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Al Franken sounds restless. The disgraced former senator misses being in public office, and it sounds like he’s toying with the idea of staging a comeback, telling a CBS News affiliate in Minnesota this week that he hasn’t ruled out the idea of getting back in the game. The moment occurred during an interview at Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig High School on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, where the former senator helped secure $12 million in renovations funding. "That means a lot to me. It was very moving for me. It was very gratifying. I put my heart in the job," Franken said....

Former Sen. Al Franken (D., Minn.) said he hadn't ruled out the possibility of running for public office again during an interview with a CBS Minnesota television station on Monday. Franken attended the dedication of Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig High School on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation. He sat on the Indian Affairs Committee in the U.S. Senate and helped secure $12 million in funding for new facilities to replace the old one, which was in dismal condition. "That means a lot to me. It was very moving for me. It was very gratifying. I put my heart in the job," Franken said....

Former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) on Friday offered up a line of questioning for Democrats to use on President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Franken, who resigned in December after multiple allegations of groping women, said that if he were still in the Senate he would want to drill down details on a statement that Kavanaugh made this week when he was nominated. After being introduced by Trump during an event at the White House on Monday night, Kavanaugh thanked the president, saying, "Throughout this process, I’ve witnessed firsthand your appreciation for the vital role of the American judiciary."...

PBS’s Judy Woodruff asked former president Bill Clinton Thursday whether he thought it was a “good thing” that norms have changed when it comes to sexual harassment. Woodruff’s example was former Minnesota senator Al Franken being forced to resign his post after accusations that, Woodruff said, were less serious than what happened in the Lewinsky scandal. "Well, in general, I think it's a good thing, yes," Clinton said about norms changing. He then proceeded to defend Franken and question the legitimacy of some of the accusations against him. "I will be honest,” he said, “the Franken case, for me, was...

Senator Markey has announced his support for the Iran deal that will let the terrorist regime inspect its own Parchin nuclear weapons research site, conduct uranium enrichment, build advanced centrifuges, buy ballistic missiles, fund terrorism and have a near zero breakout time to a nuclear bomb. There was no surprise there. Markey had topped the list of candidates supported by the Iran Lobby. And the Iranian American Political Action Committee (IAPAC) had maxed out its contributions to his campaign. After more fake suspense, Al Franken, another IAPAC backed politician who also benefited from Iran Lobby money, came out for the...

In his first major public speech since resigning from the U.S. Senate, Al Franken returned to the spotlight to deliver a blistering rebuke of tech companies, specifically Facebook, over abuse of users privacy data while speaking at a cybersecurity conference in Lisbon, Portugal.

How Democrats Suppressed the #MeToo Movement in the Party Threats, blacklisting and sex scandals in the feminist party. April 27, 2018 Daniel Greenfield aniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical left and Islamic terrorism. A funny thing happened to the #MeToo movement in the Democrat Party. While #MeToo burned a fiery trail through the media, leaving behind the wrecked careers of top talent, after suffering some initial losses, the Democrats built a firewall by ruthlessly targeting activists. Their approach was eerily similar to that of Harvey Weinstein....

When “Black Panther” made its record-smashing $201 million start last month, it was expected that it would easily keep the No. 1 spot at the box office until Disney released its next film, Ava DuVernay’s “A Wrinkle in Time.” But as the adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s famous science fantasy novel gets ready to enter theaters on 3,980 screens this weekend, that expectation may have been premature. When tracking for “A Wrinkle in Time” first came out three weeks ago, opening weekend estimates were set at approximately $35 million against a production budget of at least $103 million, according to California...

Ava DuVernay's adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time is a colossal disappointment. The classic science fiction novel by Madeleine L'Engle has been turned into a sappy melodrama; utterly devoid of mystery or wonder. DuVernay's approach to the story is to emphasize its outcast element. The result is a fire hose of gushing positive reinforcement for the bullied, angst ridden protagonist. It reminded me of Al Franken's famous SNL skit, "Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley"; where he sits in front of a mirror saying, "You're good enough, you're smart enough, and doggone it, people like me". A Wrinkle in Time is...

Of all the desperate and futile attempts at revisionist history, few are as careless as the attempt to destroy the reputation of one of the finest Supreme Court justices this country has ever produced. Now comes another volley. New York magazine has assembled "The Case for Impeaching Clarence Thomas." The author is longtime anti-Thomas journalist Jill Abramson. For more than 4,000 words, Abramson labors to relitigate Thomas accuser Anita Hill's dramatic loss in the court of public opinion. According to one poll at the time, 58 percent believed Thomas; only 24 percent believed Hill. Again the argument falls on its...

White nationalist provocateurs, a pair of fake news sites, an army of Twitter bots and other cyber tricks helped derail Democratic Senator Al Franken last year, new research shows. While everyone has been focused on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election to support Donald Trump, the Franken takedown originated in—and was propelled by—a strategic online campaign with digital tentacles reaching to, of all places, Japan. Analysts have now mapped out how Hooters pinup girl and lad-mag model Leeann Tweeden's initial accusation against Franken became effective propaganda after right-wing black ops master Roger Stone first hinted at the allegation.

Hey Chris: it’s the difference between a photo of someone robbing a safe, and a photo of an empty safe . . . The allegations against former Trump aide Rob Porter are serious. There is reason to believe that he physically abused his former wives. That said, Chris Cuomo has ignored a big difference in the photos involved in the two cases. On CNN this morning, Chris Cuomo said that Pres. Trump is “playing favorites,” given his strong reaction to the photo of Al Franken groping a woman and his muted reaction to the photo of a former wife of...

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said Sunday she believes Congress should hold President Trump accountable for the numerous allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against him. “I think he should resign, and if he’s unwilling to do that, which is what I assume, then Congress should hold him accountable. We’re obligated to have hearings,” Gillibrand said in an interview with CBS's “60 Minutes.” Gillibrand, who was among the first to call for former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) to resign due to sexual misconduct allegations, was also one of several Democratic senators who late last year said Trump should resign due to sexual...

The highly publicized vote recount in the Minnesota Senate race between Democrat Al Franken and Republican Norm Coleman is shining a light on Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, the state’s chief election officer. Ritchie is chairman of the Minnesota Canvassing Board, which on Monday certified that Franken received 225 more votes than Coleman did. Ritchie gave partial credit for his 2006 election to a liberal 527 group, the Secretary of State Project, which says its goal is to “ensure fair, clean elections” by replacing conservative secretaries of state with liberal Democrats. “I want to thank the Secretary of State...

A prominent donor to the Democratic Party says she is considering withdrawing support for senators who urged their colleague Al Franken to resign after he was accused of sexual misconduct. The donor, Susie Tompkins Buell, has been one of the Democratic Party’s most generous supporters for decades. In particular, she has been a champion of female politicians, including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Maria Cantwell of Washington. Last month, those senators were among the dozens who called for Franken to resign from the Senate after at least six women accused him of sexual harassment...

Sen. Al Franken officially resigned on Jan. 2, nearly a month after he announced his plans to step down from Congress amid numerous sexual misconduct allegations that began in November of last year. Aides to the senator told Fox News that Franken has provided his letter of resignation to Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton. Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith, who is replacing Franken, is expected to be sworn in on Wednesday. Franken, a Minnesota Democrat who has been in office since 2009, was plagued by multiple accusations of sexual misconduct over the past month and faced a Senate Ethics Committee investigation....

Well, after giving one of the most non-introspective speeches on the Senate floor regarding his sexual harassment allegations, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) is now a private citizen. The Minnesota Democrat was hit with sexual misconduct allegations around the Thanksgiving holiday last year. He’s been accused of groping multiple women, forcibly kissing one as well. As of today, Stuart Smalley has left the building. Here’s his formal resignation letter: Here's Franken's letter of resignation, which took effect at noon CST. #mnsen pic.twitter.com/UpofdVrtiN— Kyle Potter (@kpottermn) January 2, 2018 The Franken allegations arose just as the Alabama special election was winding down....

Those who bet on Al Franken changing his mind had better prepare to hear from their bookies. The Star Tribune reported earlier this afternoon that Franken formally submitted his resignation to Gov. Mark Dayton as promised, two months after a series of allegations regarding sexual misconduct emerged. His replacement will join the Senate tomorrow as planned: U.S. Sen. Al Franken is quitting the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.A spokesman for Franken said he had formally submitted a letter of resignation to Gov. Mark Dayton. A copy of the letter was not immediately available, but the spokesman said the resignation would take...

ormer Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is considering running for the recently vacated U.S. Senate seat held by Al Franken. “I’ve had people contact me and urge me to run for that Senate seat,” Bachmann said recently on televangelist Jim Bakker's television show. “And the only reason I would run is for the ability to take these principles into the United States Senate and to be able to advocate for these principles.”

Former Minnesota congresswoman and 2012 Republican Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann said she is considering a run for Al Franken's Senate seat. Background: Franken is officially resigning from Congress on Tuesday following a string of sexual misconduct allegations, with Minnesota's Democratic Lt. Gov. Tina Smith to take over the seat on Wednesday. Smith plans to run for the remaining two years of Franken's term in a special election in November. Bachmann told televangelist Jim Bakker last week that she has received calls about the race and is praying on whether to return to Washington at a time when "the swamp is...