“Aggressively Stuck His Tongue In My Mouth”

A morning news anchor in Los Angeles is accusing Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken of kissing and groping her without consent in 2006, when he was a comedian headed to entertain US troops overseas along with other celebrities.

In a first-person post on talk radio KABC’s website, Leeann Tweeden writes that Franken, the headliner for the show organized by the United Service Organizations, wrote her into his script without asking for her input. “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,” Tweeden writes.

But Franken repeatedly insisted, according to Tweeden, on rehearsing the scene beforehand, making her uncomfortable.

“I said ‘OK’ so he would stop badgering me,” Tweeden writes. “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.”

When Tweeden returned to the US, she said she was looking through a CD of photos provided by a photographer on the trip and found one of the now-senator groping her while she was asleep. Tweeden’s post includes the photo, which shows Franken smiling and touching her breasts while posing for the camera.

In a statement, Franken at first said he had a different account of the rehearsal and regrets taking the picture.

“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 later put out a more detailed statement, saying he would “gladly cooperate” with an ethics investigation, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already called for. He also apologized and said understands “why we need to listen to and believe women’s experiences.”

“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,” Franken said. “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.”

Franken also said he doesn’t remember the rehearsal for the skit and elaborated on the picture Tweeden shared.

“I don’t know what was in my head when I took that picture, and it doesn’t matter,” he said. “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.”

Before Franken’s second statement, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in statement that the “Ethics Committee should review the matter.” “I hope the Democratic Leader will join me on this,” McConnell said. “Regardless of party, harassment and assault are completely unacceptable—in the workplace or anywhere else.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement he supports the call for an ethics committee investigation. “Sexual harassment is never acceptable and must not be tolerated.”

Tweeden and the Minnesota Democratic Farm Labor Party did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News for comment. The USO did not respond to a request for comment. Franken is the first sitting lawmaker in the aftermath of the allegations against Hollywood tycoon Harvey Weinstein to be named by an accuser of sexual misconduct.

Tweeden decided to tell her story after listening to California Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier talking about being sexually assaulted as a young congressional aide.

“At that moment, I thought to myself, Al Franken did that exact same thing to me,” Tweeden wrote. “I had locked up those memories of helplessness and violation for a long time, but they all came rushing back to me and my hands clinched into fists like it was yesterday.”

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

Tweeden’s account is not the first allegation of sexually inappropriate behavior against Franken. The Minnesota Democrat’s first Senate campaign, in 2008, was damaged by revelations that he had made a joke in a Saturday Night Live writer’s room meeting about raping the television journalist Lesley Stahl.

“I give the pills to Lesley Stahl. Then when Lesley is passed out, I take her to the closet and rape her,” Franken said, according to a 1995 article in New York magazine. “Or ‘That’s why you never see Lesley until February. Or, ‘When she passes out. I put her in various positions and take pictures of her.’”

In his 2017 book, Franken wrote that he “wasn’t sorry” for the joke, which he called “stupid.” “I was just doing my job,” he said.

Vera Bergengruen contributed to this report.

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