Franken says he’ll resign, criticizes Republicans
WASHINGTON — Al Franken announced Thursday he will resign his Senate seat, falling to a whirlwind of sexual misconduct allegations like those that have enmeshed other politicians, business leaders and media figures across the country in recent months.
In a brief but emotional speech on the Senate floor, with 22 Democratic colleagues and one Republican looking on, Franken invoked the accusations that have swirled around President Donald Trump and the Republican candidate in next week’s special election for an Alabama seat in the Senate, Roy Moore.
“There is some irony that I am leaving while a man who bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office, and a man who preyed on young girls runs for Senate with the full support of
his party,” Franken said.
The criticism of Trump set the tone for an unusual resignation speech.
Franken’s remarks did not include an apology — indeed, he appeared to have pulled back from a Nov. 16 statement in which he said he was “ashamed” of behavior that was “completely inappropriate” when it came to one of the women who has accused him of misconduct.
On Thursday, he said his past statements, in which he said women who raise such allegations should be heard, had given people “the false impression” that he was admitting guilt.
“Some of the allegations against me are simply not true. Others I remember differently,” he said. And he drew a distinction between behavior before he was sworn in in 2009 — most of the accusations were said to have occurred by then — and afterward. “Nothing I have done as a senator — nothing — has brought dishonor on this institution. And I am confident that the Ethics Committee would agree,” he said.
The Minnesota Democrat, a second-term senator once seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2020, earlier had said he would not resign but instead would submit to a Senate ethics investigation into his behavior.
But on Thursday, he said he would leave office because “Minnesotans deserve a senator who can focus with all her energy on addressing the challenges they face every day.”
Franken did not set a specific day for his departure but said it would occur “in the coming weeks.”
His fate appeared sealed Wednesday, when more than half of Senate Democrats issued calls for his resignation in an uprising led by female senators. That choreographed move came as another woman accused Franken of unwanted advances before he was elected to the Senate, and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York privately met with Franken to tell him the time had come to quit.
Franken urged his colleagues to push back against Trump.
“I have faith, or at least hope, that members of this Senate will find the political courage necessary to keep asking the tough questions, hold this administration accountable and stand up for the truth,” he said.
Democrats said they agreed with Franken’s decision.
“Now, Republicans must join Democrats in holding their own accountable,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, DR.I., said.
Franken’s announcement marked the second departure this week of a onceheralded Democrat caught in unsavory accusations. On Tuesday, the senior member of the House, Rep. John Conyers, 88, of Michigan, quit after multiple complaints by aides that he had sexually harassed them.
The latest resignation will not change the balance of power in the Senate, where Republicans hold the majority with 52 seats. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, will appoint a replacement to serve until a special election can be held in November 2018.
The departure marks the end of a legislative career that began when Franken squeaked into office — a 312-vote victory he mentioned Thursday — and then was re-elected.
A politician with an unusual entree into politics — an occasionally raunchy comedy career that included his years on “Saturday Night Live” — Franken experienced a fall as swift as his rise.
The allegations against Franken came as a reckoning with sexual harassment has spiraled nationally. Since early October, when movie producer Harvey Weinstein was forced out of his company after accusations of sexual harassment, abuse and rape surfaced, charges of sexual misconduct have ended — or severely damaged — the careers of several prominent men.