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Rep. Trent Franks, an Arizona Republican who is among the most conservative members of the House, said he would resign his seat after House officials learned that he had asked two female employees to bear his child as a surrogate.
Franks’s announcement came as the House Ethics Committee said it would create a special subcommittee to investigate Franks for conduct “that constitutes sexual harassment and/or retaliation for opposing sexual harassment.”
His resignation, which Franks said is effective Jan. 31, will end the ethics investigation.
Franks said in his statement that the investigation concerns his “discussion of surrogacy with two previous female subordinates, making each feel uncomfortable.”
While Franks’s statement left the circumstances of the “discussion” murky, three Republicans familiar with the allegations said that he had asked the staffers, who worked for him at the time but have since left his office, if they would serve as a surrogate mother for his child. A spokesman for Franks did not respond to a request for comment on that claim.
In his statement, Franks said he never “physically intimidated, coerced, or had, or attempted to have, any sexual contact with any member of my congressional staff.”
“However, I do want to take full and personal responsibility for the ways I have broached a topic that, unbeknownst to me until very recently, made certain individuals uncomfortable,” Franks said, adding, “I deeply regret that my discussion of this option and process in the workplace caused distress.”
Franks explained in his statement that he and his wife have long struggled with infertility. After having twins with a surrogate, the couple sought additional children, he said.
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s office said in a statement Thursday that Ryan (R-Wis.) had been briefed on “credible claims of misconduct” by Franks last week, after the House general counsel was contacted about the allegations and investigated them.
Franks did not deny the allegations when Ryan confronted him, according to the speaker’s statement. Ryan told Franks he should resign, and said he would refer the matter to the House Ethics Committee, his statement said.
“The speaker takes seriously his obligation to ensure a safe workplace in the House,” the statement said.
The Franks revelations came on the same day that Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) resigned his seat after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and as the House Ethics Committee opened a separate probe into Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Tex.).
The committee initially launched an investigation into Farenthold in September 2015, but it was “significantly delayed” because the committee could not get “key witnesses other than Representative Farenthold” to testify, according to the committee’s statement.
Farenthold’s former communications director, Lauren Greene, accused Farenthold in 2014 of making sexually charged comments designed to gauge whether she was interested in a sexual relationship. Greene filed suit through the formal complaint process with Congress’s Office of Compliance.
It was revealed last week that Farenthold used $84,000 in taxpayer money to settle the lawsuit. Farenthold has denied wrongdoing in the case.
This week, Greene spoke publicly about her experience for the first time since making the accusation. In interviews with CNN and Politico, she described the significant professional backlash she faced after filing a lawsuit against Farenthold.
The House Ethics Committee has requested Greene to cooperate with the investigation and appear before the panel. Prior to coming forward, Greene had declined, wanting to move on from the matter. But she has now agreed to cooperate with the investigation, said her attorney, Les Alderman.
“We’re trying to get that done before the holidays, over the next few weeks,” Alderman said.
Farenthold said in a statement Thursday that he is “relieved” the House Ethics Committee will continue investigating the matter, saying he is “confident this matter will once and for all be settled and resolved.”
Franks has served in the House since 2003 and is known as a fierce opponent of legal abortion, recently sponsoring a bill banning abortions after 20-week gestation that passed the House. He is also an outspoken critic of the Senate’s filibuster rule, blaming it for blocking conservative bills.
Franks is also a member of the House Freedom Caucus, a hard-right faction that has often clashed with Republican leaders.
He considered a run for Senate in 2012 but dropped out suddenly. He continued as chairman of a House Judiciary subcommittee and as a member of the House Armed Services Committee.
While Franks was on the floor Thursday voting on a stopgap funding bill and other measures, he appeared to be consoled by a number of fellow Republicans. At one point, Franks and four colleagues locked arms and bowed their heads in an apparent prayer.
Franks said he was compelled to resign after concluding that he would be unable to endure the ethics probe “before distorted and sensationalized versions of this story would put me, my family, my staff, and my noble colleagues in the House of Representatives through hyperbolized public excoriation.”
“Rather than allow a sensationalized trial by media [to] damage those things I love most, this morning I notified House leadership that I will be leaving Congress as of January 31st, 2018,” he said. “It is with the greatest sadness, that for the sake of the causes I deeply love, I must now step back from the battle I have spent over three decades fighting.”
Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, which stretches northwest of Phoenix, leans Republican by 13 points, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. President Trump defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the district by 21 points last year; Franks did not face a Democratic opponent.
Under Arizona state law, a special election must be called if there is a vacancy more than six months before a regularly scheduled election.
Names of potential Republican successors include Kimberly Yee, the state Senate majority leader currently running for state treasurer, and Phil Lovas, a former state representative, according to multiple Arizona GOP operatives.
Ed O’Keefe contributed to this report.
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Democrats and their leaders forced Mr. Conyers and Mr. Franken out in a succession of seemingly coordinated statements that made clear that their continued presence would be untenable. Mr. Franken stepped down one day after nearly all the Senate’s Democratic women — and most Democratic men, including the top two leaders — called for him to resign.
Democrats appear determined to grab the moral high ground in an environment in which they hope sexual harassment becomes a wedge issue in the 2018 midterm elections — even if it costs them popular colleagues and political icons.
Republicans, by contrast, have been more situational. In the case of Mr. Franks, Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin released a statement Thursday night indicating that he had forced the representative out.
“The speaker takes seriously his obligation to ensure a safe workplace in the House,” a statement from Mr. Ryan’s office said.
Yet Representative Blake Farenthold of Texas appears to be under little pressure, even though he used $84,000 in taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment claim with his former communications director. The House Ethics Committee said on Thursday that it was establishing a subcommittee to investigate Mr. Farenthold.
Mr. Moore’s Senate candidacy in Alabama has surfaced accusations that he sexually molested or assaulted girls as young as 14, yet he continues to have the support of Mr. Trump and the Republican National Committee. And allegations of sexual assault and harassment against Mr. Trump have hardly shaken his control over the party.
“The Democrats are making a smart political calculation,” said Peter Wehner, who advised former President George W. Bush on domestic policy. “I think they probably saw the political opportunity, and they couldn’t take advantage of it unless they jettisoned their own problematic figures.”
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Mr. Wehner continued: “After years of making the argument that character mattered in terms of sexual ethics, now Republicans are saying it doesn’t matter at all. They’re utterly indifferent to it, and Republicans and evangelical Christians have nothing to do with this particular moral moment.”
But Democrats also face risks in setting themselves up as the party of purity. Some members of the Congressional Black Caucus are angry over the treatment of Mr. Conyers, who served in the House since 1965. Some progressive Democrats, who form Mr. Franken’s base, view the treatment of him as an overreaction.
“The moment he was targeted they decided to eat their own, and we do this to ourselves all the time,” said Natalie Volin Lehr, a former aide to Mr. Franken who oversaw women’s outreach for him. “I think there’s a sense of hyper political correctness and that we’re holier than thou.”
Mr. Franken’s announcement on Thursday was a jarring end to an improbable political career in which the senator, a founding writer and performer on “Saturday Night Live,” narrowly won a seat in 2008 and offered Democrats a crucial vote needed to advance the Obama administration’s agenda, including the Affordable Care Act.
Mr. Franken cut a serious figure in the Senate, where he sought to stifle his sense of humor as he dived into meaty policy issues like electronic privacy and telecommunications mergers. Some viewed him as a potential contender for the presidency in 2020.
The accusations against him began last month when Leeann Tweeden, a radio news anchor in California, accused Mr. Franken of forcibly kissing and groping her on a U.S.O. tour in 2006. Several women also said Mr. Franken groped them as he posed with them for photographs, mostly before he became a senator.
Over the last three weeks, Mr. Franken has repeatedly apologized for his behavior, although he has also challenged some of the accusations of impropriety. Until Wednesday, he had said he would remain in his job, but his Democratic colleagues in the Senate made clear this week that his apologies and admissions were not sufficient.
Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, said that Mr. Franken’s resignation crossed “a cultural Rubicon” and set a new standard by which future senators would be judged.
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“Now it’s clear that behavior of this kind before you take office is something that the body should take seriously — and it should be evenhanded whether you are a Democrat or a Republican,’’ Mr. Kaine said.
The Senate was somber as Mr. Franken delivered his speech on Thursday. His staff and family, including his wife, Franni Bryson, watched from the gallery above. About 20 Democrats and, apart from Senator Dan Sullivan, Republican of Alaska, who was presiding, just one Republican — Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, an ardent critic of Mr. Trump — arrived in the chamber to hear his remarks.
When Mr. Franken was through, many of the same lawmakers who had called on him to resign lined up, one by one, to hug him. Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, wiped away tears.
In his speech, Mr. Franken, who counted himself an ardent defender of women’s rights, called the national reckoning “an important moment” that was “long overdue,” adding, “We were finally beginning to listen to women about the ways in which men’s actions affect them.” He said he was “excited for that conversation” and hoped to be a part of it.
“Then,” he said, “the conversation turned to me.”
Mr. Franken said he decided to leave office because it became clear that he could not both pursue an Ethics Committee investigation and represent the people of Minnesota. He maintained that he would have ultimately been cleared.
“Some of the allegations against me are simply not true,” Mr. Franken said. “Others I remember very differently.”
“I know in my heart, nothing that I have done as a senator, nothing, has brought dishonor on this institution,” he said.
Mr. Franken did not specify precisely when he would leave the Senate, saying only that he would do so “in the coming weeks.”
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It will be up to the Democratic governor of Minnesota, Mark Dayton, to choose a successor for Mr. Franken who will serve until November 2018. Mr. Dayton is expected to choose from among several prominent Democratic women, including Lt. Gov. Tina Smith and Attorney General Lori Swanson. The governor said on Thursday that he was still weighing his decision, but his choice was certain to upend the state’s politics.
Over time, though, Mr. Franken’s resignation could become a headache for Democrats as the former governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, is being heavily recruited to enter the special election race next year for the Senate seat by colleagues in the state and in Washington.
In the Senate, Mr. Franken’s influence was more political than legislative. He was popular on the party’s fund-raising circuit and among his colleagues, but he sought to show he could do more than tell jokes. Since Mr. Trump’s ascent to office, Mr. Franken’s sharp questioning of the president’s nominees and policies became must-see TV in the capital.
His questioning of Jeff Sessions, then a senator, during his confirmation hearing to be attorney general in January may prove to be one of his most important contributions as a senator. He pressed Mr. Sessions about reports of contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, to which Mr. Sessions replied: “Senator Franken, I’m not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I didn’t have — did not have — communications with the Russians.”
The exchange helped force Mr. Sessions to recuse himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the presidential election and helped prompt the naming of a special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, who has dogged the Trump administration.
Senate Democrats were reluctant on Thursday to fully address the arc of Mr. Franken’s downfall, blazing past reporters or offering only brief thanks that Mr. Franken put an end to the uncertainty.
Leaving the Capitol shortly after his speech, Mr. Franken said he would not be taking questions.
But asked whether he had a message for his home state, he said, “I’ll be coming home.”
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