US Senator Al Franken said he feels “embarrassed and ashamed” amid allegations that he groped several women, but said he looked forward to returning to work yesterday and gradually regaining voters’ trust.
The Democrat on Sunday spoke to a handful of Minnesota media outlets in the first interviews he has granted since being swept into a nationwide tide of sexual misconduct allegations.
Four women have accused the senator of sexual misconduct.
Photo: AFP
Three women allege Franken grabbed their buttocks while taking photographs with them during separate incidents at campaign events in 2007, 2008 and 2010.
Franken told the Minneapolis Star Tribune he does not remember taking the photos, but said such groping is “not something I would intentionally do.”
Asked whether he expected other women to step forward with similar allegations, Franken said: “If you had asked me two weeks ago: ‘Would any woman say I had treated her with disrespect?’ I would have said no, so this has just caught me by surprise... I certainly hope not.”
The first woman to come forward was Los Angeles radio news anchor Leeann Tweeden. She earlier this month released a photograph showing the then-comedian grinning while reaching out toward her chest, as if to grope her, as she slept on a military aircraft during a United Service Organizations tour in 2006.
Franken on Sunday told Minnesota Public Radio that the photo was “inexcusable.” He declined to explain it further.
“What my intention was doesn’t matter. What matters is that I am chained to that photo,” Franken said. “She ... didn’t have any ability to consent. She had every right to feel violated by that photo. I have apologized to her and I was very grateful that she accepted my apology.”
Franken faces a Senate ethics investigation — which he welcomed in the wake of Tweeden’s allegation — although it is unclear when the review would begin.
Franken missed votes after the first accusations were made public, but said he said he would ask tough questions about proposed tax legislation that “would affect Minnesota and the rest of the country in a terrible way” back at work yesterday.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese