Weinstein attorney dismisses accuser allegations: 'You have to see the full picture' | Nightline

it's been two years since the start of Harvey Weinstein's highly publicized downfall he has since been accused by over 80 women of sexual misconduct according to the New York Times I thought no meant no more than a dozen of whom allege rape literally a nightmare and you will never be the same once a Hollywood kingmaker I would like to thank Harvey Weinstein thank you to Harvey Harvey thank you for killing whoever you had to kill to get me up here today now cast out in disgrace the biggest scandal in Hollywood in years the flood of allegations against him catapulting the groundbreaking me to movement demonstrating against harassment of women yesterday Harvey Weinstein was in New York huddling with his attorney as he prepares to stand trial in January for five felony charges and this morning he was in court on a bail hearing Weinstein faces a possible sentence of life in prison if convicted any comment Harvey he has pled not guilty and has consistently denied any allegations of non-consensual sex with anyone by his side Donna rue tuna the attorney who will try to convince the jury and the world of his innocence do you think Harvey Weinstein hired you because you're a woman I'm absolutely certain that that was part of it and I think it was probably a good move you're currently defending what many would regard as the most hated man in America why are you defending him number one Harvey has a right to a defense I am NOT the moral police on Harvey Weinstein but that's not my job it's not the jury's job either if they really look at the evidence it's going to be presented to them I think they're gonna find him not guilty maybe the most important thing for Donna row to know isn't he picking a jury she's gonna have to try to find people who can evaluate the evidence objectively and with the guy's unpopular as Harvey Weinstein that's not easy former New York City's Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce led the investigation that resulted in Weinstein's arrest I think the jurors will hear all the evidence fairly I think the overwhelming detail given by these ladies will convict him of what they said he did the trial will examine the allegations of two women me mija lady who says Weinstein forced himself on her in 2006 when she was working as a production assistant women have the right to say no and now is a no regardless of the circumstances and an unidentified woman who alleges Weinstein raped her in a hotel room in 2013 wrote uno will site apparently friendly emails that these women engaged in with Harvey Weinstein after the alleged assaults there's direct communications between Harvey and women always friendly sometimes romantic that would lead I think any reasonable person to think that the claims are are untrue there are plenty of experts out there who say it's fairly well documented that a lot of times when women are assaulted will communicate with the person they accused because they're trying to normalize something traumatic that happened to them and that this isn't unexpected behavior there are some doctors that will say that we will discredit the fact that there is no research to to prove that so you don't believe that that's the case I don't in a statement to ABC News Hawaii's attorney Gloria Allred said once the jury understands the context of the minimal communications by my client Mimi they will understand why they were sent and that communication after an assault does not mean that no assault took place you will see time again victims of sexual assault will maintain some kind of relationship with the person who committed the crime against them many of the 80 plus other women have alleged crimes beyond the statute of limitations signed NDA's or may otherwise be ineligible to bring their cases to court the mo is eerily similar in all of these cases you have Harvey Weinstein in a bathrobe with the promise of a career boost or he's asking for a massage going to a hotel room and having someone ask you if you'll give them a massage is not rape it's not sexual assault and it's really not even sexual harassment people have a right to make a pass and you have a right to say no thank you even if you go out on a date but but you're not in a position of power when someone wants something from you but it doesn't mean you want to necessarily give Harvey Weinstein a massage or see his naked body there's many things that lead up to that point those are the things that people don't want to say when they come forward and make these claims when someone in a position of power over someone else's career makes the pass with the either explicit or implicit promise of career benefits that is the very definition of sexual harassment do you think it's ever appropriate for a boss to show up in a hotel room with the robe on and ask for a massage that's a different question and I don't but someone you work for that's a different story than someone you want to work for some of the women who did directly work for him say that they experienced that exact same situation and some of those situations did lead to an assault according to them if you want to give me names I can't comment on the generalities and Rowena chill Rowena chew is Weinstein's former assistant she alleged to the New York Times that Weinstein attacked her in a hotel room at the Venice Film Festival in 1998 she says she left Miramax shortly after signing an NDA under duress and had suicidal thoughts and trouble finding work she's violating that NDA by by coming out and talking I don't really think it's appropriate for me to speak about that there's been a lot of talk about how NDA's are the reason why women are silenced and and men in positions of power can continue to act badly do you support NDA's in these types of situations if I felt that I was in a position where somebody was asking me to sign an NDA and I thought that the better thing to do would be to go out and talk about it or report it then that would be a choice that I would make there's no question to all of these NDA's protected Harvey Weinstein from being exposed early as a serial offender in some way shape or form in addition to the two women testifying at trial three other women will testify as prior bad acts witnesses for the prosecution to show that Weinstein allegedly demonstrated patterns in his behavior among them actress Annabelle Ashera Annabella shura says that Harvey forced himself into her apartment shoved her onto the bed locked her arms over her head and raped her while she kicked and screamed well Anabella has told so many different stories her first line of conversation about this was that absolutely nothing happened with Harvey and then it evolved and the story kept changing she says the chances of charging Weinstein publicly would change her life permanently and she wasn't prepared to face that because of all the scrutiny there was real intimidation going on well but did they feel intimidated or were they more concerned about what could potentially happen to them and were they willing to play a game that they then decided they weren't willing to play in a statement her lawyer Gloria Allred said Annabella is very courageous she will testify under oath when she does the jury will understand what she alleges that Weinstein did to her as Weinstein's trial date looms ro2 knows focus is on her client do you think he's sorry for his sins they do think that he has a level of remorse for the devastation that even these allegations themselves have caused some people might say he's sorry he got called out or caught and I think if if that were the case I don't think he would work on himself to the point that he is working on himself he went to rehab he for sex addiction he went to rehab he has therapists there are people who say here you have a woman defending Harvey Weinstein have you been accused of being a traitor to your own gender I don't believe I am I think in many ways I would hope that I could help women what happens in these circumstances where women don't want to take certain responsibilities for their actions we infantilizes you have to know that when you make certain choices there's a risk when you make those choices a lot of people would say what you just said is victim blaming and that's absolutely not true if you don't want to be a victim don't go to the hotel room and if you don't want to be a victim don't sign an NDA then go out onto Fifth Avenue take a megaphone and talk about what you want to talk about to suggest it is the alleged victims fault for showing up at the place where he asked for the meeting to occur seems a bit of a reach to me blaming victims who've agreed to settlements with someone for not going out and talking about it is absurd do you ever worry that maybe you'll be on the wrong side of history on this one no I don't and I think what I worry about is the outcome for him I don't worry about the outcome for me

Channel: ABC News

Views: 91,569

Keywords: Harvey Weinstein, Donna Rotunno, attorney, disgraced movie producer, sexual assault charges, metoo movement, abc, abcnews

Id: 49O3pUBuOVQ

Length: 9min 2sec (542 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 07 2019