"All I could think about was getting to a bathroom as fast as possible to rinse the taste of him out of my mouth..."
- Leeann Tweeden, Al Franken's accuser
Senator Al Franken has been accused of sexual misconduct. This comes just one day after Congress unveiled the "ME TOO Congress Bill" to overhaul sexual harassment policies on Capitol Hill.
Leeann Tweeden, a news reporter in Los Angeles, made her allegations public this morning.
The accusations involve two encounters, both of which took place while on a trip to the Middle East where Tweeden and Franklen were traveling to entertain US troops.
The first encounter involved a skit which Franken had written and featured Tweeden. Tweeden said:
"When I saw the script, Franken had written a moment when his character comes at me for a ‘kiss’. I suspected what he was after...
"On the day of the show Franken and I were alone backstage going over our lines one last time. He said to me, “We need to rehearse the kiss.” I laughed and ignored him. Then he said it again...He continued to insist, and I was beginning to get uncomfortable.
"He repeated that actors really need to rehearse everything and that we must practice the kiss. I said ‘OK’ so he would stop badgering me. 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.
"I walked away. All I could think about was getting to a bathroom as fast as possible to rinse the taste of him out of my mouth."
The second, and apparently more brazen encounter happened on a plane returning from Afghanistan.
Tweeden continued:
"The tour wrapped and on Christmas Eve we began the 36-hour trip home to L.A. After 2 weeks of grueling travel and performing I was exhausted. When our C-17 cargo plane took off from Afghanistan I immediately fell asleep, even though I was still wearing my flak vest and Kevlar helmet.
"It wasn’t until I was back in the US and looking through the CD of photos we were given by the photographer that I saw this one:
"I couldn’t believe it. He groped me, without my consent, while I was asleep."