The one-day timeline of US senators calling for Al Franken to resign

This is what a tipping point looks like. Following allegations of comedian-turned US senator Al Franken groping women, a cadre of his colleagues in the senate are now calling for him to step down. What appears to start as a coordinated effort amongst some of the Democratic women of the Senate, has rapidly turned into broader calls for his resignation.

By David Yanofsky1 min readUpdated July 20, 2022

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Here’s how it all went down:

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…but the calls to resign continued.

13) 12:39pm T+71min

14) 12:58pm T+90min

15) 12:59pm T+91min

16) 1:15pm T+107min

“Senator Franken’s situation has become untenable,” the satement linked here says, “He has to step aside.”

17) 1:21pm T+113min

18) 1:22pm T+114min

19) 1:26pm T+118min

20) 1:40pm T+132min

21) 1:41pm T+133min

22) 2:07pm T+159min

★ 2:20pm T+172min

Franken’s Minnesota colleague, senator Amy Klobuchar, referred to his announcement and did not explicitly call for him to step down.

https://twitter.com/amyklobuchar/status/938488422490132481

23) 2:29pm T+181min

★ 2:44pm T+196min

Senator Catherine Cortez Masto also did not explicitly call for Franken to step down.

https://twitter.com/SenCortezMasto/status/938494493371916289

24) 2:48pm T+200min

“I think it’s time for my friend to resign” senator King wrote.

25) 2:51pm T+203min

26) 3:15pm T+227min

27) 3:30pm T+242min

28) 3:44pm T+256min

29) 7:37pm T+489min

Correction: An earlier version of this story miscalculated the elapsed time for some tweets.

The one-day timeline of US senators calling for Al Franken to resign

The essential business news, delivered fresh every morning.

1) 11:28am ET T-0

2) 11:30am T+2min

3) 11:34am T+6min

4) 11:35am T+7min

5) 11:44am T+16min

6) 11:46am T+18min

7) 12:03pm T+35min

8) 12:05pm T+37min

9) 12:16pm T+48min

10) 12:25pm T+57min

11) 12:32pm T+64min

12) 12:33pm T+65min

★ 12:39pm T+71min