A handful of Democrat Senators are feeling remorseful after some of them have cited a rush to judgment in their calls for Sen. Al Franken to resign amid harassment allegations.
At least two have privately apologized to Franken and others are publicly urging him to rescind his pledge to resign.
And with Roy Moore’s recent loss in Alabama, Republicans might actually invite the reversal from Franken, if only because he’d have to sit through a severe ethics probe which would drag the Democrats through more scandalous mud.
Franken is in a political Catch-22 in that the Minnesota governor already announced his replacement, and the switch is set for early next month.
This is a no-win scenario for Dems ahead of next year’s elections.
Here’s more from Politico…
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
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.
