COLUMBIA, S.C. - After going AWOL for seven days, Gov. Mark Sanford admitted Wednesday that he'd secretly flown to Argentina to visit a woman with whom he'd been having an affair as steamy e-mail exchanges with his mistress emerged.
Wiping away tears, he apologized to his wife and four sons and said he will resign as head of the Republican Governors Association.
“I’ve been unfaithful to my wife,” he said in a bombshell news conference in which the 49-year-old governor ruminated aloud with remarkable frankness on God’s law, moral absolutes and following one’s heart. He said he spent the last five days “crying in Argentina.” Later Wednesday, The State newspaper in South Carolina released e-mail exchanges between the governor and the woman, identified only as Maria. Sanford's office Wednesday did not dispute the authenticity of the emails, The State reported. One exchange was dated July 10, 2008 when the governor is reported to have written to her:
"Two, mutual feelings .... You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty. I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night's light - but hey, that would be going into sexual details ..."
Sanford, who in recent months had been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2012, ignored questions at the news conference about whether he would step down as governor.
By leaving the country without formally transferring power, critics said he neglected his gubernatorial authority and put the state at risk. It wasn’t clear how his staff could reach him in an emergency.
At least one state lawmaker called for his resignation. As a congressman, Sanford voted in favor of three of four articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, citing the need for “moral legitimacy.”
The governor paid for the trip with his own money, not state funds, according to CNBC's Ryan Ruggiero.
‘Trial separation’Sanford admitted that what had started as an "innocent" e-mail exchange with a "dear, dear friend in Argentina" had developed over the past year into "something much more than that." He said he’s seen her three times since the affair began, and wife found out about it five months ago.
“What I did was wrong. Period,” he said. His family did not attend the news conference, and his wife, Jenny Sanford, said she asked the governor to leave and stop speaking to her two weeks ago. The governor says he wants to reconcile, and his wife’s statement said her husband has earned a chance to resurrect their marriage.
“This trial separation was agreed to with the goal of ultimately strengthening our marriage,” she said.
Sanford denied instructing his staff to cover up his affair, but acknowledged that he told them he thought he would be hiking on the Appalachian Trail and never corrected that impression after leaving for South America.
“I let them down by creating a fiction with regard to where I was going,” Sanford said. “I said that was the original possibility. Again, this is my fault in ... shrouding this larger trip.”
Questions about his whereaboutsQuestions about Sanford's whereabouts arose early this week. For two days after reporters started asking questions, his office had said he had gone hiking on the Appalachian Trial.
Cornered at the Atlanta airport by a reporter, Sanford revealed Wednesday morning that he'd gone to Argentina for a seven-day trip.When news first broke about his mysterious disappearance, first lady Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press she did not know where her husband had gone for the Father's Day weekend.
Wiping away tears, he apologized to his wife and four sons and said he will resign as head of the Republican Governors Association.
“I’ve been unfaithful to my wife,” he said in a bombshell news conference in which the 49-year-old governor ruminated aloud with remarkable frankness on God’s law, moral absolutes and following one’s heart. He said he spent the last five days “crying in Argentina.” Later Wednesday, The State newspaper in South Carolina released e-mail exchanges between the governor and the woman, identified only as Maria. Sanford's office Wednesday did not dispute the authenticity of the emails, The State reported. One exchange was dated July 10, 2008 when the governor is reported to have written to her:
"Two, mutual feelings .... You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty. I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night's light - but hey, that would be going into sexual details ..."
Sanford, who in recent months had been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2012, ignored questions at the news conference about whether he would step down as governor.
By leaving the country without formally transferring power, critics said he neglected his gubernatorial authority and put the state at risk. It wasn’t clear how his staff could reach him in an emergency.
At least one state lawmaker called for his resignation. As a congressman, Sanford voted in favor of three of four articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, citing the need for “moral legitimacy.”
The governor paid for the trip with his own money, not state funds, according to CNBC's Ryan Ruggiero.
‘Trial separation’Sanford admitted that what had started as an "innocent" e-mail exchange with a "dear, dear friend in Argentina" had developed over the past year into "something much more than that." He said he’s seen her three times since the affair began, and wife found out about it five months ago.
“What I did was wrong. Period,” he said. His family did not attend the news conference, and his wife, Jenny Sanford, said she asked the governor to leave and stop speaking to her two weeks ago. The governor says he wants to reconcile, and his wife’s statement said her husband has earned a chance to resurrect their marriage.
“This trial separation was agreed to with the goal of ultimately strengthening our marriage,” she said.
Sanford denied instructing his staff to cover up his affair, but acknowledged that he told them he thought he would be hiking on the Appalachian Trail and never corrected that impression after leaving for South America.
“I let them down by creating a fiction with regard to where I was going,” Sanford said. “I said that was the original possibility. Again, this is my fault in ... shrouding this larger trip.”
Questions about his whereaboutsQuestions about Sanford's whereabouts arose early this week. For two days after reporters started asking questions, his office had said he had gone hiking on the Appalachian Trial.
Cornered at the Atlanta airport by a reporter, Sanford revealed Wednesday morning that he'd gone to Argentina for a seven-day trip.When news first broke about his mysterious disappearance, first lady Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press she did not know where her husband had gone for the Father's Day weekend.
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