Just two days after two women told the Huffington Post that Al Franken touched their buttocks, he has issued an apology.
The senator for Minnesota released the following statement:
“I feel terribly that I’ve made some women feel badly and for that I’m sorry. I’ve met tens of thousands of people and taken thousands of photographs, often in crowded and chaotic situations. I’m a warm person; I hug people. I’ve learned from recent stories that in some of those encounters, I crossed a line for some women — and I know that any number is too many."
The two women spoke with Huffington Post anonymously and explained their stories. Though two separate incidents, they sound very similar to each other. The first woman explained that Franken groped her during a photo op at an event hosted by the Minnesota Women's Political Caucus on June 25, 2007. “My story is eerily similar to Lindsay Menz’s story,” the first woman said. “He grabbed my buttocks during a photo op.”
The second woman explained to the Huffington Post that Franken cupped her butt at the 2008 Democratic fundraiser in Minneapolis and then suggested the two visit the bathroom together. “My immediate reaction was disgust,” the second woman said. “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?’”
The two women that spoke with the Huffington Post were not the first to speak out about Franken.
Just last week, radio host, Leeann Tweeden, wrote that Franken kissed her and groped her without her consent during a 2006 USO tour. On Monday, Lindsay Menz told CNN that Franken groped her during the Minnesota State Fair in 2010.
We'll keep you all posted as this story develops.
Source: nydailynews.com
