Accused Of Sexual Misconduct, Franken Has Focused On The Issue As A Senator
By ESME CRIBB Published NOVEMBER 16, 2017 12:25 PM
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), accused on Thursday of forcibly kissing and groping a woman on a USO tour in 2006 before he was in office, has made the prevention of sexual assault and violence against women one of his signature issues as a lawmaker.
Franken on Thursday said he “certainly” did not remember the incident “in the same way” as Leeann Tweeden, who accused Franken of kissing her over her protestations and later groping her in a photograph. Franken offered his “sincerest apologies.”
The senator’s curt statement stood in contrast to his previous extensive championing of legislation to support survivors of sexual and domestic violence.
In 2009, Franken introduced a provision to the next year’s defense appropriations bill that banned federal funding for “defense contractors who forced employees to mandatory binding arbitration in the case of rape, assault, wrongful imprisonment, harassment, and discrimination.”
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