Franken apologizes again but loses ally
WASHINGTON — Minnesota Sen. Al Franken personally apologized to the woman who has accused him of forcibly kissing her and groping her during a 2006 USO tour, saying he remembers their encounter differently but is “ashamed that my actions ruined that experience for you.”
In a guest appearance Friday on ABC’s “The View,” Leeann Tweeden read a letter she received from the Democratic lawmaker in which he also discussed a photo showing him posing in a joking manner, smiling at the camera with his hands above her chest as she naps aboard a military plane.
Both had been performing for military personnel in Afghanistan two years before the one-time “Saturday Night Live” comedian was elected to the Senate. Tweeden, a former Fox TV sports correspondent who now is a Los Angeles radio anchor, has said Franken persisted in rehearsing a kiss and “aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth.”
Franken told Tweeden in the letter he wanted to “apologize to you personally,” adding: “I don’t know what was in my head when I took that picture. But that doesn’t matter. There’s no excuse. I understand why you can feel violated by that photo. ... I have tremendous respect for your work for the USO. And I am ashamed that my actions ruined that experience for you. I am so sorry.’”
Tweeden posted her allegations, including a photo of Franken and her, Thursday on the website of KABC, where she works as a news anchor for a morning radio show.
On Friday, Tweeden said she didn’t come forward with the hope that Franken would step down. “That’s not my call,” she told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “I think that’s for the people of Minnesota to decide.”
Franken faces re-election in 2020.
Franken, 66, missed votes in the Senate Thursday afternoon and has not made any public appearances since the allegations came out. He abruptly canceled a sold-out book festival appearance scheduled for Monday in Atlanta, festival organizers said. He had been scheduled to speak and promote his book, “Al Franken, Giant of the Senate.”
Meanwhile, a Minnesota woman and rape survivor who worked with Franken to craft legislation for fellow survivors said Friday the senator should take his name off the bill. Abby Honold, 22, who was raped by a fellow University of Minnesota student in 2014, called Franken’s conduct disappointing and said someone else should champion the bill.
Franken had planned to introduce the bill this month.
Despite properly reporting her rape to police, it took Honold more than a year to get justice, with her attacker, Daniel Drill-Mellum, sent to prison for six years. Her agonizing fight to hold the man accountable drew statewide attention, shedding light on the challenges of reporting and prosecuting sexual assaults.
It also led Honold to Franken. Honold’s convicted rapist, it turns out, had interned for the senator.
“He was one of the few people who listened to me and actually let me talk,” Honold said. “It felt really validating to be heard and to see something come of my experience that was positive for other people.”
Now, she said, “It’s really difficult when someone who has been a champion for you turns out to be the exact opposite for someone else.”
But eight women who worked for Franken in the Senate vouched for him, saying in a joint statement Friday that he treated them “with the utmost respect.”
“He valued our work and our opinions and was a champion for women both in the legislation he supported and in promoting women to leadership roles in our offices,” the women said.