UPDATE! Accused for sexual assault Franken calls for ethics investigation of himself.

http://thehill.com/homenews/news/360656-woman-accuses-al-franken-of-kissing-groping-her-without-consent

A TV host and sports broadcaster on Thursday accused Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) of kissing and groping her without her consent in 2006.

Leeann Tweeden accused Franken of groping her, without her consent, while she was asleep and provided a photo as evidence.

The incident happened in December 2006, she said, when she and Franken, then a comedian, were on a USO Tour to "entertain our troops."

Franken in a statement apologized for his actions.

"It wasn’t until I was back in the U.S. and looking through the CD of photos we were given by the photographer that I saw this one," Tweeden wrote about the photo on KABC.

"I felt violated all over again. Embarrassed. Belittled. Humiliated," she wrote. "How dare anyone grab my breasts like this and think it’s funny?"

Tweeden wrote that Franken, who was the headliner on the tour, had written some skits and told her he had a part for her, adding that she "agreed to play along."

"When I saw the script, Franken had written a moment when his character comes at me for a ‘kiss’. I suspected what he was after, but I figured I could turn my head at the last minute, or put my hand over his mouth, to get more laughs from the crowd," she wrote.

"On the day of the show Franken and I were alone backstage going over our lines one last time. He said to me, 'We need to rehearse the kiss.' 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.’"

She wrote Franken continued to insist and she got "uncomfortable."

"He repeated that actors really need to rehearse everything and that we must practice the kiss. I said ‘OK’ so he would stop badgering me. We did the line leading up to the kiss and then he 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."

She said she felt disgusted and violated. She added that she didn't tell anyone what happened at the time, but she was "angry."

Tweeden also said she fell asleep while on the plane back to the U.S. She said is wasn't until she saw the photo of Franken groping her that she told her husband what had happened and showed him the photo.

"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," she wrote.

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

She said she is sharing her story because there may be others.

"I want the days of silence to be over forever," she wrote.

Tweeden also issued a direct statement to Franken.

"Senator Franken, you wrote the script. But there’s nothing funny about sexual assault," she wrote.

"You knew exactly what you were doing. You forcibly kissed me without my consent, grabbed my breasts while I was sleeping and had someone take a photo of you doing it, knowing I would see it later, and be ashamed."

Franken said he does not remember the incident the same way but acknowledged the photo "wasn't" funny.

“I certainly don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann. As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn't. I shouldn't have done it," he said in a statement.

Tweeden's comments come amid increased reports of sexual harassment in the workplace, including on Capitol Hill. Multiple women in Congress have come forward to say they have been victims of sexual harassment, prompting lawmakers to call for reform.

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) said Tuesday the House has paid out $15 million in harassment settlements over more than a decade, though a spokesperson later clarified that figure does not only account for sexual harassment claims.

She said at a Tuesday hearing that two current members of Congress, one Republican and one Democrat, have been accused of sexual harassment.

Her comments come after multiple women have accused GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexual misconduct. Moore is facing growing calls from top Republicans to step aside in the Alabama race, though he has indicated he plans to continue running.

Well then. I don't know, I'm not going to be the one to defend this, Franken isn't either, but that's not saying much. I'll say this, if someone did this to my wife I would be pretty pissed.

Anyone want to guess how this will go for Franken?

UPDATE

Franken is calling for an ethics investigation on himself.

“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.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/360697-franken-releases-new-statement-calls-for-ethics-investigation-of-himself

Franken is moving fast on this it would seem.

Not a surprise. That guy is a PoS.

Probably alright. The media will have no other choice than addressing the claims but to the degree of others? No.

On a side note, who is the woman making the claims? Is she well known or a D actress?

@Serraph105: Hmm. here is hoping the media is going to go after this and not leave it because of their political views.

Also im sure people in here feel that he should of course step down and relinquish his seat.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeann_Tweeden

Looking at her wikipedia page. Hooters turned model turned Fox News semi-regular and a tea party activist. Her career is probably going to give Franken all sorts of political cover. Probably, we are in interesting political times though.

Yikes. Gross.

Franken always did seem creepy to me and his voice sounds like The Joker.

@perfect_blue: Pretty much seems like all the entitled are..........

If there's more to the story I'm sure they will. If this was a one-off event without more people to interview to who are putting out more allegations my guess is that they will interview Franken, interview Tweeden, discuss it a bit, and move on. That's generally how the news tends to work. Maybe they will bring it up again when it's time for Franken's re-election, provided he doesn't step down, but that's not in 2018.

The reason Spacey, Weinstein, and Moore have remained ongoing stories is because there were new things to cover such as people getting fired, more people speaking out against them, a continued senate race, etc.

So what you are saying is that poor Franken did a guy mistake and in a bit no one will remember that mistake because after all it´s just a mistake

I hope you can see the hypocrisy here.

Franken can infact be charged with sexual assault since the women did not consent. So not sure why anyone would have a sexual predator in the senate.

I think he's saying that one time events with no current event tend to be forgotten over continuing allegations during a time when the individual is in the spotlight.

It's bad and not defensible but making an offensive pose in a failed attempt at humors like this is clearly different than sexual assault and rape.

False equivalencies are bad.

No, I'm saying that the news is driven by "new" things to talk about. If nothing new arises after covering the information that's out there, then there's nothing new to talk about.

It's like you didn't read what I said at all.

So now you are defending a sexual predator. I guess it´s ok when it´s a democrat.

And franken did more than just a pose as you can hear in the interview with the women.

That's also true. Not a fan of Franken's humor but bad decisions in public don't mean one is a sexual predator. Just an insensitive buffoon. And she should have slapped him. Now THAT would have been funny.

Thank you!

So not sure why anyone would have a sexual predator in the senate.

Also do we need to talk about Jac's bullshit with this part of his post or are we just going to silently acknowledge it's blatent obviousness?

I know you're still sore about defending a rapist and sexual predator, but don't lie:

Well he is a hypocrite. Both trump and moore had multiple accusers over several years.....decades even and he says they are smeared. One instance with Franken and he's guilty. Hypocrisy at it's finest.

@zaryia: You can make small comments all you want but the meaning is clear.

You seem to have some serious bias.

Shouldn't you be stating he's innocent until proven guilty or is that only for Republicans?

Oh wow people are trying to excuse or minimize this. This is sexual assault plain and simple. Homie needs to go to jail.

Shouldn't you be listening to some news.

The guy as already admitted it.

It´s a democrat so it´s ok he didn't mean it

Trump's words on the Access Hollywood tape did too but you still deny it.

Also Moore doesn't refute it so that should tell you something.

Your perception of what I wrote is irrelevant.

I clearly stated "It's bad and not defensible".

i lol'd at this.

Let's hold him accountable just like every other person who has committed some kind of sexual assault or unwanted advance. Additionally, let's do the same for anyone else in the same predicament. We need to have consistency to rid ourselves of this kind of behavior.

by and large he seems to be owning up to this. He should either resign from his seat and then leave it at that.

I mean.... it seems like he pushed the rehearsal thing a bit, in the picture he is not even grabbing her, simply making it look like he is and seems to be playing a bit of a joke.

So... should he resign because of a childish joke picture and a kiss they both agree'd to?

Ah just noticed he actually isn't touching her.

He might as well be.

That completely changes the situation. One's a joke, the other is actually sexual assault.

I was joking man lol

Sticking your tongue down a nonconsenting woman's throat is sexual assault. Groping a sleeping woman is also assault.

If Franken opined that anyone accused of such harassment should resign or leave a race then he should follow suit for admitting and apologizing for his behavior.

Even if he were touching her, he's not going to feel anything but plates and padding with that vest she was wearing. That doesn't excuse what he did, but it does make it less likely he did it specifically for sexual gratification.

The other allegations against him need to be considered, since in her statement she clearly claimed that the kiss was unwelcome even if it was supposedly practice for a performance.

I don't agree at all with the "even if he did" bit and it's the picture is the bad part of this story in my opinion. In terms of the kiss well

"He repeated that actors really need to rehearse everything and that we must practice the kiss. I said ‘OK’

Does that count as consent?

If you didnt know, consent now needs to be enthusiastic and requires your initials and signature.

If nothing else, the woman could be offended over the picture if she took him putting his hands over her chest while she was sleeping as a form of harassment. Whether or not others will agree with her opinion will obviously vary depending upon the individual, but harassment doesn't require actual physical contact.

As for the kiss, the story stated that she was uncomfortable and did not invite him to kiss her during the practice, and if I'm not mistaken, during the actual performance, she turned her head slightly in order to prevent him from kissing her on the lips again.

It's a pretty shitty situation for the senator, and even liberal celebrities like Mark Ruffalo and Kathy Griffin are calling for him to resign so he can't be used by the GOP as ammo against the Democrats.

You are mistaken.

During the practice she allowed for the kiss but during the performance she decided to do what you described.

@Serraph105: This is the kind of thing people brush off with excuses like, "It was just a joke," and "this was acceptable back then," but even when I was an immature kid well before this photo was taken, I knew that this kind of thing was an insult and violation to the parties involved.

We can argue over it's legal definition, I guess, but regardless it doesn't speak well of his character.

@kod: I'll have to reread the story then, the last time I read the details were this morning and either I misremembered some details or the earlier story may have had some inaccuracies.

So she took part in a comedy skit, one she agreed to, and now she was "sexually assaulted"? I bet she voted for Trump too. OMFG LOL.

Ok, so we agree that its like with Moore grounds for him to step down and remove himself since a sexual predator is not fit for the senate.

You really think she consented ?

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/17/politics/franken-trump-washington-political-bombshells/index.html

And of course he should step down , if you guys want moore to remove himself, it should be the same for all sexual predators.

Boys will be boys.

To be fair if she should have said no and that's that. Either they change whatever they were rehearsing or someone else steps in. You cannot have it both ways.

Yup when they are democrats.

When they are republicans or opposed to the democratic overlords they are hellspawn.

The hypocrisy from the left is mind boggling

Name at least 25 democrats that have done what the 2 republicans that are being investigated have done.

I'll be waiting.