Al Franken: ‘Of course’ I miss being in the Senate
Former Democratic Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota said he missed serving in the Senate and urged 2020 Democratic hopefuls to focus their campaigns on disparaging President Donald Trump, including his response to the coronavirus outbreak.
When asked by CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Friday whether he missed being a senator, Franken replied, “Yeah, of course I do.”
“I could do stuff for people,” he said on “Cuomo Prime Time,” pointing to his work on health care spending requirements in the Affordable Care Act as an example of a “big thing.”
“Because of what I wrote into the reform of No Child Left Behind, foster kids no longer have to change schools if they get a new foster family outside the district,” Franken said, adding that “I just know that there’s some kid that is playing basketball now with his teammates, even though his foster family is in a different school district.”
Franken, who had previously referenced how he had been busy working on a podcast, added, “That’s what I’m doing now, is trying to make a difference in a whole bunch of different ways.”
In December 2017, Franken announced his resignation, following allegations that he had touched women inappropriately, in an emotional address on the Senate floor in which he also said some of the allegations against him weren’t true.
He also weighed in on the presidential campaign on Friday, urging the Democratic candidates to drill down in debates on what he saw as Trump’s shortcomings, namely in handling the coronavirus outbreak.
“I’ve been frustrated because I’ve been watching these debates and for five, six, seven, going back, debates, I’ve been kind of screaming at the screen going like, ‘Talk about Trump,’ ” he said.
Franken pointed to how “we’re hashing out now” the issue of single-payer health care, “and that’s a very appropriate discussion.”
“But we need to be talking about Donald Trump and how awful he is as — not just a President but as a human being,” he continued.
“Right now, we have this coronavirus,” Franken added. “When you have a crisis like this, the strongest thing you can bring to it as a leader is credibility, and he has none.”
