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."
“He did not plea guilty to lewdness.”
That is true. But he did enter a guilty plea. That IS his problem.
He informed NO ONE of his plea. I don’t know what profession u are in, but most professions REQUIRE that you REPORT any guity pleas or convictions to the proper board for evaluation. Does not necessarily mean you will be punished, but you MUST report it.
The above defense attorney who posted several comments should know this.
Depends.
Good and relevant points amihow. I am not fully convinced of the evidence in this case - it is not as conclusive as one would like it to be.
Most especially, one would have expected, in this scenario, that the officer to have entraped Craig into the same toilet cubicle, and then arrested him there.
By letting Craig leave and arresting him at the door he risked losing the suspect, and the details of their interaction could be read several ways.
&&
Eww! They don’t do that, do they?
Unfortunately, I am at the moment forced to live in The People's Republic of Seattle. Even though I (thankfully) don't live in a "gay neighborhood" (the distinctions are growing slimmer by the day) I am still subjected to occasional visits by homosexual activists who apparently haven't gotten the memo that the stoat is a normal, healthy guy who thinks that Ladies are the Crown of All Creation, The Light of the Universe and God's Finest Work.
My great hope is to one day live in a community, which you apparently are Blessed with, where such unwelcome visits are unknown. Be very thankful for living where you do :-)
CNN’s Olberman did a re-enactment based on the cop’s report. Regarless of Olberman’s politics and humorous Dragnet theme, the cop’s verbatim incident report speaks for itself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUxBRu1lHCw
"On the tape, released Thursday by the Minneapolis Airport Police.."
Is it customary to "release" arrest tapes? Are they public record?
Cordially,
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
Oh, and btw, you go considerably out of your way to use a bathroom known for gay encounters but is nowhere near the route between your connecting flight gates in the airport..
Well then, you have a problem if you would plead guilty to anything you weren’t guilty of.
He’s a homo.
seems like Craig was pleaing guilty for his past more than this one case.
Either way he is finished.
(BTW not everyone wears their wedding ring on the left hand)
Also, for security you SHOULD take your bags into the stall with you.
Do you want us to be as low as the dems???? No you don’t, Even if we get no reward, we must appear above these
low life’s. I am sorry but I would rather have him out than in. Remember, we have ethics, integrity and morals—
EIM, and they have none. We need to keep the EIM standards for all—present and future.
Your dad was a coward.
Sorry.
Rule 1: You don't talk to the cops.
I had a case with a 7 year old who found a severely broken bb gun pistol and had it in a backpack. The cops convinced the father to let the kid make a statement. He gets the kid on the tape recorder and first talks about his own son to get the kid's confidence. Then he gets the kid to talk about problems at school. Suddenly he's trying to get the kid to agree that maybe he would have liked to take the gun to school and point it at his teacher and principal. Luckily the 7 year old got upset and gave the right answer. The cop is NOT your friend. BTW the cop charged the 7 year old with illegal possession of a firearm.
THe cop made a move toward the Senator. He found it suspicious that the Senator waited for about a minute to go into a stall. The Senator said he was waiting for someone to leave as the stalls were full. Not unusual in an airport where usually I have to wait.
The cop found it suspicious hs roller bag was in the stall against the door,,where else would the man put it.
The feet bumped,,so what.
The man picked up something off the floor,,big deal.
The cop took him to an interrogation with nobody else there based on the flimsy actions above.
I think the cop wanted a bribe.
How do you know he went out of his way? He said he used that bathroom when he flew thru there. Is it next to his favorite place to eat? There are reasons one goes out of his way and sometimes it is to find a less crowded place. That is not evidence. But where did you get that information.
The cop said he peeped, said he could see the Senator thru the crack in the door. Not very good information and subject to interpretation.
The whole thing is nebulous.
ANd this thread has so much bigotry on it it is hard to read.
I am confused....have I suggested anything to the contrary here (or anywhere else)?
Of course I want him out.
Of course I want the Republican Party to stand for what's good and right, not for the lowlifes.
Perhaps I have conveyed some sort of misunderstanding.
“My Father always said, let them intimidate you otherwise you will be in bigger trouble than you can imagine.”
A sheriff’s deputy pulled my son doing 82 mph in a 65 with expired tags and inspection. The officer immediately started in on the “do you any drugs in the car, I smell marijuana, what do you have in here?”, and pressed the issue for bit. My son’s reply was “Sir, I have three professional computer certifications, I’m student at college on my way home to see my dad and I’m not stupid enough to jeopardize my future by doing drugs”.
The guy gave him a warning ticket and let him go.
I grew up in Louisiana known for vicious cops. He knew what he was talking about.
And saying you are sorry after such a hateful remark doesn’t excuse you.
WHat kind of person are you?
What exactly was it that Sandy the Burglar was sent to destroy out of the Archives? Oh Hillry did it have your initals anywhere on it.
I do not have issue with bringing lawbreakers to justice, but come on now who made it illegal for that special crowd to get in on in the men’s john? Oh and who are the other 41 captured tapping toes in the john? Liberals know that GOP is the party of the BIG TENT so what is their gripe?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.