Franken tells radio host in letter he’s ‘ashamed’

Senator Al Franken has issued a third apology to the woman who accused him of forcibly kissing and groping her, saying he is ashamed of himself. 

Unlike the other apologies, this one was written directly to Los Angeles radio host and former Playboy model Leann Tweeden, who then read it aloud Friday on ‘The View.’

‘I want to apologize to you personally,’ he says in the letter. 

‘I don’t know what was in my head when I took that picture. That doesn’t matter. There is no excuse. I understand why you feel violated by that photo.’

 

Senator Al Franken

Senator Al Franken has issued a third apology to  Leann Tweeden, who accused him of forcibly kissing and groping her, saying he is ashamed of himself

The incident she is speaking about took place during a 2006 USO Tour. In a photo (above) during the tour Franken can be seen posing in an apparently joking manner and placing his hands on her chest while she was asleep aboard a transport plane

The incident she is speaking about took place during a 2006 USO Tour. In a photo (above) during the tour Franken can be seen posing in an apparently joking manner and placing his hands on her chest while she was asleep aboard a transport plane

Unlike the other apologies, this one was written directly to Los Angeles radio host and former Playboy model Leann Tweeden, who then read it aloud Friday on 'The View' (pictured)

Unlike the other apologies, this one was written directly to Los Angeles radio host and former Playboy model Leann Tweeden, who then read it aloud Friday on ‘The View’ (pictured)

The THIRD apology 

Leeann Tweeden appeared Friday on ‘The View’ and said she received a third apology from Sen. Al Franken just before air time:

‘Dear Leanne,

‘I want to apologize to you personally. I don’t know what was in my head when I took that picture. That doesn’t matter. There’s no excuse. I understand why you feel violated by that photo. I remember that rehearsal differently. What’s important is the impact on you and you felt violated by my actions. For that I apologize. I have tremendous respect for you and the work you do for the USO. I am so sorry.

‘Sincerely, Al Franken’

The photo he is speaking about shows him posing in an apparently joking manner and placing his hands on her chest while she was asleep aboard a transport plane. 

Tweeden said the unwanted kissing took place during the 2006 USO tour while they were rehearsing for a skit they would later perform for troops. 

In the letter Franken also says that while he remembers the encounter at the rehearsal differently, he is ‘ashamed’ that his actions ruined her experience.   

Franken had already issued two apologies to Tweeden, which she said she found to be ‘heartfelt’ during an interview with CNN. 

And on ‘The View’ on Friday she said she wasn’t calling for Franken to step down or passing judgment on his job performance in Washington. 

‘I didn’t do this to have him step down,’ she explained.  

Tweeden said Friday morning and then later on ‘The View’ that she wasn’t passing judgment on Franken’s job performance in Washington, and ‘I didn’t do this to have him step down.’ 

She echoed that sentiment on ‘Good Morning America,’ saying: ‘I think Al Franken does a lot of good things in the Senate.

‘I just wanted him to understand what he did was wrong – and how he treated me.’ 

Tweeden has also said she is speaking out in part in order to set an example that will one day give her children, ages four and two, a better social climate as they grow up.

Tweeden said the unwanted kissing took place during the 2006 USO tour while they were rehearsing for a skit they would later perform for troops (pictured)

Tweeden said the unwanted kissing took place during the 2006 USO tour while they were rehearsing for a skit they would later perform for troops (pictured)

‘I don’t want to be a cliche, but you know, you talk about trying to leave the world a better place for your kids, you know,’ she said on CNN, shedding a tear. 

‘You do. You want to leave – you try to set examples for your children.’ 

Accusations from the radio host, who was a 23-year-old model at the time of her allegations, could send Franken into the same reputational basket with Moore, movie producer Harvey Weinstein, comedian Louis CK and actor Kevin Spacey.

‘It happened so fast. He mashed his lips against my face and stuck his tongue in my mouth so fast,’ Tweeden said Thursday. 

‘All I can remember is that his lips were really wet and slimy and in my mind I called him ‘fish lips’ the rest of the trip. That’s what it reminded me of.’

‘He stuck his tongue down my mouth and I remember I pushed him off with my hands and I remember I almost punched him – because every time I see him now my hands clinch into fists.’

‘And I said, ‘If you ever do that to me again, I won’t be so nice about it the second time.’ I walked out away from him and I wanted to find a bathroom and rinse my mouth out. I was disgusted.’  

FRANKEN’S SECOND APOLOGY TO LEEANN TWEEDEN

For Immediate Release: November 16, 2017

Today, U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) released the following statement: 

‘The first thing I want to do is apologize: to Leeann, to everyone else who was part of that tour, to everyone who has worked for me, to everyone I represent, and to everyone who counts on me to be an ally and supporter and champion of women. There’s more I want to say, but the first and most important thing – and if it’s the only thing you care to hear, that’s fine – is: I’m sorry.

‘I respect women. I don’t respect men who don’t. And the fact that my own actions have given people a good reason to doubt that makes me feel ashamed.

‘But I want to say something else, too. Over the last few months, all of us—including and especially men who respect women—have been forced to take a good, hard look at our own actions and think (perhaps, shamefully, for the first time) about how those actions have affected women.

‘For instance, that picture. I don’t know what was in my head when I took that picture, and it doesn’t matter. There’s no excuse. I look at it now and I feel disgusted with myself. It isn’t funny. It’s completely inappropriate. It’s obvious how Leeann would feel violated by that picture. And, what’s more, I can see how millions of other women would feel violated by it—women who have had similar experiences in their own lives, women who fear having those experiences, women who look up to me, women who have counted on me.

‘Coming from the world of comedy, I’ve told and written a lot of jokes that I once thought were funny but later came to realize were just plain offensive. But the intentions behind my actions aren’t the point at all. It’s the impact these jokes had on others that matters. And I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to come to terms with that.

‘While I don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit as Leeann does, I understand why we need to listen to and believe women’s experiences.

‘I am asking that an ethics investigation be undertaken, and I will gladly cooperate.

‘And the truth is, what people think of me in light of this is far less important than what people think of women who continue to come forward to tell their stories. They deserve to be heard, and believed. And they deserve to know that I am their ally and supporter. I have let them down and am committed to making it up to them.’

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk