A Minneapolis police officer has accused Senator Larry Craig of lying in an interview after his arrest.
Posted on 08/30/2007 6:37:17 PM PDT by Stoat
Thursday, August 30th 2007, 7:57 PM
A Minneapolis police officer has accused Senator Larry Craig of lying in an interview after his arrest.
WASHINGTON - The officer who arrested Sen. Larry Craig in a police undercover operation at an airport men's room accused the senator of lying to him during an interrogation afterward, according to an audiotape of the arrest.
On the tape, released Thursday by the Minneapolis Airport Police, the Idaho Republican senator, in turn, accuses the officer of soliciting him for sex.
"I'm not gay. I don't do these kinds of things," Craig told Sgt. Dave Karsnia minutes after the two men met in a men's room at the airport on June 11.
"You shouldn't be out to entrap people," Craig told the officer. "I don't want you to take me to jail."
Karsnia replied that Craig wouldn't be going to jail as long as he cooperates.
At one point during the interrogation, the officer told Craig: "You're not being truthful with me. I'm kind of disappointed in you, senator."
Meanwhile, more of Craig's Republican colleagues moved away from him Thursday in the wake of his guilty plea earlier this month to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct in the undercover police operation aimed at sex solicitors.
Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, who chairs the GOP's senatorial campaign committee, stopped short of calling on Craig to resign, but suggested strongly that he should.
"I wouldn't put myself hopefully in that kind of position, but if I was in a position like that, that's what I would do," Ensign told The Associated Press in his home state. "He's going to have to answer that for himself."
Sens. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, each turned over to charity $2,500 campaign donations they had received from Craig's political action committee. Coleman and Collins both face potentially tough faces for re-election next year.
Coleman and several other Republicans - including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. - have called for Craig to resign his seat in the Senate. Craig already has agreed to a request by Republican leaders to give up his ranking status on the Veterans Affairs Committee and appropriations subcommittees.
Craig said Tuesday he had committed no wrongdoing and shouldn't have pleaded guilty. He said he had only recently retained a lawyer to advise him in the case, which threatens to write an ignominious end to a lifetime in public office.
GOP Senate leaders said they did not act lightly in asking Craig to give up his leadership posts temporarily. But they said their decision was "in the best interest of the Senate until this situation is resolved by the ethics committee."
On the tape, Craig and the arresting officer can be heard arguing over what happened in the men's room minutes earlier. Craig acknowledges that the men's feet bumped, but says nothing improper happened.
"Did we bump? Yes, I think we did. You said so. I don't disagree with that," Craig said.
But Craig disputes the officer's account that he swept his hand under the stall next to him in an apparent effort to advance the encounter. They even disagree whether Craig used his right hand or his left hand.
Craig said he was merely trying to pick up a piece of paper - an account the officer disputes.
"I'm telling you that I could see, so I know that's your left hand. Also I could see a gold ring on this finger, so that's obvious it was the left hand," Karsnia tells Craig.
"Well we can dispute that," Craig says. "I'm not going to fight you in court. I reached down with my right hand to pick up the paper."
Meanwhile, Idaho Republican Gov. C.L. (Butch) Otter told CNN that Craig's loss of his committee leadership posts was "problematic," adding: "I'm sure Larry and his family are going to take those things into consideration as they go forward with their decisions."
Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, said that "like most Idahoans, I was shocked by the allegations against Larry and by his guilty plea. However, I tend to judge people by the totality of their career and Senator Craig has been a dedicated public servant who has been an asset for Idaho for almost 30 years. At this time, I will not pass judgment on this matter."
The same goes for any police sting operation from ABSCAM to the local police department putting stickers in phone booths that say,"we buy used parts!"
Conversely, creating crime opportunities to catch offenders can make things worse. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a number of U.S. police departments experimented with "sting" operations in which they created fake markets for stolen goods, documented who sold such goods to them, and then arrested many thieves. A number of these operations were evaluated. There is no evidence that these operations reduced crime. There is some evidence that they may have increased crime by providing lucrative and convenient ways to sell stolen goods. Throughout this manual we have noted the strong influence facilitating environments can have on promoting criminal behavior. So one should be very cautious about creating artificial crime opportunities to round up unknown prolific offenders.
CRIME ANALYSIS FOR PROBLEM SOLVERS
In 60 Small StepsRonald V. Clarke & John E. Eck
Center for Problem Oriented Policing
U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
There was no audio or no talking in the incident. The audio is of an interrogation.
What does Jewishness have to do with leagues of lawyers keeping Clintoon tapes under wraps??
Cordially
“Nobody has to support him.But I would expect a more reasoned approach to this.”
Pleading to ANYTHING you did not do, is not reasonable.
And a sitting Senator of all people should know that.
If u are asking me If his amnesty vote alone is enough for me. My answer is yes.
For me, it’s a National Security Issue.
Totally agree with you. It’s like we’ve been invaded by the body snatchers. I simply cannot understand the blindness of so many here about what has gone on here.
But remember when Nifong first came out against the LaCross players?
Here and all over the country people IMMEDIATELY were calling for the LaCross players to be kicked out of school and almost lynched!
For heaven’s sake - did we not learn then to never jump to conclusions? And that “law” officials can sometimes have an “agenda”????? other than arresting true criminals????
Thanks for giving me hope all is not lost. I didn’t have that hope yesterday.
I hope that was as good for you as it was for me. /s off
“NOW DON’T YOU THINK that if the Senator were a blazing homosexual pervert crusing for sex in bathrooms that there would be TONS of evidence to back up these “rumors”????”
Not really. Senator Craig’s thing is ANONYMOUS sex. He doesn’t give his card to just anyone in a bathroom stall. He did it this time to intimidate the cop, who was gutsy enough to stand up to him.
The dozens of men in Union Station and at various airport bathrooms did not know the name of the ugly geezer they were entertaining.
This is the mode of the deply-closeted homosexual.
deeply closeted homosexual, as opposed to blazing queen.
They assume guilt because of the press but primarily because they hate and fear homosexuals.
Oh, hallelujah! Another sane person!!!!
There's an audio clip of the tape of the post-arrest interview hosted at the New York Daily News page;
I'm guessing that it is an edited version; the complete tape including the audio of the actual toe-tapping and other 'interactions' having been edited out because they were deemed more relevant to the ongoing case.
“He is fighting this now!”
I wish him luck in fighting it...but he will be doing it as a private citizen very soon. The GOP will not allow this to drag into the 08 elections and rightfully so.
Do u really think the GOP is going to allow him to re-open this can of worms in a trial, which is what would happen? The issue is his guilty plea. Thats the root of his political problem.
The FOI applies to federal information only. It's likely local state law allows for the recording to be released.
I hope that was as good for you as it was for me. /s off
Apparently the foot-tapping coupled with whatever conversation took place at the time was deemed to be a solicitation for sex in a public place, which is illegal in most places, last time I checked.
In the real world, people plea to misdemeanors for all kinds of reasons.
Are you truly saying his vote on Amnesty makes him deserving of what may be false accusatioons, the ruining of his life’s work, on a sex charge?
If you believe that, you are a radically cruel person.
Can’t decide which bothers me more: Craig’s alleged and apparent behavior, or the knowledge that, if he were a Dimocritter, the talk would be all about “What the heck are the police doing spending their time in bathrooms trying to roust homosexuals?”
How in the world can you claim all that?
The Senator did NOT ask or solicit for sex in that bathroom! There is zero proof that he has ever done any such thing.
For God’s sake - think about the LaCross players!
They did NOTHING wrong and yet they were ASSUMED to be guilty so much that 99 Duke professors united to demand they be basically thrown to the wolves to be destroyed. (not literally of course)
They did do a stupid thing of course. They had an exotic dancer come to their house to “perform”. Not a good idea.
But beyond that NOTHING HAPPENED as has been proven so clearly now.
I dare you to charge Senator Craig with engaging in these sex acts.....of which there is zero evidence.
Did you listen to the police tape? Or do facts just get in the way of your judgement against the Senator.
“For heaven’s sake - did we not learn then to never jump to conclusions? And that “law” officials can sometimes have an “agenda”????? other than arresting true criminals????”
Nice try, but u are missing one little point. The Lacross players DID not plead guilty to ANYTHING... they fought it.
I am about done with republicans. Truly.
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