. - freshman republican senator larry pressler of south dakota was approached as part of operation abscamt he has the rare distinction of turning those bribes down. - did you ever think to yourself, whew, i'm glad i didn't take the bait. - i have said, whew, once or twice. [chuckles] politicians need money. that's the nature of the game. a united states senator has got to raise money. and that's where the difficulty comes in. - before the abscam bribe was offered or after, were there times that you were offered money that you felt uncomfortable about it? - well, i was constantly being offered campaign contributions or people would say to me, you know, we can raise a lot of money if we get this bill through or stuff like that. it wouldn't be a direct offer, but it would be a suggestion, that there was a lot of money out there to be had. - looking back on it now, do you think that what the fbi did was a legitimate sting operation, or do you think it was entrapment? - i am kind of offended that as a united states senator, without any suspicions, that my government tested me. on the other han

>> jake: this is senator larry pressler who is now retired but he, when he was a congressman, he was larry pressler of south dakota was approached as part of operation abscan but he has the rare distinction of turning those bribes down. >> 50,000 is no problem putting that kind of money -- but i don't care what you want to call it. campaign contribution. >> you can't make a commitment to do anything in these campaigns. indeed, i wouldn't feel actually honest doing that. >> did you ever think, i'm glad i didn't take the bait? >> i have said whew once or twice. politicians need money. that's the nature of the game. the united states senator has to raise money and that's with the difficulty comes in. >> before the abscan bribe was offered or after, where there are times that you are offered money that you felt uncomfortable about? >> well, i was constantly being offered campaign contributions. people would say to me, raise a lot of money if you get this bill through or stuff like that. it wouldn't be a direct offer but it would be a suggestion there was a lot of money out there to be ha