WASHINGTON -- Idaho Sen. Larry Craig's political support began to fade away on Wednesday as fellow Republicans in Congress called for him to resign and party leaders pushed him unceremoniously from senior committee posts.

The White House, too, expressed disappointment in the case of the Idaho Republican caught in a men's room undercover police operation.

And Craig said he would step down from his committee posts, according to a statement by Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican Whip Trent Lott, Conference Chairman Jon Kyl, Policy Committee Chair Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Senatorial Committee Chair John Ensign.

"Sen. Larry Craig has agreed to comply with Leadership’s request that he temporarily step down as the top Republican on the Veteran Affairs Committee, Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, and Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests. This is not a decision we take lightly but we believe this is in the best interest of the Senate until this situation is resolved by the Ethics Committee," they said in a statement.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., the state where Craig was arrested, became the first senators to join Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., urging Craig's resignation.

McCain, a candidate for the presidency, told CNN the decision was Craig's to make, "but my opinion is that when you plead guilty to a crime, you shouldn't serve. That's not a moral stand. That's not a holier-than-thou. It's just a factual situation."

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, another GOP presidential hopeful, in whose campaign Craig was playing a prominent role until he quit amid the scandal, told CNBC on Monday, "He's disappointed the American people." But he stopped short of calling for Craig's resignation.

Craig has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming from complaints of lewd conduct in a men's room.

He entered his plea several weeks after an undercover police officer in the Minneapolis airport arrested him and issued a complaint that said the three-term senator had engaged in actions "often used by persons communicating a desire to engage in sexual conduct."

"Yeah, I think it reminds us of Mark Foley and Bill Clinton," Romney said on CNBC. "I think it reminds us of the fact that people who are elected to public office continue to disappoint, and they somehow think that if they vote the right way on issues of significance or they can speak a good game, that we'll just forgive and forget."

Foley, a Florida Republican, resigned from Congress on Sept. 29 after being confronted with improper computer messages he sent to congressional pages.

Hoekstra, a conservative, said Craig's conduct has been, in his words, "inappropriate for a U.S. senator."

A leading Idaho Republican has cautioned a rush to judgment on Craig.

"United States Sen. Larry Craig has been a stalwart in supporting Idaho and ensuring that the needs of Idaho citizens have been well-represented at the highest levels of our nation’s government," Chairman J. Kirk Sullivan said. "Until the facts of this situation are made clear, I would encourage all Idahoans to avoid rushing to judgment and making brash statements about a man who has dedicated his life to public service."

"I have brought a cloud over Idaho. For that, I ask the people of Idaho for their forgiveness," Craig said in a statement on Tuesday.

Craig told reporters gathered in Idaho that "I did nothing wrong" at the Minneapolis airport. Instead, he pleaded guilty to what he called a "lesser charge" in the hopes of keeping his arrest quiet.

He didn't tell his family or friends of the arrest, he said, and instead "overreacted and made a bad decision" and blamed the Idaho Statesman newspaper for "viciously attacking" him and his family.

"The Statesman has engaged in this witch hunt. In pleading guilty, I overreacted in Minneapolis, because of the stress of the Idaho Statesman’s investigation and the rumors it has fueled around Idaho. Again, that overreaction was a mistake, and I apologize for my misjudgment," Craig said.

"I am not gay. I never have been gay," he told reporters. "I should not have kept this arrest to myself."

His "I'm not gay" declaration is not sitting well with some gay activists, either, some of whom view Craig, a family-values conservative, as a classic hypocrite tragically imprisoned by the "homophobia" he helped to create.

Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said Craig contributed to his own problems by living in denial. Foreman said most people living in the closet, particularly those in power, dig themselves in so deeply "they can't see a way out."

William Leap, an anthropology professor at American University, said his research indicates that up to half of those who engage in male bathroom sex would consider themselves heterosexual.