Sen. Larry Craig's interview with Matt Lauer

Minneapolis International Airport, June 11, 2007, about noon. Senator Larry Craig was making his weekly commute from Boise, Idaho to Washington, D.C. He had a change of planes. He was walking through an area of shops and restaurants called "Northstar Crossing." He stopped at a men's room.

Larry Craig: I had been in that bathroom I don't know how many times over the years. But I'd certainly been in it.
Matt Lauer: Were you aware at all, senator, of the reputation of that specific bathroom?
Larry Craig: Well, I certainly am now.
Matt Lauer: According to the airport police and according to some gay blogs, and here go those blogs again that I know you love so much, this particular bathroom in Northstar Crossing is described as a hot spot for anonymous sexual encounters between gay men. And you had no idea of that?
Larry Craig: No, I did not know that. I had no reason to know that.
Matt Lauer: Has anything strange ever happened to you in that bathroom that you can remember over the years? Has anyone ever gestured to you, solicited you in any way that you would describe, come onto you in that bathroom?
Larry Craig: Well, it--
Suzanne Craig: I asked him that question, too.
Matt Lauer: What was the answer?
Larry Craig: Matt, I use bathrooms for bathroom's sake.
Matt Lauer: But so do I. But if someone-- if I were in a bathroom and someone winked at me or something like that, or slipped me a-- a note, I'd remember it. Had anything like that--
Larry Craig: No.
Matt Lauer: --ever happened--
Larry Craig: No.

Craig didn't know it, but in the bathroom that day, a sting operation was underway and sitting in a stall, an undercover police officer.

Matt Lauer: You walked into that bathroom, senator. Six minutes later, you were under arrest.
Larry Craig: Yes.
Matt Lauer: And your career was and jeopardy, and your family life was in jeopardy. So, how should we handle this? Do you want to tell me what happened?
Larry Craig: Matt, I'd love to tell you the story. And let me tell you why. In this media storm that we've been in, you've heard one side of the story. The facts have just got covered up. And-- I think it's very important that I speak to them … So, I go to the bathroom to use the bathroom for bathroom's sake. I walk by the stalls. I glance at them to see whether they're full. I stand out in front of a couple of them waiting. And I look. And I see some movement. Ah, one of them is opening up. I go in.
Matt Lauer: But let me-- let me stop you. You looked in the stalls. You walked by to glance to see--
Larry Craig: Yeah.
Matt Lauer: --if they were occupied. When I do that and we're-- we're sharing bathroom secrets here, but when I do that, I tend to look under the stall to see if there are feet.
Larry Craig: Yeah.
Matt Lauer: So, I know that it's occupied. According to this officer, you looked into the stall, this is according to the officer, through the crack in the door on several occasions, close enough where he could see the color of your eyes.
Larry Craig: That just didn't happen. I stood back several feet standing there waiting with my luggage. Yes, I was looking at the door. But I was also looking at the feet to see if there was movement.
Matt Lauer: He says that when the stall next to him became available after you being out in front of the stall doors for about two minutes--
Larry Craig: Yeah.
Matt Lauer: --that you walked into that now-unoccupied stall and the first thing you did was you began to tap your foot like this.
Larry Craig: That's what he said.
Matt Lauer: He says then with his left foot, the one closest to you, he slowly raised and lowered his foot.
Larry Craig: Uh-huh (affirm).
Matt Lauer: And the next he says that happened that somehow your foot, your right foot, came under the divider onto-- into his stall and that your right foot made contact with his left foot.
Larry Craig: Yes.
Matt Lauer: The next thing he says that happened is you made a hand gesture to him. And the gesture, according to this police officer, undercover officer, was not made with the hand closest to the stall where he was. It was made with your left hand. And the reason he says it was the left hand is he distinctly remembers seeing your wedding ring.
Larry Craig: Yeah. Seconds later, there was a card under the divider saying, "Police, step out."
Matt Lauer: According to the police report, what the police officer heard you say was, "No."
Larry Craig: Yes.
Matt Lauer: Here's the part I have a problem with, senator. If you had-- if there had been nothing going on in this stall, and you had done nothing intentionally, it seems to me you would've been completely confused as to why some guy next to you is showing you police identification.
Larry Craig: Well, I was. I didn't know there was-- (unintel) not real, I said no.
Matt Lauer: No to what? To what question?
Larry Craig: He had a gesture toward the door like this. He didn't tell that, did he said-- and I said no. And then another gesture, and I-- stepped up, pulled my pants up, and stepped out. I was immediately grabbed by him. And I said, "What's going on here?" and he jerked me out of the bathroom.
Matt Lauer: So, at that point, you didn't-- it didn't register with you, "I am in the middle of a situation where this guy thinks there has been solicitation?"
Larry Craig: Not at all. I-- no.
Matt Lauer: So, you'd think he was taking you out of the bathroom?
Larry Craig: I wasn't sure. And I got outside. And I said, "What's going on?" He says, "You're under arrest for solicitation." I said, "What?" He said, "You come with me." And I said, "I've got an airplane to catch. I've done nothing wrong." About that time, he grabbed my arm … another officer came up and grabbed my arm. And they said, "if you don't behave, you're going to be handcuffed and taken to jail."
Matt Lauer: Because according to this undercover officer you followed, whether on purpose or coincidentally, a very well established sequence--
Larry Craig: Yeah.
Matt Lauer: --of motions, well established by members of the gay community to solicit sex in public places.
Larry Craig: So I've found in the last month.