took the legs out from under him. He was a very fine senator." Accusations that the forced resignation was unfair were described as a liability to Gillibrand's presidential campaign in mid-2019. In a 2018 Politico article, Franken supporters accused Gillibrand of doing damage that Republicans could not have done, given Franken's effectiveness in the Senate. Prominent Democratic fundraiser Susie Tompkins Buell said that the episode "stained [Gillibrand's] reputation as a fair player. I do hear people refer to Kirsten Gillibrand as 'opportunistic' and shrewd at the expense of others to advance herself, and it seems to have been demonstrated in her rapid treatment of her colleague Al Franken. I heard her referred to as 'She would eat her own,' and she seems to have demonstrated that. I know [Gillibrand] thought she was doing the right thing, but I think she will be remembered by this rush to judgment. I have heard [that] some of her women colleagues regret joining her." In 2019, Franken said that he was sorry that he made some women feel uncomfortable, and that while he was still trying to understand what he did wrong, he felt that differentiating dissimilar kinds of behavior is important. "The idea that anybody who accuses someone of something is always right—that's not the case. That isn't reality," he said. In September 2019, a ninth accuser told New York magazine that in 2006 Franken groped her buttock in a photo line at an event for Patty Murray. The unnamed woman, described as a "former staffer who served on Democratic campaigns and works at a large progressive organization", said she had not come forward because she feared it would be held against her in her career. In response, Franken told New York, "Two years ago, I would have sworn that I’d never done anything to make anyone feel uncomfortable, but it's clear that I must have been doing something. As I've said before, I feel terrible that anyone came away from an interaction with me feeling bad." In a February 9, 2022, interview with Washington Post Live, Franken said he regretted resigning from the Senate and might run for public office again. Committee assignments In the Senate, Franken served on the following committees: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests and Mining Subcommittee on Water and Power Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee on