Angus King, the Independent senator from Maine, said that he’d “regretted it ever since” he joined the call for Franken’s resignation. “There’s no excuse for sexual assault,” he said ...
Alan Stuart "Al" Franken (b. May 21, 1951, in New York, NY) is a former Democratic member of the U.S. Senate from the state of Minnesota.Franken was first elected to the Senate in 2008. On December 7, 2017, Franken announced that he would resign his seat in the U.S. Senate due to sexual misconduct allegations against him. His resignation took effect on January 2, 2018.
Dec 08, 2021 · Each time Franken’s lifetime ban was lifted. It turns out the AAU’s attorney also represented Franken. Franken was born on April 9, 1925, in Los Angeles. His father took him to the first day of the...
Al Franken, in full Alan Stuart Franken, (born May 21, 1951, New York, New York, U.S.), American Democratic politician, comedian, and political commentator who represented Minnesota in the U.S. Senate from 2009 to 2018. When Franken was four years old, his family moved from New York City to Minnesota, where his father ran a factory. The younger Franken earned a …
Jul 22, 2019 · The lawyer Debra Katz, who has represented Christine Blasey Ford and other sexual-harassment victims, remains troubled by Franken’s case.
Tina Smith | |
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Incumbent | |
Assumed office January 3, 2018 Serving with Amy Klobuchar | |
Preceded by | Al Franken |
48th Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota |
Mike Franken | |
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Born | Michael Thane Franken November 8, 1957 Sioux Center, Iowa, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Jordan Franken ( m. 1989) |
Education | University of Nebraska, Lincoln (BS) Naval Postgraduate School (MS) |
In Franken’s 2017 book, “ Al Franken, Giant of the Senate ,” which was published before Tweeden’s accusations, he writes of being preoccupied during the 2006 tour with deciding whether to run for public office.
Tweeden went public the Thursday before Thanksgiving, while Congress was wrapping up for the holiday break. At 9:54 a.m ., Ed Shelleby, Franken’s deputy chief of staff, was at his desk in the Capitol when he noticed that a strange e-mail had arrived in an office account.
Only two years ago, Franken was being talked up as a possible challenger to President Donald Trump in 2020. In Senate hearings, Franken had proved himself to be one of the most effective critics of the Trump Administration.
Holding his head in his hands, he said, “I don’t think people who have been sexually assaulted, and those kinds of things, want to hear from people who have been #MeToo’d that they’re victims.”.
Such admissions are unusual in an institution whose members rarely concede mistakes. Patrick Leahy, the veteran Democrat from Vermont, said that his decision to seek Franken’s resignation without first getting all the facts was “one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made” in forty-five years in the Senate.
The image was taken in 2006, the year before Franken first ran for the Senate. At the time, he was on his seventh U.S.O. tour, entertaining American troops abroad as a comedian. The photograph captures him on a military plane, mugging for the camera as he performs a lecherous pantomime.
Tweeden said, “I was violated.”. Tweeden wrote that she “never had a voluntary conversation with Franken again.”. When they performed the kiss onstage, she said, “trust me, he didn’t get close to my face.”. She said that, because she had felt powerless, she hadn’t reported the assault to the military authorities.
Franken was born in 1951 in New York, N.Y., but was raised in St. Louis Park, Minn. He earned his B.A. from Harvard University in 1973 and went on to become a screenwriter for Saturday Night Live. Prior to his political career, Franken had also hosted his own national radio show and written several New York Times -bestselling books.
On November 4, 2008, Franken won election to the United States Senate. He defeated Norm Coleman, Dean Barkley (I), Charles Aldrich (L), James Niemackl (C), Michael Cavlan (I, Write-In) and Anthony Keith Price (I, Write-In) in the general election. He won election after a lengthy hand recount that did not declare him the winner until after June 2009.
Franken ran in the 2014 election for the U.S. Senate, representing Minnesota. Franken won the Democratic nomination in the primary on August 12, 2014. He defeated Mike McFadden (R), Steve Carlson (Independence Party of America) and Heather Johnson (Libertarian) in the general election on November 4, 2014.
Al Franken, in full Alan Stuart Franken, (born May 21, 1951, New York, New York, U.S.), American Democratic politician, comedian, and political commentator who represented Minnesota in the U.S. Senate from 2009 to 2018.
As a senator, Franken consistently supported liberal causes. Fiscally, he advocated for an increase in the federal minimum wage and for higher taxes on the wealthy. In 2010 he voted to repeal “ Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ,” a policy that barred openly gay men and women from serving in the U.S. military.
After graduation he returned to Minnesota to perform in Minneapolis’s Brave New Workshop comedy troupe, which in 1975 led to a job with NBC television’s Saturday Night Live ( SNL ). On the show Franken was best known for playing the character of self-help guru Stuart Smalley.
Franken worked for SNL as a writer and performer until 1980, again during 1985–95, and briefly in 2008. He shared four Emmy Awards for writing on the show and received an additional nine nominations.
He was also, from 2004 to 2007, the host of the Air America radio program The Al Franken Show (originally called The O’Franken Factor, which was a play on Bill O’Reilly ’s conservative show, The O’Reilly Factor ).
When Franken took office on July 7 , the Senate Democrats (supported by two independents) acquired a filibuster -proof 60–40 majority. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now. As a senator, Franken consistently supported liberal causes.
Fiscally, he advocated for an increase in the federal minimum wage and for higher taxes on the wealthy. In 2010 he voted to repeal “ Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ,” a policy that barred openly gay men and women from serving in the U.S. military.
One that she describes involves a liberal journalist who said Franken, in Mayer’s words, “squeezed her waist in a creepy way” while they posed for a photo at a party.
Mayer implies that it was impossible for Franken to refute the allegations of any of these other women because “he had no memory of the alleged accusers except Tweeden.”. Advertisement.
Mayer details how Tweeden, who went on a 2006 USO tour with Franken to entertain service members, worked closely with right-wing operatives and media figures to give her story maximum impact. And Mayer pokes major holes in Tweeden’s claim that Franken subjected her to an ongoing campaign of sexual harassment on the trip.
Indeed, after Mayer tweeted on Monday, “Sometimes the first draft of history is wrong — especially when no one fact checks it,” Justin Fairfax, the lieutenant governor of Virginia who has been accused by one woman of sexual assault and by another of rape, saw an opportunity.
Fairfax has denied both women’s claims. Mayer is one of the leading chroniclers of the ruthless and often anti-democratic tactics of the modern conservative movement, and much of her report on Franken is valuable in this vein. (She has herself done important reporting on claims of sexual misconduct, including against Brett Kavanaugh).
At Mayer’s request, Hatch passed Mayer’s contact information on to the woman. After taking a couple days to think about it, the source decided she wasn’t interested in speaking with Mayer. Neither woman has backed away from her allegation.
Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson was among the state attorneys general to take on President Donald Trump over the travel ban.
Melissa Hortman called out her white male colleagues in the Minnesota state House for failing to show up for speeches by women of color.
Betsy Hodges at a "We Stand United" rally in New York City the day before Trump's inauguration.
Keith Ellison speaks out against Trump's travel ban in Washington, D.C., in February.
Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) speaks to the media after prayers at the Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque in Falls Church, Virginia, in 2015.
Ilhan Omar delivers her acceptance speech on Nov. 8, 2016, after being elected to the Minnesota state House of Representatives.
Tina Smith, shown here on a visit to Cuba in June, is a former vice president of the Midwest regional Planned Parenthood.