Jewish congressman isn’t model’s dad

In a new twist to an already bizarre story, Jewish congressman Steve Cohen (D-Tennessee) learned late last week that he was not the father of Victoria Brink, the young lady he had been tweeting to during the 2013 State of the Union address.

“Nice to know you were watching the State of the Union. Happy Valentines Day Beautiful Girl. I-L-U,” he tweeted in February, leading to speculation he was involved in a romantic relationship with the 24-year-old aspiring swimsuit model. He deleted the tweet from his @repcohen account after 15 minutes.

The bald, bespectacled, 64-year-old Cohen believed that the comely blonde model was actually his daughter, arguing that “it was most appropriate that I responded to her and told her I loved her, and which I do.”

Cohen, a childless bachelor, claimed that he had an affair 25 years ago with Cynthia Sinatra, a Houston lawyer, and assumed Brink was his daughter when he read years later that Sinatra had a baby girl nine months after their relationship. He had been in touch with Brink for the past three-and-a-half years.

But when the results of a paternity test were made public on CNN last Thursday, Cohen learned he wasn’t the young lady’s father after all. For the test, CNN took DNA from Brink, Cohen, and the man she grew with as her father, oilman John Brink. It was determined conclusively that Brink was indeed her father.

The congressmen, in office since 2007, said in a statement that he was “stunned and dismayed.”

“I loved her,” Cohen told CBS. “I did everything in the world for her. Tried to show her what I can of my world.”

“I didn’t have children” he said, explaining why he didn’t get a paternity test when he first suspected he was Brink’s father. “I was thrilled to have a daughter. And I didn’t want any way at all for her to think that I was somehow questioning the relationship or trying to avoid the relationship.”

Cohen took her to exclusive DC events, including the White House Christmas party.

“I hope to have a relationship with her,” Cohen added. “For three-and-a-half years, I had a daughter, and it was nice to care about somebody and to share.”

Ironically, during a 2005 debate over the Tennessee Marriage Protection Amendment, which Tennessee voters approved in 2006, Cohen introduced a failed amendment which read, “Adultery is deemed to be a threat to the institution of marriage and contrary to public policy in Tennessee.”

Cohen, descended from Polish and Lithuanian Jews, is Tennessee’s first Jewish congressman, and is the first Jew in the country to represent a majority-black district.

Cohen isn’t a stranger to controversy. During a 2011 debate over President Barack Obama’s health care plan, Cohen said on the floor of the House, “They say it’s a government takeover of health care, a big lie just like Goebbels. You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie and eventually, people believe it. Like blood libel. That’s the same kind of thing.”

“The Germans said enough about the Jews and the people believed it and you had the Holocaust,” he continued. “You tell a lie over and over again.”

He later apologized for his comments.