Thread: Twin Cities Sexual Assault Victim Doesn't Want Franken's Name on Legislation

Twin Cities Sexual Assault Victim Doesn't Want Franken's Name on Legislation



November 16, 2017 07:22 PM


The Twin Cities woman who helped Senator Al Franken draft a new bill to aid sexual assault victims now hopes someone else can champion the legislation.


The bill was designed to provide funding for training first responders on ways of interviewing victims who have been traumatized.


Just last month, Abby Honold stood side-by-side with Franken at a press conference announcing the bill.



Then came the bombshell report Thursday morning.



Al Franken and Abby Honold at a press conference last month
Twitter photo courtesy of Abby Honold



A Los Angeles radio anchor said Franken forcibly kissed her during a 2006 USO tour. Leeann Tweeden also said Franken posed for a photo with his hands on her breasts as she slept - a photo that was made public.


“I was really heartbroken and disgusted, and I really wanted to send support to the victims involved,” she said.


The 22-year-old Honold first approached the senator’s office, in part, because her attacker Daniel Drill-Mellum was once an intern for Franken.


He’s now serving a six-year prison sentence for raping her after a University of Minnesota tailgate party. A nurse, who is specially trained in interviewing traumatized victims, helped detectives build their case.


“I truly believe that my rapist would not be in prison if I had not encountered the sexual assault nurse at the hospital,” Honold said.





That special training is what Franken’s bill would have funded when introduced after Thanksgiving.
But Honold said it would be irresponsible now for his office to move forward.





“I don’t want this bill, which could help so many people, to be associated with this kind of behavior,” she said.
She now hopes Sen. Amy Klobuchar can take it over - or anyone for that matter.


Honold just doesn’t want the legislation to die.




http://kstp.com/news/al-franken-twin...ictim/4672892/