Al Franken said he "absolutely" regrets resigning from the U.S. Senate in 2017 amid the firestorm over accusations of inappropriate behavior by the comedian turned politician."I was requested to request a transfer."
~ CPT Fisby - 1956, Tea House of the August Moon
In a new profile by Jane Mayer published Monday in The New Yorker, seven current and former senators said they also regret calling for his resignation in December 2017: Vermont’s Patrick Leahy
...Democrat Senator-for-Life from Vermont, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, source of more leaks than a plumber could keep up with...
, North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp, Illinois’ Tammy Duckworth, Maine’s Angus King, Oregon’s Jeff Merkley, Florida’s Bill Nelson, and New Mexico’s Tom Udall.
Franken told Mayer that he now wishes that he had followed through on his request to appear before a Senate Ethics Committee hearing so that he would have had time to gather evidence to counter what he felt was a false narrative in the media based in part on anonymous accusers.
The New Yorker piece also sheds new light on the accusations by conservative talk radio host Leeann Tweeden that Franken forced an unwanted kiss on her during a 2006 U.S.O. tour that was the center of her accusations. Franken was pressured to resign in December 2017 after seven more women accused him of inappropriate touches or kisses.
Two actresses told the New Yorker they had performed the USO skit featuring a handsy doctor played by Franken in 2003 ‐ well before Tweeden joined the USO tour ‐ and therefore it was not written for her, as Tweeden had said in her statement. Others who were on the 2006 tour questioned her account as well.
Franken also told the New Yorker that New York’s Chuck Schumer
Senator-for-life from New York, renowned for his love of standing in front of cameras. Schumer has been a professional politician since 1975, when disco was in flower. Senate minority leader as of 2017., the top Democrat in the Senate, threatened to have the entire Democratic caucus demand his resignation and said Franken could be censured and stripped of his committee assignments if he decided to stay on.
"I couldn’t believe it," Franken told the magazine. "I asked him for due process and he said no."
A Schumer spokesperson had no comment. Reps for Franken and Tweeden did not immediately respond to requests for comment.