{"id":193,"date":"2017-12-17T10:40:30","date_gmt":"2017-12-17T15:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=193"},"modified":"2018-03-01T14:34:01","modified_gmt":"2018-03-01T19:34:01","slug":"arizona-congressman-trent-franks-to-resign-facing-sexual-harassment-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=193","title":{"rendered":"Arizona Congressman Trent Franks to resign, facing sexual harassment probe"},"content":{"rendered":"<header>\n<div class=\"byline\"><span class=\"source\">CBS NEWS<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"time\">December 7, 2017<\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div id=\"article-entry\" class=\"entry\" data-use-autolinker=\"true\">\n<div class=\"updated-time\">\n<p>Last Updated Dec 7, 2017 10:13 PM EST<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"article-entry\" class=\"entry\" data-use-autolinker=\"true\">\n<div data-page=\"1\" data-page-hidden=\"0\" data-use-autolinker=\"false\">\n<p>Arizona Republican Trent Franks on Thursday announced he is resigning from Congress, facing a House Ethics Committee investigation as to whether he engaged in conduct that constitutes sexual harassment.<\/p>\n<p>According to Franks&#8217; statement, the committee is reviewing an inquiry in which he discussed surrogacy with two former female subordinates, when he and his wife faced infertility.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/sexual-harassment-in-the-workplace-what-crosses-the-line\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">Sexual harassment in the workplace: What crosses the line?<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;I have recently learned that the Ethics Committee is reviewing an inquiry regarding my discussion of surrogacy with two previous female subordinates, making each feel uncomfortable. I deeply regret that my discussion of this option and process in the workplace caused distress,&#8217; Franks said in his statement.<\/p>\n<p>CBS News&#8217; chief congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes reported that Franks and his wife tried to adopt and their attempts were not successful. They eventually had twins via a surrogate and they wanted to have another child. But, as Cordes reports, the statement does not make clear if he brought up the topic with staffers, making them uncomfortable, or asked them to be surrogates.<\/p>\n<p>A former Franks staffer, Rebeccah Heinrichs, said on Fox News Thursday that Franks had &#8220;talked about surrogacy&#8221; in the office as he and his wife struggled with infertility and had &#8220;uncomfortable conversations.&#8221; Heinrichs<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I have never been made to feel uncomfortable being with the congressman. I have never seen any slightest bit of sexual harassment or intimidation,&#8221; Heinrichs said. &#8220;He has treated every single member that I&#8217;ve seen of his staff with dignity and respect. So this is incredibly startling to me and frankly I find it a tragedy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>His resignation will become effective Jan. 1 of 2018. Roll Call first reported that Franks was expected to resign.<\/p>\n<p>According to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan&#8217;s office, the counsel to the speaker was contacted by a friend with information about Franks roughly two weeks ago, and Ryan&#8217;s office believed that claim warranted further investigation. After more conversations and interviews, Ryan brought the information to Franks, and a complaint was filed with the House Ethics Committee. Franks eventually decided to offer his letter of resignation.<\/p>\n<p>According to a House Ethics Committee statement dated Thursday, the committee had established an investigative subcommittee &#8220;to determine whether Representative Trent Franks engaged in conduct that constitutes sexual harassment and\/or retaliation for opposing sexual harassment, in violation of House rules, laws, regulations, or other standards of conduct.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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,&#8221; Franks&#8217; statement said later. &#8220;I hope my resignation will remain distinct from the great gains we have made. My time in Congress serving my constituents, America and the Constitution is and will remain one of God&#8217;s greatest gift to me in life.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Franks, an eight-term Republican, considers himself a conservative in the mold of former President Ronald Reagan. In Congress, he\u00a0 established himself as one of the most vocally pro-life members. He serves on the House Armed Services Committee and Judiciary Committee. He&#8217;s also a member of the conservative Republican Study Committee.<\/p>\n<p>Franks had also been mulling a run for Sen. Jeff Flake&#8217;s seat in 2018 after\u00a0<span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/jeff-flake-says-he-wont-run-for-re-election-in-2018\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">Flake announced<\/a><\/span>\u00a0he would not seek re-election.<\/p>\n<p>His resignation comes on the same day that Sen.\u00a0<span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/al-franken-resigning-from-the-senate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">Al Franken announced he would soon resign<\/a><\/span>\u00a0from the Senate, after the majority of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate urged him to step aside. Multiple women accused Franken of inappropriately touching them or attempting to kiss them.<\/p>\n<p><em>CBS News&#8217; Catherine Reynolds contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"copyright\">\u00a9 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CBS NEWS\u00a0December 7, 2017 Last Updated Dec 7, 2017 10:13 PM EST Arizona Republican Trent Franks on Thursday announced he is resigning from Congress, facing&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-family"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_14-32-46.jpg?fit=518%2C320&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8VBh7-37","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":187,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=187","url_meta":{"origin":193,"position":0},"title":"Kwok: Don&#8217;t regret voting for Steve Montenegro or Debbie Lesko (yet)","author":"Donnie","date":"February 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Abe Kwok, opinion columnistPublished 6:23 a.m. MT Feb. 27, 2018 |\u00a0Updated 6:13 a.m. MT Feb. 28, 2018 Five Republican candidates in the race for the 8th Congressional District seat give their thoughts on personal behavior, bipartisan efforts and congressional groups during the azcentral debate Jan. 24, 2018.\u00a0azcentral Abe Kwok: Did\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;National Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"National Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?cat=11"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_14-23-25.jpg?fit=532%2C398&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_14-23-25.jpg?fit=532%2C398&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_14-23-25.jpg?fit=532%2C398&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":189,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=189","url_meta":{"origin":193,"position":1},"title":"Revenge Porn? New Details About Topless Photo Sent to Steve Montenegro","author":"Donnie","date":"February 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"RAY STERN\u00a0|\u00a0FEBRUARY 21, 2018\u00a0|\u00a02:56PM The state Senate staffer at the heart of a steamy scandal involving a prominent Arizona GOP candidate for Congress believes she is a victim of revenge porn, her lawyer said on Wednesday. The scandal involving\u00a0Steve Montenegro, a former state Senate president who lives in Litchfield Park,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Family&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Family","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?cat=15"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/I%E2%80%99m-writing-in-regards-to-an-incident-that-occurred-with-my-brother.jpg?fit=721%2C484&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/I%E2%80%99m-writing-in-regards-to-an-incident-that-occurred-with-my-brother.jpg?fit=721%2C484&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/I%E2%80%99m-writing-in-regards-to-an-incident-that-occurred-with-my-brother.jpg?fit=721%2C484&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/I%E2%80%99m-writing-in-regards-to-an-incident-that-occurred-with-my-brother.jpg?fit=721%2C484&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":191,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=191","url_meta":{"origin":193,"position":2},"title":"Here&#8217;s What the Texts Between Steve Montenegro and Female Staffer Said","author":"Donnie","date":"February 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Powered by EXPAND A woman who exchanged intimate messages with congressional candidate and State Senator Steve Montenegro stepped forward on Thursday. Gage Skidmore JOSEPH FLAHERTY\u00a0|\u00a0FEBRUARY 22, 2018\u00a0|\u00a06:14PM An attorney released text messages exchanged between his client, a former staffer in the Arizona Senate, and State Senator Steve Montenegro. In a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;State Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"State Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/I%E2%80%99m-writing-in-regards-to-an-incident-that-occurred-with-my-brother.jpg?fit=721%2C484&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/I%E2%80%99m-writing-in-regards-to-an-incident-that-occurred-with-my-brother.jpg?fit=721%2C484&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/I%E2%80%99m-writing-in-regards-to-an-incident-that-occurred-with-my-brother.jpg?fit=721%2C484&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/I%E2%80%99m-writing-in-regards-to-an-incident-that-occurred-with-my-brother.jpg?fit=721%2C484&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":919,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=919","url_meta":{"origin":193,"position":3},"title":"U.S. Lawmaker Meehan Resigns Following Sexual Harassment Claim","author":"Donnie","date":"April 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"By\u00a0Reuters\u00a0\u00a0April 27, 2018 WASHINGTON \u2014 Republican U.S. Representative Patrick Meehan, who used taxpayer money to settle a former staffer's sexual harassment claim, resigned on Friday from the House of Representatives and said he would repay the U.S. Treasury. Meehan announced in January he would not seek re-election after a $39,000\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Family&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Family","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?cat=15"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":294,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=294","url_meta":{"origin":193,"position":4},"title":"GOP congressman secretly paid $84,000 in taxpayer money to settle sexual harassment suit","author":"Donnie","date":"December 1, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"By Kerry Eleveld Friday Dec 01, 2017 GOP Rep. Blake Farenthold of Texas Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold of Texas used $84,000 in taxpayer money from an obscure\u00a0government\u00a0account\u00a0to settle a harassment claim brought against him by his former spokeswoman. The sum became the subject of speculation after GOP Rep. Gregg Harper\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Family&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Family","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?cat=15"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-01_11-24-32.jpg?fit=814%2C546&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-01_11-24-32.jpg?fit=814%2C546&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-01_11-24-32.jpg?fit=814%2C546&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-01_11-24-32.jpg?fit=814%2C546&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":256,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=256","url_meta":{"origin":193,"position":5},"title":"Kentucky GOP state house speaker resigns amid sexual harassment allegations","author":"Donnie","date":"January 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Republican speaker of Kentucky's House of Representatives Rep. Jeff Hoover resigns from his leadership position during a speech at the state Capitol in Frankfort, Ky., Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. 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