Trent Lott Resigns as US Senate Majority Leader

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, December 21, 2002

Trent Lott Resigns as US Senate Majority Leader

US Republican Senator Trent Lott resigned as Senate Republican leader, two weeks after his endorsement of Senator Strom Thurmond's 1948 segregationist presidential bid triggered a national uproar.

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US Republican Senator Trent Lott resigned as Senate Republican leader, two weeks after his endorsement of Senator Strom Thurmond's 1948 segregationist presidential bid triggered a national uproar.

"In the interest of pursuing the best possible agenda for the future of our country, I will not seek to remain as majority leader of the United States Senate for the 108th Congress, effective Jan. 6, 2003," Lott said in a written statement.

"To all those who offered me their friendship, support and prayers, I will be eternally grateful," he said.

But Lott refused to resign from the Senate, saying that he "will continue to serve the people of Mississippi in the United States Senate."

Lott was reelected Senate majority leader in November after the midterm elections, but his political standing eroded in Washington because of the controversy surrounding his praise of Thurmond.

Lott, 61, has been the Senate Republican leader since 1996, when Republican Senator Bob Dole left the Senate to devote full time to his unsuccessful presidential bid.

At a 100th birthday party for retiring South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond on Dec. 5, Lott said that if Thurmond had been elected president in 1948, "we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years." Thurmond ran for president in 1948 on a segregationist platform.

His remarks triggered strong criticism from Democrats as well as civil rights groups, who urged Lott to resign as the majority leader. Under pressure from Democrats and Republicans alike, Lott has offered a series of increasingly expansive apologies for his remarks.

The remarks also drew a strong rebuke from President George W. Bush, who called them "offensive" and "wrong." The White House has refused to offer public support for Lott's effort to survive as Senate majority leader.

"The White House will work with whoever it is that members of Congress deem appropriate to represent themselves," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Thursday.

Senate Republicans had called a meeting on Jan. 6 to discuss whether Lott should continue to serve as majority leader.

According to a latest ABC News-Washington Post poll, over half of those surveyed say Lott should step down as majority leader while four in 10 say he should keep the job.

The poll found that one-third of Republicans and nearly three-fourths of Democrats thought he should step down. Meanwhile, three-fourths of blacks thought he should resign.

The poll of 1,209 adults was taken from Dec. 12 to 15 and has an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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