Virginia GOP Senate candidate Corey Stewart says Sen. Al Franken’s fellow lawmakers should toss him from the Senate after a woman came forward to accuse him of forcibly kissing her without her consent a decade ago.
Mr. Stewart said Sen. Tim Kaine, who is seeking re-election, and other lawmakers that have called on Roy Moore to drop out of the Alabama Senate race over allegations of sexual misconduct with teenagers are being hypocrites by giving Mr. Franken, Minnesota Democrat, more leeway.
“Given Al Franken’s admission of guilt in the matter of his sexual abuse of Leeann Tweeden, and the existence of photographic evidence of Al Franken’s abuse, Tim Kaine and Mitch McConnell should move to immediately expel Senator Franken from the U.S. Senate,” Mr. Stewart said in a press release.
“Tim Kaine called on Roy Moore to step aside for unproven 40-year-old allegations, or be defeated,” he said. “Yet Kaine remains silent on Al Franken.”
The Kaine camp dismissed the charge that the Virginia Democrat has been mum on the issue, pointing out Mr. Kaine said Mr. Franken’s “behavior is unacceptable” and said that Mr. McConnell’s call for an ethics investigation “has merit.”
“That is what you have an ethics committee for and I am happy that he has said, ’I will cooperate with that,’” Mr. Kaine told MSNBC.
Mr. Stewart, meanwhile, has defended Mr. Moore, calling the accusations against him unsubstantiated.
On Friday, Mr. Stewart also took aim at reports that Congress has doled out $15 million in taxpayer funds to silence people who leveled allegations of sexual harassment at lawmakers.
“The fact that Congressional slush fund used to pay hush money to victims of Congressional sexual abuse is a perfect summary of how Washington works — These senators and representatives quite literally go to D.C. and end up doing nothing but playing grab-ass, and using taxpayer dollars to cover it up,” he said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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