Hours after hearing radio broadcaster Leeann Tweeden’s story of experiencing unwanted sexual advances by Senator Franken in 2006, a Minnesota woman reportedly contacted CNN to tell of her own encounter with Senator Al Franken in 2010. Lindsay Menz, a 33-year-old woman, said the “uncomfortable” interaction at the Minnesota State Fair left her feeling “gross.”
Menz attended the fair with her husband and father in the summer of 2010, two years into Al Franken’s Senate term. Her father’s small business was sponsoring a local radio booth where she met and took pictures with various elected officials, one of them being Senator Franken. Menz’s husband was taking a picture of her and the senator when she said Franken “pulled me in really close, like awkward close, and as my husband took the picture, he put his hand full-fledged on my rear.”
“It wasn’t around my waist. It wasn’t around my hip or side. It was definitely on my butt,” she said. “He reached around her and kind of pulled her into him,” said her husband, Jeremy Menz, who couldn’t see what was happening behind the two.
Senator Franken told CNN he couldn’t remember the picture being taken because he has taken “thousands of photos at the state fair surrounded by hundreds of people.” Jeremy Menz said the incident left him in “in shock” and “upset,” and the couple told the rest of the family what happened right away.
Lindsey Menz’s father didn’t witness the moment but told CNN that his daughter told him about the incident immediately. Menz’s mother, Jodi Brown, also told CNN that she discussed the incident with her daughter immediately after it happened. She remembered her son-in-law saying to her: “Our Senator just groped my wife right in front of me.”
Menz told CNN that she “absolutely” would not have decided to share her story had Tweeden not done the same and says she hopes that other women with negative interactions with the senator would have the courage to say something as well. Senator Franken has said he would comply with an Ethics Committee investigation, but with this new accusation, speculation is rising as to whether he will resign.