Craig steps down from Senate committees

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, has stepped down from his committees at the request of his party’s leaders, The Hill, a Washington newspaper, reported.

Craig surrendered his senior posts on the Veterans Affairs Committee, the Appropriations subcommittee in charge of the Interior Department and the Energy Committee's panel on public lands as calls for his resignation grow more intense.

"We believe this is in the best interest of the Senate until this situation is resolved by the Ethics Committee," five of the Senate's senior Republicans said in a statement.

Craig apologized Tuesday for his arrest and subsequent guilty plea stemming from a June incident in which he allegedly made overtures to an undercover policeman investigating homosexual encounters in a Minneapolis airport bathroom.

With his wife beside him, Craig denied he was gay, said his behavior was misconstrued by the police sergeant who arrested him. He insisted he pleaded guilty because he was worried about an Idaho newspaper that was investigating reports of his sexual orientation, The Washington Post said.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.), said he thinks Craig should resign.

"When you plead guilty to a crime, you shouldn't serve," he told CNN.