Al Franken's Senate Colleagues Say He Should Step Down (UPDATED)

As more women come forward to say they were sexually harassed by Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), his Senate Democratic colleagues are now urging him to step down:

Sexual harassment and misconduct should not be allowed by anyone and should not occur anywhere. I believe the best thing for Senator Franken to do is step down.

— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) December 6, 2017

Al Franken should resign.

— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) December 6, 2017

It is clear that Al Franken has engaged in a pattern of egregious and unacceptable behavior toward women. He should resign.

— Sen. Maggie Hassan (@SenatorHassan) December 6, 2017

I have listened to them. I have listened to my female colleagues, to women I work with and women in my life. And I agree the time has come for Senator Franken to step aside.

— Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) December 6, 2017

I agree with my colleagues who have stepped forward today and called on Senator Franken to resign. We can’t just believe women when it’s convenient.

— Senator Bob Casey (@SenBobCasey) December 6, 2017

I believe it is best for Senator Franken to resign.

— Sen. Tammy Baldwin (@SenatorBaldwin) December 6, 2017

Today, I am calling on my colleague Al Franken to step aside. I’ve struggled with this decision because he’s been a good Senator and I consider him a friend. But that cannot excuse his behavior and his mistreatment of women. (thread)

— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) December 6, 2017

Joe is calling for Senator Franken to resign. pic.twitter.com/ff5i1rnhJs

— Senator Joe Donnelly (@SenDonnelly) December 6, 2017

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) called for Franken to step down in a Facebook post, and the head of the Democratic National Committee, Tom Perez, agreed:

Sen. Al Franken should step down. Everyone must share the responsibility of building a culture of trust and respect for women in every industry and workplace, and that includes our party.

— Tom Perez (@TomPerez) December 6, 2017

We expect more to follow shortly. We'd say it's over for him.

UPDATE: Just in from Franken's office:

Senator Franken will be making an announcement tomorrow. More details to come.

— Sen. Al Franken (@SenFranken) December 6, 2017

WTF Al Franken?!

CNN:

A woman says Sen. Al Franken inappropriately touched her in 2010, telling CNN that he grabbed her buttocks while taking a photo at the Minnesota State Fair. 

It is the first allegation of improper touching by Franken, who is a Democrat, while he was in office. It comes just days after Leeann Tweeden, a local radio news anchor in California, said that Franken forcibly kissed and groped her in 2006, when Franken was a comedian.

Sen. Franken's response Sunday was, to our ears, damning:

"I take thousands of photos at the state fair surrounded by hundreds of people, and I certainly don't remember taking this picture," Franken said. "I feel badly that Ms. Menz came away from our interaction feeling disrespected."

"... came away from our interaction feeling disrespected." Wow. That's not a denial, folks.

Meanwhile, Republicans are already using Franken's actions to distract from the Roy Moore scandal. Christmas came early in Alabama.

Sen. Franken Dismantles Trump's Efforts To Discredit Special Counsel's Team

Why we love Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), part infinity. Watch how he dismantles the emerging Trumpian attack on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's hiring of people who contributed to Democrats (h/t Crooks & Liars):

Sen. Franken Tells Us Why He's A Democrat

What a great, moving way to frame how your convictions were formed (h/t Daily Kos).

Happy Tweet And Story Of The Day

In the midst of the imploding Trump-Russia scandal, this tweet and story warmed our hearts:

I finally got to meet four-year-old Mushkaad, who @amyklobuchar & I helped reunite w/ her family in MN after @POTUS exec order kept
her out. pic.twitter.com/yGZhZQ2yoH

— Sen. Al Franken (@SenFranken) March 17, 2017

From CNN:

US Sen. Al Franken has met with a young Somali girl whose reunion with her mother was delayed by President Donald Trump's travel ban on immigrants from seven countries. 

Mushkaad Abdi, 4, had been separated from her mother and older sisters since she was just a few months old. 

She finally got a visa to come to the United States, but President Trump signed the executive order barring citizens of seven countries, including Somalia, from entering the country, before she could rejoin her family in Minnesota. 

Mushkaad was allowed to come to the United States and rejoin her family on February 2, after a couple of anxious days. 

Franken, among those who championed the reunion, met Mushkaad for the first time on Thursday and tweeted a picture of the little girl laughing while shaking his hand.

 That's the difference between Democrats and Republicans, right there.

Rethugs and Rape

Jamie Leigh Jones, a contractor employee of KBR in Iraq, was gang raped by several co-workers and locked in a shipping container so that the crime could be covered up. When she tried to sue KBR, she was told that her employment contract with them required her to go to internal arbitration rather than the court system.

On Tuesday, freshman Sen. Al Franken succeeded in getting an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill which would bar contractors from Department of Defense work if they required mandatory arbitration for assault cases, rather than allowing the victim their day in court. One would think this would get nearly unanimous bipartisan support, but the amendment passed, 68 to 30, mostly along party lines.

The shameful part of this story is that 30 Senate Rethuglicans -- 70% of their Senate members -- voted against the amendment, and presumably for corporate interests in keeping sexual assaults on their employees from going public.