‘Ashamed’ Franken going back to work

Senator said he hopes to gradually regain trust

MINNEAPOLIS — Sen. Al Franken broke an eight-day silence Sunday, reaching out to media to talk about what he has done, and what he’ll do next.

“I’m embarrassed and ashamed. I’ve let a lot of people down and I’m hoping I can make it up to them and gradually regain their trust,” said Franken, who has kept a low profile since four women shared accounts of being groped, embarrassed and forcibly kissed by the Minnesota Democrat.

“I’m looking forward to getting back to work (today).” he said.

Franken, who said he has posed for “tens of thousands of photos” over the years, says he does not remember any that ended with his hand sliding down to cup women’s backsides, as several have alleged.

“I don’t remember these photographs,” he said. “This is not something I would intentionally do.”

Franken said he spent the past week “thinking about how that could happen and I just recognize that I need to be more careful and a lot more sensitive.”

Asked whether he expects any other women to step forward with similar groping allegations, Franken said: “If you had asked me two weeks ago, ‘Would any woman say I had treated her with disrespect?’ I would have said no. So this has just caught me by surprise.”

Franken has been contacting his constituents and the media mainly through terse written statements since Nov. 16, when Los Angeles radio broadcaster Leeann Tweeden accused him of forcibly kissing her during a 2006 holiday USO war zone tour. Her Twitter post was accompanied by a photo of Franken, then months from launching his Senate candidacy, mugging for the camera with his hands hovering suggestively over her chest as she slumped, apparently asleep, on a military transport.

Franken skipped the rest of that Thursday’s Senate votes and retreated from public view as the Senate adjourned for the weeklong recess. In the days that followed, three other women provided accounts of uncomfortable encounters with Franken.

“I’ve been a champion for women, and I know this makes this all the harder,” he said.