Senator Richard Blumenthal told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that Minnesota Senator Al Franken had engaged in “repugnant” behavior during a 2006 USO tour when he is accused of forcibly kissing and groping a fellow female performer.
“This kind of conduct is totally unacceptable, abhorrent and repugnant and I think Al Franken’s apology recognizes it,” Blumenthal said.
Franken, a Democrat, is facing an ethics investigation after a Los Angeles radio host revealed on Thursday that Franken kissed and groped her against her will in 2006. He did not deny the account by Leeann Tweeden that he kissed her without consent while they rehearsed a comedy skit during the tour of the Middle East and Afghanistan, about two years before he was elected to the U.S. Senate.
She also posted a photograph — which she learned about after the fact — of a grinning Franken, his hands reaching at her breasts as she slept.
Blumenthal told Blitzer that he hopes the ethics investigation will find the full truth and determine whether any sanctions or penalties are appropriate.
Read more in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.