Republicans are pressuring Democrats in battleground states to return campaign donations they received from Democratic Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota following accusations of sexual assault.
“If Manchin won’t immediately denounce Franken and return his donations, it will be clear he puts partisan politics over basic decency,” the National Republican Senatorial Committee wrote Thursday on its website about West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat.
The group made a similar request of Manchin’s Democratic colleague, Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly. They both received $10,000 donations from Franken, who was accused of sexually assaulting Los Angeles news anchor Leeann Tweeden during a USO event in 2006.
Tweeden alleged that Franken, a writer with “Saturday Night Live” before he became a senator, wrote a script that featured him kissing her, and harassed her during rehearsals, she wrote in an editorial Thursday.
“You knew exactly what you were doing. You forcibly kissed me without my consent, grabbed my breasts while I was sleeping and had someone take a photo of you doing it, knowing I would see it later, and be ashamed,” Tweeden wrote.
Her accusation comes after recent reports showed Alabama Republican senate candidate Roy Moore allegedly inappropriately touched and fondled several underaged teenagers nearly 40 years ago. Six women have accused Moore of sexual misconduct during his time as a district attorney in Alabama.
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