ANOTHER ONE: Army Veteran Claims Al Franken Groped Her in 2003
CNN reported on Thursday that a new allegation of sexual misconduct has been leveled against Sen. Al Franken.
An army veteran told CNN that while she was serving in Kuwait in 2003, prolific groper Franken cupped her breast during a photo op.
The claim is the latest in a series of allegations of sexual misconduct leveled at the Democrat Senator, kickstarted by radio host Leeann Tweeden, who claimed Franken forcibly kissed her — she also released a photo of him groping her while she slept — during a USO tour in 2006.
Stephanie Kemplin, 41, is now the fifth woman to come forward and accuse the Minnesota Democrat of inappropriate touching.
From CNN:
Kemplin said while she was stationed in the Middle East during the Iraq War, she met Franken — at the time, a comedian and writer — as he was visiting American troops with the USO. A longtime fan of “Saturday Night Live,” Kemplin got in line to take a photo with Franken.
“When he put his arm around me, he groped my right breast. He kept his hand all the way over on my breast,” Kemplin said in an interview. “I’ve never had a man put their arm around me and then cup my breast. So he was holding my breast on the side.”
Kemplin repeatedly told CNN she was “embarrassed” by the incident, and said she remembered 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.
CNN reported that the reason the Franken news was especially troubling for Kemplin is because she was sexually assaulted by a specialist with whom she shared a tent in 2003 “just months before her run-in with Franken.”
Franken has repeatedly apologized for his behavior, but has said he does not recall some of the groping incidents. He has refused to resign from the Senate, instead agreeing to comply with an ethics investigation.
A Franken spokesperson provided the following response to the fresh allegation:
“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.”
[image via screengrab]
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