Justice for Avenatti! Good. Franken should have gotten the same.

[LBM20]

Good for Avenatti. He proclaimed innocence and obviously had evidence (as I understand it video evidence) disproving the allegations.

Al Franken should have received justice too. He did not. It was a huge injustice and never should have happened.

There is no place for abuse and illegal behavior on anyone's part. And there is also no place for false accusations, hysteria, hype, railroading, and denial of due process. Period.

[Takket]

1. Franken was never charged with any crime

And he stepped down on his own, albiet under pressure from Gillebrand, but he chose not to fight it.

[LBM20]

3. No. It was Gillibrand and others too. It was hype, hysteria, and railroading. My god, one person

said he abused her because he "squeezed my waist" while taking a photo with her. What a load of CRAP! Others who accused him of things were confirmed Trump lovers. SO many women who worked with him for YEARS came forward and said he NEVER abused anyone and was very good to work with. This was CRAP!

He wanted to stay, but there was too much hysteria and pressure which became untenable. What happened to him was wrong. It was a bush league hit job.

[JonLP24]

33. There was a lot of women that came out that said

Kavanaugh didn't sexual assault them either.

Gillibrand actually cares about sexual assault when she said, "I don't know how you can listen Blasey-Ford and still vote for Kavanaugh." She has done a lot for campus & military sexual assault. There was a photo of Franken not grabbing a waist. He did it to himself not Gillibrand.

[Wintryjade]

2. Franken never spoke up. Well, he did at the beginning. Apologized, then got quiet.

At least one is a young woman that has and is working with the Democratic Party. But, I heard nothing from Franken. So no, I would have to hear from Franken. I don't know. Nor does anyone else, really. We have opinions but that is all it is.

[LBM20]

4. He did speak up and denied it. My god. "He squeezed my waist during a photo." Seriously?

[Wintryjade]

5. He spoke up with the first one. Apologized. The third? He didn't recall. That was it. Now,

You dismissed 8 stories with a squeeze of the waist and dismissed every other woman. I can't do that. And I have not heard anything from Frankin. I do not know. I am being honest.

[LBM20]

8. You are dismissing the indisputable facts that many of the accusers were right wing Trumpists and

my god, "waist squeezing" during photos? Seriously? It does not pass the straight face test. He took thousands of photos with people. Would he do that right there in crowds and in front of cameras? It's obvious nonsense.

You are dimissing the many women who worked with him for years, knew him for years, and said he never did anything wrong.

He was railroaded, and it was SHIT.

[Wintryjade]

9. A young woman that works for the Democratic Party and that the other Democratic leaders know.

[Duppers]

14. He took a big "hit" for the good of our Party.

TEHO

[Wintryjade]

20. I do not know the whole story. You don't either. He didn't speak up.

I cannot make such a declarative statement without more information.

[Kingofalldems]

6. And a disgraceful barrage of OPs trashing Franken right here on DU.

Same thing happened to Avenatti.

[LBM20]

7. Yup. Dems value civil rights and innocence until proven guilty and we all need to remember that.

[TheBlackAdder]

12. Some people just want to take anyone down, and soft targets are easier to meet that blood thirst.

[DemocracyMouse]

16. And they go for people more talented than they are

[ginny skinny]

10. Franken's Crime

His biggest offense was depriving his victims of their chance to tell their stories UNDER OATH to an investigative body. His accusers were deprived of their chance to tell their side, UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY. They were robbed of the only chance they had to tell an official investigation UNDER OATH, the crimes Franken allegedly committed against them. He was a monster for denying them the opportunity to testify UNDER OATH, the crimes committed against them. Yes, he repeatedly asked for a formal investigation but he should have held out so his accusers could have had the chance to testify UNDER OATH about his crimes.

What a monster!

[dragonlady]

21. Good point!

[Jarqui]

11. I have nothing against Avenatti - I've appreciated his efforts against Trump, etc

But he is not in the clear on this yet.
He's not being charged with a felony but he may yet face misdemeanor charges ...

The woman had photos of injuries - which may or may not be the result of her altercation with Avenatti.

She shot a video earlier in the day. If pics there do not show those injuries, that's evidence she got them after the video shoot. If a doctor says the injuries are consistent with her description of what happened, Avenatti may have a problem. ("may" - not definitely) Presumably the bar is fairly high for criminal misdemeanor conviction "beyond reasonable doubt" so she will have a challenge to meet that bar. But the civil bar is close to "who do you believe?", so there is a good chance of a lawsuit and that will hang over him for a while. If that happens, his 2020 aspirations are toast.

As for Franken, different circumstances. I'm still sick about it, wish he fought it and feel he got a lousy deal.

[former9thward]

13. He is still charged with a crime.

You do know that, don't you?

[George II]

18. A "crime"? What is it?

[sheshe2]

19. Misdemeaner charges.

Today it was announced that he will not be charged of a federal crime. HOWEVER the court also said he may still face misdemeanor charges, that is how California treats domestic abuse.

[uponit7771]

22. She claims he hit her with a pillow case so the felony part was dropped.

[former9thward]

29. You may not consider domestic violence to be a crime.

I do.

[Kingofalldems]

36. He is not charged with a crime.

[former9thward]

41. Keep telling yourself that.

[Eric J in MN]

42. Prosecutors decide whether to charge.

A prosecutor decided not to charge him with a felony. Another prosecutor will decide whether to charge him with a misdemeanor.

"The D.A. today referred the case to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office for misdemeanor filing consideration."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/michael-avenatti-vows-full-steam-224358932.html

[former9thward]

43. He has been arrested.

Some people are pretending that means nothing and happens everyday of the week.

[James48]

15. I miss Al Franken

A great Senator. Top Notch.

I wish he would run again.

[Renew Deal]

17. Franken admitted to wrongdoing and chose to resign

He could have chosen to fight it out. It was his choice.

[OnDoutside]

25. Franken was HOUNDED OUT by Gillibrand and others. Please do not distort the truth.

He wanted the Ethics Committee to investigate and find the truth. Gillibrand wanted him out, for reasons we do not know yet, but can surmise.

[Renew Deal]

30. Did he choose to resign or was he expelled?

Don’t distort the truth

[OnDoutside]

35. Obviously my request has fallen on deaf ears. Grand.

[Wintryjade]

40. The truth? At victim 7 they stated one more and he needs to resign. 8 popped up.

Watching 7 victims speak up and then finally putting out the statement, at the same time as a race with the Republican pedophile is not hounding, poor Franken.

So ya, lets not distort the truth.

And, I am all for Franken running again, after he actually steps up and has a conversations about the facts of all this. We have very little information and part of the reason is because Franken walked without giving us info, leaving us to attack Gillabrand and ignoring the other 37 Senators that asked him to step down.

I liked what Franken stated with the first accusation. After that, I feel Franken is the one that dropped the ball and has ownership with what happened.

[octoberlib]

23. Avenatti is still being charged with a misdemeanor.

He’s not off scot free yet.

[Eric J in MN]

24. Avenatti may or may not be charged with a misdemeanor. NT

NT

[NickB79]

32. And he may or may not be convicted

If some of the accuser's claims we're already disproven with video evidence, her credibility drops dramatically.

[bobGandolf]

26. I agree....

I think the timing of Al Franken's accusers happened at the height of the movement, and he was just railroaded out the door....guilty as accused. Kavanaugh gets away with a far more serious charge, becoming Supreme Court Justice for life......plain wrong.

[oberliner]

28. Kavanaugh denied everything

Franken apologized repeatedly:

"The first thing I want to do is apologize"

"There's no excuse. I look at it now and I feel disgusted with myself. It isn't funny. It's completely inappropriate"

"I feel terribly that I’ve made some women feel badly and for that I am so sorry, and I want to make sure that never happens again."

"From these stories, it's been clear that there are some women — and one is too many — who feel that I have done something disrespectful, and that's hurt them, and for that I am tremendously sorry."

Kavanaugh took a different approach, denied everything and blamed Democrats.

[tonedevil]

31. Slut shaming works. /nt

[Kingofalldems]

34. And multiple threads about Franken on DU attacking him.

Remember those? Pretty awful, don't you think?

[oberliner]

38. And multiple threads about Gillibrand on DU attacking her

Remember those? Pretty awful, don't you think?

[Kingofalldems]

39. Not responsive.

[bobGandolf]

44. I know that,

I just feel he was pushed out of the Senate for strictly political reasons. He was being honest about actions, and behaviors, that few males thought twice about before the movement. He responded by admitting blatantly, how disgusting his behavior had been. He did not defend his behavior, he accepted responsibility. Something the Republicans never do......and they end up with a Supreme Court Justice, and the truthful Democrats lose a Senator, and possibly the seat.

See: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11461768

[Vinca]

27. It's the difference between fighting and folding. Sadly, Franken chose to fold.

I still think what's-her-name probably has a framed, signed copy of that photo on the wall of her house. It was a joke and Franken was a comedian, but taken out of context it was his undoing. I also loved one of the other charges against him: touching a woman's waist while they posed for a photo at the fair. Good for Avenatti for fighting.

[Eric J in MN]

37. Those were two accusations

One woman claimed that when Franken wanted to pull her close for a photo at the MN State Fair, he touched her butt.

On Monday, Lindsay Menz told CNN that Franken grabbed her butt during a photo at the Minnesota State Fair in August 2010, when Franken had been in the Senate for just two years. Franken allegedly pulled Menz against him "really close, like awkward close" and, as her husband snapped the photo, Franken wrapped his hand around her butt for "three or four" seconds before walking away to talk to other attendees of the state fair, where Franken has long been a popular attraction.

Another woman, Tina Dupuy, wrote about a party in DC:

I’d been groped by Franken in 2009...I saw Al Franken. I only bug celebrities for pictures when it’ll make my foster mom happy. She loves Franken, so I asked to get a picture with him. We posed for the shot. He immediately put his hand on my waist, grabbing a handful of flesh. I froze. Then he squeezed. At least twice...It shrunk me. It’s like I was no longer a person, only ornamental.

Tina Dupuy used to be one of the top people I followed on Twitter. After her Franken essay, I blocked her.