Sanford, in Cabinet Meeting, Apologizes to Agency Chiefs for Affair

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford apologized on Friday to his state agency chiefs for secretly going to Argentina last week to see his mistress. Meanwhile, the last Republican governor of the state prior to Sanford called on him to "clear the air" over any remaining questions about his state-funded trip to the South American country a year ago.

Sanford held his typical public meeting with the agency chiefs, but started with apologies and likened his confession and future to the biblical plight of King David.

Sanford said King David fell mightily but picked up the pieces and built from there.

The Republican governor made specific apologizes to the heads of agencies that handle his security and economic development trips, saying he put those leaders in awkward spots.

He has acknowledged that he dismissed his security detail before he flew to Argentina last week, and he also took a trip last year with Commerce Department officials to South America, where he visited his mistress.

David Beasley, the last Republican governor of South Carolina, told FOX News that while he and his wife are saddened by the situation and are praying for Sanford and his family, he wants Sanford to remove all doubt about last year's trip to Argentina.

"Bottom line, he made some bad judgment calls, a serious mistake," Beasley, who was governor from 1995 to 1999, said about Sanford's affair during a phone interview with FOX News. "But the best thing he can do now is clear the air immediately."

Beasley would not say whether Sanford should resign because he wanted to wait for more information. He said he is limited in receiving up-to-date information because he and his family are  vacationing in a rural part of Montana.

Sanford has said he will not resign because of the infidelity. He called last year's travel a "legitimate trip" due to economic development efforts between South Carolina and the South American country, but he has agreed to reimburse the state for the expenses he incurred during the Argentinian leg of the trip.

Meanwhile, Sanford's wife said she discovered her husband's affair in January when she found a letter to the governor from his mistress.

Jenny Sanford says she stayed with her husband while their four sons were attending  private school in the state capital, Columbia. She waited until the school year ended to leave him for their coastal home on Sullivans Island.

She wept as she displayed her boys' stellar report cards and said she worries most about how they're being affected by the scandal. She said she plans to take them out of the state for the weekend.

FOX News' Serafin Gomez and The Associated Press contributed to this report.