White House press secretary Sarah Sanders blasted reporters on Friday for trying to draw comparisons between Minnesota Sen. Al Franken and President Trump, both of whom have been accused of sexual assault and harassment.
“Al Franken has admitted wrongdoing, and President Trump has not. That’s a very clear distinction,” Sanders said during the daily briefing.
Sarah Sanders: “The American people spoke very loud and clear when they elected this president.” pic.twitter.com/XV3JQ6N2A0
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) November 17, 2017
Franken issued an apology on Thursday to Leeann Tweeden, a radio newscaster who said he made unwanted advances against her during a 2006 U.S.O. tour of the Middle East, and then groped her on board a plane while she was sleeping. Tweeden released a photo of the incident in which Franken could be seen grinning as he grabbed her breasts.
“The first thing I want to do is apologize: to Leeann, to everyone else who was part of that tour, to everyone who has worked for me, to everyone I represent, and to everyone who counts on me to be an ally and supporter and champion of women,” the Democratic senator said in a statement.
Franken himself supported his colleagues’ calls on Thursday for a Senate Ethics Committee investigation into his behavior.
“It appears that the Senate is looking into that, which they should, and we feel that’s an appropriate reaction,” Sanders said.
In a series of tweets late Thursday evening, Trump said the picture of Franken and Tweeden was “really bad” and “speaks a thousand words.”
“Where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 while she sleeps?” the president wrote.
Dozens of reporters and political pundits fired back at Trump shortly after the tweets, noting that Trump himself was caught admitting to making unwanted advances on women in the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape released just before last year’s presidential election.
The president also faced backlash for quickly weighing in on the incident involving Franken but declining to speak publicly about Alabama Senate GOP candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexually assaulting teenagers when he was in his 30s.
“He has weighed in on Roy Moore. He did it while he was on a foreign trip in Asia. I did it yesterday,” Sanders said, referring to Thursday’s briefing with reporters. “In fact, I took about 15 questions on that topic and only one on Franken.”
When asked if the White House still believes the women who came forward were lying, Sanders said Trump has denied all of the allegations made during the campaign.
