He was very likely going to survive the Leeann Tweeden imbroglio. What would put him in real danger would be an accusation from his time as senator and/or any suggestion that he’s a repeat offender. The latest accusation from a woman who says Franken grabbed her backside during a photo at the Minnesota state fair in 2010 constitutes both. Given that she complained about the interaction at the time on Facebook, she’s credible. This pushes Franken closer to the brink, although I’m guessing it will take something else — and perhaps something more lurid — to push him over the edge. ||||| On Nov. 20, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders backtracked on President Trump's tweets where he called UCLA basketball players "ungrateful" and said, "I should have left them in jail!" (Reuters) 
 
 Is Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) a serial groper? 
 
 That's the question inevitably raised now that a second woman is saying Franken grabbed her inappropriately, this time when he was taking a photo with her in 2010 at the Minnesota State Fair. 
 
 He “pulled me in really close, like awkward close, and as my husband took the picture, he put his hand full-fledged on my rear,” Lindsay Menz told CNN's MJ Lee, who broke the story Monday. “It was wrapped tightly around my butt cheek.” 
 
 Menz is the second woman in less than a week to go on the record that Franken touched her inappropriately. On Thursday, Los Angeles radio host Leann Tweeden accused Franken of forcibly kissing her while overseas in 2006, then grabbing her breasts while she slept on the flight home. She offered photographic proof of the latter accusation. 
 
 In this post-Harvey Weinstein era, one allegation (and photo) of sexual misconduct was enough for most Senate Democrats to say the Senate Ethics Committee should investigate Franken, which could result in him being censured or even kicked out of the Senate. Franken himself eventually said he welcomed the ethics investigation. 
 
 Senators from both parties on Nov. 16 called for an ethics probe into Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) after broadcaster Leeann Tweeden said he "forcibly kissed" and groped her in 2006. (Bastien Inzaurralde,Alice Li,Rhonda Colvin/The Washington Post) 
 
 But they didn't ask for him to resign. That could change with Menz's allegation. Here are a few reasons it is even more damning for Franken right now: 
 
 1. This second allegation raises questions of whether this is a pattern of behavior for Franken: It's possible that Franken could have successfully navigated the Tweeden allegations with his political career intact. He said he didn't remember the kiss backstage on a USO tour the way she did, and he said he was joking when he grabbed her breasts for a photo. At the time, he was a comedian. A tasteless joke, but a joke. He eventually apologized, and Tweeden accepted it. 
 
 These Menz allegations get a lot harder for Franken to navigate that way. He wasn't on a USO tour acting up to cheer up the troops. He was meeting his constituents at a Minnesota State Fair. And if he did indeed grab a woman's buttocks whom he didn't know on one of the most routine events for a politician to attend, how many times did it happen? 
 
 2. Menz alleges this happened while Franken was a sitting U.S. senator: Franken got elected two years after Tweeden says he forcibly kissed and groped her. 
 
 Franken had been elected a senator for two years when Menz said he grabbed her butt for a photo. 
 
 That's a huge difference, both in terms of perception and punishment. Up until now, most of the allegations of sexual misconduct levied against politicians in this post-Weinstein era have been brought up from their past, not when they were sitting members of Congress. 
 
 The Senate has the right to kick out one of its own for any reason it wants, but that hasn't happened since the Civil War. The Senate Ethics Committee has hesitated to punish senators for misconduct that allegedly happened before they were elected to the Senate. It may be more inclined to get tough on Franken given this allegedly happened while he was in the Senate. 
 
 3. Franken didn't deny it: He issued a non-denial denial to CNN's Lee: 
 
 I take thousands of photos at the state fair surrounded by hundreds of people, and I certainly don't remember taking this picture. I feel badly that Ms. Menz came away from our interaction feeling disrespected. 
 
 In addition, Menz's husband, who was the one who took the picture, confirms his wife told him immediately after the picture that Franken grabbed her inappropriately. According to CNN's Lee, Menz also accused Franken on social media right after the incident of “TOTALLY molested me!” 
 
 4. Franken himself has said that accusers should get the benefit of the doubt: As The Fix's Aaron Blake has documented here. One example: 
 
 Sexual harassment and violence are unacceptable. We all must do our part to listen, stand with, and support survivors. — Sen. Al Franken (@SenFranken) October 23, 2017 
 
 If we are to take Franken at his word then, Menz's allegations become a lot more credible. ||||| Lindsey Menz says Al Franken’s hands wandered into illicit territory while this 2010 photo was being taken. 
 
 Just when it looked like Al Franken’s Senate career might survive allegations of sexual assault (and a deadly photo of him groping or threatening to grope a sleeping woman), a new allegation arose, from a Texas woman who says she had an “uncomfortable” encounter with Franken while having her photo taken with him at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010: 
 
 [A]s her husband held up her phone and got ready to snap a photo of the two of them, Franken “pulled me in really close, like awkward close, and as my husband took the picture, he put his hand full-fledged on my rear,” [Lindsey] Menz said. “It was wrapped tightly around my butt cheek.” 
 
 “It wasn’t around my waist. It wasn’t around my hip or side. It was definitely on my butt,” she said, recalling that the brazen act lasted three or four seconds. “I was like, oh my God, what’s happening.” 
 
 Franken says he has no recollection of the incident: 
 
 “I take thousands of photos at the state fair surrounded by hundreds of people, and I certainly don’t remember taking this picture,” Franken said. “I feel badly that Ms. Menz came away from our interaction feeling disrespected.” 
 
 What makes this allegation different from the earlier accusation by TV personality Leeann Tweeden (other than the lack of photo evidence) is that it occurred after Franken was elected to the Senate. That makes it squarely within the jurisdiction of the Senate Ethics Committee, which was already expected to investigate the Minnesotan, at his own request. 
 
 It also quite obviously makes the Tweeden incident look like part of a pattern rather than an isolated mistake. 
 
 Menz may not have any corroborating evidence of her allegation (other than the photo with Franken that only shows the pair from the shoulders up), but her credibility is enhanced by the fact that she told family members about it immediately, and even mentioned it on Facebook, writing “Dude – Al Franken TOTALLY molested me! Creeper!” in an exchange visible to her Facebook friends. 
 
 The new allegation was made directly to CNN after it reported the Tweeden story. The fate of Al Franken’s political career, if it has not already been sealed, may depend on whether other women now come forward in response to fresh evidence that the senator had a problem that led to inappropriate if not criminal conduct.
– Al Franken got another round of bad headlines Monday when a second woman emerged to accuse him of sexual harassment. In the latest case, the woman says Franken groped her behind while they posed together for a photo at the Minnesota State Fair. The development has only heightened the speculation on whether Franken will be able to survive a scandal that began when Leeann Tweeden shared a photo of Franken mugging for the camera with his hands hovering over her breasts. Tweeden also accused him of a forcible kiss. Details and developments: Big distinction: This incident occurred in 2010, when Franken was already a senator, notes Ed Kilgore at New York. That means the Senate ethics panel has direct jurisdiction over this one, unlike the earlier incident, which occurred during Franken's pre-Senate days. "It also quite obviously makes the Tweeden incident look like part of a pattern rather than an isolated mistake." More serious: At the Washington Post, Amber Phillips writes that it seemed plausible Franken would weather the first storm, because he could pass off the lurid photo as a tasteless joke. But now she's not so sure. The new incident raises the question: Is Franken "a serial groper?" Franken himself has previously said accusers should get the benefit of the doubt. "If we are to take Franken at his word then, (Lindsay) Menz's allegations become a lot more credible." Resignation call: The calls for the end of Franken's Senate career aren't coming only from the right. CREDO Mobile, described by Politico as a "cell phone company that maintains a liberal activism arm," called for Franken's resignation Monday. It wants Minnesota's Democratic governor to replace him with a progressive woman. Not yet? Rich Lowry of the National Review finds the latest accusation credible and bad news indeed for Franken, but perhaps survivable. "This pushes Franken closer to the brink, although I’m guessing it will take something else—and perhaps something more lurid—to push him over the edge."