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."
NY Daily News page features audio from police interview.
Get him the hell out of the Rep Party. Isn’t he one of the shamnesty turncoats? All the media and the libs are doing is pushing him around the plate, enjoying the embarrassment of this guy’s homosexual behavior. Throw him out!!!!!!!
“I’m not gay”
No, you just like peeping at people through the stall door crack, playing footsie with them and then reaching under the stall trying to play patty cake.
Can we trust that the media will be likewise disgusted when the NEXT Congressman is caught engaging in this practice, regardless of party or political season?
The head of the GLBT Task Force and of Lambda Legal have both been pushing for decriminalizing of this act. Funny how they fall silent today in the most famous incident since George Michael was caught in a city park’s rest room.
Larry Craig should resign. He tried to perform a sex act in a public place. And his current explanation doesn’t pass the laugh test.
If he had been a Dem, the donkeys and the MSM would be circling the wagons around him, loudly decrying "police harassment" and "antigay bigotry". They would instantly attack anyone who dared suggest any wrongdoing and would elevate him up several notches in the Dem hierarchy.
Barney "homo brothel" Frank is just one recent example.
yeah, well, everyone knows that cops never lie, so I guess it’s open and shut....
His behavior is not acceptable in the Republican party.
But, he should leave the party fast.
No, you just like peeping at people through the stall door crack, playing footsie with them and then reaching under the stall trying to play patty cake.
Sounds like normal LibDem behavior to me. He just needs to switch parties....they will welcome him with open arms on the Left.
Who doesn't?
Yup. ....and so is the other GOP Senator from Idaho, Crapo.
He should proclaim himself a Gay-American and go on Orprah.
The end result of this bias is a GOP consisting of mostly ethical straights and a Dim Party full of queer crooks...
You are correct in your observations. Republicans clearly have much higher standards of behavior than democrats. We need to trumpet these differences, rather than stain ourselves apologizing for Craig.
“Barney “homo brothel” Frank is just one recent example.”
Don’t forget Cleveland’s dandy Mary Rose Oakar who put her live-in homosexual girlfriend in a government paid apartment.
But as long as the dems are just all gooey over dragging this “republican” homosexual’s activity out over a long, long time, I say dump him.
Who doesn't?
He was obviously displaying his Environmentalist credentials, in that he wanted to avoid wasting that valuable piece of toilet paper.
Of course, if someone is a homosexual who is fixated on fecal-related topics, a piece of toilet paper that's on the floor of a public restroom would be far more desirable than a clean one from the roll.......
Craig’s “I’m not gay” has the same ring to it as Nixon’s “I am not a crook”, and Clintoon’s “I did not have sex with that woman.”
The cops who are going in there and having to subject themselves to these perverts are performing a public service.
It is not a job I would want to do. But they should be applauded. They are trying to clamp down on homosexual perverts who would prey on innocents - possibly even your son or grandson.
Why some people on Free Republic are defending the public menace that is Larry Craig is beyond me.
Any politician who stand up to gay activists who don't want this 'cruising' crap to be curtailed are attacked.
News flash! Sex in public still illegal
"Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, president of National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, reports the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Woodhull Freedom Foundation have joined together to fight what they describe as "archaic" laws prohibiting public sex in restrooms and parks."
“this is not an amnesty bill and by the way I am not gay either in case you were wondering” lc
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