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Al Franken apologizes after groping, kissing accusation

A Los Angeles radio host says Al Franken wrote a skit for the pair during a 2006 USO tour to the Middle East and insisted they practice a kiss during rehearsal.
Sen. Al Franken speaks during an Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on May 18, 2017. (Photo: Jarrad Henderson, USA TODAY)

Senator Al Franken has issued an extended apology following allegations by a Los Angeles radio talk show news anchor that he kissed and groped her during a USO tour to the Middle East.

KABC's Leeann Tweeden came forward Thursday to accuse Franken of the alleged inappropriate behavior.

In a statement released Thursday morning, Franken said he was ashamed of his actions, and apologized to Tweeden, co-workers, staffers and constituents. He also asked for an ethics investigation, a request that is already moving forward.

Tweeden, then a TV host, sports broadcaster and model, was among those on the trip to entertain troops in December of 2006. She says Franken was the headliner on a roster of entertainers that included musicians Darryl Worley, Mark Wills, and some members of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.

In a blog she wrote on the KABC website Tweeden recounts how Franken had written a number of skits that were filled with sexual innuendo, including one she says involving Franken coming at her for a kiss. Tweeden says the now-senator told her backstage they needed to practice the skit.

"He said to me, 'We need to rehearse the kiss'” she wrote in the blog. "I laughed and ignored him. Then he said it again. I said something like, ‘Relax Al, this isn’t SNL…we don’t need to rehearse the kiss.’"

"He continued to insist," she continues, "and I was beginning to get uncomfortable."

Tweeden then alleges that when she agreed to practice so he would "stop badgering her", Franken "came at her, put his hand on the back of my head, mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth."

She writes "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."

Tweeden says the harassment didn't stop there. On the flight home from Afghanistan she says she was exhausted and fell asleep. When she arrived home Tweeden was given a CD of photos taken on the trip. Upon browsing through them she found one that appears to show Franken grinning a the camera, standing over Tweeden with his hands either hovering over, or grabbing her breasts.

"I wanted to shout my story to the world with a megaphone to anyone who would listen, but even as angry as I was, I was worried about the potential backlash and damage going public might have on my career as a broadcaster," Tweeden recalls in her blog.

"But that was then, this is now. I’m no longer afraid."

President Donald Trump weighed in on the allegations Thursday night.

President Trump tweeted, "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? ....."

Then Trump tweeted, "And to think that just last week he was lecturing anyone who would listen about sexual harassment and respect for women. Lesley Stahl tape?"

Tweeden credits an interview with California Congresswoman Jackie Speer during which Speer recalled being sexually assaulted when she was a young political aide. The story ended with a powerful man in the office holding her face and forcing his tongue into her mouth.

"At that moment, I thought to myself, Al Franken did that exact same thing to me," Tweeden says.

Franken, a well-known writer, comedian and Saturday Night Live staffer was not elected to the senate until 2009. When informed of Tweeden's allegations Senator Franken released the following statement.

“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. There's more I want to say, but the first and most important thing—and if it's the only thing you care to hear, that's fine—is: I'm sorry.

“I respect women. I don't respect men who don't. And the fact that my own actions have given people a good reason to doubt that makes me feel ashamed.

“But I want to say something else, too. Over the last few months, all of us—including and especially men who respect women—have been forced to take a good, hard look at our own actions and think (perhaps, shamefully, for the first time) about how those actions have affected women.

“For instance, that picture. I don't know what was in my head when I took that picture, and it doesn't matter. There's no excuse. I look at it now and I feel disgusted with myself. It isn't funny. It's completely inappropriate. It's obvious how Leeann would feel violated by that picture. And, what's more, I can see how millions of other women would feel violated by it—women who have had similar experiences in their own lives, women who fear having those experiences, women who look up to me, women who have counted on me.

“Coming from the world of comedy, I've told and written a lot of jokes that I once thought were funny but later came to realize were just plain offensive. But the intentions behind my actions aren't the point at all. It's the impact these jokes had on others that matters. And I'm sorry it's taken me so long to come to terms with that.

“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.

“I am asking that an ethics investigation be undertaken, and I will gladly cooperate.

“And the truth is, what people think of me in light of this is far less important than what people think of women who continue to come forward to tell their stories. They deserve to be heard, and believed. And they deserve to know that I am their ally and supporter. I have let them down and am committed to making it up to them.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was quick to call for an ethics committee probe into the allegations against Franken.

“As with all credible allegations of sexual harassment or assault, I believe the Ethics Committee should review the matter. I hope the Democratic Leader will join me on this. Regardless of party, harassment and assault are completely unacceptable — in the workplace or anywhere else," McConnell said in a statement.

The White House says the Senate is acting appropriately by reviewing complaints against Sen. Franken. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says it's an "appropriate action" for the Ethics Committee to review the matter, "which they should," she added.

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