(Radio Iowa) – Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says a former aide on his Democratic opponent’s campaign has made very concerning allegations in a police report — allegations Mike Franken says are false.  “Iowa voters deserve honesty and, of course, the victim deserves respect,” Grasley says. Kimberley Strope-Boggus was fired from Franken’s campaign in February. She says Franken kissed her without her permission in March after offering her a new campaign job. Strope-Boggus filed a police report about a month later. Prosecutors declined to file charges. During an interview with The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Franken denied the allegations in the report and accused Republicans of targeting him because he’s in a critical U.S. Senate race.

“Franken made this a campaign issue, I think, by his comments,” Grassley says, “but it’s not a campaign issue I’m going to follow up on.” Grassley says Franken’s comments to the reporter show total disregard to his former campaign aide. “Anybody running for office, those of us running are held to a very high standard and I fulfill that responsibility for transparency each day as I have to honor serving the people of Iowa,” Grassley says, “and I think Iowans deserve nothing less.”

Grassley made his comments this (Tuesday) morning during a weekly interview with Iowa radio reporters. Four hours later, a spokeswoman for Grassley’s campaign said the senator would focus on issues like the economy and inflation — but at the same time, until there is full transparency about the alleged incident, it will continue to be an issue in the campaign.