Washington – Louisiana Sen. David Vitter returned to the Capitol on Tuesday, apologizing privately to GOP colleagues but refusing to take public questions about the sex scandal that sent him into seclusion for a week.
The first-term Republican said he wanted to resume his normal Senate schedule, but that proved difficult as news crews camped outside his office and chased him down hallways.
In a private weekly luncheon for Republican senators in the Capitol, Vitter briefly spoke and received a round of applause audible outside the room. Vitter told his colleagues he was sorry for the trouble he had caused them, and he thanked them for their messages of support, said a senator who asked not to be identified because of the private nature of the luncheons.
Last week Vitter, 46, acknowledged “a serious sin” after his Washington telephone number was found among those called several years ago by an escort service that prosecutors say was a prostitution ring.
Vitter and his wife, Wendy, told reporters Monday in Metairie, La., that their marriage is strong and the senator plans to continue his political career. Vitter said other allegations made against him are untrue, apparently referring to a New Orleans woman’s claim that he had frequented her brothel in the 1990s.
