Two more woman have come forward to accuse Sen. Al Franken of sexual misconduct, according to The Huffington Post. The allegations make it the third and fourth time Franken has been accused of inappropriate touching. The first allegation came from news anchor Leeann Tweeden, who says he touched her inappropriately during a 2006 USO tour. This Monday, Lindsay Menz accused Franken of groping her at a fair in 2010.
From The Huffington Post:
The two additional women, who said they were not familiar with each others’ stories, both spoke on condition of anonymity. But their stories, which describe events during Franken’s first campaign for the Senate, are remarkably similar — and both women have been telling them privately for years.
The first woman claims Franken groped her while they were posing for a photo after an event in Minneapolis back in 2007. “My story is eerily similar to Lindsay Menz’s story,” the first woman told HuffPo. “He grabbed my buttocks during a photo op.”
According to the second woman, Franken “cupped her butt” with his hand during a 2008 Democratic fundraiser in Minneapolis “then suggested the two visit the bathroom together.”
“My immediate reaction was disgust,” the second woman said according to HuffPo. “But my secondary reaction was disappointment. I was excited to be there and to meet him. And so to have that happen really deflated me. It felt like: ‘Is this really the person who is going to be in a position of power to represent our community?'”
Speaking to HuffPo, Franken said, “It’s difficult to respond to anonymous accusers, and I don’t remember those campaign events,” adding, “I can categorically say that I did not proposition anyone to join me in any bathroom.”
HuffPo says the first woman wanted to tell her story because Franken is a “serial groper.”
“Only two people have come forward, and people are saying that this is a right-wing conspiracy,” she said. “It’s not. I’m a liberal person. … I voted for him after this happened.”
A POLITICO/Morning Consult poll found that half of U.S. voters think Franken should step down from his position in the Senate due to the allegations.
Read the full report at HuffPo.
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