Risqué account penned by Republican youth leader (4)
I believe the answer is:
racy
'risque' is the definition.
(I know that risque can be written as racy)
'account penned by republican youth leader' is the wordplay.
'account' becomes 'ac' (abbreviation for account).
'penned by' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters are penned in).
'republican' becomes 'R' (abbreviation in US politics).
'youth leader' becomes 'y' (I've seen this in other clues).
'r'+'y'='ry'
'ac' going inside 'ry' is 'RACY'.
(Other definitions for racy that I've seen before include "Risqu" , "Slightly indecent" , "Spicy" , "rather blue" , "Sexually suggestive" .)