The Cut: Was It Worth It?
KSTP News 5: New unwanted touching allegation raised against former Senator Al Franken.I was just out of college in my first job, working for U.S. senator Patty Murray. Al Franken was the guest speaker at an event in 2006. I was working the photo line, and he pulled me in. Murray said, “Let’s take the picture.” And he puts his hand on my ass. He’s telling the photographer, “Take another one. I think I blinked. Take another one.” And I’m just frozen. It’s so violating. And then he gives me a little squeeze on my buttock, and I am bright red. I don’t say anything at the time, but I felt deeply, deeply uncomfortable.
An anonymous woman alleged Al Franken groped her buttocks in 2006, while she posed for a picture with him at an event two-years before he was elected to the U.S. Senate in Minnesota, according to an article published Monday in New York Magazine.
5 EYEWITNESS News reached out to Franken’s spokesperson for comment on Monday but have yet to hear back.
“Two years ago, I would have sworn that I’d never done anything to make anyone feel uncomfortable, but it’s clear that I must have been doing something. As I’ve said before, I feel terrible that anyone came away from an interaction with me feeling bad,” Franken said in the New York article about the recent allegation.
In the article, the unnamed woman who now works at a major progressive organization, said 14 years ago, she was just out of college and working for a U.S. senator Patty Murray at an event when the alleged incident took place in a photo line.
This is the ninth woman to come forward alleging unwanted contact by Franken.
The previous allegations led Franken to resign his U.S. Senate seat in 2017.
Last week, Franken appeared on the Conan O'Brien Show making some of his most public comments to date about resigning from Congress after other unwanted touching allegations surfaced.
"People who know me know I'm not that guy that 36 of my colleagues demanded I go and put pressure on me that in no uncertain terms that I had to go," Franken said.
Carlton College political science professor Steven Schier said the new allegation doesn’t help Franken convince voters for a second chance if he decides to run again.
"I think it's a problem for him," Schier said. “I think Minnesota Democrats who have a strong feminist orientation --many of them---are not going to be happy about Al Franken becoming the public face of the party with these allegations still surfacing."
Franken over the weekend launched a new radio show on SirusXM radio.
"If he truly believes in his own innocence, I'm guessing this latest allegation won't do much to dampen his future ambitions," said Dr. Julie Dolan, Macalester College professor. "But for voters, I think it's a different story, especially for Democratic women. He'll have an uphill battle convincing them that he's the best candidate for the job."
Actual photo.
Breitbart: Franken gropes Leeann Tweeden during USO Tour.
Leeann Tweeden, a journalist who anchors the morning news at TalkRadio 790 KABC in Los Angeles, California, is accusing Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) of fondling her while asleep and shoving his tongue down her throat without her consent.-
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