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 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. I’m kind of disappointed in you, senator,” Karsnia told Craig during the interrogation.
Meanwhile, more of Craig’s Republican colleagues moved away from him Thursday in the wake of his guilty plea.
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.
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,” the officer said in the report.
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.”
