Disgraced former Senator Al Franken (D-MN) says he is “frustrated” by the constant hearings in the U.S. Senate and has even pestered his former colleagues with emails about what they should do to take down President Donald Trump.
Franken is desperate to make a comeback after multiple women accused his of sexual harassment. TBS late-night host Conan O’Brien was only too happy to lend a hand to rehabilitate Al Franken. On his Thursday night show, Conan treated Franken to a softball interview.
During the interview, Franken admitted that he dearly misses being a U.S. Senator and being able to take on Trump.
“It is very frustrating,” Franken said, adding that he constantly emails his former colleagues to instruct them on how to attack the president.
“When I left the Senate, I said I’m giving up my seat, I’m not giving up my voice,” he added noting that his new SiriusXM radio show will help him purge that voice on a daily basis.
Liberals are keen to vacate the sexual harassment charges lodged against Franken and allow him a path back to the public stage, and recently several of Franken’s former Senate colleagues expressed regret that they pushed him out of the upper chamber so quickly as women made claims against Franken inappropriate behavior. Franken resigned in disgrace in 2018, a short time after the accusations flooded the media.
During the Conan interview, Franken explained why he resigned so quickly during the exposure of the growing number of accusations coming to light. The former Saturday Night Live star noted that the pressure against him from members of his own party would have seriously undermined his effectiveness if he tried to stay in office.
“I don’t want to name any names, but, you know, my committee work would be at risk. I mean, basically losing that,” Franken explained. “My staff would be isolated. And I just couldn’t serve the people of Minnesota. But, you know, it really needed to have a process, but I just couldn’t stay either. It was awful. There were no good choices.”
Franken added, “the pressure came on me in no uncertain terms that I had to go.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.