BOISE -- We are just hours away from NewsChannel 7’s exclusive interview with Senator Larry Craig and his wife Suzanne.

Larry Craig is interview by Mark Johnson Sunday for a KTVB News Special set to air Tuesday.

Mark Johnson, who did the interview, received a lot of input and questions from Idahoans.

He has responded to much, if not all, of it, but he wants to reach folks who have not contacted him, and he will do that tonight both locally and nationally.

No subject was off limits in this candid and emotion filled interview -- from the reason Sen. Craig was arrested in a Minnesota airport -- to the reason he waited until the story was about to break before telling his family over two months after the fact.

"How conflicted were you holding this from your family?  You have been elected on a family values platform for 27 years and this, I think you would agree, is viewed by those that subscribe to the family values platform as a violation of family trust!” said Mark Johnson.

"I was conflicted, I didn’t seek counsel, I made a bad decision...yeah, what were you thinking about?” said Craig

It was the lightest moment of the evening, but you can see how Mrs. Craig has reconciled this situation, which she said earlier made her feel like the floor came out from under her.

Here are some additional excerpts from our exclusive interview with Sen. Larry Craig:

“It's time for me to speak out. I do believe Idahoans want to hear what has gone on in Minneapolis, and I want to tell them, because I, by my action, have put them through a lot in the last month and a half. And I apologize to them for any of the negative that's come about, or the frustration that's come about from a decision I made that was not the right decision, and all that has transpired since then,” said Sen. Craig.

“I want to stay in office, and I've said I will stay in office to finish my term. Resigning and walking away would have been the easy way out.  I think most Idahoans know I've never taken the easy way out.  I stand my ground, I fight when I think I ought to for the sake of Idaho, and in this case it is for Idaho. There's a lot of work still to be done in the United States Senate for Idaho; there's 1,800 individual pieces of case work laying on my desk. That's 1,800 individual Idahoans who have come to me asking for help.  I don't want that to drop by the wayside,” said Sen. Craig.

Mark Johnson asked…

“Minnesota judge Charles Porter said, ‘You knew what you were saying and signing when you entered the guilty plea.’ Yet, you said on August 26th that you were not thinking clearly due to the stress you were under due to an Idaho Statesman investigation into your sexual orientation - and you said, ‘without a shred of truth or evidence to the contrary, the Idaho Statesman has engaged in a witch hunt.’ If that was the case, if there was no shred of truth or evidence to the contrary, why were you so intimidated?”

“I believe, and I think Suzanne believes - and even the reporter who did all the investigating said that we had put that story down. That this action, if it became public, if it went public - it would trigger that story. Well, the action did trigger the story. The story that had already been written and was sitting in a file of that newspaper was now out for the public to see. So you know, I was wrong and I was right,” said Sen Craig.

Mark Johnson asked…

“Which they said they weren't going to go with unless there was an incident.”

“That's right. And as a result of that, did I feel pressure? Well, yes just a little bit.  We'd been through a ten month unprecedented investigation, looking into our private lives - our children's lives - our children's adoptions records, Suzanne's divorce records,” said Sen. Craig.

“They called 300 of our friends, they talked to them - they didn't ask what they knew about Larry Craig, they spread a rumor that came from a blogger.  I would say that is not a substantive piece of news, but evidently they took it like that. So, I - I just didn't feel that was a credible way to go about reporting, to spread a rumor,” said Suzanne Craig.

“I do believe the police officer was very aggressive, I do believe he profiled…I'm always very frustrated about profiling.  I've got a bit of a streak of civil libertarianism right down my middle. That's why those 1,800 individual Idaho case works are on my desk.  I believe in fighting for the right of the individual. I respect law enforcement, but I also know there are law enforcement officers who get in trouble - that are very zealous if you will.  I don't know if this man is that way.  But I do know the way I got treated, with no experience at all was extremely intimidating to me.  And I do believe I was profiled. And that's wrong for anybody, for innocent people to be wrapped up in this terrible experience,” said Sen. Craig. 

Mark Johnson asked…

“Do you feel like you've gone against your word in intimating that you were going to resign, and then didn't?”

“I don't want to play a semantic game at all, Mark. The day I said what I said, it was my plan to resign.  Circumstance changed.  I found out I could be effective. I found out that there was not this rush to get me out of town. Yeah, a few had lopped off my head and rolled it right down the street. But a good many weren't doing that.  A good many were calling saying, ‘you come back, you do your job Larry.’ Was I going to then throw 27 years of work for Idaho out the window? Remember, this seniority that I hold is not mine - it belongs to Idaho.  Idaho earned it through the work I've done there, and all those things weighed very heavily on my mind.  I talked to the governor, I kept all of the delegation totally informed about the decision process I was in, and that I had not made a final decision as to whether I would resign or stay in office. So, I would hope that Idahoans hearing this would give me a little leeway after 27 years of dedicated work. I did change my mind, and it was based on the reality that I can stay there and work and complete the job for Idaho,” said Sen. Craig.

You can watch the KTVB one-hour special -- Larry Craig: The First Interview -- tonight beginning at six o'clock on Idaho’s NewsChannel 7.