The second woman who came forward to accuse Minnesota Sen. Al Franken of inappropriate touching sat down for her first television interview on Wednesday.
Speaking to Good Morning America, Lindsay Menz described how Franken grabbed her butt while the two were taking a picture at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010, two years into Franken’s first term.
‘So my husband steps away from us to take the photo. I stand next to Sen. Franken and he pulls me towards him and then moves his hand to my butt,’ Menz, 33, recalled. ‘I was shocked.’
She added: ‘I was surprised and kind of wondering, did that really just happen?’
Lindsay Menz, the second woman to come forward with sexual harassment allegations against Sen. Al Franken, sat down for her first TV interview on Wednesday
When Menz first came forward with her allegations against Franken on Monday, the senator responded saying he did’t remember the incident but feels ‘badly’ that she left the meeting feeling disrespected.
He has refused to step down but says he will cooperate with any potential ethics investigation.
Menz no longer lives in Minnesota, so she says the decision about whether Franken should remain in office is up to the voters there.
She went into more detail about the encounter in her initial interview with CNN.
Lensay Menz, left, claims Sen. Al Franken, right, groped her when the two took this picture at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010
It was wrapped tightly around my butt cheek. It wasn’t around my waist. It wasn’t around my hip or side. It was definitely on my butt. I was like, oh my God, what’s happening
As her husband was getting ready to take their picture, Menz says that Franken ‘pulled me in really close, like awkward close’ and then ‘put his hand full-fledged on my rear’
‘It was wrapped tightly around my butt cheek. It wasn’t around my waist. It wasn’t around my hip or side. It was definitely on my butt. I was like, oh my God, what’s happening,’ she said.
She said the moment last four seconds, and that immediately after the photo was taken, she left Franken’s side without saying a word.
She says she then went up to her husband and told him ‘He totally touched my butt!’
Menz immediately told her husband Jeremy (left), who took the picture, about the groping immediate after it happened
‘I was upset. I wasn’t happy about it in the least,’ her husband Jeremy said. ‘He was already gone and I wasn’t going to confront him. But yeah – I was in shock, really.’
At the time, Menz posted the picture to Facebook and her own sister commented that the two were very close in the shot.
Menz responded: ‘Dude — Al Franken TOTALLY molested me! Creeper!’
Franken told CNN he didn’t remember taking the photo with Menz, but that he feels ‘badly’ that she felt disrespected.
‘I take thousands of photos at the state fair surrounded by hundreds of people, and I certainly don’t remember taking this picture,’ Franken said. ‘I feel badly that Ms. Menz came away from our interaction feeling disrespected.’
Menz detailed the incident on her Twitter profile last week
Menz decided to speak out about the incident on Thursday, after another woman came forward with similar claims about the Democrat senator.
Los Angeles broadcaster Leeann Tweeden accused Franken last week of forcibly kissing her and groping her during a USO tour in 2006, when the then-comedian was elected to the U.S. Senate.
He already faces the possibility of an investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee.
Menz says she doesn’t think what happened to her is the same as what happened to Tweeden, which she said was much worse.
‘The reason I want to say something is if someone sees that I said something, maybe it would give them the courage to say something too,’ she said.
Menz says she does not identify with either political party, but leans Republican. She and her husband voted for Donald Trump in the last election. She has voted for Democrats in the past, including Minnesota Senior Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and, she believes, Franken as well.
The couple moved to Texas in 2014, and Menz is a stay-at-home mom to three kids.
Menz decided to speak out after another woman, Leann Tweeden, spoke out about a similar incident involving Franken that happened in 2006
Tweeden (pictured) says she was forcibly kissed and groped by Franken when the two were on a USo trip to the Middle East in 2006, before he became a senator
The newest claim against Franken is similar to the ones that have been made recently against former President George H.W. Bush.
Several woman have come forward, saying the elder Bush president groped them while taking pictures with them.
The new claims against Franken have been heralded as a victory for Republicans, who have been facing blowback for sexual misconduct allegations against members of their own political party – most notably Roy Moore, who is running for Jeff Sessions old Senate seat in Alabama. Moore has faced an onslaught of allegations that he sexually abused underage girls, but he has so far refused to drop out of the race.
While President Trump is not campaigning for Moore, he has refused to definitively speak out against the Senate hopeful – all while being especially critical of Franken.
Franken’s office has not responded to Associated Press messages seeking comment Monday.