Self-described feminist Arianna Huffington defended Sen. Al Franken Monday from harassment accusations after photos surfaced where the Minnesota Democrat appears to be groping various parts of her body.
Page Six released previously unpublished photos from a shoot Huffington and Franken did in 2000. Franken can be seen touching Huffington’s behind in one and placing his hands on her breasts in another photo.
Huffington, the co-founder of The Huffington Post, defended the photos, telling Page Six in a statement that nothing untoward happened in the photo shoot, adding that she has been friends with Franken and his wife for over twenty years.
“The notion that there was anything inappropriate in this photo shoot is truly absurd. Al and I did a comedic sketch for Bill Maher’s ‘Politically Incorrect’ called ‘Strange Bedfellows,’ in which the whole point, as the name makes clear, was that we were doing political commentary from bed. This shoot was looking back at the sketch, and we were obviously hamming it up for comedic effect,” Huffington told the outlet.
At least two women have come forward to allege Franken groped them years ago. The first allegation came from a radio host that released a picture showing Franken putting his hands on her breast. Another woman alleged that Franken put his hand on her behind while they took a picture, but Franken said he didn’t remember the situation.
The senator apologized for his actions and agreed to participate in an ethics investigation.
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