Franken doesn’t remember alleged assaults, but wants to apologize

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Al Franken apologized Monday to “everyone who has counted on me to be a champion for women” as the Minnesota Democrat made his first Capitol public appearance since four women made sexual harassment accusations against him.

Franken spoke as lawmakers began returning from an extraordinary weeklong Thanksgiving break that saw sexual harassment allegations also hit Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.T

With harassment charges bringing down big names in the worlds of entertainment and journalism, Congress was adding widespread complaints about how it handles such incidents to its pile of year-end work.

In a brief appearance before reporters, Franken would not specify how his memory differs from four women’s accounts of separate him making unwanted sexual contact. He said he recalls “differently” one woman’s allegation that he forcibly kissed her but provided no detail, and said he doesn’t remember three other times women assert he grabbed their buttocks, citing “tens of thousands” of people he meets annually.

Franken said he’ll cooperate with an Ethics Committee investigation of his behavior. He said it will take “a long time for me to regain people’s trust” and said he hoped to begin that process by returning to work.

“I want to be someone who adds something to this conversation,” said Franken.

Congress’ procedures drew intensified fire after a report last week by the news website BuzzFeed that Conyers’ office paid a woman more than $27,000 under a confidentiality agreement to settle a complaint in 2015 that she was fired from his Washington staff because she rejected his sexual advances. The money came from taxpayers, not Conyers himself.

Conyers, 88, the House’s current longest-serving member, has relinquished his post as top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.