WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Al Franken has reluctantly announced he’s resigning from Congress, succumbing to a torrent of sexual harassment allegations.

But the Minnesota Democrat is firing a defiant parting shot at President Donald Trump and other Republicans. He is pointing out what he calls “some irony in the fact that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office, and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party.”

That’s a reference to Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused of molesting teenage girls decades ago.
Franken says “all women deserve to be heard” but asserts that some accusations against him are untrue.

Minnesota Republicans are reaching out to former Gov. Tim Pawlenty about running in a race to replace Sen. Al Franken.
Franken says he is resigning after accusations by several women of sexual misconduct. That sets up a November 2018 election to serve the final two years of his term.

Republicans have also identified former Sen. Norm Coleman as a possible candidate.
Coleman has already posted on his personal Facebook page that he won’t run. He narrowly lost to Franken in 2008 in a close election that included a monthslong vote count.

Pawlenty ran for president in 2012.