Before Al Franken was a Democratic U.S. senator from Minnesota, he was a harsh critic of Fox News star Bill O’Reilly, a role he apparently doesn’t want to reprise in light of accusations that O’Reilly has embellished his journalism career.
Asked to weigh in on O’Reilly “embellishing” his reporting credentials Sunday on CNN, Franken had little to say. “You know, I really haven’t been following this,” he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me. But I haven’t been following this controversy.”
In 2003, Franken published a book that attacked O’Reilly as a disingenuous newsman who inflated his working-class upbringing.
On CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” host Brian Stelter tried again to get Franken to comment on the controversy, asking the senator what it was like to face backlash from O’Reilly.
“It doesn’t register,” Franken said. “We have a lot of very important business before us in the United States Senate, we’re trying to fund the Department of Homeland Security. That’s the kind of stuff I need to focus on and do.”
O’Reilly has fallen under media scrutiny recently after reporters from the liberal Mother Jones and Media Matters watchdog accused him of exaggerating his experiences, including his coverage of the Falklands War and the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
