Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

TRANSCRIPT: Police Interview With Sen. Larry Craig
ABC News ^ | 08/30/2007

Posted on 08/30/2007 2:48:08 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd

Police Officers Question Craig After Arrest at Minneapolis Airport Aug. 30, 2007 —

The following is an unedited transcript of an interview between police Sgt. Dave Karsnia and police Detective Noel Nelson with Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, regarding a June 11 incident at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Audiotapes and a transcript of the interview were released today.

Craig was arrested June 11 in an airport bathroom by Karsnia, who was working undercover. Karsnia said Craig exhibited behavior in the men's restroom that was "often used by persons communicating a desire to engage in sexual conduct."

Craig later pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct. When news of the arrest hit the press Monday, Craig issued a statement saying, "I should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter. In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously."

Under pressure from Republican party leaders, Craig stepped down from his Senate committee leadership posts.

Transcript below:

Investigative Sgt. Dave Karsnia #4211 and Detective Noel Nelson of the Minneapolis Police Department intert 1162

(NN) INTERVIEW WITH Larry Craig (LC) Case 07002008

Larry Craig: Am I gonna have to fight you in court?

Dave Karsnia: No. No. I'm not gonna go to court unless you want me there.

LC: Cause I don't want to be in court either.

DK: Ok. I don't either.

(inaudible) DK: Urn, here's the way it works, urn, you'll you'll be released today, okay.

LC: Okay.

DK: All right. I, I know I can bring you to jail, but that's not my goal here, okay? (inaudible)

LC: Don't do that. You You

DK: I'm not going to bring you to jail

LC: You solicited me.

DK: Okay. We're going to get, We're going to get into that. (inaudible)

LC: Okay.

DK: But there's the, there there's two ways, yes. You can, you can, ah, you can go to court.

You can plead guilty.

LC: Yep.

DK: There'll be a fine. You won't have to explain anything. (inaudible) I know. LC: Right.

DK: And you'll pay a fine, you be (inaudible), done. Or if you want to plead not guilty, ah, and I, I can't make these decisions for you.

LC: No, no. Just tell me where I am (inaudible) I need to make this flight.

DK: Okay. Okay. And then I go to people that are not guilty, then I would have to come to court and end up testifying. So those are the two things, okay. Did I explain that part?

LC Yes

DK Okay Urn, ah, I'm just going to read you your rights real quick, okay? You got it on?

Noel Nelson: Yep.

DK Okay.

DK: Ah, the date is 6/11/07 at 1228 hours. Urn, Mr. Craig?

LC: Yes.

DK. Sorry about that. (ringing phone)

DK: You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court of law. You have the right to talk to a lawyer now or have a present, a lawyer present now or anytime during questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed to you without cost. Do you understand each of these rights the way I have explained them to you?

LC: I do.

DK: Do you wish to talk to us at this time? LC I do

DK Okay Urn, I just wanna start off with a your side of the story, okay. So, a

LC: So I go into the bathroom here as I normally do, I'm a commuter too here.

DK: Okay.

LC: I sit down, urn, to go to the bathroom and ah, you said our feet bumped. I believe they did, ah, because I reached down and scooted over and urn, the next thing I knew, under the bathroom divider comes a card that says Police. Now, urn, (sigh) that's about as far as I can take it, I don't know of anything else. Ah, your foot came toward mine, mine came towards yours, was that natural? I don't know. Did we bump? Yes. I think we did. You said so. I don't disagree with that.

DK: Okay. I don't want to get into a pissing match here.

LC: We're not going to.

DK: Good. Urn,

LC: I don't, ah, I am not gay, I don't do these kinds of things and...

DK: It doesn't matter, I don't care about sexual preference or anything like that. Here's your stuff back sir. Urn, I don't care about sexual preference.

LC: I know you don't. You're out to enforce the law.

DK: Right.

LC: But you shouldn't be out to entrap people either.

DK: This isn't entrapment.

LC: All right.

DK: Urn, you you're skipping some parts here, but what what about your hand?

LC What about it? I reached down, my foot like this. There was a piece of paper on the floor, I picked it up

DK: Okay.

LC What about my hand?

DK: Well, you're not being truthful with me, I'm kinda disappointed in you Senator. I'm real disappointed in you right now. Okay. I'm not, just so you know, just like everybody, 1,1,1, treat with dignity, I try to pull them away from the situation

LC: 1,1

DK: and not embarrass them.

LC: I appreciate that.

DK: And I

LC: You did that after the stall.

DK: I will say every person I've had so far has told me the truth. We've been respectful to each other and then they've gone on their way. And I've never had to bring anybody to jail because everybody's been truthful to me.

LC: I don't want you to take me to jail and I think.

DK: I'm not gonna take you to jail as long as your cooperative but I'm not gonna lie. We...

LC: Did my hand come below the divider? Yes. It did.

DK: Okay, sir. We deal with people that lie to us everyday. LC: I'm sure you do.

DK: I'm sure you do to sir.

LC: And gentleman so do I.

DK: I'm sure you do. We deal with a lot of people that are very bad people. You're not a bad person.

LC: No, I don't think I am.

DK: Okay, so what I'm telling you, I don't want to be lied to.

LC: Okay.

DK: Okay. So we'll start over, you're gonna get out of here. You're gonna have to pay a fine and that will be it. Okay. I don't call media, I don't do any of that type of crap.

LC: Fine.

DK: Okay.

LC: Fine.

DK: All right, so let's start from the beginning. You went in the bathroom.

LC: I went in the bathroom.

DK: And what did you do when you...

LC: 1 stood beside the wall, waiting for a stall to open. I got in the stall, sat down, and I started to go to the bathroom. Ah, did our feet come together, apparently they did bump. Well, I won't dispute that.

DK: Okay. When I got out of the stall, I noticed other other stalls were open. LC: They were at the time. At the time I entered, 1,1, at the time I entered, I stood and waited.

DK: Okay.

LC: They were all busy, you know?

DK: Were you (inaudible) out here while you were waiting? I could see your eyes. I saw you playing with your fingers and then look up. Play with your fingers and then look up.

LC: Did I glance at your stall? I was glancing at a stall right beside yours waiting for a fella to empty it. I saw him stand up and therefore I thought it was going to empty.

DK: How long do you think you stood outside the stalls?

LC: Oh a minute or two at the most.

DK: Okay. And when you went in the stalls, then what? LC: Sat down.

DK: Okay. Did you do anything with your feet?

LC: Positioned them, I don't know. I don't know at the time. I'm a fairly wide guy.

DK: I understand.

LC: I had to spread my legs.

DK: Okay.

LC: When I lower my pants so they won't slide.

DK: Okay.

LC: Did I slide them too close to yours? Did I, I looked down once, your foot was close to mine.

DK Yes.

LC Did we bump? Ah, you said so, I don't recall that, but apparently we were close.

DK Yeah, well your foot did touch mine, on my side of the stall.

LC: All right.

DK: Okay. And then with the hand. Urn, how many times did you put your hand under the stall?

LC: I don't recall. I remember reaching down once. There was a piece of toilet paper back behind me and picking it up.

DK: Okay. Was your was your palm down or up when you were doing that?

LC: I don't recall.

DK: Okay. I recall your palm being up. Okay.

LC: All right.

DK: When you pick up a piece of paper off the ground, your palm would be down, when you pick something up.

LC: Yeah, probably would be. I recall picking the paper up.

DK: And I know it's hard to describe here on tape but actually what I saw was your fingers come underneath the stalls, you're actually ta touching the bottom of the stall divider.

LC: I don't recall that.

DK: You don't recall

LC: I don't believe I did that. I don't.

DK: I saw, I saw

LC: I don't do those things.

DK: I saw your left hand and I could see the gold wedding ring when it when it went across. I could see that. On your left hand, I could see that. LC: Wait a moment, my left hand was over here.

DK: I saw there's a...

LC: My right hand was next to you.

DK: I could tell it with my ah, I could tell it was your left hand because your thumb was positioned in a faceward motion. Your thumb was on this side, not on this side.

LC: Well, we can dispute that. I'm not going to fight you in court and I, I reached down with my right hand to pick up the paper.

DK: But I'm telling you that I could see that 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.

LC: Yeah, okay. My left hand was in the direct opposite of the stall from you.

DK: Okay. You, you travel through here frequently correct? LC I do

DK Um,

LC Almost weekly.

DK: Have you been successful in these bathrooms here before?

LC: I go to that bathroom regularly

DK I mean for any type of other activities.

LC: No. Absolutely not. I don't seek activity in bathrooms.

DK: It's embarrassing.

LC: Well it's embarrassing for both.. I'm not gonna fight you.

DK: I know you're not going to fight me. But that's not the point. I would respect you and I still respect you. I don't disrespect you but I'm disrespected right now and I'm not tying to act like I have all kinds of power or anything, but you're sitting here lying to a police officer.

DK: It's not a (inaudible) I'm getting from somebody else. I'm (inaudible)

LC: (inaudible) (Talking over each other)

DK: I am trained in this and I know what I am doing. And I say you put your hand under there and you're going to sit there and...

LC: I admit I put my hand down.

DK: You put your hand and rubbed it on the bottom of the stall with your left hand.

LC: No. Wait a moment.

DK: And I, I'm not dumb, you can say I don't recall...

LC: If I had turned sideways, that was the only way I could get my left hand over there.

DK: it's not that hard for me to reach. (inaudible) it's not that hard. I see it happen everyday out here now.

LC: (inaudible) you do. All right.

DK: I just, I just, I guess, I guess I'm gonna say I'm just disappointed in you sir. I'm just really am. I expect this from the guy that we get out of the hood. I mean, people vote for you.

LC: Yes, they do. (inaudible)

DK: unbelievable, unbelievable.

LC: I'm a respectable person and I don't do these kinds of...

DK: And (inaudible) respect right now though

LC: But I didn't use my left hand.

DK I thought that you...

LC: I reached down with my right hand like this to pick up a piece of paper.

DK: Was your gold ring on your right hand at anytime today.

LC: Of course not, try to get it off, look at it.

DK: Okay. Then it was your left hand, I saw it with my own eyes.

LC: All right, you saw something that didn't happen.

DK: Embarrassing, embarrassing. No wonder why we're going down the tubes. Anything to add?

NN Uh, no

DK: Embarrassing. Date is 6/11/07 at 1236 interview is done.

LC: Okay


TOPICS: Politics/Elections; US: Idaho; US: Minnesota
KEYWORDS: 110th; craig; larrycraig; msp; transcript
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 281-300301-320321-340 ... 401-417 next last
To: milford421
[Not a word, NOT ONE WORD, mind you, about Clinton and the Chinese money.

Wake up freepers...you’re being played.]

Why are you wasting your time watching the television news?

Most FReepers knew about Clinton and the Chinese money and they also know about the adventures of Senator Craig. No big surprise there. FReepers are as FReepers do.

301 posted on 08/30/2007 10:21:30 PM PDT by VxH (One if by Land, Two if by Sea, and Three if by Wire Transfer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 236 | View Replies]

To: daler

Rush is on vacation this week or he would be making the connection. Heard Hannity the other day mention the Hsu story the other day and said he would watch it. I listen to Sean on the way home from work and all I hear is about Craig. Emailed him and told him to wake up and make the connection.


302 posted on 08/30/2007 10:32:36 PM PDT by barker ( A smile is a curved line that sets things straight.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 102 | View Replies]

To: 21stCenturyFreeThinker
[only unaccomplished creepy looking degenerates who can be spotted a mile away ever do this stuff.]
 
People would like to believe that because it keeps them in their comfort zone.  
 
Nixon's comments 30 years ago scratch the surface of a looking glass that leads to a verfy different landscape:
 
NIXON: You know what's happened [in northern California]?
 
EHRLICHMAN: San Francisco has just gone clear over.
 
NIXON: But it's not just the ratty part of town. The upper class in San Francisco is that way. The Bohemian Grove, which I attend from time to time--it is the most faggy goddamned thing you could ever imagine, with that San Francisco crowd. I can't shake hands with anybody from San Francisco.
 
 
Do some google research on Bohemian Grove sometime.  It's a real Hoot.

303 posted on 08/30/2007 10:45:29 PM PDT by VxH (One if by Land, Two if by Sea, and Three if by Wire Transfer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 300 | View Replies]

To: cajungirl
I did listen, after reading the transcript I thought maybe he was being railroaded. After listening to the tape I changed my mind.

He's lying.

304 posted on 08/31/2007 3:39:53 AM PDT by #1CTYankee (That's right, I have no proof. So what of it??)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 220 | View Replies]

To: #1CTYankee
"My 10 year old sounds more convincing when he lies."

Mine too.

He should just resign and get it over with.

305 posted on 08/31/2007 3:41:35 AM PDT by #1CTYankee (That's right, I have no proof. So what of it??)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 117 | View Replies]

To: NemoDog

Apparently. I hate public restrooms. Now there’s one more reason to avoid them.


306 posted on 08/31/2007 5:20:42 AM PDT by Sue Perkick (And I hope that what I’ve done here today doesn’t force you to have a negative opinion of me….)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 270 | View Replies]

To: maggief

Good work maggief! As always.


307 posted on 08/31/2007 5:25:16 AM PDT by Sue Perkick (And I hope that what I’ve done here today doesn’t force you to have a negative opinion of me….)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 278 | View Replies]

To: Swordfished
What kind of idiot picks up toilet paper that's fallen on a dirty bathroom floor?

If he's the idiot who dropped it he should pick it up. I do. I'm disgusted by pigs who leave things on the restroom floor that would make a bald man sprout hair.

308 posted on 08/31/2007 5:28:01 AM PDT by Sue Perkick (And I hope that what I’ve done here today doesn’t force you to have a negative opinion of me….)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 277 | View Replies]

To: maggief

Incredible. Maybe there’s an opening in Durham. Sounds like he’d fit right in.


309 posted on 08/31/2007 5:34:13 AM PDT by Sue Perkick (And I hope that what I’ve done here today doesn’t force you to have a negative opinion of me….)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 282 | View Replies]

To: VxH

The Disorderly conduct charge...

3) Engages in offensive, obscene, abusive, boisterous, or noisy conduct

A little broad, don’t you think? Noisy conduct? Boisterous?

Depends on how you look at it, doesn’t it?


310 posted on 08/31/2007 6:09:07 AM PDT by milford421 (U.N. OUT OF U.S.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 289 | View Replies]

To: VxH

I will agree that watching the evening news is a waste of time, and many freepers are familiar with Clinton antics...

But...

If there is history on Craig, I certainly haven’t seen it...if you have, please present it. I’ve heard the recent rumors but that seems to be all there is.

Foley apparently had a known history...as far as I’ve been able to document, Craig didn’t.

I’m open to information.


311 posted on 08/31/2007 6:13:22 AM PDT by milford421 (U.N. OUT OF U.S.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 301 | View Replies]

To: skr
Is it logical that a guy who wants to keep his trousers clean would ever pick anything up off a public restroom’s floor?

No. I agree that that is an inconsistency. But I confess that I have stooped to using toilet paper off the floor when none other was available. Yes, YUCK! But the alternative was worse. Because I did that doesn't mean I would have also pulled my pants up, sat on the floor and scooted across it. Just because I was desperate for toilet paper doesn't mean I want floor dirt all over my clothes.

So yes the logic in inconsistent, but not an altogether impossible scenerio. I'm not saying he is innocent. I'm just saying the only solid thing they have against him is his own guilty plea.

312 posted on 08/31/2007 8:17:58 AM PDT by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light..... Isaiah 5:20)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 267 | View Replies]

To: 21stCenturyFreeThinker
There are new disclosures that this same "sting" operation netted some 140 other persons, including a 3-M executive and quite a few other high rollers.

They all pleaded "guilty" to charges other than those related to trying to pick up "friends" in bathrooms at the airport.

The likely class action will be extremely sweet to behold....

313 posted on 08/31/2007 8:45:17 AM PDT by tracer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 84 | View Replies]

To: thefactor
It was never established that anyone put ideas of "public lewdness in anyone's head.

On the subject of definitions, you should look up the definition of aggravated assault. And keep on reading until you have a scintilla of an idea of what you are talking about...

314 posted on 08/31/2007 8:50:09 AM PDT by tracer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 143 | View Replies]

To: what's up
Let this pro amenesty RINO Senator to the wolves

IDAHO, wants no part of him, let see if the illegals can help him now.

Be gone.

315 posted on 08/31/2007 9:03:11 AM PDT by Osprey (,/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: new cruelty
its shopped.. not sure why... but take a look at the floor tile.

It's an obvious fake. One side of the picture is a mirror image of the other, hence the weird tile pattern. ABC should be ashamed of themselves, but I know that's not even possible.

316 posted on 08/31/2007 9:03:34 AM PDT by Fresh Wind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 221 | View Replies]

To: tracer
i KNOW it was never established that the cop put the idea in the defts head! that was my point. you are the one who said entrapment, and this instance was clearly not entrapment.

what does felonious assault have to do with this case?

317 posted on 08/31/2007 9:15:56 AM PDT by thefactor
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 314 | View Replies]

To: milford421
[Depends on how you look at it, doesn’t it?]

The arresting officer stated that he was investigating lewd conduct.

That narrows it down to Obscene, which IS part of the definition of Lewd.

We're not going to have to go through the whole "define IS" thing again, are we?

318 posted on 08/31/2007 9:17:26 AM PDT by VxH (One if by Land, Two if by Sea, and Three if by Wire Transfer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 310 | View Replies]

To: milford421

[the recent rumors]

Waiving the constitutional right to trial and pleading guilty is more than a rumor.


319 posted on 08/31/2007 9:22:28 AM PDT by VxH (One if by Land, Two if by Sea, and Three if by Wire Transfer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 311 | View Replies]

To: Sue Perkick; maggief

OMG! The arresting officer is a Married heterosexual. THE HORROR!/sarc


320 posted on 08/31/2007 9:36:40 AM PDT by VxH (One if by Land, Two if by Sea, and Three if by Wire Transfer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 307 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 281-300301-320321-340 ... 401-417 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson