Free Republic

Like something right out of the 1990s, when the news media did everything it could to undermine then-President Bill Clinton’s female accusers, Kasie Hunt, the Capitol Hill correspondent for NBC News, claimed that what Democrat Senator Al Franken did to journalist Leeann Tweeden is “not actually groping.” Appearing on MSNBC, the left-wing Hunt said, “And then [Franken] took a picture, which his office now says was a joke, that shows him not actually groping, but mock-groping her while she was asleep.” This was not a mistake on Hunt’s part. It is all-too obvious that NBC has already manufactured a false...

Caption Al Franken

(FYI: This is mainstream media...) Democrats called Al Franken’s behavior unacceptable, returned his campaign donations, and hinted that — absent a satisfying explanation in response to a sexual harassment allegation — they’d eventually demand he resign. Anything less would risk catastrophe for a party that stakes its political reputation on fighting for women. Especially one that is just now, 20 years after the fact, grappling with its unyielding support of Bill Clinton.

Chief political analyst Gloria Borger said: "He was not a member of the Congress at the time this occurred. He was just a comedian.”

The Twin Cities woman who helped Senator Al Franken draft a new bill to aid sexual assault victims now hopes someone else can champion the legislation. The bill was designed to provide funding for training first responders on ways of interviewing victims who have been traumatized. Just last month, Abby Honold stood side-by-side with Franken at a press conference announcing the bill. Then came the bombshell report Thursday morning. A Los Angeles radio anchor said Franken forcibly kissed her during a 2006 USO tour. Leeann Tweeden also said Franken posed for a photo with his hands on her breasts as she slept...

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If Hillary Clinton asked him, Al Franken says, he would gladly join the presumptive Democratic nominee as her running mate. The Minnesota senator said in an interview with the Associated Press that to his knowledge, he is not being vetted for a vice presidential bid, but Franken, a former comedian and “Saturday Night Live” writer, has been a longtime Clinton backer and would jump on board the campaign if invited.

If anyone doubted Al Franken loves his job and wants to keep it for a long time, Minnesota’s junior U.S. senator announced in a Pioneer Press interview last week that he plans to seek a third term in 2020. He also makes his intentions perfectly clear in his new memoir, facetiously titled, “Al Franken, Giant of the Senate.” While he lampoons President Donald Trump, congressional Republicans and the rest of the Washington establishment, he writes that being a senator is the greatest — if not most fun — job he’s ever had. And he figuratively gives lots of big, sloppy...

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Three of the four Democratic women who represent New Hampshire in Congress voiced support Thursday for an ethics probe into allegations that Minnesota Sen. Al Franken forcibly kissed and groped a woman more than a decade ago while they were on a USO tour of the Middle East. The fourth delegation member, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, is a member of the Senate Ethics Committee, which may be conducting an investigation, and said she could not comment on “specific cases that may come before the committee.” WMUR has learned that Shaheen, Sen. Maggie Hassan and U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter...

RUSH: Leeann Tweeden, who is the woman that has gone public with the sexual harassment and abuse visited upon her by Al Franken in 2006 on a USO tour has spoken up more, and CNN has been forced to carry this. This was actually I think around 1:30 this afternoon, half hour ago. She’s a radio/TV host in LA and a model. She’s a sportscaster, and she’s done a bunch of USO tours in which Franken was the headliner, which is where the sexual abuse that’s been reported today happened. We have a couple more sound bites of her describing...

RUSH: Now back to the Franken situation. Al Franken is now calling for an investigation into himself, saying that women need to be believed, women needed to be applauded for their courage in coming forward, they need to have their stories heard. It is much more important that these women’s bravery be acknowledged over what anybody thinks of Al Franken. So Franken is throwing himself on the fire. What will the Democrats do? I think what they’re gonna do is try to pretend this isn’t happening. The smart thing for them to do would be to get rid of Franken,...

When Al Franken was on tour with the USO, one of his jokes involved pointing to the cheerleaders on stage and saying he would think of them while having sex with his wife. "I don't know how you guys do it for nine months," Franken in a 2004 article quoted himself as saying, "I've been over here a week, and the first thing I'm going to do when I get home is have sex with my wife — while thinking about the cheerleaders. Not so different from you guys, except I won't be alone."There's a long tradition of sexualized humor...

But rewrite-room excuses didn’t fly in the 24/7 reality of the campaign, and the “joke” almost killed Franken’s campaign. It landed on the eve of the Minnesota convention where he hoped to be chosen as the Democratic nominee to face Coleman. He made the dangerous move of addressing the controversy in a raw convention speech. “It kills me that things I said and wrote sent a message to some of my friends in this room and people in this state that they can’t count on me to be a champion for women, a champion for all Minnesotans, in this campaign...

Amid the emergence of a 2006 photo of Al Franken groping journalist and talk radio anchor Leeann Tweeden, a photo of the embattled Minnesota Senator appearing to grab comedian Joy Behar’s breast has also resurfaced. The photo was taken at the New York Friar’s Club Roast of Rob Reiner. The event, which took place in October 2000, was presented by Comedy Central. On Thursday, The View co-host reacted to the photo of Franken and Tweeden — taken during a two week USO Tour by, according to the USO, Sen. Franken’s brother Owen Franken — and said, “it’s just so disappointing.”...

On Thursday morning, Los Angeles radio host Leeann Tweeden wrote in a disturbing article alleging that Sen. Al Franken sexually harassed her on a 2006 USO tour. According to Tweeden, Franken coerced her into “rehearsing” a kiss for a skit, then forcefully stuck his tongue in her mouth. She also provided a photograph of Franken appearing to grope her while she slept. There is no rational reason to doubt the truth of Tweeden’s accusations, no legitimate defense of Franken’s actions, and no ambiguity here at all: Franken should resign from the Senate immediately. Democrats should call for him to step...

Sen. Alan S. “Al” Franken (D.-Minn.) issued a new statement Thursday to supplement his previous short explanation about his take on the charge made earlier in the day by Leeann Tweeden that that Franken constructed a sexually awkward comedy skit for her to perform with him during their 2006 Middle East USO tour and that Franken insisted on a private rehearsal, where he groped and kissed her.After she shook off his sexually-tinged advances, Tweeden said Franken began ridiculing her for the rest of the tour–and at one point drew devil horns on a photo of her.Also after the rehearsal incident, Franken posed...

What happened to believing women when they speak out against powerful male accusers? On Thursday, evidence broke of a 2006 incident in which Democrat Al Franken groped and forcibly kissed TV and radio personality Leeaan Tweeden. Photographic proof backs up her claim. Yet, MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt described the now-Senator's predatory behavior this way: “[Franken] took a picture, which his office now says was of a joke, that showed him potentially — not actually groping — but mock-groping her while she was asleep." In the noon hour, Hunt repeated her mild description. This time, she didn't cite the Franken staff and...

Today, the amendment offered by U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) to stop funding defense contractors who deny assault victims their day in court passed the United States Senate by a vote of 68 - 30 Last Thursday, Sen. Franken introduced an amendment (S.2588) to the FY2010 Defense Appropriations Bill that would restrict funding to defense contractors who commit employees to mandatory binding arbitration in the case of sexual assault. The legislation, endorsed by 61 women’s, labor and public interest groups, was inspired by the story of Jamie Leigh Jones, who watched the vote from the Senate gallery today. “I’m proud...

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) faced swift and bipartisan condemnation Thursday and a call for an ethics investigation after a Los Angeles model and broadcaster accused him of “forcibly kissing” and groping her in 2006. After originally issuing a brief apology and saying he didn’t recall the incident the way Leeann Tweeden did, Franken issued a longer apology — “There’s no excuse” — and welcomed the ethics investigation, saying he will “gladly cooperate.” The top Democrat, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), said he hopes there will soon be one by the Senate Ethics Committee, which has the authority to recommend...