We might finally be about to get some answers about what really happened with Al Franken
It was one of the most confusing incidents in modern political history. Allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced against Democratic Senator Al Franken. He acknowledged that his behavior was inappropriate, but insisted that an ethics investigation would place his actions in a far different light than what had been alleged. He ended up resigning before an investigation could happen. Then it turned out Roger Stone was allegedly behind the whole thing.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller revealed in court filings today that the FBI raid of Roger Stone’s home resulted in terabytes of information being seized from his computer, phone, and cloud. In other words, Mueller hit the mother lode when it comes to Stone’s decades of dirty tricks, schemes, and scams. Mueller’s team is going to sift through all of it, and anything that constitutes illegal behavior will be brought to light as additional felony charges get piled on.
The question of course is whether Roger Stone’s role in the Al Franken matter constituted a crime. This is a separate legal question from the wrongness of Franken’s own behavior. If Stone and his allies conspired against Franken in illegal fashion, they’ll be criminally charged for it, and the truth will all come out. Around the time of the Franken debacle, Tom Arnold posted this tweet. Take it for what it’s worth: “I’m disappointed with my friend Leeann Tweedon. Her partner at KABC John Phillips is a Roger Stone pal & they coached her for weeks to bring Al Franken down.” Stone’s own words during the scandal seemed to give away that, at the least, he knew what was about to come out about Franken.
In any case, none of this will bring Al Franken’s political career back from the dead. He’s already acknowledged the wrongness of his actions and resigned. But if Roger Stone did criminally conspire against Franken in the process, then justice needs to be served against him. We might finally get some real answers as to what was really going on during that still-confusing scandal.
