A wave of Democratic senators called for their colleague Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., to resign on Wednesday.
Sens.
Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Kirsten
Gillibrand of New York, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Kamala Harris of
California, Patty Murray of Washington, and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin
were the first to say Franken should step aside in what appeared to be a
coordinated release late Wednesday morning. Franken has been accused of
sexual harassment and misconduct by a series of women during the past
month.
After
the initial statements, the first seven female senators were joined by
Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Joe Donnelly of
Indiana, Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters of Michigan, Heidi Heitkamp of
North Dakota, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Ed Markey of Massachusetts,
Maria Cantwell of Washington, Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth of
Illinois, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall of New
Mexico, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Tom Carper of Delaware, Jon Tester of
Montana, Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of
New York.
Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine, independents who caucus with the Democrats, also called on Franken to resignAl Franken, D-Minn., on November 27. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty ImagesEarlier Wednesday morning the latest accuser had stepped forward,
saying that Franken had tried to forcibly kiss her, an allegation
Franken denied. Wednesday morning also was the release of Time
magazine’s Person of the Year, which went to “The Silence Breakers,” women and men who had stepped forward about being sexually assaulted and harassed.
In the wake of the calls for his resignation, Franken tweeted that he would make an announcement on Thursday.Last month Franken said he was “embarrassed and ashamed” because of the allegations but looked forward to getting back to work. The Senate Ethics Committee announced in a statement Nov. 30 that it had opened a preliminary inquiry into Franken’s alleged misconduct. Democratic Rep. John Conyers resigned from Congress Tuesday after a series of sexual harassment allegations.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez also added his voice to the chorus, tweeting that Franken should step down. Were Franken to resign, his replacement would be selected by Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat.
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