Accusers Say Franken Not Owning Up To Alleged Behavior
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Several among the group of eight women who have accused Senator Al Franken of past sexual misconduct are now speaking publicly, and all of them are making it clear that they are not pleased with his words spoken on the Senate floor Thursday.
"Some of the allegations are simply not true, others I remember very differently," Franken said on his resignation speech on the Senate floor.
Alleged victim Tina Dupuy, who wrote of her encounter in Wednesday's The Atlantic said Franken groped her at a 2009 inaugural party for President Obama.
After Franken's resignation speech, Dupuy called it, "disappointing."
"It wasn't an apology, it was very defiant," she said. "He wanted to talk about the pain he was going through, obviously, but not the pain he's inflicted."
Dupuy's article Wednesday was apparently the final straw for fellow lawmakers, who quickly lined up to call for the Senator's resignation.
"I know there's been a very different picture painted of me over the last few weeks, but I know who I really am," Franken said in his speech.
Stephanie Kemplin, who alleges that Franken groped her during his USO tour to Kuwait in 2003 while she was serving in the Army, said his words rang hollow.
"I'm very disappointed that he wants to say we took his actions in the wrong way, not the way he intended it," she said. "Which, I don't know what other way to take groping."
Lindsay Menz, who was allegedly groped by Franken as she stood for a photograph at the 2010 Minnesota State Fair spoke to ABC's Nightline.
"For him to not acknowledge, own up and apologize is really a big deal," she said. "It showed his character, showed how he felt about the situation."
Gov. Mark Dayton told reporters on Friday that there are a number of potential appointees he is mulling over to fill the soon vacated seat.