CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers called on Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) to resign amid allegations of sexual harassment, asking “What kind of party do we want to be?” in a Friday interview on the cable news network.
“The Democratic Party has to clean up their own house. The Republican Party has to clean up their own house,” Sellers, a former Democratic South Carolina state representative who is also an attorney, said on Friday morning.
“And what I mean by that is its fair for me to say, as I do believe, that Al Franken should resign. I’m a Democrat saying Al Franken should resign.”
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“I don’t believe Al Franken belongs in the United States Senate,” he continued. “I don’t believe [Alabama Republican Senate candidate] Roy Moore should be in the United States Senate. And I don’t believe Donald Trump belongs as president of the United States based on these charges.”
The commentary comes from Sellers one day after L.A. radio anchor Leeann Tweeden accused Franken of groping her while she was asleep.
In a piece written by Tweeden for the KABC website, she explained the incident occurred in December 2006, before Franken won his Senate seat, while the two were on a USO tour.
Tweeden, who was 33 at the time, included a photo of Franken, who has been married since 1975, grabbing her breasts while smiling back at the camera.
“I felt violated … Embarrassed. Belittled. Humiliated,” Tweeden wrote. “How dare anyone grab my breasts like this and think it’s funny?”
Tweeden said Franken also forcibly kissed her while rehearsing for a skit.
Franken later apologized in a statement.
“I certainly don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann,” Franken said.
“As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn’t. I shouldn’t have done it.”
Moore has been accused of sexual misconduct by women who were teenagers as young as 14 at the time.
Moore has denied the accusations and has vehemently resisted calls to drop out of his race against Democrat Doug Jones with the special election approaching on Dec. 12.
President Trump was accused of sexual harassment by at least 11 women during the 2016 campaign after a “Access Hollywood” tape with audio of Trump making lewd comments about women was leaked to The Washington Post just weeks before the election.
The audio from the tape included Trump boasting about groping and kissing women without consent.
Trump has strongly dismissed the allegations, calling them “fake” and “made-up stuff.”