San Diego Mayor Resigns, Blames 'Lynch Mob'

He's gone, or will be in a matter of days: San Diego Mayor Bob Filner will resign effective August 30, reports AP. The city council today accepted a deal that calls for Filner to step down after nearly 20 women came forward to accuse him of sexual harassment. The council president will step in as interim mayor until a special election takes place. "I offer a deep apology," Filner told the council, reports CNN. He added this, however: "I have never sexually harassed anyone. But the hysteria that has been created is the hysteria of a lynch mob."

As he has in the past, Filner admitted that his actions were inappropriate at times. "The city should not have been put through this," he said. "And my own personal failures were responsible." But he soon pivoted to assert that the claims against him had been exaggerated in an environment in which "allegations become facts." The 70-year-old former congressman, a Democrat, has been in office only 9 months. Filner still faces a lawsuit from his former communications director, who is represented by Gloria Allred. (More Bob Filner stories.)