Journalist Tina Dupuy became the eighth woman on Wednesday to accuse Al Franken of sexual misconduct, writing in The Atlantic that the embattled Minnesota Senator groped her in 2009 at a Media Matters party during Barack Obama’s inauguration.
“D.C. was decked out and packed in for the inauguration of a young and popular new president. The town was buzzing with optimism, and one of the many events on our list was a swanky Media Matters party with Democratic notables everywhere,” the former communications director for Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson wrote in the article titled, “I Believe Franken’s Accusers Because He Groped Me, Too.”
“Then I saw Al Franken,” Dupuy wrote. “I only bug celebrities for pictures when it’ll make my foster mom happy. She loves Franken, so I asked to get a picture with him. We posed for the shot. He immediately put his hand on my waist, grabbing a handful of flesh. I froze. Then he squeezed. At least twice.”
“Al Franken’s familiarity was inappropriate and unwanted. It was also quick; he knew exactly what he was doing,” wrote Dupuy, who said, “I don’t let my husband touch me like that in public because I believe it diminishes me as a professional woman.”
In addition to Dupuy, six other women have accused Franken of sexual misconduct after radio host Leeann Tweeden published a photo last month of Franken grabbing her breast during a two week USO Tour in 2006.
Democratic senators have come out in droves urging Franken resign, including several high-ranking female lawmakers.
“We have to rise to the occasion, and not shrink away from it, even when it’s hard, especially when it’s hard. That is what this larger moment is about,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand wrote on Wednesday in a statement on Facebook.
Franken took to Twitter Wednesday promising to address the growing scandal in a statement on Thursday.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson
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