By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer
August 30, 2007
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 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 cooperated.
The two men disagreed about virtually everything that had
occurred minutes earlier, including whether there was a piece
of paper on the floor of the stall and the meaning of the senator's
hand gestures. At no time did Craig admit doing anything wrong,
although weeks later he pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor
charge of disorderly conduct.
"You're not being truthful with me," Karsnia told
Craig during the interrogation. "I'm kind of disappointed
in you, senator."
Karsnia later told Craig he was "sitting here lying to
a police officer," adding: "I expect this from the
guy we get out of the 'hood. I mean people vote for you. Unbelievable."
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. Republican National
Committee officials had considered calling for his resignation
early Thursday, Republicans with knowledge of the deliberations
said, but had not done so by day's end.
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 in campaign donations they had
received from Craig's political action committee. Coleman and
Collins both face potentially tough races 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."
Karsnia said in a police report that he recognized Craig's
hand gesture as a signal aimed at initiating sex. "It
should be noted that there was not a piece of paper on the
bathroom floor, nor did Craig pick up a piece of paper," he
said in the report.
Karsnia, 29, joined the airport police department just out
of college in 2000 and was promoted to sergeant in 2005. Last
year, he earned a master's degree in criminal justice, leadership
and education.
He has arrested at least a dozen men in the airport's bathroom
for sending signals he believed were aimed at initiating sex.
Each time, Karsnia walked suspects to a spot where they could
speak privately, without embarrassing them, according to the
police reports he wrote. He didn't handcuff them.
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."
___
Associated Press writers Scott Sonner in Reno, Nev., Joshua
Freed in Minneapolis, Todd Dvorak in Idaho and Liz Sidoti in
Washington contributed to this report.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed
without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes. BadConcress.com has no affiliation
whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is BadCongress.com
endorsed or sponsored by the originator.
|
