Richard Painter, Running for Al Franken’s Seat, Dodges on Whether He Believes Accusers in Tense Interview
Former Bush White House ethics chief Richard Painter is running for Senate in Minnesota as a Democrat. And during an MSNBC interview this afternoon, he declined to make a definitive judgment on the allegations against the man who vacated the seat he’s running for.
Steve Kornacki brought up the fact that this was the seat held by Al Franken, who resigned following accusations of sexual misconduct.
Kornacki brought up what Painter said about those allegations, including this:
Minnesota voters have a right to the facts about Al Franken. How much of this was for real and how much a set up job on Trumped up allegations. Why are there Roger Stone, FOX and other suspicious fingerprints all over it? Investigate now!
— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) December 12, 2017
So the MSNBC host asked if he believes Franken was set up.
“I have no idea,” Painter said. “I put a lot of those tweets out when I first heard about it. I continue to wonder why Roger Stone got a heads-up on that before the Minnesota voters did.”
He emphasized multiple times that there should be an investigation into the matter, but Kornacki brought up how women went on the record with their allegations. He asked Painter if he believes the women.
Painter said he doesn’t know the facts. Kornacki repeatedly grilled him on this and asked, “It’s not enough for you to say ‘I believe these women’?”
“I am not going to opine on the facts of the Al Franken case,” Painter said again. “That was the job of the Senate ethics committee.”
“Isn’t it your job as a leader to make a judgment,” Kornacki countered, “when eight women come forward to say, ‘okay, I believe them’?”
Painter responded, “If I were on the Senate Ethics Committee, it would be my job.”
Watch above, via MSNBC.
[image via screengrab]
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