Accessibility links

Breaking News
USA

US Senator Al Franken to Step Down in Early January


Sen. Al Franken, D-Minnesota, leaves the Capitol after speaking on the Senate floor, Dec. 7, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minnesota, leaves the Capitol after speaking on the Senate floor, Dec. 7, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Democratic Senator Al Franken will leave office on Jan. 2, a spokesman for the Minnesota lawmaker said Wednesday.

Franken announced his plans to resign earlier this month in the wake of several sexual harassment allegations, but did not announce a date.

He said earlier Wednesday that he would deliver a series of speeches on the Senate floor before he leaves the chamber.

Replacement named

Franken will be replaced by Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith, also a Democrat.

The demise of Franken's Washington tenure unfolded over the past few weeks. It was touched off by claims made by a Los Angeles radio host and former model, Leeann Tweeden. She accused Franken of forcibly kissing her when they both were on a 2006 tour to entertain U.S. troops in the Middle East.

Minnesota Lt. Governor Tina Smith waves to journalists at the end of a news conference in a Hotel in Havana, Cuba, June 22, 2017.
Minnesota Lt. Governor Tina Smith waves to journalists at the end of a news conference in a Hotel in Havana, Cuba, June 22, 2017.

Tweeden posted a picture of a smiling Franken holding his hands over her breasts while she was sleeping on a return flight to the United States.

Franken apologized to Tweeden, but soon after other women also accused the one-time television and film comedian of unwanted advances.

He variously apologized, said the incidents did not occur or said he remembered the encounters differently. But as the allegations mounted, dozens of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate demanded that he resign.

Defiant speech

Franken announced his resignation in a defiant speech on the Senate floor earlier this month, saying it was ironic that he was quitting even as President Donald Trump remains in office after more than a dozen women accused Trump during his 2016 campaign of unwanted sexual advances.

Trump, a Republican, says none of the accusations against him is true, but he is facing new calls from Democratic lawmakers to answer the specific allegations. Six senators, all Democrats, have called for his resignation.

  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG