'Al Franken kissed and groped me without my consent,' broadcaster Tweeden says
WASHINGTON - Broadcaster and model LeeAnn Tweeden said Thursday that Al Franken "forcibly kissed" and groped her during a USO tour in 2006, two years before the Minnesota Democrat's election to the U.S. Senate.
"You knew exactly what you were doing," Tweeden wrote in a blog post for Los Angeles radio station KABC, for which she works as a morning news anchor. "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."
The allegations came two days after a stunning hearing in Washington, where lawmakers acknowledged sexual harassment is a pervasive problem on Capitol Hill - and amid mounting sexual misconduct accusations against Alabama Republican Roy Moore, who has brushed off calls from Republican leaders to end his Senate campaign.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, immediately called on the Senate Ethics Committee to review the allegations against Franken, who issued a brief statement of apology.
In her blog post, Tweeden recalled that Franken "had written some skits for the show and brought props and costumes to go along with them. Like many USO shows before and since, the skits were full of sexual innuendo geared toward a young, male audience."
Franken, she said, "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."
But on the day of the show, she wrote, "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.'
He continued to insist, and I was beginning to get 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.
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.
In a statement, Franken said: "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."
I’ve decided it’s time to tell my story.
— Leeann Tweeden (@LeeannTweeden)Tweeden'> blog post included an image of Franken looking into a camera, his hands either over or on Tweeden's chest as she slept.
"I've decided it's time to tell my story," she posted online.
"The tour wrapped and on Christmas Eve we began the 36-hour trip home to L.A.," she wrote. "After two weeks of grueling travel and performing, I was exhausted. When our C-17 cargo plane took off from Afghanistan I immediately fell asleep, even though I was still wearing my flak vest and Kevlar helmet."
Upon returning to the United States, Tweeden said, she was "looking through the CD of photos we were given by the photographer" when she came across the image. It was not immediately clear who took the photo.
Franken, a former writer for "Saturday Night Live," was an Air America radio host at the time of the alleged incident.
Leaders of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, Franken's home state colleague, also didn't immediately respond to inquiries. She is co-sponsor of a bill unanimously approved by the Senate last week that will mandate sexual harassment training for all senators and their staffs.
President Donald Trump ignored shouted questions about Franken and Moore as he entered a Thursday-morning meeting with House Republicans at the Capitol.
"Sexual harassment and groping are never OK and never funny, and Sen. Franken will have to address the allegations," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a former state attorney general.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, told reporters that Franken's initial remarks were insufficient. "I think there should be an investigation," she said.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, announced that the House will adopt a policy change to make anti-harassment training mandatory for all members and staff.
That announcement followed a congressional hearing during which members publicly came to terms with sexual harassment as a pervasive problem on Capitol Hill. Female lawmakers aired tantalizing details, albeit without naming names, of unwanted sexual comments and advances taking place in their midst.
"This is about a member, who is here [in Congress] now. I don't know who it is, but somebody who I trust told me this situation," Rep. Barbara Comstock, a Virginia Republican, said at the hearing Tuesday.
Harassers have propositioned themselves to staff members by asking: "Are you going to be a good girl?" Some have exposed their genitals to victims. Others have grabbed victims by their private parts on the House floor, Rep. Jackie Speier, a California Democrat, said.
"In fact, there are two members of Congress, Republican and Democrat, right now, who serve, who have not been subject to review but have engaged in sexual harassment," said Speier, who has been pushing for years to make anti-harassment training a requirement.
In a Facebook post last month, as sexual assault accusations began to mount against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, Franken applauded the bravery of the women who shared their stories.
"It takes a lot of courage to come forward, and we owe them our thanks," he wrote. "And as we hear more and more about Mr. Weinstein, it's important to remember that while his behavior was appalling, it's far too common."
Lawmakers in recent weeks have come under pressure to improve the workplace culture on the Hill amid reports from multiple news outlets, including The Washington Post, of lewd comments, unwanted sexual advances and other examples of sexual misconduct that have plagued Congress for decades. More than 1,500 former congressional employees have signed a letter urging Congress to require anti-harassment training and to overhaul the reporting process, which advocates say is stacked against the victim and designed to protect the institution.
Last week, the Senate for the first time in its history required members and their aides to receive anti-harassment training. The Office of Compliance and the Office of House Employment Counsel currently provide training upon request.
Tweeden said she finally decided to share her story now "because there may be others."
She wrote:
"I'm still angry at what Al Franken did to me.
"Every time I hear his voice or see his face, I am angry. I am angry that I did his stupid skit for the rest of that tour. I am angry that I didn't call him out in front of everyone when I had the microphone in my hand every night after that. I wanted to. But I didn't want to rock the boat. I was there to entertain the troops and make sure they forgot about where they were for a few hours. Someday, I thought to myself, I would tell my story.
"That day is now."
In 2009, Franken was presented a USO Merit Award to recognize the tours he'd taken overseas to visit troops as well as his visits with wounded soldiers at local military hospitals.