HuffPo: Two Anonymous Women Accuse Al Franken of Inappropriate Touching
“People are saying that this is a right-wing conspiracy. It’s not. I’m a liberal person…I voted for him after this happened”
A report published by the Huffington Post Wednesday night cites two anonymous women who also accuse Sen. Al Franken of inappropriate touching, bringing the total of inappropriate touching allegations against the Senator to four.
Both women claim Franken touched their butts at political events without consent. One woman says that Franken suggested they retreat to the bathroom after groping her. Neither wishes their identites known for fear of retribution.
Franken says he doesn’t remember the events but is certain he never asked someone to join him in the bathroom.
From HuffPo:
The two additional women, who said they were not familiar with each others’ stories, both spoke on condition of anonymity. But their stories, which describe events during Franken’s first campaign for the Senate, are remarkably similar — and both women have been telling them privately for years.
In a statement to HuffPost, Franken said, “It’s difficult to respond to anonymous accusers, and I don’t remember those campaign events.”
The first woman, who spoke to HuffPost on condition of anonymity because she’s worried she’ll be harassed online for making the allegation, said Franken groped her when they posed for a photo after a June 25, 2007, event hosted by the Minnesota Women’s Political Caucus in Minneapolis.
“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 told HuffPost that Franken cupped her butt with his hand at a 2008 Democratic fundraiser in Minneapolis, then suggested the two visit the bathroom together. She spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear that the allegation could affect her position at work.
“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?’”
“I can categorically say that I did not proposition anyone to join me in any bathroom,” Franken told HuffPost.
The HuffPo claims they corroborated the stories by speaking with friends and family of both women.
“People are saying that this is a right-wing conspiracy. It’s not. I’m a liberal person…I voted for him after this happened,” said one accuser.
We’ve left the details of the alleged inappropriate touchings in the HuffPo link.
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Comments
Still better than Larry Nassar?
Current knowledge is that he has not used tax dollars in settlements like Conyers?
Faint praise?
bringing the total of inappropriate touching allegations against the Senator to four.
Does that photo count as one of them, or two?
“I voted for him after this happened”.
YOU are the reason people like Harvey Weinstein and Bill Clinton exist. You know goddamn well what he did and you decided it was OK as long as he furthered the ends of the Democrats.
Men like Clinton and Weinstein, and yes, Franken, did this for DECADES because they knew as long as they mouthed the properly woke catch phrases they would get away with it.
This is just a joke.
Anonymous accusers. Well, the media Star Chamber is up and running full steam. This is a nothing burger.
Al Franken may be a despicable human being. However, he is still entitled to be able to face his accusers and their “witnesses”. We, as a society, should never trust anonymous sources. Ever. Look at what happened in the Moore allegations. Once the accusers were forced to give detailed information to support their allegations, those allegations began to fall apart. And, that collapse is accelerating as time goes by.
As far as the public should be concerned, there is only one accuser here, the Huffington Post. And, it is hardly a reliable news source. Either HuffPost can produce its “sources” and allow them to be questioned and the veracity of their allegations vetted or the whole thing should simply be ignored.
how do you ‘prove’ a proposition, unless secretly taping it ?
you can only see the history of both parties.
you’re correct about facing accusers, but how can people attacked in private ‘prove’ anything, that’s how perps get away with it.
Mac45, agree about anonymous sources, but HuffPuff going after Al Franken is bad for Al Franken.
Al Franken has been accused of bad behavior by two women who have gone public. And now two more who have gone to the Huffington Post. Normally this would not be enough to unseat a Senator, but we live in strange times.
And I agree with LI that this Sexnado climate we are in helps Roy Moore.
I agree with Mac45. The only source for the claim that “two more women have gone to the Huffington Post” is the HuffPo itself. As Mac45 said, they’re hardly reliable, and this whole thing should be ignored no matter how many here might think this helps “our side”.
The left invested heavily in crushing Moore with an inappropriate sexual contact innuendo. Now, it is faced with Franken [which we have photographic evidence to support harassment claims against] and Conyers [who not only reportedly engaged in extra-marital affairs but used taxpayer money to ferry his bimbos around]. To abandon their position against Moore, to support a liberal Democrat, would be a PR disaster for them. Another sterling example of unintended consequences. Dredging up other alleged “victims”, of inappropriate behavior on Franken’s part, does not really harm him. He is already toast. But, it gives the liberal media organ, HuffPost, the opportunity to claim that they are non-partisan in this area.
Moore accusers from 40 – F-O-U-R-T-Y years ago.
the dems accusers are from ongoing behavior – not the same at all.
What is the same is that the newest accusations concerning Franken come from ANONYMOUS sources. There is a reason for that and it is not because these accusers are in any danger from Franken. The reason why these accusers are anonymous is because 1) they do not exist or 2) if they are known and provide any details of their accusations, those accusations may prove baseless.
All the harm that can be done to Franken was dne when the picture taken on the airplane was published. This was THE smoking gun concerning Fraken’s behavior. Nothing more was needed. But, in an attempt to guild the lily, the media begins publishing other accusations. The one from the lady who claims she was groped while being photographed with Franken is now suffering credibility problems because the exhibits no distress during the picture, which according to reports of her story was occurring during the taking of the photo. So, why publish anonymous allegations against Franken? Again there are two possibilities. 1), the HuffPost ios trying to salvage an appearance of partisan impartiality when it comes to allegations of impropriety by women or 2) they are attempting to force Franken to resign from office.
Moore’s case is entirely based upon testimony. And, as we have seen, the more closely the testimony of the alleged victims is scrutinized the more unreliable it becomes. It begins to look as though the charge of molesting any woman is not really credible where Moore is concerned. More exposure only helps Moore, not hurt him.
“The one from the lady who claims she was groped while being photographed with Franken is now suffering credibility problems because the exhibits no distress during the picture, which according to reports of her story was occurring during the taking of the photo.”
I don’t agree with that assessment. People often default to a smile when in front of a camera when something surprising happens. If it happened fast and he took the picture and moved on I can believe that is exactly what happened. The replaying of what happened and full realization of what actually happened could have taken a little bit.
I look at all 3 of the ladies that have come forward to be similar to the 3 young ladies in the original WAPO story that said Moore dated them. They show a pattern on how the person in question interacted with people of the opposite sex.
Good post.