Craig coy on resignation

Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig declined to say Tuesday whether he would resign his seat as planned if his guilty plea stemming from a Minneapolis bathroom sex sting is not overturned this week.

“We are waiting for the legal determinations and I have nothing more to say,” Craig told reporters Tuesday.

{mosads}The senator would not comment on what he would do if the court case were not decided by Sunday, the original date of his planned resignation from the Senate.

Craig’s fall from grace began with the revelation of his August guilty plea to disorderly conduct after an undercover police officer claimed the senator was soliciting sex in a Minneapolis airport bathroom. Craig has said he has done nothing wrong and regrets his guilty plea, for which he received a 10-day suspended sentence and had to pay a $575 fine.

A county judge will hear Craig’s case Wednesday morning in Edina, Minn., though it is unclear whether the court will make a final ruling on the senator’s request. Craig said he had been advised not to attend the hearing.

Most of Craig’s Senate GOP colleagues, led by leaders determined to avoid entanglement in the scandal, have nudged him towards resignation this month. Asked for comment on Craig’s decision to put off filing an official resignation with Idaho’s Republican governor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appeared visibly unnerved.

“I really don’t have anything to add on that issue to what I said a couple of weeks ago,” McConnell said.