Hillary Clinton Challenger to Resume Campaign After Daughter's Shoplifting Arrest

A Republican rival to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will resume her campaign this week after a two-day suspension to deal with her teenage daughter's arrest on a shoplifting charge, a top strategist for her campaign said Tuesday.

Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland, a former Pentagon official under President Reagan, is competing with former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer in the GOP primary Sept. 12.

"Nothing has changed — we haven't canceled anything beyond yesterday and today," strategist Ed Rollins said. "KT is trying to deal with her daughter, and that's a very painful process."

Camilla McFarland, 16, was arrested Saturday in Southampton, a Long Island resort community. She was charged with misdemeanor counts of petty theft and possession of stolen property for stealing a pair of jeans and two bathing suits from two stores.

"I agreed to confess because I feel bad for what I did and I realized that I have made a huge mistake. I have never stolen before and I won't do anything like this again," she said in a statement to police obtained by The Associated Press.

Camilla McFarland's shoplifting bust is the latest in a series of embarrassing revelations and tumultuous family incidents that have rocked the KT McFarland campaign from its inception.

Earlier this summer, McFarland went public with allegations that she had been physically and sexually abused as a child by her father — allegations her father vehemently denied. She also acknowledged severing contact with a gay brother who died of AIDS in 1995.