Franken to resign???

Top House Democrat calls on Franken to resign

By HEATHER CAYGLE

A top House Democrat said Sen. Al Franken should resign after two more women on Thursday accused the Minnesota Democrat of groping them.

Rep. Joe Crowley of New York, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, is the highest ranking Democrat to call for Franken’s resignation.

“I think it’s time for Sen. Franken to go,” Crowley said in an interview.

Crowley said both Franken and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) should step down amid mounting sexual harassment allegations. So far, six women have said Franken groped them, including two new accusers on Thursday, and four women have accused Conyers of harassment.

“In my opinion I think it’s time for John to resign. And I think under the circumstances, given the new revelations about the senator as well, I think it’s time for both of them to go,” Crowley said.

Crowley joined top Democrats including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the highest-ranking African-American lawmaker, in calling for Conyers to step down earlier Thursday. But Pelosi faced immediate pushback from Conyers’ lawyer, who hinted that her demanding Conyers resign was racially motivated, given she wasn’t asking the same of Franken.

“At the end of the day, I would suspect that Nancy Pelosi is going to have to explain what is the discernible difference between Al Franken and John Conyers,” Arnold Reed, Conyers lawyer, told reporters.

A Pelosi spokesman did not return a request to respond to Reed.

Reed said Conyers has not decided whether to resign and is instead focusing on his health. Conyers, 88, remains hospitalized after complaining of chest pains and dizziness Wednesday night.

Franken returned to work on Monday after more than a week in hiding since the first groping allegations surfaced, saying he was “embarrassed” and “ashamed.”

Two women accused Franken of groping them on Thursday, including an Army veteran who told CNN he cupped her breast in 2003 during a USO tour photo op before he was a senator. Separately, a former New England elected official told Jezebel that Franken tried to give her a “wet, open-mouthed kiss” onstage in 2006.

No Senate Democrats have called for Franken to step down.

Franken and other senators have called for an Ethics Committee investigation into his behavior, and the panel said Thursday it had begun one.

"While the Committee does not generally comment on pending matters or matters that may come before it, in this instance, the Committee is publicly confirming that it has opened a preliminary inquiry into Senator Franken's alleged misconduct," the committee said in a statement.