Final Week of Harvey Weinstein's Criminal Trial Brings New Challenges to Accusers' Accounts
Prosecutors did not reintroduce their complaint from Friday about Weinstein defense attorney Donna Rotunno's appearance on the New York Times' podcast "The Daily."
February 10, 2020 at 05:54 PM
5 minute read
Two women accused of playing a role in former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein's alleged attacks on their former friends defended their actions in a Manhattan courtroom Monday, testifying that they neither had negative interactions with Weinstein nor enabled him to attack other women.
Both women testified that they did not want to come to court and were appearing under subpoena as witnesses for the defense, which continued its effort to show the jury flaws in six women's accusations against Weinstein. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to predatory sexual assault, rape and criminal sex act.
Actress and producer Talita Maia was roommates with Weinstein accuser Jessica Mann around the time both women met Weinstein at a party in late 2012 or early 2013, she said.
Mann previously testified that Maia pressured her to interact with Weinstein for professional reasons, which Maia denied. Her testimony also brought out a few surprises that hadn't come up during Mann's testimony.
Neither woman recognized Weinstein when they met, Maia said. When he explained his connection to The Weinstein Co., Maia said she joked that she knew why people were being so nice to him.
"Jessica put her arm around Harvey and pinched his cheeks and said, 'No, it's because he's so cute,'" Maia said.
Later on, Maia said Mann told her that she saw Weinstein as a "spiritual soulmate." Mann has admitted she had a "nonforcible" sexual relationship with Weinstein but testified that he also sexually assaulted her three times, once in New York and twice in California.
In general, Mann didn't say much to Maia about Weinstein, Maia said.
Mann did mention feeling uncomfortable after an attempted threesome with Weinstein and another woman, Maia said, but Maia assumed her discomfort came from Mann's personal questions about her own sexuality and not her feelings toward Weinstein.
Claudia Salinas, who identified herself on the witness stand as a social media influencer who has also acted in some Weinstein-produced films, was unequivocal as she denied her role in model Lauren Young's account of her interaction with Weinstein.
Young, who is one of three "prior bad acts" witnesses allowed to testify against Weinstein, had said Salinas set up a meeting for herself, Young and Weinstein and then closed the door to a hotel room bathroom, leaving Young and Weinstein inside. Weinstein groped her and masturbated, she said.
Salinas told defense attorney Damon Cheronis she had never closed anyone in to a bathroom with Weinstein and had never seen Weinstein naked.
She said she hadn't deliberately introduced other women to Weinstein, though she said she usually brought a friend to her meetings with Weinstein. Weinstein asked to be introduced to her "good-looking friends," she acknowledged, but she testified, "All my friends are good looking."
Prosecutor Meghan Hast asked Salinas if she had initially told investigators that she didn't remember what had happened, in contrast to her forceful denials Monday.
"If I said that, I meant 'If it happened, I wasn't there,' … I don't have a double, a clone," Salinas said.
A manager in the Gramercy Park apartment building where Annabella Sciorra testified she was raped by Weinstein also took the stand Monday. He answered questions about how often doormen took breaks in the early 1990s, when Sciorra said Weinstein showed up at her apartment door with no warning from the doorman downstairs.
The manager said the doormen did not abandon their posts and that he did not think they could have been bribed.
Prosecutors did not reintroduce their complaint from Friday about Weinstein defense attorney Donna Rotunno's appearance on the New York Times' podcast "The Daily." Rotunno said in court Friday that she had not spoken to reporters since the trial began, but Buzzfeed News later confirmed that the podcast interview was taped Jan. 28, well into the trial.
A Weinstein spokesman said Rotunno's confusion about the date was unintentional, and that she had taped the interview on a day when court ended early.
The trial is winding down just as the state court calendar enters a period of holiday interruptions, closing Wednesday for Lincoln's Birthday and Monday for Presidents Day. Closing arguments are expected to begin Thursday, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge James Burke said, and he is expected to instruct the jury on Tuesday.
Burke repeatedly asked defense lawyers to list their remaining witnesses Monday, and the ex-Hollywood film producer did not seem to be among them.
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