New Yorker Article about Al Franken and people who regret that he stepped down before a Senate hearing.

[blankslate]

The Case of Al Franken

A remarkable number of Franken’s Senate colleagues have regrets about their own roles in his fall. Seven current and former U.S. senators who demanded Franken’s resignation in 2017 told me that they’d been wrong to do so.

Tammy Duckworth, the junior Democratic senator from Illinois, told me that the Senate Ethics Committee “should have been allowed to move forward.” She said it was important to acknowledge the trauma that Franken’s accusers had gone through, but added, “We needed more facts. That due process didn’t happen is not good for our democracy.”

Despite his current isolation, Franken is recognized nearly everywhere he goes, and he often gets stopped on the street. “I can’t go anywhere without people reminding me of this, usually with some version of ‘You shouldn’t have resigned,’ ” Franken said. He appreciates the support, but such comments torment him about his departure from the Senate. He tends to respond curtly, “Yup.” When I asked him if he truly regretted his decision to resign, he said, “Oh, yeah. Absolutely.”

The article is a lengthy one (I have skimmed over it and plan to read it in full later) and also talks about the nature of U.S.O. tours notoriously they are raunchy probably as a result of the audience they are meant for.

Many people who worked in comedy with Franken defended his behavior more strongly than he did himself. Jane Curtin, who regards him as one of the few non-sexist men she worked with at “S.N.L.,” said, “They were doing a U.S.O. tour. They’re notoriously burlesque. The photo was funny because she’s wearing a flak jacket, and he’s looking straight at the camera and pretending he’s trying to fondle her breasts. But the humor is he can’t get to them—if a bullet can’t get them, Al can’t get them.”

It also details others who have performed the skit with Al Franken prior to time he harrassed Leeann Tweeden over using the same skit suggested was written for her.

Maybe Al Franken was a serial harrasser after he left SNL but having skimmed the article I can say that I still fervently believe that Sen. Franken should have had the Senate Hearing over the allegations instead of resigning.



________________
*edited for spelling and grammar

 

[Perknose]

Thoroughly exposed and documented. It's The New Yorker, so there are lots of . . . words. You really have to read the whole article to take it all in. Let's just say, among other things, the Leanne Tweedon is a big fat liar, and that the rest of the accusations are weak, but that the Dem leadership caved.

The damning image, Tweeden said, was the culmination of a campaign of sexual harassment that Franken had subjected her to after she had spurned his advances at the start of the U.S.O. tour, which lasted two weeks. It was Tweeden’s ninth U.S.O. gig, but her first with Franken. She alleged that he had written a skit with a kissing scene expressly for her, telling her, “When I found out you were coming on this tour, I wrote a little scene, if you will, with you in it.” She said that when she saw the script, which required them to kiss, “I suspected what he was after, but I figured I could turn my head at the last minute.”

According to Tweeden’s statement, after they landed in Kuwait, the tour’s first stop, Franken told her, “We need to practice the kissing scene.” At first, she said, she “blew him off,” but “he persisted” so aggressively that it “reminded me of, like, the Harvey Weinstein tape”; Weinstein, she noted, had been taped “badgering” a resistant sexual victim.

[...]

Two actresses who had performed the same role as Tweeden on earlier U.S.O. tours with him, Karri Turner and Traylor Portman, immediately recognized that Tweeden was wrong to say that Franken had written the part in order to kiss her. Both women told me that they fully supported the #MeToo movement and could speak only to their own experiences. But Turner confirmed that she had acted in the same skit in 2003. Video footage of her performing it, which can be seen online, shows that the script was altered for Tweeden only by cutting references to “JAG,” a TV show in which Turner starred. In a statement, Turner said that “no woman should have to deal with any type of harassment, ever!” But on her two U.S.O. tours with Franken, she said, “there was nothing inappropriate toward me,” adding, “I only experienced a person that was eager to make soldiers laugh.”

Traylor Portman, who used her maiden name, Traylor Howard, while appearing on the TV show “Monk,” said that she also played the role in Franken’s skit, in 2005. “It’s not accurate for her to say it was written for her,” Portman told me. She had rehearsed the kissing scene with Franken, and hadn’t objected, because “you’re going to practice—that’s what professionals do.” She said that the scene involved “what looked like kissing but wasn’t,” adding, “It’s just for comic relief. I guess you could turn your head, but whatever—it’s nothing. I was in sitcoms. You just play it for laughs.”

[...]

The U.S.O. skit didn’t end with the kissing scene. In a coda, Franken appears as a doctor who has just had “a cancellation” in his appointment schedule. Tweeden’s character is informed that “a woman your age should have a complete breast examination every year”; Franken then approaches her with his arms outstretched and his hands aimed at her chest. The script calls for Tweeden’s character to protest, “Al! At ease!” Franken, with a dirty-old-man nod to the audience, replies, “I’m afraid it’s a little too late for that.”

The joke was not memorable, yet when Shajn Cabrera saw the 2006 photograph of Franken on the plane, approaching Tweeden’s chest with his arms outstretched, he immediately recalled the “Dr. Franken” skit. Cabrera had been on the plane when the photograph was taken. At the time, he was a special assistant to the Sergeant Major of the Army, who hosts the U.S.O. tours. “I was the one who put the trip together,” Cabrera said. Looking at the photograph, he thought that “it was a hundred per cent in line with that skit when he does the breast exam.” The image, he said, “was not at all malicious.

[...]

I spoke with eight participants in the 2006 tour, including Julie Dintleman, the military escort who was assigned to Tweeden; none observed Tweeden being upset with Franken. “I don’t remember anything like that,” Dintleman said. Her assignment was to be almost continually at Tweeden’s side, except when the stars went to their quarters for “bed down.” Todd Tabb, a retired Air Force pilot who served as Franken’s military escort on an earlier U.S.O. tour, added that, ordinarily, “any incident would have been witnessed by a military officer with the ability to have someone arrested on the spot if there was an assault. Entertainers were treated carefully so that incidents did not occur. I was instructed to even go into the rest rooms, so I was never out of sight of the celebrity.” Though he wasn’t on the 2006 trip, he said, “I can’t imagine how someone wasn’t watching when they rehearsed.”

In Tweeden’s telling, Franken “had someone take a photo” expressly to humiliate her. Doug McIntyre, a co-host and confidant of Tweeden’s at the radio station, who helped her prepare her public statement, told me, “She alleged that Franken got the Army photographer to take the picture, and put it on a disk, so her disk had this one extra picture. It was the caboose. She took it as the final ‘F.U.’ from Franken. The only person who got it was her.”

[...]

This is incorrect. Many people on the trip also received CDs that included the photograph. Andy Barr, the Franken assistant, received the CD, which I have seen. He is a pack rat, and kept the original packaging. The mailer, postmarked January 9, 2007, is stamped “Official Business.” The return address is “Department of the Army, Office of the Chief of Public Affairs.” The disk’s label says “U.S.O.” and its plastic case includes a personal note from and contact information for Montigo White, an Army photographer on the trip, who wrote, “It was a pleasure to serve with you on the 2006 Tour.”

[...]

A big part of Franken’s political problem was the way the story broke. KABC-AM released Tweeden’s material on its Web site, giving it the look of a proper news story. In reality, the station, which is owned by Cumulus Media, was a struggling conservative talk-radio station whose survival plan was to become the most pro-Trump station in Los Angeles. Three top staffers there had been meeting secretly for weeks, after hours, with Tweeden to prepare her statement, but it hadn’t been vetted with even the most cursory fact-checking. Nobody contacted Franken until after the story had been posted online. The station gave Franken less advance warning than it gave the Drudge Report, which it tipped off the previous day. After posting the story, Tweeden embarked on a media tour, starting with a live press conference and proceeding to interviews with CNN’s Jake Tapper (who had been alerted the previous day), Sean Hannity, and the cast of “The View.”

Lomonaco, Franken’s former chief of staff, said, “Typically, reporters will reach out to you for comment, so you have a heads-up, and some opportunity to put your best foot forward. But KABC posted it first and only then reached out to us. It was such an important framing moment. It had the veneer of a legitimate news story without having to abide by any of the conventions of journalism.”

McIntyre, Tweeden’s former co-host at the station, told me that he had “bluntly” lobbied to give Franken more time to respond but was overruled by Drew Hayes, the station’s operations director, and by Nathan Baker, the news director, both of whom feared that the story would leak. McIntyre and Baker confirmed to me that nobody fact-checked Tweeden’s account. They evidently didn’t ask for the names of the people on the U.S.O. tour whom Tweeden said she had confided in at the time; [none were ever named and none ever came forth] in fact, they made no effort to reach anyone who’d been on the trip. They didn’t check the date of the photograph,[Tweedon lied about the date] or look at online videos showing other actresses performing the same role on earlier tours. They didn’t realize that although Tweeden claimed she never let Franken get near her face after the first rehearsal, there were numerous images of her performing the kiss scene with Franken afterward. Nor did they review the script or the photographs showing Tweeden laughing onstage as Franken struck the same “breast exam” pose.

^^^ There's more, much, much more. Read the article.

 

[Victorian Gray]

And the seven other women who came forward?

 

[Victorian Gray]

It's a nice puff piece to start off his 'rehabilitation'.

 

[Perknose]

It's a nice puff piece to start off his 'rehabilitation'.

Why don't you fucking READ IT before commenting? READ IT, read the whole damn thing and then get back to us.

 

[desy]

I never felt Franken did anything wrong as an entertainer, weak and inappropriate sure but nothing to see really

 

[Victorian Gray]

Why don't you fucking READ IT before commenting? READ IT, read the whole damn thing and then get back to us.

EDIT: not sure what's going on with the formatting. Part of the article insists on pasting with strikethrough. Apologies as I can't figure out how to fix it. (end edit)

I have read it. It's already been posted by someone else. I believe these 8 women.

1. Leeann Tweeden

Leeann Tweeden appears on "The View," Nov. 17, 2017.
The first woman to come forward with allegations of impropriety against Franken was Tweeden, a female radio host. She claimed Franken, now Minnesota's junior Democratic senator, groped her while she was sleeping aboard a military plane on her way home from a USO tour in 2006. The alleged incident was captured in a photograph. She also claimed he forcibly kissed her when they were practicing a performance together for troops overseas.

"I felt disgusting and violated," Tweeden wrote in a post on KABC's website on Nov. 16.

Leeann Tweeden posted this photo online that she says was taken while she was asleep on a flight back from a 2006 USO trip. She says it shows then-comedian Al Franken, who is now a U.S. Senator, groping her.more +
Franken apologized to Tweeden in a statement the same day as her post was published and "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."


During an appearance on ABC's "The View" the next day, Tweeden read a letter Franken sent to her that morning, apologizing and saying "there's no excuse" for his behavior in the photo.

2. Lindsay Menz

Menz accused Franken of groping her while posing for a photo together at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010.

“My husband steps away from us to take the photo. I stand next to Sen. Franken and he pulls me into him and then he moves his hand to my butt,” Menz, 33, told ABC News' chief national correspondent Tom Llamas. “I was shocked.”

Franken released a statement after reports multiple women recalled similar incidents as Menz, saying, “I’ve met tens of thousands of people and taken thousands of photographs, often in crowded and chaotic situations. I’m a warm person; I hug people. I’ve learned from recent stories that in some of those encounters, I crossed a line for some women -- and I know that any number is too many."

“Some women have found my greetings or embraces for a hug or photo inappropriate, and I respect their feelings about that,” Franken continued. “I’ve thought a lot in recent days about how that could happen, and recognize that I need to be much more careful and sensitive in these situations. I feel terribly that I’ve made some women feel badly and for that I am so sorry, and I want to make sure that never happens again.”

3. Anonymous Accuser No. 1

The Huffington Post reported the claims of two women whose names were not disclosed.

The first woman's alleged incident reportedly took place on June 25, 2007, at an event in Minneapolis hosted by the Minnesota Women's Political Caucus. Franken was not a senator but would have been running for his senatorial bid at the time of the alleged incident.

"My story is eerily similar to Lindsay Menz’s story," the first woman told Huffington Post. "He grabbed my buttocks during a photo op."

Franken issued a statement to the site, saying, "It’s difficult to respond to anonymous accusers, and I don’t remember those campaign events."

This first accuser told the Huffington Post that she voted for him "after this happened" but wanted to tell her story, calling Franken "a serial groper."

4. Anonymous Accuser No. 2

The second accuser, who also remains anonymous, said that Franken cupped her butt during a Democratic fundraiser in Minneapolis in 2008.

The woman said that he suggested they visit the bathroom together, the Huffington Post reported.

Franken denied the second portion of her claims.

"I can categorically say that I did not proposition anyone to join me in any bathroom," he said in a statement to the site.

Franken has said that he does not remember the specific incidents pointed to in the three incidents which involve photo opportunities at public events.

"I'm someone who, you know, hugs people," Franken told Minnesota Public Radio. "I've learned from these stories that in some of these encounters I have crossed the line for some women."

5. Stephanie Kemplin

Kemplin told CNN that Franken groped her breast while posing for a photo when she was deployed in Kuwait in 2003 and Franken was there as part of a USO tour.

She is the second woman to accuse Franken, who previously starred on "Saturday Night Live," of sexual misconduct during his time entertaining troops abroad.

"When he put his arm around me, he groped my right breast. He kept his hand all the way over on my breast," Kemplin told CNN.

"I remember thinking, 'Is he going to move his hand? Was it an accident? Was he going to move his hand?' He never moved his hand," she said.

Kemplin, who is now 41 years old and lives in Ohio, was 27 years old at the time of the alleged incident and serving as a military police officer.

Franken's spokesperson responded to Kemplin's claims without specifically referring to her by name or citing the alleged incident in a statement given to both CNN and ABC News.

"As Sen. Franken made clear this week, he takes thousands of photos and has met tens of thousands of people and he has never intentionally engaged in this kind of conduct. He remains fully committed to cooperating with the ethics investigation," the spokesperson said in a statement.

6. Anonymous Accuser No. 3, an elected official

A woman told Jezebel about an alleged incident 2006 when Franken gave her a "wet, open-mouthed kiss" during an event.

The woman, who declined to be identified -- saying that she "want my name associated with my own accomplishments ... not publicly linked to a man's bad behavior" -- was reportedly the chair of her town's selectboard at the time of the alleged incident, she told Jezebel.

The woman says Franken was touring with the radio show that he hosted at the time and taped a show in her community. She appeared on the program as a guest and she says the kiss allegedly happened on stage in the theater after it ended when she went to shake his hand.

"He took it [her hand] and leaned toward me with his mouth open. I turned my head away from him and he landed a wet, open-mouthed kiss awkwardly on my cheek," she said.

"I was stunned and incredulous. I felt demeaned. I felt put in my place," she added.

Franken and his office have not specifically responded to this accusation.

7. Anonymous Accuser No. 4, a former congressional aide

The most recent accuser said that her alleged incident also happened in 2006 after a taping of Franken's then-radio show.

The unidentified accuser, who is a former Democratic congressional aide, spoke to Politico and shared how she says she ducked to avoid Franken kissing her as she tried to leave the radio studio.

She said that as she left the room, he allegedly said "It's my right as an entertainer," according to Politico.

"He was between me and the door and he was coming at me to kiss me. It was very quick and I think my brain had to work really hard to be like ‘Wait, what is happening?’ But I knew whatever was happening was not right and I ducked," she told Politico.

Franken released a statement this morning in response to the Politico story.

"This allegation is categorically not true and the idea that I would claim this as my right as an entertainer is preposterous. I look forward to fully cooperating with the ongoing ethics committee investigation,” he said.

8. Tina Dupuy

An eighth accuser came forward on Dec. 6, writing in The Atlantic of an alleged groping incident.

Dupuy, who identifies as a Democrat, wrote that she met Franken at a party thrown by a media group during President Barack Obama's inauguration. At the time, Franken's senatorial race would have been in the midst of a recount. His term officially began in July 2009.

Dupuy writes that she posed for a photo with Franken because her foster mom is a fan of his.

"We posed for the shot. He immediately put his hand on my waist, grabbing a handful of flesh. I froze. Then he squeezed. At least twice," Dupuy wrote.


https://abcnews.go.com/US/sen-al-frankens-accusers-accusations-made/story?id=51406862

 

[DrDoug]

I never felt Franken did anything wrong as an entertainer, weak and inappropriate sure but nothing to see really

Agreed. The whole thing stinks and it all died off when they got what they wanted, his resignation. He may be a crappy comedian but he has spent his life working with others (SNL especially) and nothing inappropriate has ever been reported in those situations.

 

[Perknose]

I have read it. It's already been posted by someone else. I believe these 8 women.

Excuse me, but the other post occurred 5 miinutes before mine. You didn't have time to read this article. You are an intelligent, thoughtful person. I implore you to read the article, all the way through. You wouldn't have posted that you believe Leann if you had, I guarantee you that. Please, please, please just read it.

Meanwhile, I can't merge threads on my device. I've pm'ed another mod to do so. Patience with that, folks.

 

[blankslate]

double post

 

[Perknose]

In my perception Leann Tweeden's allegations (as there has not been an independent investigation that I know of) were more weighty that the subsequent allegations and as I recall most of them revolve around inappropriate touching during photographs.

Please READ THE DAMN ARTICLE YOU LINKED TO before commenting further, would you please? It was a fucking hit job on her part. READ THE DAMN ARTICLE.

At least begin with the parts I excerpted in my OP above, which was 5 minutes later than yours BECAUSE I TOOK THE TIME TO READ THE FUCKING ARTICLE ALL THE WAY THROUGH. You should, too, you know?

 

[blankslate]

And the seven other women who came forward?

But Tweeden’s charges were soon followed by seven additional allegations of groping or unwanted kisses. A pattern of misbehavior is often crucial to proving sexual misconduct. Franken told me, “My first instinct was ‘This doesn’t make any sense. This didn’t happen.’ But then, when they started adding up, I said, ‘Well, maybe I’m doing something I’m not aware of.’ ” He added, “But this was out of the blue for me.”

His staff, too, was flabbergasted. Franken had many high-level women advisers, including a chief of staff and a communications director. They ran his campaigns, did his polling, raised funds, and directed his state office. Staffers were accustomed to keeping a close eye on Franken, but only because they feared that his sense of humor might get him into trouble.

In my perception Leann Tweeden's allegations (as there has not been an independent investigation that I know of) were more weighty that the subsequent allegations and as I recall most of them revolve around inappropriate touching during photographs.

Perhaps this is why Keanu Reeves has become sort of notorious for not touching anyone when he takes pictures with them.

Not that it's a bad thing but I guess considering the current social mores is probably the smartest approach for a guy because we just don't know the extent to which most women have to deal with asshole/oblivious inappropriate touchers.



____________

 

[blankslate]

Please READ THE DAMN ARTICLE YOU LINKED TO before commenting further, would you please? It was a fucking hit job on her part. READ THE DAMN ARTICLE.

At least begin with the parts I excerpted in my OP above, which was 5 minutes later than yours BECAUSE I TOOK THE TIME TO READ THE FUCKING ARTICLE ALL THE WAY THROUGH. You should, too, you know?

As I said I have read a few of the first paragraphs then skimmed the rest when I realized how long it was and since the thread was started Yes I have seen other people who have given evidence to the writer that Leann Tweeden's account isn't 100% up and up, since the original post.

I at least mentioned that I have only skimmed the article before posting about it as the first few paragraphs already brought back the strong opinions I had about the issue when it was a current news item.



________________

 

[Perknose]

As I said I have read a few of the first paragraphs then skimmed the rest when I realized how long it was and since the thread was started Yes I have seen other people who have given evidence to the writer that Leann Tweeden's account isn't 100% up and up, since the original post.

I at least mentioned that I have only skimmed the article before posting about it as the first few paragraphs already brought back the strong opinions I had about the issue when it was a current news

You wouldn't have titled your OP the way you did if you'd taken the time to read the article before posting. It wasn't just about Franken supporters' regrets. It DOCUMENTED Leann Tweedon's LIES and the carefully crafted hit job orchestrated in concert with the puppet masters at the right wing radio station where she worked.

YOU BURIED THE DAMN LEDE, SON. Since you saved time by NOT reading the article, your OP was first and mine was merged into yours. At least read that, please.

 

[DrDoug]

Did anyone ever find the photo that Kemplin claimed that Franken groped her in? As far as any anonymous claims, if they aren't coming forward then they aren't worth considering. That applies to anyone who makes anonymous allegations of this nature about anyone.

 

[Bitek]

A key to Trump's "success" is embracing the lesson that no good deed goes unpunished.

 

[Jaskalas]

Did anyone ever find the photo that Kemplin claimed that Franken groped her in? As far as any anonymous claims, if they aren't coming forward then they aren't worth considering. That applies to anyone who makes anonymous allegations of this nature about anyone.

Evidence isn't exactly a requirement for destroying people's lives. With sexual assault, etc, the accusation alone is considered all the evidence needed.

 

[Jaskalas]

I'll refer back to the original topic.

This incident does not raise to the level of public interest for criminal proceedings. I am not interested in Franken's resignation over this, he is no Roy Moore. Bill O'neill was spot on.

I did not like what I heard Franken do, but neither did I feel it was criminal enough to act on. Bill O'Neill had the wisdom to see through this !@#$.

 

[UNCjigga]

Republicans have run this kind of hit job on Democrats before...

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/was-gary-hart-set-up/570802/

 

[Thump553]

I sincerely hope that Kristen Gillibrand will not be on the 2020 ticket, for I would have an extremely difficult time voting for her because of her role in this railroading. We lost one of the most effective senators in either party because of this hysteria. What Franken was accused of was the equivalent of jaywalking compared to equivalent of 1st degree murder on behalf of Trump, et al, nearly all of whom have gotten off scot free.

 

[Thump553]

Republicans have run this kind of hit job on Democrats before...

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/was-gary-hart-set-up/570802/

This was fratricide by the Dems. All the GOP did here was cheer on.

 

[Greenman]

I always thought Al got raw deal. I didn't much care for his politics, but I don't like to see anyone railroaded.

 

[fskimospy]

With Franken there wasn’t just one accuser, there were large numbers of them. It is exceedingly unlikely that they are all just making this up to get him. What Franken did wasn’t nearly as bad as what people like Kavanaugh most likely did but it doesn’t mean we get to apply different standards of evidence to people just based on their politics.

If you want to say Franken shouldn’t have resigned because what he did wasn’t that bad that’s fair (I would agree!) but I don’t buy the railroading.

 

[Perknose]

With Franken there wasn’t just one accuser, there were large numbers of them. It is exceedingly unlikely that they are all just making this up to get him. What Franken did wasn’t nearly as bad as what people like Kavanaugh most likely did but it doesn’t mean we get to apply different standards of evidence to people just based on their politics.

If you want to say Franken shouldn’t have resigned because what he did wasn’t that bad that’s fair (I would agree!) but I don’t buy the railroading.

Read the damn New Yorker article. Seriously. READ IT! It's quite well documented. Please read it, and then come back and post again. PLEASE!

 

[fskimospy]

Read the damn New Yorker article. Seriously. READ IT! It's quite well documented. Please read it, and then come back and post again. PLEASE!

Already read it.