Sen. Craig: 'I'm a fighter'

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NEW YORK, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Idaho Republican Larry Craig said resigning his Senate seat would be "the easy way out" in the aftermath of his arrest in a Minneapolis airport men's room.

But if he could change anything since his arrest in June after an undercover officer claimed he solicited him for sex, it would be telling his family sooner, Craig told Matt Lauer during an interview on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday.

"I should have told my wife. I should have told my kids," Craig said. "And most importantly, I should have told counsel."

"When Larry told me that the story was going to break, and he hadn't told me about it before that, I felt like the floor was falling out from under me," Suzanne Craig said.

Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. A Minnesota judge rebuffed Craig's attempt to withdraw his guilty plea. On Monday, he appealed the lower court decision to the Minnesota Supreme Court of Appeals.

Of his decision to pursue an appeal and remain in Congress, Craig told Lauer, "You know I'm a fighter, that I don't just walk away from a fight. This is the toughest fight of my political life.