Al Franken is caught up in a shocking Capitol Hill sex scandal — after newswoman Leeann Tweeden
released this photo of the U.S. Senator from Minnesota groping her during a USO tour!
The former Playboy Playmate says that she only saw the troubling photo — taken as she slept — after her Dec. 2006 tour with the former funnyman who won election to the Senate in 2008. But before that, says Leeann, Franken had written her a role in a skit that included a kissing scene.
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Leeann says that Franken took advantage of her during the performance, writing that he “mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth.” In
her essay for L.A. radio station KABC, she added: “All I could think about was getting to a bathroom as fast as possible to rinse the taste of him out of my mouth.”
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After the tour, said Leeann, she found the photo of Franken posing with her as she slept. “I felt violated all over again,” Leeann wrote. “Embarrassed. Belittled. Humiliated. How dare anyone grab my breasts like this and think it’s funny?”
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“I certainly don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann,” said Sen. Franken in a statement. “As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn’t." As the backlash continued, Franken followed up to demand an ethics investigation on himself!
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In a second statement, Franken said: "I respect women. I don't respect men who don't" — and added: "I've told and written a lot of jokes that I thought were funny, but later came to realize were just plain offensive." Then he declared: "I am asking that an ethics investigation be undertaken, and I will gladly cooperate."
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