Al Franken Accused by 9th Woman of Sexual Assault: He Put a ‘Little Squeeze on my Buttock’
Shane Trejo
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Disgraced former Sen. Al Franken from Minnesota is hoping to rehabilitate his political career after he was forced to resign in disgrace in late 2017 following multiple allegations of sexual impropriety, another casualty of the #MeToo movement.
However, his comeback is going to be a bit more difficult to pull off after a ninth woman has emerged to accuse him of inappropriate behavior.
The alleged victim, who has chosen to remain anonymous and now works at a progressive political organization, claimed she was groped by Franken in 2006 when she worked for Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) after graduating from college.
“He’s telling the photographer, ‘Take another one. I think I blinked. Take another one.’ And I’m just frozen. It’s so violating. And then he gives me a little squeeze on my buttock, and I am bright red. I don’t say anything at the time, but I felt deeply, deeply uncomfortable,” the woman told The Cut.
“Two years ago, I would have sworn that I’d never done anything to make anyone feel uncomfortable, but it’s clear that I must have been doing something. As I’ve said before, I feel terrible that anyone came away from an interaction with me feeling bad,” Franken said to The Cut, in a non-apology of sorts.
These allegations come at a particularly bad time for Franken, right as the liberal fake news was beginning to rehabilitate the man.
HuffPo published an article about Franken’s “career comeback” just last week after it was announced he was being given a radio show on Sirius/XM and would be covering the 2020 presidential election:
Franken will host a weekly radio show premiering Saturday on SiriusXM, the network announced Wednesday, with guests including actor and comedian Chris Rock, former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and actor and comedian Patton Oswalt.
He will also contribute to SiriusXM’s coverage of the 2020 presidential election, the network said in its press release.
The announcement calls Franken “an important and influential progressive voice, whom many have missed.” It makes no direct mention of the allegations, which included him groping and forcibly kissing women, allegedly telling one of them it was “my right as an entertainer” to kiss her without consent.
Franken’s return to the spotlight continues a pattern of accused or admitted sexual predators getting career comebacks, an opportunity almost never afforded to their accusers.
In recent months, he appeared to have been gearing up for his return, gradually making more public appearances and rallying his supporters through an email list, website and podcast.
Last summer, he told a local news station in Minnesota that he has not ruled out the possibility of running for office again. In July, he told The New Yorker he “absolutely” regrets resigning, questioning some of the claims.
In lieu of his latest accusation, Franken’s return to the political scene may be in jeopardy as the former “Saturday Night Live” writer continues to rack up assault claims.
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