It’s important to remember that at the time, Tweeden’s allegations were about a month old, and five other women had stepped forward in quick succession to share their own accounts of Franken’s alleged misconduct. The backlash was quick and intense: Democrats who suppported Franken resented the implication that his behavior was anywhere near the severity of someone like Harvey Weinstein’s. They pointed out that a desire among Democrats to hold themselves to rigorous standards when it came to sexual harassment and abuse might be weakening their political position, and that Franken was a reliably progressive senator the left could ill afford to lose. They also balked at the way the right was gleefully celebrating the Franken allegations.

In her New Yorker piece, Mayer claims that our source’s account was also declined by KABC, the conservative radio station where Leeann Tweeden works. “After Tweeden came forward,” Mayer writes, “the woman called KABC-AM, but the station also passed. (McIntyre, Tweeden’s former co-host, told me he felt that blind accusations were unfair.)“

That’s not true either.