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Al Franken has resigned from the Senate, effective sometime in the next few weeks. He says some of the allegations against him are false, while others he “remembers differently.” But, he says, it’s not about him. It’s about what’s best for Minnesotans.

It’s pretty clear that Franken is resigning only under duress. He didn’t admit guilt, and he didn’t apologize. He said he regretted that, in his initial shock, he gave the “false impression” that he was “admitting to things he hadn’t done.” And there’s obviously some bitterness here: bitterness over his forced resignation while Donald Trump remains in office and the Republican Party supports Roy Moore—and, presumably, some bitterness that his Democratic colleagues abandoned him.

This isn’t over. The women who made the original allegations are almost certain to speak out further. Will Franken respond?

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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