Nearly two weeks after officially confirming his resignation on the floor of the United States Senate, which at the time he claimed would happen “in the coming weeks,” Sen. Al Franken (D-Minnesota) has revealed a specific date. According to NBC News and other outlets, Tuesday, January 2nd will be the senior Democratic congressman’s last day in office. Franken’s office identified the date in a short memo released to the press on Wednesday afternoon, during President Donald Trump’s Rose Garden address at the White House. No other details pertaining to his resignation were offered.
Shortly after Franken confirmed his resignation in early December, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton appointed the state’s Lt. Gov. Tina Smith as his temporary replacement until a special election could be held. However, a week later Politico reported that several of Franken’s male colleagues among the Senate Democrats were asking him to reconsider his decision. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) even went so far as to call out his congressional and party allies, accusing their previous calls for Franken’s resignation of being “the most hypocritical thing I’ve ever seen done to a human being.”
Meanwhile, just after the House passed its updated version of the tax cuts and reform bill previously approved by the Senate, Franken delivered the first of several speeches about his time in office. At the time, no mention was made of his impending resignation and when exactly it would take place.