7 USA Senators Regret Pushing Al Franken to Resign

Seven Democratic senators have said they regret calling on former Minnesota Sen. Al Franken to resign over accusations of sexual harassment.

In a new story in the New Yorker, investigative reporter Jane Mayer found a number of holes in the story of Franken’s primary accuser. In November 2017, a conservative talk-radio station released a photo of Franken pantomiming grabbing radio host Leeann Tweeden’s breasts while on a 2006 USO tour. That was followed by seven additional allegations of groping or unwanted kisses, eventually leading to 36 Democratic senators calling for him to step down despite the fact that both Franken and Tweeden were calling for an independent investigation.

Mayer talked to a number of the Democratic senators who urged Franken to step down, and seven regretted it, with Sen. Patrick Leahy saying it was “one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made” in his 45-year Senate career.

“If there’s one decision I’ve made that I would take back, it’s the decision to call for his resignation,” said former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. “It was made in the heat of the moment, without concern for exactly what this was.”

“I made a mistake,” said Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico. “I started having second thoughts shortly after he stepped down. He had the right to be heard by an independent investigative body. I’ve heard from people around my state, and around the country, saying that they think he got railroaded. It doesn’t seem fair. I’m a lawyer. I really believe in due process.”

When Mayer asked Franken if he regretted resigning, he replied, “Oh, yeah. Absolutely,” and expressed the wish that he had appeared before a Senate Ethics Committee hearing. While Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York has faced much of the blame from donors for being one of the first Democrats to call for him to step down, Franken criticized Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for “not insisting to his caucus that an investigation was under way, and that due process required facts before a verdict.”

FROM  news.yahoo.com/al-franken-senate-resignation-regrets-jane-mayer-