Inhofe: Claims about Franken worse than Moore’s
The charges that caused Democratic U.S. Sen. Al Franken to announce his resignation on Thursday are more serious than those made against Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe said Thursday.
“There is a big difference you guys are going to have to acknowledge,” Inhofe told reporters in a hallway interview Thursday. “Roy Moore has denied these things, and there is no evidence — in fact the people of Alabama, most of them, agree with him.”
When told Franken has also denied the allegations against him, Inhofe replied: “No he didn’t. There are pictures. Are you kidding?”
Franken announced his resignation Thursday after several women alleged he had touched them inappropriately over the past decade. The reports began after a Los Angeles broadcaster said Franken was overly aggressive while rehearsing a skit during a 2006 USO tour.
Later on the tour, Franken posed for a photo of him leering as he apparently touched the woman’s breasts through her body armor. Franken said the picture was intended as a gag.
Six women have told The Washington Post that Moore pursued them in the late 70s and early 80s. Five were teenagers at the time and one was 22; Moore was in his early 30s. One woman, Leigh Corfman, said she was 14 and Moore was 32 when he brought her back to his house, gave her alcohol and touched her sexually.
Moore is the Republican candidate in a Tuesday special election to succeed Jeff Sessions, now the U.S. attorney general.