Rep. Cohen says woman he was tweeting is his daughter

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen has revealed he's the father of the 24-year-old Texas woman he was communicating with on Twitter during the State of the Union in an exchange that drew news media attention.

Cohen, who has never been married, said Friday that he decided to publicly acknowledge Victoria Brink as his daughter after bloggers and the media tried to make the exchanges appear salacious. Cohen's message to Brink included a Twitter abbreviation for "I love you."

An aide to the 64-year-old Memphis Democrat told The Associated Press earlier this week that Brink was the daughter of a friend and Cohen deleted his tweets because they were supposed to be private messages.

Cohen said he didn't learn that Brink was his daughter until three years ago.