Former Democratic Senator Al Franken has returned to cable news after being engulfed in a #MeToo sexual misconduct scandal that led to his resignation from the Senate just a few years ago.
Franken’s latest appearance was an interview with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper on Wednesday, during which he discussed “polarization in Congress,” but was not questioned about the sexual misconduct allegations that led to his withdrawal from the public stage in 2018.
The Daily Beast documented on Tuesday how Franken has been making a slow return over the past few months, appearing on CNN and MSNBC — the latter network three times in just one week — and even launching his own SiriusXM podcast with guests like Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, Chris Rock, Andrew Yang, and John Mayer.
Franken made his op-ed return to CNN in July with an article about President Donald Trump.
In 2017 and 2018, Franken was accused by a number of women of groping and unwanted kissing, which prompted dozens of Democratic senators — including Kamala Harris — to call on him to resign amid the
Franken has denied some of the claims.
Some of the senators later expressed regret, however, and claimed that his ousting from the Senate was too harsh a punishment.
Despite this, in September 2019, following his resignation the year before, yet another woman came forward alleging that Franken had groped her buttocks during a photograph together.