Selective outrage: Don slams Franken, silent on Moore
Washington, Nov. 17: US Democratic Senator Al Franken, once tipped as a future presidential candidate, apologised profusely to a female radio host he is accused of groping and welcomed a congressional investigation into his conduct Thursday.
Sports broadcaster and former model Leeann Tweeden accused the former comedian of touching her while she slept and kissing her without her consent in 2006 — the latest in a string of sexual assault allegations against prominent American men.
Mr Franken’s rise from funnyman to darling of the political left was thrown into serious doubt by the shock allegations and the likely opening of a Senate ethics investigation that could see him fined, striped of committee posts or even expelled.
Ms Tweeden revealed the allegations in a wrenching first person article that included a photo of Franken groping her breasts while she was asleep in body armor and helmet on a military flight. She said the incident occurred when they were both on a tour entertaining US troops deployed in Afghanistan.
“I felt violated” she wrote on the website of KABC radio in Los Angeles, where she hosts a show, “Embarrassed. Belittled. Humiliated.”
“How dare anyone grab my breasts like this and think it’s funny?”
Amid criticism from left and right, Mr Franken, aged 66 and married for more than four decades, issued a full throated apology and acknowledged the veracity of the photo.
“I don’t know what was in my head when I took that picture, and it doesn’t matter. There’s no excuse,” he said in a statement.
“I look at it now and I feel disgusted with myself. It isn’t funny. It’s completely inappropriate. It’s obvious how Leeann would feel violated by that picture.”
Ms Tweeden said Mr Franken, at the time a prominent comedian had also written a sketch in which he was meant to kiss her on stage in front of the troops. Washington: President Donald Trump is displaying selective outrage over allegations of sexual harassment against prominent men in politics, as his own tortured past lingers over his response.
Mr Trump moved quickly on Thursday to condemn accusations against Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken as “really bad,” but he has remained conspicuously silent on the more serious claims leveled against Roy Moore, the Republican in Alabama’s special Senate race who faces allegations he sexually assaulted teenage girls decades ago.
Mr Trump has repeatedly declined to follow Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and House speaker Paul Ryan in calling on Moore to quit the race. Leeann Tweeden, now a Los Angeles radio host, accused Franken of forcibly kissing and groping her during a 2006 USO tour. She released a photo showing the comedian turned senator posing in a joking manner with his hands on her chest as she naps wearing a flak vest aboard a military plane.