Washington ( CNN ) -- `` I was totally stunned . '' That 's how Rep. Steve Cohen , D-Tennessee , described his reaction upon finding out the woman he though was his long lost daughter , really was n't . `` I felt confident that it was for sure that ( it ) would come out that I was the father , '' `` he told CNN . `` When I found out I was n't , I was floored . '' This bizarre story begins with an even more bizarre backstory . Flashback to February , President Barack Obama 's State of the Union address . Washington was abuzz about what appeared to be a salacious social media blunder : during the speech -- the bachelor congressman tweeted `` I-L-U `` for ' I LOVE YOU ' to an attractive young blonde . Cohen , 64 , announced that aspiring model Victoria Brink was actually his daughter , something he learned from her mother , an old girlfriend he had recently contacted . `` I could n't sleep one night and I Googled her and it came out that she had a bio written up on her webpage and it said she had a daughter Victoria . So I Facebooked , searched her daughter and it turns out she had this daughter born on the 22nd of April in '88 and that was kind of when we were together , '' said Cohen . Cohen says his old flame told him that her daughter looked like him . `` So that is what it was , and I wrote Victoria a letter and she wrote me back and she said , 'This is very difficult for me . All my life I thought somebody else was my father . ' '' CNN intended to do a story about a congressman finding his daughter late in life . But during the process , Victoria and the man she 'd always thought was her father , wanted to do paternity tests to be sure . The result was a stunner . Texas oilman John Brink , the man who raised her , was actually her biological father , not the congressman . Cohen said he only took a DNA test because Victoria wanted it . `` She said that she did n't know who her biological father was , and for her mental health she needed it . I had avoided it but I would do anything for her , '' said Cohen . Despite the letdown of learning Victoria is not his biological daughter , Cohen says he enjoyed introducing her as his daughter at Washington events , like the White House Christmas party . He still keeps pictures of her on his walls at the office , and at home . For him the short three-year period he thought Victoria was his daughter was enough to cement his love for her . `` We still communicate . I still care about her greatly and I think she cares about me and I hope and plan to continue to have a relationship . I think of her still as my daughter , '' he said .
Congressman thought woman was his daughter . Paternity tests proved otherwise . `` I was totally stunned , '' said Congressman Steve Cohen .