White House won’t comment on Anthony Weiner

The White House declined Wednesday to weigh in on the scandal involving Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner, amid new pressure for him to step down.

Tim Kaine, the former chair of the Democratic National Committee who is now running for a U.S. Senate seat in Virginia, told a local television station earlier that “lying publicly” about his behavior was “unforgivable and he should resign.” He was the first prominent Democrat to expressly call for him to do so.

Asked for President Obama’s position, press secretary Jay Carney said at his daily briefing that he had “no comment on that story.”

Photos: A decade of D.C. sex scandals

Meanwhile a new, much more explicit photo allegedly sent by the New York congressman began circulating online.

Andrew Breitbart, the conservative agitator who broke the story on his BigGovernment.com website, had said he would not release the photo. But SiriusXM radio hosts Opie and Anthony captured a photo Breitbart displayed on his smartphone, which he claimed was Weiner’s exposed genitals. The hosts then tweeted the photo.

It is precisely this kind of trickle of embarrassing information that has Democrats increasingly pushing for Weiner to step down. By Wednesday afternoon another leading Democrat, Pennsylvania Rep. Allyson Schwartz, joined the resignation caucus.

“Having the respect of your constituents is fundamental for a Member of Congress. In light of Anthony Weiner’s offensive behavior online, he should resign,” Schwartz, head of candidate recruitment for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement.

A Democratic strategist with close ties to House Democratic leadership said that if he remained a distraction, few in caucus leadership “will hesitate to get rid of him.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Tuesday waved off questions about Weiner, saying he should “call somebody else.”

Meanwhile Republicans continue to add fuel to the fire. Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus told reporters at a breakfast hosted by Bloomberg News that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi should push Weiner to resign rather than simply call for an investigation into the matter.

“Do we really need an investigation to determine if this guy’s a creep or not?” said Priebus.

For the second straight day, the House Republicans’ campaign arm called for Democrats who received campaign donations from Weiner to return the funds.

Photos: A decade of D.C. sex scandals

Kathleen Hennessey, Lisa Mascaro and Christi Parsons contributed.