Woman Accuses Al Franken Of Groping Her During 2010 Photo Op

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), listens during the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on "Russian Interference in the 2016 United States Election", with witnesses: The Honorable Sally Q. Yates, Former Acting Attorney Ge... Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), listens during the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on "Russian Interference in the 2016 United States Election", with witnesses: The Honorable Sally Q. Yates, Former Acting Attorney General of the U.S., and The Honorable James R. Clapper, Former Director of National Intelligence of the U.S., in the Senate Hart building on Capitol Hill, on Monday, May 8th, 2017. (Photo by Cheriss May) *** Please Use Credit from Credit Field ***(Sipa via AP Images) MORE LESS
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Another woman accused Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) of sexual misconduct Monday, telling CNN that the senator grabbed her butt while the two took a photo together at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010.

Lindsay Menz told CNN in an interview published Monday morning that she met Franken in the summer of 201o at the state fair and posed for a picture with him after a brief conversation. When her husband went to snap the photo, the senator “pulled me in really close, like awkward close, and as my husband took the picture, he put his hand full-fledged on my rear,” Menz said.

“It was wrapped tightly around my butt cheek,” she told CNN. “It wasn’t around my waist. It wasn’t around my hip or side. It was definitely on my butt.”

In a statement to CNN, Franken said he feels bad that Menz felt “disrespected” but said he did not recall taking the photo.

“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 in the statement. “I feel badly that Ms. Menz came away from our interaction feeling disrespected.”

Menz is the first woman to accused Franken of sexual misconduct while he was a sitting senator. Los Angeles radio host Leeann Tweeden accused Franken of forcibly kissing her and groping her in 2006, before he took office as a senator. Franken apologized to Tweeden but also said he didn’t remember the incident “in the same way.” The senator called for the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate that incident and said he would fully cooperate.

Menz’s family recalls her relaying the story to them immediately after the picture was taken. Both of her parents told CNN that Menz told them that Franken grabbed her butt while taking the picture. Her husband, who took the photo, told CNN that Franken pulled his wife close to him for the photo.

“He reached around her and kind of pulled her into him,” Jeremy Menz told CNN. “He pulled her in and pushed his head against her head. It was over pretty quick.”

Read CNN’s full report here.

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  1. Color me skeptical. Is that because I like Al Franken’s politics? Very likely. And I’d like to believe that he would not have been that dumb, especially with the woman’s husband right there. And with who knows how many people who might have seen him grab her if he did. Then again, men are often incredibly dumb.

    (In the photo, does she look like she’s being groped? I mean, far as I know, she’s not a model or an actress. But I suppose he could have grabbed her right after the shot was taken.)

  2. Cue vicarious outrage, 5…4…3…2…1

    Lindsay Menz: “I’m a God lover, wife, mother, event planner, world traveler, wannabe-runner & photographer. I have a fabulous family & rockstar friends. Blessed.”

    the next thing is “He looked at me with lust in his eyes”

  3. And the smear job on Franken continues.

  4. So the hysteria is now full-blown.

    I wonder if the husband is one of those types who says, “Hey, if I was there during a mass shooting, I’d go in and take him out myself!” Because it’s disappointing that if my wife said, “That guy grabbed/touched/brushed up against my butt,” I’d wait such a long time to say something. I would’ve said something immediately, like “Want to take back a stump, buddy?”

    The allegations against Moore are far more serious, but as it usually plays out with hysteria, this is going to overshadow it, which means the 80s reboot of the Daycare Child Satanic-Sex-Abuse Episode is underway.

  5. FOX: We need to appoint Roy Moore to look into these allegations. Soul of our great white nation is at stake.

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