WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Metropolitan Airport Commission has spent over 28,000 dollars on the prosecution and appeal of Idaho Senator Larry Craig, MAC spokesman Patrick Hogan told CNN in a phone interview.

Hogan said that the legal fees spent on Sen. Craig's case account for 20 percent of the 2007 budget used to prosecute cases at the airport. "This is one of the highest amounts of money ever spent on prosecuting a misdemeanor," Hogan added.

The MAC gets ist funds from airlines, parking and other airport concessions. It oversees the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota airport where Craig was arrested in June.

Craig, 62, was arrested by an undercover officer in a public restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

He pleaded guilty in August to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. A soliciting charge was dropped.

Craig has since denied the charges — saying he was not soliciting sex in the bathroom and is not gay. He has since appealed a state courts decision not to let him change his guilty plea. A Minnesota appellate court has not made a ruling to date.

— CNN Senior Producer Eric Fiegel

Larry Craig is appealing his sex sting conviction.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Lawyers for Sen. Larry Craig asked a Minnesota appeals court Tuesday to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea stemming from his June arrest in a public bathroom sex sting, citing a "grave procedural flaw."

The Idaho Republican argues that a state law related to his misdemeanor conviction is unconstitutional and that it "manifestly unjust" not to allow the lawmaker to be given another chance to prove his innocence.

Click here for full story

Watch Sen. Ensign's interview with Wolf Blitzer.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. John Ensign, who chairs the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, made clear to CNN's Wolf Blitzer Wednesday he wants embattled Idaho Sen. Larry Craig to leave the Senate — immediately.

"The senator said that by the end of September, if the guilty plea was not overturned, if he was not reestablished on his seniority on committees, that he would resign," said Ensign, a Republican representing Nevada. "Neither one of those things are going to happen. I call on Sen. Craig, if he loved the Senate and his party, he would keep his word. "

Ensign also brushed aside the notion that the Idaho Republican should be given leniency, because he only pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.

"This wouldn't be making the national news if it was an ordinary misdemeanor," Ensign said. "He pled guilty to something that, you know lewd behavior, that's not the behavior a United States senator should be engaged in."

Ensign also dismissed the suggestion that Craig's case is similar to that of Republican Sen. David Vitter, who has admitted to committing a "serious sin" with a Washington prostitute when he served in the House.

"First of all, he never said exactly what he did," Ensign said of Vitter. "Secondly, it happened before he got into the United States Senate, and there were no laws that were broken as far as anybody knows."

Ensign also said that Craig's continued presence in the Senate will hurt Democrats and Republicans alike.

"There's too many people that paint with a broad brush that we're all corrupt, we're all amoral," he said. "And having these kinds of things happen, whether it's a Republican or Democratic senator — we certainly have had plenty of Democratic scandals in the past — we need people who are in office who will hold themselves to a little higher standard."

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Watch Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash report on Sen. Craig's appeal.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Larry Craig filed an appeal Monday in his continued legal fight stemming from a bathroom sex sting this summer.

The Idaho Republican wants the Minnesota Court of Appeals to overturn a judge's decision refusing to let him withdraw a guilty plea to misdemeanor charges stemming from his arrest in June.

"From the outset Senator Craig has maintained that he is innocent of any illegal conduct at the Minneapolis airport," Craig's lawyer, Billy Martin, said in a written statement. "Like every other citizen, Senator Craig has the constitutional right to make every effort to clear his name."

Full story: Craig appeals judge's ruling

Click here to see CNN's new political portal: CNNPolitics.com

Craig is not happy with how the Romney campaign treated him.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Sen. Larry Craig, the Idaho Republican caught in a Minneapolis bathroom sex sting this summer, said presidential candidate Mitt Romney "threw me under the campaign bus" when news of his arrest came out.

"He not only threw me under his campaign bus, he backed up and ran over me again," Craig told NBC's Matt Lauer in an interview set to air later this week on the "Today" show.

Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, said Craig's behavior was "disgraceful" and called for Craig's resignation when news of the senator’s arrest came out at the end of August. (Ticker: Romney: Craig has to look at his conscience)

Craig was Romney's Senate liaison before resigning from the campaign.

Romney spokesman Kevin Madden defended the presidential candidate's response. "Governor Romney simply believes that a public office is a public trust," Madden said. "He believes when a public official enters a guilty plea, they have broken that public trust and should step aside for the sake of their constituents."

Related: Sen. Craig says he'll appeal

Click here to see CNN's new political portal: CNNPolitics.com

– CNN's Scott Anderson and Alexander Mooney

Sen. Craig said he will pursue "additional legal options."

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Idaho Sen. Larry Craig said Thursday he will remain in the Senate and study "additional legal options" after a Minnesota judge refused to throw out his August guilty plea stemming from an airport sex sting.

In a statement from his office, the three-term Republican said he was "extremely disappointed" in Thursday's ruling.

"I am innocent of the charges against me. I continue to work with my legal team to explore my additional legal options," he said.

He said the past few weeks have shown that "it is possible for me to work here effectively," and said any replacement appointed by Idaho's governor would not have the seniority and committee assignments "that are valuable to Idaho."

A judge denied Craig's request to withdraw his guilty plea Thursday.

(CNN) — A Minnesota judge has denied Sen. Larry Craig's request to withdraw his guilty plea to a disorderly conduct charge stemming from his arrest in an airport men's room sex sting.

In a 27-page order, Judge Charles Porter found Craig had entered the guilty plea "accurately, voluntarily and intelligently" and it was too late to withdraw his admission. (Read order [PDF])

Craig was arrested in June by Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport police, who accused him of making sexual overtures in an airport men's room to an undercover male police officer. Craig pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor count in August.

Full story

Sen. Larry Craig is seeking to overturn his guilty plea stemming from an airport bathroom sex sting.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Larry Craig won't resign from the Senate while awaiting a judge's ruling on his effort to get a guilty plea withdrawn in a restroom sex sting, a source said Wednesday.

A judge in Minnesota was to hear arguments Wednesday afternoon in the case.

The Idaho Republican was arrested June 11 during a police sting in a Minneapolis airport men's room for allegedly making sexual overtures to an undercover male police officer. He entered a written guilty plea to a disorderly conduct charge in August.

Craig had said he would resign from the Senate if he could not get the guilty plea overturned by this Sunday.

Full story

A court will hear Craig's attempt Wednesday to overturn his guilty plea.

(CNN) – A Minnesota judge will hear Sen. Larry Craig's petition to overturn his guilty plea on a disorderly conduct charge in Minneapolis on Wednesday.

The Idaho Republican was arrested June 11 during a police sting in an airport men's room for allegedly making sexual overtures to an undercover male police officer. He entered a written guilty plea to the disorderly conduct charge in August.

Craig has said he would resign from the Senate if he cannot get the guilty plea overturned by this Sunday. However, on Tuesday he said he won't resign until "legal determinations" are made. A political source involved in discussions about the case said Craig has made it clear he wants to find a way to stay in office.

A court ruling on Craig's appeal could take longer than the four days left before Craig's original self-imposed deadline.

Full story

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A Minnesota judge will be hearing Sen. Larry Craig's petition to overturn his guilty plea on a disorderly conduct charge in Minneapolis Wednesday, but Craig will not be at the hearing.

"I have been advised not to. I will not be attending," Craig, R-Idaho, told CNN.

He was arrested June 11 during a police sting in an airport men's room for allegedly making sexual overtures to an undercover male police officer. He entered a written guilty plea to the disorderly conduct charge in August.

In his petition to vacate the plea, Craig's attorney maintained the senator's "panic" over the possibility that the allegations would be made public drove him to accept a guilty plea without seeking legal advice and that he had been assured by the arresting officer that the matter would remain private.

A spokeswoman for the 4th Judicial District told CNN the court has not yet gotten any word from the senator's attorneys as to whether he will attend.

The Minnesota prosecutor who handled the disorderly conduct case against Craig said that the Idaho Republican was "calm" and "methodical" as they discussed his entering a guilty plea and that Craig was warned his case would be a matter of public record.

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Craig is surrounded by reporters his first day back on the Hill.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho, who made a surprise visit to Capitol Hill Tuesday, directly apologized at a party luncheon to his Senate Republican colleagues "for any embarrassment," a member present at the lunch told CNN.

According to the source, Craig did not address at the lunch whether he plans to stay in Washington beyond September 30 — the date on which he had previously said he would resign.

Asked after the lunch by CNN if he is considering staying in the Senate, Craig said, "We're working on that now."

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, who has previously come to Craig's defense, shook hands with the Idaho Republican in front of reporters and told Craig it's "nice to see you smiling."

Later, Specter indicated Senate Republicans may be willing to support Craig if he decides to stay in the Senate.

“There’s been a lot of favorable talk about Larry in the cloak room," Specter told CNN. "And I think the initial shock has worn off."

"He’s been a colleague for a long time – 17 years – you don’t toss over a friend of that duration and intensity easily," Specter added.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, also offered support of Craig, saying, "I don’t think there was any underlying crime."

Hatch also said he thinks that "a good lawyer could win that case.”

– CNN's Jessica Yellin and Ted Barrett

Listen to Craig's exchange with CNN.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho made a surprise appearance Tuesday the U.S. Capitol, his first since the scandal broke last month over allegations he tried to solicit sex from an undercover police officer in a restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

The Republican senator had a brief exchange with CNN's Ted Barrett at a Capitol entrance:

Barrett: "What brings you back to the Capitol today?"
Craig: "Go to work."
Barrett: "Are you intending to vote today, sir?"
Craig: "That's my plan."
Barrett: "Why decide to come back today?"
Craig: "Because I'm a serving United States Senator from Idaho."

Craig then stepped into the senators' dining room on the first floor of the Capitol. On the way he passed a visibly surprised Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, who gave Craig a big welcome back handshake.

Craig was later asked by reporters if his presence in the Capitol today means he will not resign.

The Idaho Republican responded, " no not at all — I'm here to work with my staff and my office and to work with my legal team."

Asked if he is confident about his court case, he said, "I have no opinion. I'd like to be."

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Craig's attorney, Billy Martin, tells CNN how he plans to get Craig's guilty plea withdrawn.

(CNN) – Attorneys for Sen. Larry Craig filed papers Monday to withdraw his guilty plea to a disorderly conduct charge stemming from allegations that he made sexual advances to an undercover police officer in an airport men's room.

Craig's attorney, Billy Martin, said the filing argues that the Idaho Republican suffered a "manifest injustice" at the hands of the police officer who arrested him in a men's room at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in June.

Martin told CNN that Craig wishes that he had sought legal council in the months between his arrest and entering his guilty plea.

Full story

TIME.com: The Psychology of Hypocrisy

GOP senators held a closed-door discussion on Sen. Craig Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Republican senators held what one participant called a "passionate" and "spirited" closed-door discussion Wednesday afternoon about how their leaders responded to the sex scandal involving their colleague Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho, CNN has learned.

At least three senators complained their leaders "rushed to judgment" while others defended the leaders for quickly pulling their support from the disgraced senator, according to one Republican senator in the room and two GOP aides familiar with the meeting.

"We had to discuss it," the senator said.

Sen. Ted. Stevens of Alaska, whose home was recently raided as part of a federal corruption probe, stood up to say it's wrong to prejudge these matters.

He was joined by Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky and Sen. Michael Enzi of Wyoming, who also "wagged their finger" at the leadership, in the words of one of the aides. (Related: Craig may not resign)

But many more senators stood to defend the leaders, even greeting Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky with applause when he was introduced to discuss the topic at the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon in the Capitol.

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Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback participated in the Republican debate on Wednesday.

(CNN) — Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback made clear at Wednesday night's New Hampshire debate that he disagrees with embattled Sen. Larry Craig's decision to reconsider his resignation.

"He's already pulled that trigger and he's decided what to do and he needs to stick with that," Brownback, a social conservative, said of his Idaho colleague.

"I think it is important that our party stand for family values," Brownback added. "We have got to rebuild the family. That's at the core of what we need to do. We shouldn't walk away from family values for fear of instances like this happening within our party."

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Watch Bill Clinton discuss Sen. Larry Craig with CNN's Larry King.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Embattled Sen. Larry Craig was one of Bill Clinton's fiercest critics during the Senate’s 1999 impeachment trial, but the former president told CNN's Larry King Wednesday he takes no pleasure in the Idaho Republican's current situation and is "pulling" for Craig and his family.

"Honestly, didn't feel any great joy," Clinton said in an interview to air tonight at 9 p.m. ET. "When it was going on I knew that a lot of them were outed for hypocrisy before this."

Clinton added, "One of the things I did to get through that was to think hard about times in my past when I had judged people too harshly because they had a problem I didn't have. And I promised myself I'd never do that again, and I'm trying to keep that promise."

Craig was arrested in a restroom in June at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on suspicion of making sexual advances to an undercover police officer in the next stall. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in August, but denies he was engaging in lewd behavior. Clinton offered a sympathetic perspective on the situation.

"I just know right now he and his family have got to be hurting and I think the rest of us should just be pulling for their personal lives and the politics of this will play itself out," he added.

Asked what he makes of people who criticize activities they do themselves, the former president said, " I think maybe it's subconscious self hatred, I don't know, maybe it’s a desire to avoid being caught, maybe its just a desire to deal with what they perceive to be the social and political realities they find themselves in."

In the wide ranging interview, Clinton also weighed in on why his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, has relatively high unfavorability ratings. (Related video: Watch Bill Clinton discuss his wife's presidential bid)

"It may be she's a strong woman and the first person in her gender ever to be considered a serious presidential possibility," Clinton said of his wife, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. "But most of it frankly is she took a lot of hits, along with me, beginning in 1992 when we threatened what the wash Republican right wing thought was its permanent hold on the White House.

"From the day I took the oath I never got a honeymoon," he added. "They tried to undermine the legitimacy of my presidency and they took after her too."

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

The last pages of the sign-in book at Sen. Larry Craig's Washington, D.C. office were empty as Congress reconvened on Tuesday

WASHINGTON (CNN) — As Congress returned from its summer recess Tuesday, journalists captured the last lingering moments of embattled former Sen. Larry Craig's term in office: the final page of his constituent sign-in book.

Constituents signed and dated the book during their numerous visits to the Republican senator’s D.C. office. The last entry is from August 31, the day before Craig announced his resignation. A staffer who declined to give his name then brought the book and table into the lawmaker's office area.

The fall-out from Craig’s sex scandal continued to reverberate in the Capitol as Senate leaders answered questions about their colleague's sudden downfall.

In his first comments about the situation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid strongly suggested Republican leaders judged the Idaho senator, who was arrested in a homosexual sex sting, more harshly than Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, whose phone number was recently linked to a heterosexual prostitution service.

"Everyone can see what they did with Vitter and what they did with Craig and draw their own conclusion," Reid told CNN when asked if GOP leaders had employed a "double standard."

But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell disputed that notion, telling reporters there is a "substantial difference" between the Vitter matter which took place before Vitter was in the Senate and the Craig matter in which, "the legal case was, in effect, over. And the only question was what was the attitude going to be of the Senate with regard to the admission that had been made."

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Sen. Larry Craig announced his intention to resign on Saturday.

BOISE, Idaho – Sen. Larry Craig is reconsidering his decision to resign after his arrest in a Minnesota airport sex sting and may still fight for his Senate seat, his spokesman told the Associated Press Tuesday evening.

"It's not such a foregone conclusion anymore, that the only thing he could do was resign," said Sidney Smith, Craig's spokesman in Idaho's capital.

"We're still preparing as if Senator Craig will resign Sept. 30, but the outcome of the legal case in Minnesota and the ethics investigation will have an impact on whether we're able to stay in the fight — and stay in the Senate," Smith added.

FULL STORY

Michael Craig and Shae Howell look on with their mother as their father, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, announces his intent to resign.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two of Sen. Larry Craig's children said Tuesday they questioned him explicitly about "what exactly happened in that bathroom" where he was arrested in a sex sting and believe his assertions that he isn't gay.

Michael Craig said they asked their father about the June 11 incident at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, which led to the Idaho Republican's resignation last week after it became public, because "we were shocked" at media accounts of the incident, he said.

Craig, 62, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct following his arrest. The arresting officer said in his report that the restroom where he encountered Craig is a known location for homosexual activity.

In an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America," Michael Craig said his father was simply "a victim of circumstance" and "in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"We've known him our whole life. He has been so trustworthy to us, so honest to us, that we believe him," Michael Craig said.

Larry Craig adopted Michael and his two siblings after marrying their mother, the former Suzanne Scott, in 1983. Craig has worked in the Senate to promote adoption.

Among the questions he and his sister Shae Howell said they asked their father was "what exactly happened in that bathroom," and they tried to "break down definitions of what words mean," including semantic definitions of sex, Michael Craig said.

"Maybe it wasn't sexual intercourse, but were these sexual actions? Were there sexual feelings? All these terrible things that were said in the media, we asked all those tough questions," Michael Craig said. "I don't want to have an answer based on a legality or technicality or semantics of the words. We wanted to know exactly what happened and after speaking to our dad, we know exactly what happened."

He said that it would make no difference to them if Craig was gay, though they "absolutely" believed Craig's assertion that he wasn't. "It would matter to my mom, but gay or straight, that part doesn't matter," Michael Craig said. "It was a matter of an accusation of a lewd, immoral, illegal act."

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Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter stood behind his friend Sen. Larry Craig Saturday as Craig announced his intent to resign

WASHINGTON (CNN) — So Sen. Larry Craig says he intends to step down from his office as of September 30. The Republican from Idaho says he’ll resign amid a controversy over his arrest in June in a men’s restroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on suspicion of making sexual advances to an undercover police officer.

Craig said Saturday that he hopes “to allow a smooth and orderly transition of my local staff and for the person appointed to take my place.” The man who will appoint that successor, Idaho’s Republican governor, C.L. "Butch" Otter, stood behind Craig at the announcement in Boise.

Otter, a Republican, will almost certainly name a Republican to fill the seat, and that interim person will serve until next year’s election. That person will also most likely have a major edge in the 2008 contest.

And here’s why: Idaho is a very red state. As mentioned, the governor is a Republican, as is Craig and the other U.S. senator, Mike Crapo. Both U.S. representatives are Republican, and President Bush cruised to victory in Idaho in 2004, winning 69% of the vote.

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