, FRIEND OF ANDREA SNEIDERMAN: The police have never spoken to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You say they have never -- to this day, as we sit here now, to this day, the police have never asked you about your relationship with Andrea?

DELL: The police have never interviewed me, called me, not spoken to my attorney. Not shown up at my door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, this is really bizarre. There`s allegedly another boyfriend. Nobody asked him what he knows, and the police are now suggesting, oh, she got Hemy Neuman to kill her husband so she could be with this other guy? It`s starting to sound more and more far-fetched, John Lewis, reporter with WSB.

LEWIS: Well, it`s not only far-fetched, but there are a lot of rumors going around.

Now, let me just say this about Mr. Dell. Because of her house arrest, Andrea Sneiderman was prohibited from having contact with anyone who might be a witness in this case. She was at her parent`s house. She had to stay there. She could go to synagogue services. She could see her attorney, come to court and that was it.

The district attorney put her Mr. Dell on their witness list, ostensibly to make sure she could have no contact with this man, who was the new man in her life.

And the defense attorneys argued they didn`t do that because he was a witness. In fact, they never talked to him. They were just trying to be punitive and keep Andrea Sneiderman away from Joseph Dell.

One thing I`ll say, Jane, and with -- keep this in mind. With all due respect to Mr. Peters and Mr. Ruben, they were defense attorneys during the Hemy Neuman trial. They had an uphill battle, because we knew Hemy Neuman had pulled the trigger. They had to prove mental illness.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let me jump in here for a second. I want to jump in here, because now we`re talking about two boyfriends reportedly, and here`s the best friend, former best friend, that -- look at this kiss in the courtroom. And we could play it one more time, because this is an unlikely seductress, this Andrea Sneiderman. I mean, she`s not stunning. She looks like a soccer mom. I`m not saying she`s not attractive, but she`s not the type of person you`d think that would just knock people over with a feather and they all become sexually obsessed with her and that she had all these different men.

But you look at that kiss, and we could see it one more time. And I want to go to Anna Young, criminal defense attorney. We learn a lot about -- look at this -- look at this kiss. It`s very seductive. What does that say about Andrea Sneiderman?

ANNA YOUNG, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know what, Jane? You could -- you could raise -- you raise a very good point. Just at first glance, it looks very odd. Because when you look at it, you say, what is she saying to her. It doesn`t look like a typical friend kiss. I mean, she`s embracing her face. She`s pulling her in.

And Andrea Sneiderman might be doing it as an expression of saying, "This is my friend. I have my loyalties to her. She knows the truth; she`s on my side"

Or on the flip side, you could argue and say that it`s more along the lines of manipulation and more along the lines of the theory that she is a certain black widow and that she`s here to manipulate and not necessarily such an innocent person.

But if I`m the defense attorney here, I`m saying to the district attorney`s office or the state attorney`s office, bring it; bring the evidence. Everything that you`re saying here might be circumstantial. But at the end of the day, a crucial point, Jane, and something that, really, I`d like to make a valid point...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: But to me, now it`s gotten even murkier. Yes, there are the claims by Hemy Neuman, these documents that we`ve just gotten where he`s saying, "Oh, we`re soul mates. And we fondled and we kissed. And it got so heated that she had to go off and pleasure herself in another room." I mean, this gets really crazy.

But where is her talking? Where`s her confirming it? This is the voice of a madman. He`s found guilty but mentally ill. On the other side, we`re going to analyze that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did she make a comment about if she wasn`t married?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did she say?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If she was not married, she would have been interested. However, she loved her husband and was not interested.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

A. SNEIDERMAN: It was unfathomable and unbelievable that it could be him. Someone that proposed to care about me, care about Rusty, care about my family, be a normal guy, be my boss. He murdered my husband.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, yes, she seems so outraged there, but as she sat in jail accused of orchestrating her husband`s murder, get this: She was already thinking about who would play her in the movie of the week. And she actually said, during a recorded jail conversation, quote, "If Sandra Bullock wasn`t so old, she`d be a good choice."

So for all her crying and screaming, Tanya -- Tanya Acker, it seems like she is very narcissistic and obsessed with who would play her in a movie.

ACKER: You think, Jane? I mean, really? I`m sorry, I was just laughing -- over-laughing a little bit there.

There`s a little bit of me that feels like in this conversation with her, and your Sandra Bullock points makes me think this even more strongly, that we might be overthinking her a little bit. She`s a narcissist. All right, she`s a narcissist. She`s unfaithful. Maybe she had three other boyfriends out there.

All of this is certainly helping to paint a certain portrait of her, especially if she thinks that Sandra Bullock is not worthy to play her in the movie, by the way.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right.

ACKER: But all of this...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me go to the phone lines, if I may. Carla, Indiana, your question or thought? Carla, Indiana.

CALLER: Hi, Jane. I was just thinking, I don`t -- I don`t think she`s guilty.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Really? OK, good.

CALLER: Yes, I don`t. With the so-called affair and all the stuff going on, I kind of -- how do we know what kind of pressure? This guy was nuts. They`re going on business trips. How do -- how do we know what kind of pressure he was putting her under?

Now, not all women are going to be strong and can say no. I realize that. But that doesn`t prove anything. And...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know what, Carla, Indiana? I think you raise a great point.

Heather Hansen, quickly, maybe he wanted to have sex with her and was sending all this stuff but never actually did seal the deal. And she was just sort of an underling, an employee putting up with it.

HANSEN: Jane, I think Carla has a fantastic point. This is a guy who was so insane that he thought Olivia Newton-John and Barry White were telling him to kill this guy. And she was -- had to work for him.

So certainly she could feel pressure and have to follow along with what he did and be afraid of him. And therefore, perhaps have lied, and maybe she`ll serve in court, her day in jail for that. But it doesn`t mean that she killed anybody, and certainly the prosecutors don`t think that they can prove she did.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Well, listen. Fantastic panel, I`ve got something to tell you. It`s kind of exciting.

Speaking of outrageous murder trials, I have a brand-new book coming out next month, and it is called "Exposed: The Secret Life of Jodi Arias," and it contains incredible brand-new information about why Jodi Arias murdered Travis Alexander.

It`s stunning new information from my sources with a forward by Nancy Grace, and a certain amount of the proceeds will be donated to Travis`s charities and an animal charity, as well.

You can preorder this book online right now by going to HLNTV.com/Jane. It will be in bookstores all over America on the 20th of August. But you can preorder yours now.

And coming up next, wow, a mushrooming sexual scandal involving a politician and his wife. It is unbelievable. XXX-rated, allegedly. Stay right there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY WEINER, NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: What I did was problematic to say the least, destructive to say the most. Caused many stresses and strains in my marriage. But I`m pleased and blessed that she has given me a second chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY WEINER, NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: I have said that other texts and photos were likely to come out, and today they have.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Weiner is once again seeking redemption after a sexting scandal.

WEINER: These things are in my past.

These things are in my past.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He got caught twice. Come on. I mean grow up, knock it off.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He admitted to sending lewd pictures and messages to a 22-year-old woman.

WEINER: They were problematic to say the least, destructive to say the most.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sexually explicit online chats with a woman who is absolutely, positively not Anthony Weiner`s wife.

HUMA ABEDIN, WIFE OF ANTHONY WEINER: I love him. I have forgiven him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HLN HOST: Breaking news tonight: outrage and blowback, as XXX-rated new allegations surface about disgraced politician, Anthony Weiner`s sexting with a 20-something-year-old woman. The allegations are so raunchy that I blushed after reading these alleged sexts. Yes, we can`t repeat a word, not a word of what he allegedly communicated with her. But here`s a hint. They`re triple-XXX-rated text chats that allegedly happened more than a full year after Anthony Weiner resigned from Congress in disgrace, and promised his wife and the entire world, those days are over, I`m a new man, I`m going to change. Never mind.

The first scandal, ok, there he is, literally caught with his pants down taking shirtless photos like this. We`re now getting these downright dirty details about this new sexting scandal, redo, number two -- whatever you want to call it. What makes it more shocking, Weiner decided he had rehabilitated his image enough after scandal one that he could run for mayor of New York City and he`s still running, despite all this.

This time, a 22-year-old woman tells the dirty.com their relationship started last summer, and lasted six months. It was a chat relationship. She thought they were in love. She says she spoke to this married politician multiple times a day and they had many XXX conversations, some under his alias "Carlos Danger". He even allegedly promised to get her a condo in Chicago where they were planning to meet up to have actual sex.

But Anthony Weiner is trying to play this down, nothing to see here - - really it`s no big deal. Here`s what he said just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEINER: So many questions have been asked at the time I got in, and I answered them the same way. I`ve said that there are more than one woman over an extended period of time and there were pictures out there that are going to come out. It was on the front page of many newspapers that I said that.

And I don`t know -- I mean perhaps I should have said it`s going to come out at this specific time and this specific person, but there isn`t a lot better way for me to answer this question. I`m certainly not going to release any --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, you know, that doesn`t tell the whole story, ok? Let`s take a look at his wife -- his embarrassed wife. His wife is sticking by him despite all of this. We`re going to play what she has to say in a minute.

But first, out to Lisa Guerrero, chief investigative correspondent at "Inside Edition". What do you know about Weiner`s secret sexting? And put it in context for us because he`s saying, oh well, I said more of this stuff was going to come out. But this is happening more than a year after he said he was a changed man.

LISA GUERRERO, CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT, "INSIDE EDITION": That`s right, Jane. And if this was just a matter between a man and a wife, and the guy wasn`t running to be the mayor of have most prestigious city in America, New York City, then, you know, then I could kind of buy his excuse that if my wife forgives me then so should you.

But in reality, this guy wants to represent New York City as its mayor. He`s going to represent constituents. This goes to a matter of character and judgment.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me jump in, Lisa. I want to jump in.

GUERRERO: Yes, sure.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to get a sense -- we are not allowed to show the alleged sext, ok? I`ve seen them.

GUERRERO: Right.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: They are really dirty.

GUERRERO: They`re bad. They`re bad.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: We can`t describe them but I want to get a sense from you of what it`s like, but we`re not allowed to describe them.

GUERRERO: That`s right. And you know, we understand that folks are out there. And you don`t need to hear the actual verbiage to understand how disgusting these texts are. Use your imagination. One thing I will mention though is that in one of the texts, he says that he wants to hold her down by her throat. So not only are they sexually explicit, they`re disturbing, as well.

And again, this goes to this guy`s judgment, which I think is lousy. If Huma wants to forgive him, I think that`s her problem, I guess. But don`t pawn your problem off on the rest of us. We don`t need to see this guy as mayor of New York City.

And by the way, I think this should be a real challenge for women to look at the situation and to say, why aren`t I running for public office? Why aren`t there women putting themselves in the position?

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I have to say this. Excellent point. I have to say this, we cannot confirm, this is one of the reasons we haven`t released the text, which specific texts are his. But he has acknowledged that something happened and he is admitting that there was communication. But we can`t say which exact words are his.

All right. Anthony Weiner certainly knew that this latest round of racy texts and photos might come out. He decided to run for mayor of New York City anyway, and now he`s asking for a second chance again. Listen to him and then we`re going to debate it in "The Lion`s Den" on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEINER: I`ve made some big mistakes and I know I let a lot of people down. But I`ve also learned some tough lessons. I am running for mayor because I`ve been fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it my entire life. And I hope I get a second chance to work for you.

I`m pleased and blessed she has given me a second chance. For the past several months, I`ve been asking New Yorkers to also give me another chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Straight out to "The Lion`s Den" -- ladies, and yes we do have a panel of ladies tonight, is he crazy or arrogant or what? I don`t want to put words in your mouth, but we must start with Simone Bienne, psychosexual and relationship therapist.

SIMONE BIENNE, PSYCHOSEXUAL AND RELATIONSHIP THERAPIST: He is a wonderful narcissist, yet again, another one. He`s a politician, yes.

I see absolutely no remorse in him -- him acting out like this is just absolutely disgusting. It`s all about him being sexually desirable, you know. It`s like the older he gets, the younger the girls get. It`s all about the fantasy of giving him more power and making him feel like this sexual daddy.

Jane, what I find so disgusting is the fact that he was doing this when he had a six-month-old baby son. Oh, wasn`t he getting enough attention at home?

Sorry, but it makes me really, really angry.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: By the way, Anthony Weiner, if you want to come on our show, you are invited any time. I would love to hear your side of the show. I really would.

Now Huma, his wife, told the world today that it took a lot of time and a lot of therapy for her to forgive her husband, but she felt it was worth staying in the marriage. Let`s listen and then we`ll debate.

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ABEDIN: It was not an easy choice in any way. But I made the decision that it was worth staying in this marriage. That was a decision I made for me, for our son, and for our family. I didn`t know how it would work out, but I did know that I wanted to give it a try.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`ve got to go back out to "The Lion`s Den". I mean it`s one thing to stand by your man, it`s another thing to stand by your man twice, after he had scandal number one and then comes back a year after he says "I`m a changed man. I`ll never do it again. I disrespected my wife but now I`m going to be a good husband and a good father."

Again, we have psychologist Wendy Walsh, author of "The 30-Day Love Detox", why is she standing there next to him, do you think?

WENDY WALSH, AUTHOR OF "THE 30-DAY LOVE DETOX": Because she`s a mother, because she has a small child, because his career is important to her; because she`s friends with Hillary Clinton, who she probably took some lessons from. I think that it`s important to understand that when women make these kinds of decisions, Jane, they aren`t just thinking about themselves, they`re thinking about their family and their children. And believe it or not, kids from even unhappily married parents still do better than kids from single family households. So I think that --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Lisa Bloom --

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: -- let me jump in here. Lisa, I think I see and I respect her and I feel bad for her and I`m not blaming her. Please make that clear. But I do feel maybe she`s perhaps co-dependent. Like I believe perhaps he`s -- I believe he`s a sex addict and I believe she`s co- dependent on the addict. I say this as a double winner -- recovering alcoholic, as well as somebody who suffered from co-dependency.

LISA BLOOM, LEGAL ANALYST, AVVO.COM: Jane, I got up at 3:00 a.m. last night and banged out an article for cnn.com which is just posted. I hope everybody reads it because I`m so sick of this political tableau that is so dated with the wife as doormat standing next to the guy who is publicly humiliating her, in this case, multiple times. I think it sends a terrible message to our daughters.

What they want to do in their relationship behind closed doors is their business, but what they do in front of a press conference is our business. And it`s just enough -- enough of these women standing by, reading a script or saying nothing. I think we want better for our daughters. We want better role models for our daughters than this kind of a scenario.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You make an excellent point and I hope everybody checks out your editorial on cnn.com.

More of this stunning scandal; your calls lining up we`re going to take them. We`re going to get more from our panel of females on the other side.

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ABEDIN: Anthony has made some horrible mistakes. Both before he was in Congress and after.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody has been shot and killed out in front of Dunwoody Prep.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Immediately after, Rusty Sneiderman was shot and killed by Hemy Neuman in front of his children`s daycare. Tomorrow, my exclusive guest: the witness who made that call and his wife who was also there at the time of the murder. You don`t want to miss this.

More Anthony Weiner scandal on the other side of the break.

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JAY LENO, TALK SHOW HOST: This time Anthony Weiner used the name "Carlos Danger". That was the name he got. He was sexting women under the name "Carlos Danger", because it`s Weiner`s way of getting more Latino support. I`ll use -- I`ll be Carlos Danger."

CONAN O`BRIEN, TALK SHOW HOST: At the press conference today, Anthony Weiner`s wife said she will stand by her husband. Yes, especially when he goes on the computer. She`s going to be --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, that`s a good one.

Ok. Straight out to the phone lines, and we have a "Lion`s Den" panel of women tonight, so you`re a brave man Arthur, Illinois, to be calling in, your question or thought -- Arthur?

ARTHUR, ILLINOIS (via telephone): Hi, Jane. I was just wondering, from my observation, with her body language, Huma, Anthony Weiner`s wife. I noticed that she stood kind of away from her husband as he was speaking, but when it was time for her to speak, she kind of wanted her -- wanted it to be known that she was in love with her husband and wanted to stand with her husband. I just want to know what your observation was of Huma`s reaction to the whole thing at the press conference?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, ok. Wendy -- thank you, Arthur. Wendy Walsh, psychologist, author of "The 30-Day Love Detox" -- and by the way, thank you for joining us in the middle of the night from the London bureau. I guess that`s how upset you are. You`re up at night in London across the pond. You know, I still don`t get why. I personally feel that she must have co-dependency issues. That`s when you`re addicted to the addict. You`re somehow -- you`re minimizing, rationalizing, enabling, justifying -- that`s what co-dependents do.

WALSH: You know, we have to be careful not to diagnose this situation, Jane, because you and I are not married to the man and we don`t have a small toddler at home. So a lot of things go into these decisions that mothers make. Now, I`m not saying she made the best decision, but I`m talking about the kinds of things that go into her decision.

Now remember, she may also be an ambitious political wife. She may also want to see her husband succeed because that will bring more resources into the household and they will have more political power. So she could be, you know, sort of a power-loving woman herself by playing this game.

But I did notice -- speaking of the body language -- I did notice that when he was first doing his press conference and he talking, when he talked about the damage he did to his marriage, I watched her move out of frame. I watched her get out of there. And yes, she had to be close to him, because to be in the frame for the second shot when she spoke, but I did see that her body language was very closed. It wasn`t warm and loving. They weren`t hugging each other in this thing. This was difficult for her. This was very difficult.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh yes.

BLOOM: But you know what gets me, Jane?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.

BLOOM: You know what gets me? It`s 2013. Anthony Weiner calls himself a feminist. Respect for women begins at home, and he`s shown time and time again he doesn`t have that. How can any woman in the electorate trust him?

GUERRERO: Right. I agree.

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you know what? There are people calling, a lot of people calling for him to step down. Last I checked, he`s still in the race. What does that say about his mentality? Is he in denial?

More on the other side.

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REP. MARK SANFORD (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Bottom line is this. I`ve been unfaithful to my wife.

JENNY SANFORD, FORMER WIFE OF MARK SANFORD: Am I ok? You know what - - I have great faith and I have great friends and great family.

ELIOT SPITZER (D), FORMER GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK: I`ve acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family, that violates my or any sense of right and wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, time for "Pet of the Day". Send your pet pics to hlntv.com/jane.

Boomer -- Sierra`s doggie, what a bandana. You are very cool. And there`s Buddy and Taz -- oh my God, so sweet, so sweet. So happy. Look at those smiles. They`re a pair.

Jakey says "Look at me. I`ve got my old cat pad. It`s a special tree house. Here`s little Foxie. I have my own Foxie at home. But you`re another Foxie. You`re both foxy.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEINER: Look, I was going through some things personally. My family was. And trying to be as honest about it where we were at the time but this thing, you know, was still there. And as I said, over extended period of time, it ended. It`s behind me.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, Simone Bienne, psychosexual therapist which we need right now, here`s my problem with him. Over two years ago, he had the first scandal. He first lied and said it wasn`t him. Then he finally admitted it. And then he said I`m getting help, I`m a changed man and now not so much. Isn`t it the honesty factor here?

BIENNE: Well, I mean obviously, if he was an addict, you`re only as sick as your secrets, but it does seem to be to your point earlier, that he seems in denial. Because if he has an addiction, if he is a sex addict, he should be in treatment, he should be going to meetings. He should see this as a lifelong condition.

If he is just a narcissist or if he was acting out, and didn`t know what the problem was because he wasn`t getting enough attention, they should be in couple therapy. Whatever he is doing, he should be showing more remorse than he is at the moment because I can tell you as a woman voter, I wouldn`t be voting for him right now.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Lisa Guerrero, "Inside Edition", what should -- do you think he should do because there are calls for him to step down?

GUERRERO: He should go away yesterday in my opinion. And I believe in the political system. I believe this is something that both Democrats and Republicans can agree on, is that you don`t want somebody representing you that pulls down their pants in the bathroom and sends a picture of their stuff to some young woman across the country.

I think that when all is said and done, I think that this is going to take care of himself. He`s going to go away and he`ll be just another scandal in our rearview mirror.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, we`ll see. Because some of these disgraced politicians come back over and over and over again like -- I won`t say it.

Hey, check out Lisa Bloom`s editorial cnn.com. She was writing it at 3:00 in the morning.

And you are a fantastic panel. Thank you all, ladies -- angry ladies for joining me.

Back in a second.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Come back for my exclusive interview with the witnesses who saw the murder of Andrea Sneiderman`s husband.

Nancy Grace is up next.

END