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In reply to the discussion: Garland let Gaetz walk [View all]Celerity
(47,145 posts)83. Also, Kamala Harris was the first Democratic Senator to go on national televsion and call for Franken to resign
All but 5 Democratic Caucus Senators told him in public or private to resign, including multiple Seaantors who became 2020 POTUS candidates. It was FAR from just the Junior Senator from NY (Gillibrand).
The only ones who did not where:
Manchin (the only one who actually said he should not resign)
Then 4 who either could not say anything or chose not to:
The 3 on the Senate Ethics Committee (Schatz, Shaheen, and Coons) who could not take a stance either way.....
and then Bob Menendez from NJ, who was under a federal corruption indictment/trial at the time and chose not to comment (and who eventually in a second trial, was convicted).
Those last 4, I am sure, would have joined every other Democratic Caucus Senator in calling for Franken to step down, if they could have.
Women senators coordinated calls for Al Franken to resign
https://edition.cnn.com/2017/12/06/politics/senators-al-franken-resignation/index.html
Nearly three weeks after sexual harassment allegations first emerged against Sen. Al Franken, a wave of Democratic senators in coordination and following a flurry of text messages and phone calls called for his resignation in rapid succession Wednesday morning.
Starting around 11:30 a.m. ET, the senators posted statements in a coordinated effort, one after the other, on social media, saying the Minnesota Democrat should step down.
Some comments were elaborate, lengthy and loaded with a moral message. Others, like that of Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, were straight to the point. Al Franken should resign, she simply tweeted.
Within the next 90 minutes, 16 Democrats 10 of them women and one Republican senator Susan Collins of Maine had publicly urged their colleague to vacate his seat.
https://edition.cnn.com/2017/12/06/politics/senators-al-franken-resignation/index.html
Nearly three weeks after sexual harassment allegations first emerged against Sen. Al Franken, a wave of Democratic senators in coordination and following a flurry of text messages and phone calls called for his resignation in rapid succession Wednesday morning.
Starting around 11:30 a.m. ET, the senators posted statements in a coordinated effort, one after the other, on social media, saying the Minnesota Democrat should step down.
Some comments were elaborate, lengthy and loaded with a moral message. Others, like that of Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, were straight to the point. Al Franken should resign, she simply tweeted.
Link to tweet
Within the next 90 minutes, 16 Democrats 10 of them women and one Republican senator Susan Collins of Maine had publicly urged their colleague to vacate his seat.
The myth of the all-powerful, evil, Machiavellian junior Senator from New York, Gillibrand, who single-handedly used her Svengali-esque power to enthrall almost all the rest of the Dem Senate (including all of the leadership) to do her nefarious bidding has been etched in stone here for even longer than I have been a member.
The Franken situation is one of the single biggest revisionist, ahistorical rewrites on DU post-the 2016 Trumpian nightmare election.
Its 2 main elements that have been pushed here since I joined DU in summer 2018 are simple (and incorrect, plus ahistorical, of course)
1. It was 100% (or damn close) Tweeden and Tweeden alone and Franken only resigned because of Tweeden.
Often (almost always TBH) no mention is made of the multiple other women, including Democrats, who came forward. If no other women had come forward, Franken would extremely likely still be a Senator IMHO.
2. It was 100% Gillibrand and Gillibrand alone who drove the entire thing, who, despite being a junior Senator from NY, grasped all the levers of power to a degree sufficient enough to make every single Dem Senator do her bidding (other than Manchin, the 3 'not allowed to take a stance' Ethics Committee members, plus the Federal corruption trial involved Menendez).
This revisionism falsely states or implies that 'No Gillibrand, no resignation', and almost always ignores all the others Dem Senators or paints them as hapless tools (including all leadership from Schumer on down) caught up in the irresistible mesmerising energy waves that cascaded out from the Dark Force of Gillibrand.
Some of the accusations, power attributions, and motive invention (complex conspiracy theories included) I have seen over the years would not have seemed out of place at the Salem Witch Trials.
Bottom line for me is that IF all things had remained the same, except you remove Gillibrand, Franken still would have resigned, just as if it was only Tweeden and no other women had come forward, he would have easily survived it all.
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Also, Kamala Harris was the first Democratic Senator to go on national televsion and call for Franken to resign
Celerity
Dec 23
#83
According to the report, there was no Mann Act violation or federal sex trafficking...
reACTIONary
Dec 23
#66
Not if he was using or distributing Drugs in DC itself. The DOJ does this type of prosecutions in the district.
mackdaddy
Dec 23
#23
He's just waiting for a really, really big case like a homeless person stealing a loaf of bread from the congressional
yaesu
Dec 23
#6
Maybe he'll give the federalist society another entertaining talk someday on this.
Think. Again.
Dec 23
#7
Typical Garland behavior. And 3 years later too. Why so long? Am I surprised? NO. I'm disgusted w/ him
SWBTATTReg
Dec 23
#10
President Biden made many a good decision in his tenure, Garland was NOT one of them. n/t
SheilaAnn
Dec 23
#14
News flash: Prosecutors don't always win their cases. But the facts emerge at trial
Bobstandard
Dec 23
#32
Prosecutors don't bring cases they don't believe they have a reasonable chance of winning.
Ms. Toad
Dec 23
#46
Nope. Despite its name, the Department of Justice lives within the letter of the law.
Ms. Toad
Dec 23
#82
"what do Garland apologists have to say now?"...I have the same question. I remember when I spoke against Garland
Escurumbele
Dec 23
#22
"and to have purchased and used illegal drugs, including from his Capitol Hill office,"
Hotler
Dec 23
#28
Whether he knew the girl was 17 is irrelevant to the law. But the statute of limitations ran out in 2020 anyway.
Wiz Imp
Dec 23
#49
And here in Florida, there's people in jail for 12 months because they smoked a God-Damn ONE joint.
chouchou
Dec 23
#34
Why didn't Biden fire Garland a couple of years ago, when this pattern became obvious.
TheRickles
Dec 23
#37
I believe Pres. Biden didn't fire his less than adequate Cabinet Secretaries and appointees, because...
yellow dahlia
Dec 23
#59
Sure there weren't. I have read the report and there is certainly probable cause.
Mr.WeRP
Dec 23
#74
Plenty of crimes Gaetz committed that DoJ could have prosecuted for that came out of the evidence collected by the ethic
Wiz Imp
Dec 23
#51
Bill Barr was the Attorney General overseeing the investigation of Matt Gaetz when it started.
summer_in_TX
Dec 24
#90