Army veteran accuses Franken of groping her during USO tour

An Army veteran is accusing Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) of inappropriately touching her during a USO tour in 2003 while she was deployed in Kuwait.

Stephanie Kemplin told CNN that Franken cupped her breast while she was taking a photo with him.

She told the network she met Franken when he was visiting troops on a USO tour and wanted to take a photo with him.

"When he put his arm around me, he groped my right breast. He kept his hand all the way over on my breast," Kemplin said.

"I've never had a man put their arm around me and then cup my breast. So he was holding my breast on the side."

She said she remembers "clenching up."

"And I remember thinking -- is he going to move his hand? Was it an accident? Was he going to move his hand? He never moved his hand," she said.

"It was long enough that he should have known if it was an accident. I'm very confident saying that."

Kemplin said she moved her body before the photo was taken.

A spokesperson for Franken said in a statement that the Minnesota Democrat takes "thousands of photos and has met tens of thousands of people."

"He has never intentionally engaged in this kind of conduct," the spokesperson said. "He remains fully committed to cooperating with the ethics investigation."

Franken has been accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct.

A Los Angeles broadcaster earlier this month said Franken kissed and groped her without her consent during a USO tour. Other women have come forward to allege Franken touched them inappropriately during photos.

Earlier this week, Franken said he would work to regain people's trust following the allegations, adding "this will not happen again going forward."

“I know I’m going to have to be much more conscious in these circumstances, much more careful, much more sensitive, and that this will not happen again going forward,” Franken told dozens of reporters outside of his Capitol Hill office.

“Again, it’s going to take a long time for me to regain people’s trust, but I hope that starting work today that I can start to do that,” he added.

I wish people would get as riled-up over treason, unconscionable national debt, all the kinds of corruption our government and society are riddled with - as they do over sex.

Makes one wonder what all of this is distracting from...

If she had what are the chances she finds herself in ill-favor with her superiors?

In a club I would expect that to be her response, but in uniform at a function where possibly her commander is present she may have felt constrained to hold back. Really, what was her recourse?

EXACTLY...hit the A-hole and yell at him, too. I once made a scene in the Seattle Public Library when I was 17....I was standing by a shelf of books, and some old guy got down and was looking up my skirt...Yes, late 60s...I was wearing a somewhat short skirt....I really embarrassed my friend who was with me...but got the librarians attention..can’t remember what happened to the guy...we left.

I have NOT lost my way. You seem to think a member of the armed forces has the freedom to do whatever she wants - the same way some lawyer can. Ridiculous on the face of it. Wake up.

Sorry Miss M but yldstrk is correct. EVERYONE has the right to defend themselves when they are being assaulted. Putting on a uniform does not mean one gives up the right to be safe in their person. Just because someone joins the military does not mean they can be raped.

These woman should have defended themselves using whatever means necessary.

>>>I wish people would get as riled-up over treason<<<

If the nation returns to a somewhat moral perspective, it will wake up to national scandals as well. Right now it would appear the mindset of the country is - “if they don’t care about the little things, how will they ever do anything about the big things?”

So speak people who are not in the armed forces at the moment, one an independent lawyer and the other a guy.

Of course, as usual, we are missing the point: Franken needs to go. You do not touch a member of the armed services. That is a disgrace.

Apples and oranges DGR, The girls you dated in high school were with you intentionally and voluntarily.

franken’s groping is closer to feeling up the person in front of you in line at Walmart.

Copping a feel from a girlfriend on a date might be OK (although she can still slap you if she’s not ok with it). Copping a feel from a stranger is a sexual assault and should be treated as such.

What if no one saw Franken grab her breast and she shoved him into next Tuesday?

Now it becomes an assault . . . on her part.

At that point it is a she said/he said, and guess who will win that battle.

You all need to lighten up on the lady - unless you are in her shoes you don’t know how overwhelmed she may have felt at the time.

If copping a feel becomes the national threshold for personal destruction, every heterosexual man on Earth is as good as dead. Who among us males has NOT copped a feel at least once? Because that's all it takes to be strung up, apparently.

There would be a big difference between copping a feel at 18-20 and copping a feel when over 50 years old (as Franken was at the time)

In addition, the question really needs to be rephrased:

Who among us males has NOT copped a feel in a work-related situation? With a subordinate? (military relations with Congress and Congressweenies establish a superior/subordinate relationship, particularly among more junior military, even though there's no chain of command issue)

I would HOPE that the answer in my rephrased question would be a bit different than the original question you asked.

“bs, yes she could.”

I retired in 1999, and things are different now, but even back then I could easily see some rear admiral yelling, “I don’t care what he did, you don’t slap a US Senator.”

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