--- title: McConnell Wants Leeann Tweeden Groping Claim Investigated description: Mitch McConnell is calling on the Senate's ethics committee to review groping allegations against Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken canonical: https://time.com/5027735/mitch-mcconnell-investigate-al-franken-groping/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-16T17:26:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2024-01-24T11:42:53.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: McConnell Wants an Investigation of Groping Allegations Against Al Franken og:description: "Regardless of party, harassment and assault are completely unacceptable" og:url: https://time.com/5027735/mitch-mcconnell-investigate-al-franken-groping/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ec414d0ea663eae/6988d8ec0a4a224c639cf650/gettyimages-812747556.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Senate Lawmakers Address The Media After Their Weekly Policy Luncheons og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: McConnell Wants an Investigation of Groping Allegations Against Al Franken twitter:description: "Regardless of party, harassment and assault are completely unacceptable" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ec414d0ea663eae/6988d8ec0a4a224c639cf650/gettyimages-812747556.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mitch McConnell Wants an Investigation of Groping Allegations Against Al Franken > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Updated: Jan 24, 2024 11:42 AM UTCPublished: Nov 16, 2017 5:26 PM UTC  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in Washington, DC on July 11, 2017. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in Washington, DC on July 11, 2017. Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Updated: Jan 24, 2024 11:42 AM UTCPublished: Nov 16, 2017 5:26 PM UTC Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is calling on the Senate’s ethics committee to review [groping allegations against Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken,](http://time.com/5027428/leann-tweeden-senator-al-franken-picture/) after a radio anchor said he kissed and groped her without her consent more than a decade ago. “As with all credible allegations of sexual harassment or assault, I believe the Ethics Committee should review the matter,” McConnell said in a statement Thursday. “I hope the Democratic Leader \[Chuck Schumer\] will join me on this. Regardless of party, harassment and assault are completely unacceptable—in the workplace or anywhere else.” [Schumer took to Twitter](https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/931218214545223681?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.dataminr.com%2Fapp%2Fdashboard.html) shortly thereafter to call for an investigation. “Sexual harassment is never acceptable and must not be tolerated,” he wrote. “I hope and expect that the Ethics Committee will fully investigate this troubling incident, as they should with any credible allegation of sexual harassment.” Franken, in a statement released Thursday, said he is asking for and will fully cooperate with an ethics investigation. Earlier Thursday, Leeann Tweeden wrote a post on the website of her radio station, [790 KABC](http://www.kabc.com/2017/11/16/leeann-tweeden-on-senator-al-franken/), alleging that Franken kissed her without consent and later groped her breasts while she was asleep during a 2006 United Service Organizations tour in Afghanistan. She provided a photograph of the alleged incident. “Every time I hear his voice or see his face, I am angry. I am angry that I did his stupid skit for the rest of that tour,” Tweeden wrote of her experience emceeing alongside then-comedian Franken. “I am angry that I didn’t call him out in front of everyone when I had the microphone in my hand every night after that. “Someday, I thought to myself, I would tell my story,” she added. “That day is now. Senator Franken, you wrote the script. But there’s nothing funny about sexual assault.” In a statement released Thursday, Franken apologized to Tweeden. He wrote: --- > “” --- On Monday, McConnell urged [Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore](http://time.com/5025829/will-roy-moore-win-will-doug-jones-win/), who is also battling sexual misconduct allegations, to [“step aside.”](http://time.com/5021589/roy-moore-mitch-mcconnell/) McConnell doubled down on the sentiment a day later, telling reporters: “He’s obviously not fit to be in the United States Senate.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5027735/mitch-mcconnell-investigate-al-franken-groping/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5027735/mitch-mcconnell-investigate-al-franken-groping/"},"headline":"Mitch McConnell Wants an Investigation of Groping Allegations Against Al Franken","datePublished":"2017-11-16T17:26:00.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-24T11:42:53.000Z","description":"Leeann Tweeden said Franken kissed and groped her without her consent more than a decade ago.","url":"https://time.com/5027735/mitch-mcconnell-investigate-al-franken-groping/","keywords":["Senate","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ec414d0ea663eae/6988d8ec0a4a224c639cf650/gettyimages-812747556.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ec414d0ea663eae/6988d8ec0a4a224c639cf650/gettyimages-812747556.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Lawmakers Address The Media After Their Weekly Policy Luncheons","caption":"Senate Lawmakers Address The Media After Their Weekly Policy Luncheons","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/senate/","name":"Senate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5027735/mitch-mcconnell-investigate-al-franken-groping/","name":"Mitch McConnell Wants an Investigation of Groping Allegations Against Al Franken"}}]}] ```