Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Franken latest under fire
Senator apologizes, urges inquiry into woman’s kissing, groping claim.
MINNEAPOLIS — Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., issued an apology and called for a Senate ethics investigation into his behavior during a 2006 United Service Organizations tour, when a Los Angeles radio personality said he kissed and groped her without her consent.
On Thursday morning, Leeann Tweeden published her account of what happened on the website of KABC Radio in Los Angeles, setting off a firestorm of criticism and calls for Franken to face a Senate ethics investigation. Condemnation poured in from Franken’s colleagues and supporters. Franken joined the criticism himself Thursday afternoon.
“I am asking that an ethics investigation be undertaken, and I will gladly cooperate,” Franken said in his second statement of the day, apologizing but reiterating that he does not remember the incident — a kiss Tweeden said was forced upon her in rehearsal — the same way that she alleges.
Tweeden wrote a lengthy account of Franken, a Democrat who joined the U.S. Senate in 2009, forcing a kiss on her during a rehearsal for a skit they planned to perform for troops deployed to the Middle East. She also posted a picture of Franken smiling for the camera as he reaches for her breasts while she was asleep.
“I’m still angry at what Al Franken did to me,” she wrote. “Every time I hear his voice or see his face, I am angry.”
Franken, who in recent weeks had repeatedly cheered the accounts of other women in the #MeToo movement who stepped forward to share stories about harassment, issued a detailed apology.
“The first thing I want to do is apologize: to Leeann, to everyone else who was part of that tour, to everyone who has worked for me, to everyone I represent, and to everyone who counts on me to be an ally and supporter and champion of women.”
Franken continued: “While I don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit as Leeann does, I understand why we need to listen to and believe women’s experiences.”
The allegations prompted colleagues on both sides of the aisle to call for an investigation.
Franken’s fellow Minnesota Democrat, Sen. Amy Klobuchar wrote: “This is another example of why we need to change work environments and reporting practices across the nation, including in Congress.”
“Sexual harassment is never acceptable and must not be tolerated,” Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer of New York said in a statement. “I hope and expect that the Ethics Committee will fully investigate this troubling incident, as they should with any credible allegation of sexual harassment.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also called for a Senate investigation into the incident, which occurred before Franken joined the U.S. Senate. Before his political career, Franken was a longtime performer on Saturday Night Live and wrote a series of satirical books about politics.
Within hours of Tweeden going public, calls for Franken to resign from the Senate were already surfacing. Voices of Conservative Women, a Minnesota group, posted a petition on the website Change.org calling on Franken to step down.
President Donald Trump, who was accused of sexual misconduct by at least 11 women before his election and who can be heard on tape once bragging about groping women, weighed in on Twitter.
“The Al Frankenstien picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words. Where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 while she sleeps?” he wrote Thursday night.
Trump has yet to comment publicly on the sexual assault allegations that began to surface last week against Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore.
Tweeden spoke about the allegations on her radio show Thursday morning.
A former model, Tweeden was volunteering on her ninth USO tour, and her role, she said, was to introduce the entertainers. Franken, the headlining comedy act, pitched the idea of having her join him in acting out a humorous skit — one that included a kiss.
On the day of the show, she said, the two were alone backstage and Franken suggested they rehearse the kiss. She said she tried to laugh it off, but he “continued to insist.” Eventually, she said she agreed.
“[Franken] came at me, put his hand on the back of my head, mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth,” she wrote. “I immediately pushed him away with both of my hands against his chest and told him if he ever did that to me again I wouldn’t be so nice about it the next time. I walked away. All I could think about was getting to a bathroom as fast as possible to rinse the taste of him out of my mouth. I felt disgusted and violated.”