The Woman Defending Harvey Weinstein

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 7 February 2020

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Note: This episode contains descriptions of sexual violence. In the trial of Harvey Weinstein, six women have taken the stand, each making similar accusations of rape and sexual assault against the movie producer. Throughout their testimony, Weinstein’s defense lawyers have portrayed those encounters as consensual and suggested that in many cases it was the women who wanted something from Mr. Weinstein. His lawyers have seized on the fact that the two women whose accounts are at the center of the criminal charges in his New York trial agreed to have sex and friendly contact with Mr. Weinstein after they were allegedly victimized. Today, one of The Times reporters who broke the story of Mr. Weinstein’s alleged abuse more than two years ago speaks with Donna Rotunno, the lawyer behind Mr. Weinstein’s legal strategy. Guests: Megan Twohey, an investigative reporter for The Times and co-author of “She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement," spoke with Donna Rotunno, Harvey Weinstein’s lead defense lawyer. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Background reading: Long before an avalanche of allegations against Mr. Weinstein set off a global reckoning over sexual harassment, Ms. Rotunno was steadily building a career as a criminal lawyer in Chicago with an unusual specialty: defending men accused of sex crimes.Haven’t been following the trial? Here’s what’s happened so far.

Transcript

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0:30.1	I was contacted on a Tuesday evening as I was leaving my office from someone in New York
0:36.1	and they said it's something big.
0:38.2	And it's funny because I think most people would expect me to say I was shocked by the
0:42.8	Colin.
0:43.8	I really wasn't.
0:47.4	We spoke for eight hours the first time I came and he was really interested in speaking
0:52.4	to a female lawyer.
0:53.7	And I said I thought that was a good idea for him.
0:58.4	Being a woman at least puts me in a position where people say, well wait, this woman has
1:03.1	sort of a different position than what the majority of women are feeling today.
1:07.8	But I also believe that I hold a position that a lot of women feel and don't want to talk
1:12.5	about.
1:14.9	At the end of the day Harvey Weinstein is well aware of the fact that his life is on the
1:19.2	line here and obviously having a voice is not only necessary and fair, but it's something
	...

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