Al Franken Groping Scandal: Accuser Accepts Senator's Apology

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Leeann Tweeden, a news anchor on 790 KABC talk radio, published a story Thursday morning accusing Sen. Al Franken of kissing and groping her without her consent while on a USO tour in 2006. Shortly after the allegations were made public, multiple lawmakers called for an investigation into Franken's actions, which the senator said he will support.

Franken, now a Minnesota Democrat, was a professional comedian at the time, and he and Tweeden were scheduled to do a skit together in which they were supposed to kiss, she writes. She says she wasn't planning on kissing him and would turn her head away at the last moment. But before they were to go on stage, Franken insisted on a practicing the kiss, according to Tweeden's account. She wrote that she allowed the practice kiss, but didn't agree to what ended up happening during the surprise rehearsal.

"We did the line leading up to the kiss and then he came at me, put his hand on the back of my head, mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth," she wrote. "I immediately pushed him away with both of my hands against his chest and told him if he ever did that to me again I wouldn’t be so nice about it the next time."

She added: "I felt disgusted and violated."

Later, she said, she was shown a photograph of Franken groping her while she was asleep.

“I certainly don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann," Franken said in a statement. "As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn’t. I shouldn’t have done it.”

While the photo does show him reaching toward Tweeden's chest, skeptics have questioned if the photo actually shows Franken touching her.

"It is not clear from the photo if Franken was actually touching Tweeden or if he was pretending to do so while coming very close to it, which is not much of a defense," wrote reporter Daniel Dale with the Toronto Star.

In Franken's book, "Giant of the Senate," he recounts how several of his past remarks about sex, including a joke about rape, came up during his campaign in 2008.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released a statement calling for an Ethics Committee review of the charges against Franken.

"I hope the Democratic Leader will join me on this," he wrote. "Regardless of party, harassment and assault are completely unacceptable—in the workplace on anywhere else."

Franken, in a second statement, echoed the call for an investigation into his actions and said he would cooperate fully. He apologized to Tweeden, an apology she accepted later in a TV interview. She did not say she was calling for him step down.

Tweeden added that another woman, whom she did not name, has texted her to share a related story about Franken. Tweeden did not expand on this story.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer joined the call for an ethics investigation.

"Sexual harassment is never acceptable and must not be tolerated," Schumer tweeted. "I hope and expect that the Ethics Committee will fully investigate this troubling incident, as they should with any credible allegation of sexual harassment."

Speaking on her radio show Thursday morning, Tweeden said she didn't come forward with the allegations sooner because she feared her career, including a stint as a swimsuit model, would lead others to discount her story.

"I felt belittled. I was ashamed. I've had to live with this for 11 years," she said on-air. "Somehow it was going to be my fault. It was not going to be worth the fight."

The allegations come as a wave of sexual harassment and assault claims have emerged in industries across the country. Notable and powerful figures including Harvey Weinstein, Louis C.K., Judge Roy Moore and President Trump have all been accused of sexual misconduct.

"While debating whether or not to go public, I even thought to myself, so much worse has happened to so many others, maybe my story isn’t worth telling?" Tweeden wrote. "But my story is worth telling."

She continued: "I’m telling my story because there may be others. ... I want the days of silence to be over forever."

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, joined the calls for an investigation into Franken's behavior.

This is the full second statement Franken released on the allegations:

Watch: Radio Host Leeann Tweeden Accepts Franken's Apology

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Correction: This story initially included a statement from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse as reported by an ABC News reporter. The reporter since said that her initial description of the remarks was incorrect, and this story has been revised.

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images