At least four senators are urging Al Franken to reconsider resigning, including two who issued statements calling for the resignation two weeks ago and said they now feel remorse over what they feel was a rush to judgment.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who urged Franken not to step down to begin with — at least not before he went through an Ethics Committee investigation — said the Minnesota senator was railroaded by fellow Democrats.
“What they did to Al was atrocious, the Democrats,” said West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin in an interview for POLITICO’s Off Message podcast to post on Tuesday. Subscribe here.
Franken's unusual timeline — in his departure announcement he said he’d go “in the coming weeks,” without setting a date — has fed the fleeting hopes that there’s still time to reverse course. However, Tina Smith, Minnesota's Democratic lieutenant governor, was named last week as his appointed successor.
People familiar with Franken's plans said he has not changed his mind and intends to formally resign in early January. He praised the selection of Smith and has begun working with her on the transition.
Look I like Al Franken just as much as the next progressive, but he can't go back on his word without damaging not only his reputation for all time, but also damaging the Democratic party in 2018.
There are no "take backs" when it comes to allegations of sexual misconduct.
Yes I think Franken was railroaded, yes I doubt the veracity of the statements by some of his accusers, but that really does not make a difference in the larger scheme of things.
The Democratic party has to be as squeaky clean, and as scandal free, as possible moving forward.
That is how they defeat the Republicans in the long term.
Donald Trump ran on "draining the swamp" in Washington, which of course never happened.
This time the Democrats need to run on draining the Washington sewer of pedophiles, sexual predators, and habitual pussy grabbers.
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