MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle on Friday expressed anger about the way Democratic Sen. Al Franken was pressured to resign after seven women accused him of sexual misconduct, calling the lawmaker a "sacrificial lamb."
Ruhle was speaking with New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg, who called for Franken's resignation in a column before quickly reversing herself and defending him.
Goldberg told Ruhle and co-host Ali Velshi that there is "clearly a double standard, in that you have Democrats and kind of liberal-leaning institutions cleaning house" but not Republicans. She said that Republican Rep. Trent Franks (Ariz.), who announced he will resign after House officials learned that he had discussed surrogacy with two female staffers, does not exactly count, because it is such a "strange example."
Goldberg argued that Democrats had to expel Franken to avoid hypocrisy charges.
"The Republican Party by contrast, you know, doesn't even purport to hold women in equal esteem," she said.
"Isn't that disgusting then?" Ruhle asked. "Hold on, that makes Al Franken a sacrificial lamb here, if what this does is give Democrats political leverage to say, 'We've cleaned house, shouldn't you have?'"
Ruhle approvingly cited a Daily Beast column arguing that, by forcing out Franken, Democrats fell into a "Roger Stone trap."
"Roger Stone gave a heads up on Twitter about Al Franken's accuser 12 hours before it happened. The Ethics Committee never got to do their job," Ruhle said.
Earlier in the day, Ruhle's MSNBC colleagues on "Morning Joe" questioned the validity of Franken's accusers and pointed out that the first accuser appeared in Playboy and voted for President Donald Trump. Ruhle responded by praising the discussion on Twitter.
Thank you @morningmika & @JoeNBC for bravely raising questions around lumping all acusers, accusations & offenses in one basket.
— Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) December 8, 2017