What Harm Would There Have Been Had The Senate Ethics Committee Investigated Al Franken?

Jane Mayer's New Yorker article on the sexual misconduct allegations against former Senator Al Franken is pretty damning. It appears that Senate Democrats fell for a dubious set of allegations against Franken put forth Lee Ann Tweeden, an ally of Sean Hannity, without the benefit of an investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee which Franken requested. The article also does not cast New York Senator and Democratic presidential aspirant Kirsten Gillibrand in a positive light:


Minutes after Politico posted the story, Senator Gillibrand’s chief of staff called Franken’s to say that Gillibrand was going to demand his resignation. Franken was stung by Gillibrand’s failure to call him personally. They had been friends and squash partners. In a later call, Gillibrand’s chief of staff offered to have Gillibrand speak with Franken, but by that time Franken was frantically conferring with his staff and his family. Franken’s office proposed that Franken’s daughter speak with Gillibrand instead, but Gillibrand declined.


Gillibrand then went on Facebook and posted her demand that Franken resign: “Enough is enough. The women who have come forward are brave and I believe them. While it’s true that his behavior is not the same as the criminal conduct alleged against Roy Moore, or Harvey Weinstein, or President Trump, it is still unquestionably wrong, and should not be tolerated.”


Minutes later, at a previously scheduled press conference, Gillibrand added insult to injury: she reiterated her call for Franken to resign while also trumpeting her sponsorship of a new bill that banned mandatory arbitration of sexual-harassment claims. She didn’t mention that Franken had originated the legislation—and had given it to Gillibrand to sponsor, out of concern that it might be imperilled by his scandal.


I recently asked Gillibrand why she felt that Franken had to go. She said, “We had eight credible allegations, and they had been corroborated, in real time, by the press corps.” She acknowledged that she hadn’t spoken to any accusers, to assess their credibility, but said, “I had been a leader in this space of sexual harassment and assault, and it was weighing on me.” Franken was “entitled to whichever process he wants,” she said. “But he wasn’t entitled to me carrying his water, and defending him with my silence.” She acknowledged that the accusations against Franken “were different” from the kind of rape or molestation charges made against many other #MeToo targets. “But the women who came forward felt it was sexual harassment,” she said. “So it was.”


So by her own admission Gillibrand hadn't spoken to any of Franken's accusers and Franken was entitled "to whichever process he wants", but because she "had been a leader in this space of sexual harassment and assault", her mind was already made up and Franken had to resign.


Here's what ought to have been asked of Gillibrand and the other Democratic Senators who demanded Franken's resignation. What harm would there have been in letting the Senate Ethics Committee proceed with its investigation of Franken? Gillibrand would have been afforded an opportunity to question Franken. It is entirely possible that an investigation and her questioning of Franken could have been very damaging to Franken. In which case, Gillibrand and others would have been justified in calling for Franken to step down. But this isn't what happened.


I suspect the answer is one of political expedience. It would have been far more difficult for Democrats to campaign against Roy Moore's Senate campaign in Alabama or carry out hearings against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. So Franken had to fall on his sword for the good of the party.


It will be interesting to see if the #MeToo crowd rallies around Gillibrand sufficiently to revive her moribund campaign. Perhaps, but Gillibrand's Senate colleagues Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar also want to be President. The solidarity of sisterhood probably won't take Gillibrand very far. But she will still have her Senate seat. The same cannot be said for Al Franken.