NEW YORK -- New York Rep. Anthony Weiner has hired a lawyer to investigate what steps to take regarding a lewd photo sent from his hacked Twitter account.

His spokesman, Dave Arnold, says the Democrat believes it was a prank. But he's retained a lawyer to advise him on what civil or criminal actions should be taken.

The photo, which showed a man's bulging underpants, was posted on Friday. It was quickly deleted.

It first was reported Saturday by BigGovernment.com, a website run by conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart.

The site said the photo was tweeted to a woman in Seattle.

The congressman later joked about it on Twitter, asking whether his kitchen blender would be next to "attack" him.