ANOTHER Congressman quits over claims of sexual harassment: Republican Trent Franks is to resign - and rumors 'went back to 2012'

Trent Franks, a Republican from Arizona, is to be the latest to quit amid sexual harassment claims
Arizona Republic said he would go and Republican told Roll Call: 'There’s been rumors swirling around him for years, at least in 2012'
Franks, 60, a married father of two, is an eight-term congressman whose district includes suburbs north and west of Phoenix
Senator Al Franken became biggest name to fall when he finally announced he was resigning Thursday but continued to claim he was innocent

Published: 22:51 GMT, 7 December 2017 | Updated: 05:06 GMT, 8 December 2017

e-mail

167

View
comments

U.S. Representative Trent Franks, an Arizona Republican, is expected to resign amid claims of inappropriate behavior, the Arizona Republic newspaper reported on Thursday, citing a Republican source familiar with the decision.

'We will have a statement a little bit later, but that´s all I can tell you right now,' Franks said, according to Roll Call news website. 'The statement will explain.'

Roll Call said rumors had been swirling since at least 2012.

An Arizona Republican told the website: 'There’s been rumors swirling around him for years, at least in 2012. And if this turns out to be true, there won’t be that many people who are surprised.'

As he walked past reporters outside the floor of the House of Representatives, Franks said: 'I´ll let the statement speak for itself.' Franks has served in Congress since 2003.

Scroll down for video

He's gone: Trent Franks is the latest to quit amid sexual harassment claims. A Republican said 'nobody would be surprised' and that rumors went back to 2012

His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

Franks, 60, is a married father of two whose district covers suburbs north and west of Phoenix.

It is likely to be a safe Republican seat, with Trump winning by 21 points last November.

Earlier on Thursday, Democratic Senator Al Franken of Minnesota said he would resign in a few weeks following allegations of sexual misconduct.

U.S. Democratic Representative John Conyers of Michigan resigned on Tuesday after accusations of sexual harassment were leveled against him.

Conyers denied the allegations, while Franken said some of the accusations against him were untrue and he remembered other incidents differently from his accusers. Reuters has not verified the allegations against either men.

Franken announced Thursday he would resign from the Senate amid groping allegations – but maintained his innocence and blasted President Trump for bragging about 'his history of sexual assault.'

Franken was facing fresh allegations of sexual misconduct and vanishing support from fellow Democrats when he made the announcement Thursday morning from the floor of the Senate.

Franken said he will leave in 'the coming weeks' – even as he insisted the public charges he groped a slew of women were not accurate. A raft of his colleagues disagreed, coming out against him 24 hours earlier in an extraordinary effort to get him out of the chamber.

'Some of the allegations against me are simply not true. Others I remember very differently,' said Franken.

U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-MN) announces his resignation while addressing allegations of sexual misconduct

As the most high-profile politician to lose his job over recent harassment allegations, he took a direct shot at President Trump and Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.

'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 the Oval Office,' Franken said, in an obvious reference to the infamous 'p**** tape.'

'And a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaign for the Senate with the full support of his party. But this decision is not about me. It’s about the people of Minnesota,' he said of Moore, who is accused of dating and sexually touching teens while he was in his 30s in Alabama in the late '70s ad early '80s.

The charges against Franken dated from before he became a senator, and he said that: 'Nothing I have done as a senator, nothing has brought dishonor on this institution.'