Former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said he wants to see former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) return to public office after being forced out of Congress over allegations of sexual impropriety roughly one and a half years ago.
"I wish he would," Reid told The Daily Beast in an interview earlier this month. "But I don't think he will. He just feels hurt. And he was a good senator."
Franken announced his resignation from the Senate in December 2017 after eight women accused the former comedian and talk show host of groping or trying to forcibly kiss them.
Although Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and more than half of all Democratic senators demanded Franken to step down, the circumstances of his ouster have since caused discomfort among some party officials who argue he was not afforded a fair hearing.
Some Democrats have singled out for blame Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), criticizing her for rushing to judgment after she led the push for Franken's removal.
Now a presidential candidate, Gillibrand has defended her role in the intraparty controversy and dismissed any wealthy Democratic donors who may have spurned her 2020 campaign as a result of the episode.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., Gillibrand's fellow White House contender, said in June he would not have "applied that pressure" to Franken to resign from the Senate.
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