Franken on Senate resignation: 'They made it impossible for me to get due process'

[left-of-center2012]

Former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) in an interview on Wednesday criticized how allegations of sexual misconduct against him were handled, saying “they made it impossible for me to get due process.” Franken resigned from the Senate in December 2017 following sexual misconduct accusations made by several women ...

Colleagues pressured him to step down, but Franken denied any wrongdoing even after he announced he would resign. In an interview with Washington Post Live on Thursday, he said that news outlets had not immediately investigated the claims made by the accusers and that lawmakers had denied him due process.

“No one investigated this. No one at The Washington Post investigated it. No one at The New York Times investigated — no one did any investigation of this at all. And I had 36 of my colleagues demand that I leave, and I didn't get due process,” Franken said. “And it was a pretty awful experience for me and my family.”

The magazine also noted that seven current or former senators have publicly regretted pushing for Franken’s resignation without more information: Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Angus King (I-Maine) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) in addition to former Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.).

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/593717-franken-on-senate-resignation-they-made-it-impossible-for-me-to-get-due

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=7SdrBrtI4k47EYUvn9sHtw

[hlthe2b]

1. Indeed they did, Al. All but a tiny minority on this site know that was the case...

and find it indefensible.

[sarisataka]

6. They may know it now

But at that time most were jumping right up on the bandwagon. Those who called for an investigation were outnumbered by the immediate resignation voices.

[dalton99a]

2. We lost a valuable and important voice in the Senate.

[JohnSJ]

3. and we all know who they are

[hlthe2b]

10. Indeed.

[Hekate]

4. This was a real low point for the Democratic Party. Of all the people & entities who failed ...

… to investigate Franken before throwing him to the wolves, you know who did investigate? Online sleuths who found out just how dodgy his accuser was, and who she hung out with. People who know how to effing use the Google.

That photo wasn’t evidence of anything but a raunchy USO prank, after a tour where she participated very publicly in raunchy skits.

[maxrandb]

8. And the right used it against Democrats

by convincing enough suburban women that their sons wouldn't even be able to ask a girl out without Dems coming after him and accusing him of sexual harassment.

Funny how they used that fear to elect a serial sexual abuser and suspected pedophile.

On the plus side, he and his party would never comes after their sons for harassment...unless, of course, the son was in a family of Democrats.

[SalviaBlue]

28. I agree. It was infuriating at the time knowing this

was pure RepubliCon playbook aka BULLSHIT. And the Dems caved (again) and lost one of their best.

[Celerity]

5. Kamala Harris was the first to go on telly and call for him to resign, around 30 minutes after

Gillibrand and (all within minutes) many other Dem Senators (mostly from the group of Dem Senator women who had been meeting for weeks about it) started tweeting and FB posting for him to go.

Democrat Sen. Kamala Harris calls on Franken to resign

there were others not listed in that graphic btw

[leftstreet]

7. It was like a stampede

disgusting

[Celerity]

9. in the end all but 5 privately or publicly told him to go

Menendez was under federal corruption indictment and refused to comment

Then the 3 on the Senate Ethics Committee (who could not take a stance)



and finally, the only one who said he should not resign at all, Manchin

All of those 5 except Manchin, given different circumstances, would have called for him to step down as well IMHO.

[bigtree]

17. those senators' reasoning was exactly the same as Franken's own rationale for resigning

...that the ethics committee investigation would be a distraction.

Franken said exactly that in his resignation speech. Was he telling the truth?

[bigtree]

11. so did he resign because Kamala Harris said he should?

...or was it his own, personal decision?

I don't recall Franken blaming Democratic senators for his decision to resign, but I could be wrong.

[Celerity]

12. He was the one who made the decision, but the OP shows he is (at least partially) blaming

his Democratic colleagues for forcing his hand.

[bigtree]

16. well, yeah, he's saying that now

...but here's his resignation speech:

"It’s become clear that I can’t both pursue the Ethics Committee process and at the same time remain an effective senator for them. Let me be clear. I may be resigning my seat, but I am not giving up my voice. I will continue to stand up for the things I believe in as a citizen and as an activist. But Minnesotans deserve a senator who can focus with all her energy on addressing the challenges they face every day."

Convenient to blame Democrats who agreed with him then, now, that it would distract from his job and the work the party needed to do at the time.

You make it sound like they had some other motivation than his own stated one, that the ethics investigation would be a distraction and that his seat could be filled with another Democrat committed to the same agenda, Tina Smith.

[Celerity]

18. I made no comment as to his motivation, that was all you from the start

[bigtree]

20. okay, you just provided the graphic and youtube vid. Thought it was a slam

...it would help to point out that their reasoning was exactly the same as his stated own at the time, that the ethics committee investigation HE called for would be a distraction and that Tina Smith could do the same job in his seat.

[Celerity]

22. I do not think he should have resigned, he should have let the process play out. The distraction

rationale is not that strong, as Menendez was under federal corruption indictment and went to trial (a far bigger 'distraction' in my book), and yet he never resigned. It ended in a mistrial, and then the DoJ decided to not re-try him.

In April 2018, the United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics "severely admonished" Menendez in a letter, writing:

The Committee has found that over a six-year period you knowingly and repeatedly accepted gifts of significant value from Dr. Melgen without obtaining required Committee approval, and that you failed to publicly disclose certain gifts as required by Senate Rule and federal law. Additionally, while accepting these gifts, you used your position as a Member of the Senate to advance Dr. Melgen’s personal and business interests. The Committee has determined that this conduct violated Senate Rules, federal law, and applicable standards of conduct. Accordingly, the Committee issues you this Public Letter of Admonition, and also directs you to repay the fair market value of all impermissible gifts not already repaid.

No resignation, and he still is in the Senate. Franken could have done the same I think, especially as the allegations against him were not being trued in a court of law, and some of them (if not most) were dodgy from the start.

[bigtree]

26. the accusations were coming in pretty fast

...multiple ones which really was what forced the senators' hands.

We wouldn't just go into some quiet zone on the charges if he ran again. It was a circus, and it would be again, I believe, now that political mustard has been spilled.

[tandem5]

13. That's funny -- I just woke up this morning to the memory of

Leeann Tweeden recounting her experience on The View that just so happened to exactly mirror the USO sketch they had done together while a gleeful Megan McCain was daring the panel to call Tweeden out so that she could scream "me-too" hypocrisy. Suffice it to say it wasn't a pleasant memory.

[Leith]

14. They did him dirt

as we used to say. The result was that we lost one of our best senators.

[superpatriotman]

15. Come back, Senator

The party was wrong. The pile on was wrong. On behalf of those unable or unwilling to, I apologize.

Please come back.

[Celerity]

19. Should he run for a House seat?

I can see that being an option.

[ananda]

21. Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand need to apologize too!

!!!

[Celerity]

23. all but 5 Dem Senators need to (who were in the Senate then)

in the end all but 5 privately or publicly told him to go

Menendez was under federal corruption indictment and refused to comment

Then the 3 on the Senate Ethics Committee (who could not take a stance)



and finally, the only one who said he should not resign at all, Manchin

All of those 5 except Manchin, given different circumstances, would have called for him to step down as well IMHO.

[Greybnk48]

24. He was piled on, unfairly.

I'm still pissed about this, and I hope he comes back (although, if it was me, I wouldn't bother. The whole thing was shitty).

[suegeo]

25. I still wonder what an investigation might've uncovered

Did any of the accusers get bribes, in Russian currency? Or from that money laundering country where that old goat Wilbur Ross banked?

Did any of the accusers get a condo on DJT's shitty golf course? Or in his mobbed up tower in NYC?

A few weeks before, a loud-ish Minnesota voice, Garrison Keilor, got accused of sexual harassment, which was a joke. It silenced his voice, which was one of the first to call out W's deadly clown car.

Also a few weeks before, local Minnesota congressmen were accused of sexual misconduct.

This was all a set up to keep Al quiet.

[tavernier]

27. I'm glad he finally spoke about this now that

the feeding frenzy is long over and some folks actually feel like shit heels.

I haven’t felt the same about Schumer since, not to mention a couple of others.