Former US congressman Anthony Weiner jailed

The former Democratic politician, who sent lewd pictures to a minor girl, has been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison.

Anthony Weiner, former Democratic congressman and estranged husband of key Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, has been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for sending lewd pictures to a minor girl.

Anthony Weiner leaves federal court in New York on September 25, 2017. (AFP)

Weiner had pleaded guilty to sending the 15-year-old obscene pictures, which she later passed on to a news publication.

Once a rising Democratic politician, he resigned from congress in 2011 after reports surfaced of him sending lewd pictures of himself to a college student. He had first denied it, but owned up subsequently.

The discovery of Clinton’s emails on his laptop, stored there by Abedin, had led to the FBI re-examining the closed case against the Democratic presidential candidate, which might have skewed a close race leading to her defeat.