BRIEF: Sen. Craig Says He'Ll File Appeal Monday

Oct 15, 09:43 AM

Current Headlines: By The Idaho Statesman, Boise

Oct. 15--U.S. Sen. Larry Craig says he will file an appeal Monday over a judge's refusal to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea stemming from his arrest in an airport bathroom sex sting.

In an interview Sunday with KTVB-TV, Craig repeated he will not resign his post in the Senate and said he will continue to work his legal options.

"It is my right to do what I'm doing," Craig said. "I've already provided for Idaho certainty that Idaho needed -- I'm not running for re-election. I'm no longer in the way. I am pursuing my constitutional rights."

Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in August after he was accused of soliciting sex from an undercover police officer in a bathroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport in June.

After the matter became public, Craig tried to withdraw his plea. But a judge in Minnesota refused, saying Craig's plea "was accurate, voluntary and intelligent, and ... supported by the evidence."

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