Anthony Weiner Resigns Under Pressure [LIVE]

Anthony Weiner's political career began in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, where he launched a campaign that would make him, at 27, the youngest ever member of the New York City Council. His career brings him back to the same spot today, but for a completely different reason: Weiner plans to resign, a coda to the scandal that has engulfed the Congressman since a photo of his crotch, sent to a young woman through his Twitter account, surfaced weeks ago. After initially denying that he had sent the photo a chastened Weiner admitted to multiple prurient exchanges through Twitter and Facebook, and a parade of women he contacted have come forward.

Weiner's decision to resign comes after being assailed on all sides by calls to step down -- from Democratic colleagues, from Republican rivals, and most recently from President Obama, who captured the frustration of Democrats when he told NBC that, when you get to the point where, because of various personal distractions, you can't serve as effectively as you need to at the time when people are worrying about jobs and their mortgages and paying the bills, then you should probably step back.

But ultimately it was Weiner's wife Huma Abedin, an aide to Hillary Clinton, who was able to convince the soon-to-be ex-Congressman. Weiner spoke to her after she returned from a voyage abroad with Clinton, and that was reportedly the decisive factor in leading him to abandon a promising political career that had many people portraying Weiner as a frontrunner to become the next mayor of New York City.

We will be liveblogging the press conference during which Weiner is likely to resign, beginning at 2:00 PM EST. Feel free to weigh in in the comments section, and check back throughout the day for updates.