A former aide to Hillary Clinton said it’s unclear how former Sen. Al Franken can return to relevance after he was accused of sexual misconduct in 2017.
“We all know Harvey Weinstein should go to jail and rot there,” Karen Finney, a former spokeswoman for Clinton, told the Washington Post. “But Franken … I don’t think we know the answer yet for what is the process for returning.”
“We don’t have, as a culture, the vocabulary to deal with all the nuances of this moment,” Finney said. “If [Franken] chooses to do so, he has a real opportunity to again be part of moving the conversation forward.”
Franken, D-Minn., stepped down last year after he was accused by radio host Leeann Tweeden of forcefully kissing her when the two were practicing a skit as part of a United Service Organizations tour in the Middle East in 2006. She also said Franken groped her while she slept on the flight from Afghanistan after the tour ended.
A photo was released that shows the senator, then a comedian, putting his hands over Tweeden’s breasts while she was sleeping. Other women later came forward with additional accusations against Franken.
The allegations emerged in fall 2017, the same time allegations against longtime Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was accused of raping multiple women.
Former President Barack Obama’s deputy campaign manager also said Franken’s voice is “missed.”
“Regardless of whether you think it was right or wrong for him to leave the Senate, his voice is missed in the midst of this Trump-created crisis of democracy we’re living through,” said Stephanie Cutter, former deputy campaign manager for Obama.
According to American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Norman Ornstein, a close friend of Franken’s, the former Minnesota senator doesn’t believe his behavior was majorly inappropriate.
“I do know that he believes that he did nothing significantly wrong,” Ornstein said.
[Opinion: Al Franken’s return to politics seems more and more likely]
