An avalanche of Democrats are calling on Al Franken to resign amid sexual misconduct allegations
- Several Democratic senators called on Sen. Al Franken to resign on Wednesday.
- Their calls came after a seventh woman came forward to accuse the Minnesota Democrat of sexual misconduct.
Several female Democratic senators publicly called on Sen. Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, to resign on Wednesday.
Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Claire McCaskill, Mazie Hirono, Maggie Hassan, and Patty Murray all released statements on Wednesday morning.
"I have been shocked and disappointed to learn over the last few weeks that a colleague I am fond of personally has engaged in behavior towards women that is unacceptable," Gillibrand, who has been a leading advocate for survivors of sexual assault in the military, wrote in a statement. "I consider Senator Franken to be a friend and have enjoyed working with him in the Senate in our shared fight to help American families.
"We have to rise to the occasion, and not shrink away from it, even when it's hard, especially when it's hard," she continued. "I have spent a lot of time reflecting on Senator Franken's behavior. Enough is enough. The women who have come forward are brave and I believe them."
Hassan wrote that Franken "has engaged in a pattern of egregious and unacceptable behavior toward women."
"He should resign," she Hassan wrote in a statement.
This comes just hours after the seventh woman came forward to accuse Franken of sexual misconduct. The woman, a former Democratic congressional aide, said that Franken attempted to forcibly kiss her after after a taping of his radio show in 2006, three years before he became a senator.
Franken insists that he doesn't remember meeting the five women who have accused him of groping them during photo ops, and said that he has a different recollection of a 2006 incident with Leeann Tweeden, a California radio-news anchor, who says Franken forcibly kissed her.
Franken has said he is "ashamed" by the allegations, but has not admitted to knowingly behaving badly, and apologized to the women who have felt disrespected by his behavior. He's repeatedly promised to "cooperate completely" with any investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee into his past behavior.
"I know that I am going to have to be much more conscious in these circumstances - much more careful, much more sensitive," Franken said during a press conference last week. "It's going to take a long time for me to regain people's trust, but I hope that starting work today that I can start to do that."