Al Franken, the Democratic U.S. Senator of Minnesota who has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women, has announced that he plans to resign in the next few weeks, BBC News reports. Unfortunately, while he did manage to call out allegations against President Donald Trump in the process, his announcement was seemingly unapologetic (and quite frankly, pretty insulting).
Franken, whose resignation was called for by up to 30 Democratic Senators on Wednesday, BBC News reports, said in a speech to the U.S. Senate floor just a day later that he will be stepping down from his position. “Today I am announcing that in the coming weeks I will be resigning as a member of the United States Senate,” he told the floor.
“I am proud that during my time in the Senate that I have used my power to be a champion of women,” said Franken, who says that although he is giving up his seat, he is not “giving up his voice.” Ironically enough, while Franken has apologized to some of his accusers, he also claims that some of the accusations are not true—while at the same time adding the sentiment that women “deserve to be heard and their experiences taken seriously”. (Some champion of women, huh?)
Franken did take a moment to note a different irony of the situation, calling out Donald Trump for his history of sexual misconduct, BBC News reports.
“I, of all people, am aware that there is some irony in the fact that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office, and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party,” says Franken.
Bernie Sanders took to Twitter to share his feelings about Donald Trump’s position.
“We have a president who acknowledged on tape that he assaulted women. I would hope that he pays attention to what’s going on and think about resigning,” he writes.