Minnesota Sen. Al Franken on Thursday was accused of groping and kissing a woman without her consent in 2006, two years before he was elected to the Senate.

The revelation, quickly followed by a Franken apology, led to widespread condemnation, including calls from some fellow Democrats for Franken to resign, and the likelihood of a Senate ethics probe.

The woman, model and radio host Leeann Tweeden, supplied a picture: Franken is grinning at the camera, his hands mock grasping above her clothed breasts while she sleeps aboard a cargo plane following a USO tour entertaining American soldiers overseas.

Franken didn’t deny the photograph’s authenticity — or its offensiveness — issuing a lengthy apology and self-reckoning, saying, “I feel disgusted with myself.”

As for the alleged forced kiss, which Tweeden said happened during a skit rehearsal while the two were alone, Franken said his recollection differed from Tweeden’s, but he didn’t take the accusation head-on. “I understand why we need to listen to and believe women’s experiences,” he said.

Thursday evening, President Donald Trump criticized Franken in a pair of tweets.

“The Al Frankenstien [sic] picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words. Where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 while she sleeps? …..” tweeted Trump, himself no stranger to allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior. “And to think that just last week he was lecturing anyone who would listen about sexual harassment and respect for women. Lesley Stahl tape?”

The Al Frankenstien picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words. Where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 while she sleeps? ….. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 17, 2017

.And to think that just last week he was lecturing anyone who would listen about sexual harassment and respect for women. Lesley Stahl tape? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 17, 2017

The mention of Lesley Stahl appears to refer to a prior Franken controversy over his contemplating a rape joke in 1995.

RELATED: Al Franken: ‘I feel disgusted with myself’ over groping photo, calls for investigation of himself

Tweeden, who said she spoke out because “it’s time I tell my story,” accepted Franken’s apology. “Yes, people make mistakes and, of course, he knew he made a mistake,” she said at a news conference in Los Angeles, where she works as a radio news anchor for KABC.

In an interview with CNN, she said, “I believe him. I think it’s heartfelt.”

CNN’s @jaketapper: “Do you accept (Al Franken)’s apology?” Leeann Tweeden: “I do … I believe him and I think it is heartfelt”https://t.co/D0VAs71eOO — CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 16, 2017

REACTION

The reaction from Franken’s colleagues was swift and strong. Franken now appears destined for a Senate Ethics Committee investigation — called for by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. — and by Franken himself. Related Articles The COVID-19 vaccine got political this week. Here’s a look at the facts.

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A number of fellow Democrats, including U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Rep Betty McCollum of St. Paul, and Gov. Mark Dayton, widely condemned his actions. Some, including candidates for governor state Rep. Erin Murphy and State Auditor Rebecca Otto called on him to resign. Jennifer Carnahan, chairwoman of the Minnesota Republican Party, called for Franken to resign as well.

Tweeden said she would leave any disciplinary action up to Senate leaders and was not calling for Franken to step down. “That’s up to them. I’m not demanding that.”

The incident makes Franken the latest in a procession of powerful men exposed of behaving inappropriately, a phenomenon stretching from the state Capitol in St. Paul to Hollywood to Washington, D.C., where two days prior lawmakers acknowledged sexual harassment is a pervasive problem.

Franken, a comic-turned-lawmaker who has positioned himself as a champion of women’s issues, has come under fire before for remarks about women. However, those dated back to his tenure with Saturday Night Live, before his foray into politics, and supporters had reluctantly pardoned the actions as those from the man’s past life.

Thursday’s revelation was more current.

In December 2006, Franken was a host on the liberal Air America satellite radio station, already angling for the Senate. He announced his candidacy two months later. He and his wife, Franni, have been married since 1975; they have two children, who were grown by 2006.

Tweeden, whose father served in Vietnam, had done a number of USO tours to entertain American soldiers — shows often filled with sexual innuendo. Franken was the headliner.

THE ALLEGATIONS

Franken had written a script that included a kiss, Tweeden wrote Thursday in her online account of the incident. He insisted they rehearse, she said.

“We did the line leading up to the kiss and then he came at me, put his hand on the back of my head, mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth,” she wrote. “I immediately pushed him away with both of my hands against his chest and told him if he ever did that to me again I wouldn’t be so nice about it the next time.

“I walked away. All I could think about was getting to a bathroom as fast as possible to rinse the taste of him out of my mouth. I felt disgusted and violated.”

On Christmas Eve, while flying back to America from Afghanistan aboard a C-17 cargo plane, Tweeden fell asleep in her flak vest and helmet. It wasn’t until she was back in America that she learned what had happened, she said, when a photographer gave her a CD with photos on it, including the one with Franken’s hands over her chest.

“I couldn’t believe it. He groped me, without my consent, while I was asleep,” Tweeden wrote. “I felt violated all over again.”

She said she didn’t tell anyone aside from her then-boyfriend, now husband, because she worried it could hurt her career as a broadcaster.

“But that was then, this is now,” she wrote. “I’m no longer afraid.”

FRANKEN APOLOGY

Franken’s apology seemed to acknowledge the potential hypocrisy of a liberal championing women’s issues now answering for chauvinistic conduct.

“I don’t know what was in my head when I took that picture, and it doesn’t matter,” he said in a statement. “There’s no excuse. I look at it now and I feel disgusted with myself. It isn’t funny. It’s completely inappropriate. It’s obvious how Leeann would feel violated by that picture. And, what’s more, I can see how millions of other women would feel violated by it — women who have had similar experiences in their own lives, women who fear having those experiences, women who look up to me, women who have counted on me.”

In June 2008, Franken secured the nomination of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party amid criticism for a 2000 Playboy magazine piece he authored about the joys of pornography and a 1995 magazine piece in which he was quoted proposing a joke he contemplated about raping a passed out woman, or taking pictures of her in “various positions.”

The 1995 New Yorker piece described SNL writers brainstorming a skit involving the late “60 Minutes” commentator Andy Rooney. Related Articles Biden to GOP senators: Don’t jam through Ginsburg nominee

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According to the article, Franken suggests having Rooney say: “I give the pills to Leslie Stahl. Then when Leslie is passed out, I take her to the closet and rape her. Or ‘That’s why you never see Lesley until February. Or, ‘When she passes out. I put her in various positions and take pictures of her.’ ”

In his acceptance speech, he said: “It kills me that things I said and wrote sent a message to some of my friends in this room and people in this state that they can’t count on me to be a champion for women, a champion for all Minnesotans, in this campaign and in the Senate. I’m sorry for that.”

Franken defeated incumbent Norm Coleman by 312 votes following a contentious recount and court battle. He was re-elected in 2014.