Harvey Weinstein trial: ‘He’s overweight – he’s domineering’ – court hears quotes from alleged victims
Harvey Weinstein abused his power to corner women in hotel rooms and force himself upon them, according to the prosecution at his trial in Los Angeles.
The disgraced film producer is facing 11 charges of rape and forced oral sex relating to allegations made by women who say they were assaulted between 2004 and 2015.
Accusers of Weinstein ignited the #MeToo movement more than five years ago and he is two years into a 23-year prison sentence following his convictions for rape and sexual assault by a New York court in 2020.
The Los Angeles trial was widely viewed as symbolic – but it has assumed far greater significance in light of Weinstein being granted an appeal against his New York convictions.
If he wins that appeal, his future freedom is likely to be decided by a jury in Los Angeles.
They heard an opening statement by the prosecution, delivered by Paul Thompson, which detailed disturbing allegations against the 70-year-old.
He began with a series of quotes from the alleged victims.
Some described the victims’ fear of Weinstein’s size.
“Part of me was thinking should I just make a run for it, but he’s a big guy. He’s big. He’s broad. He’s overweight. He’s domineering.”
Another series of quotations was presented of the victims’ pleading for Weinstein to stop.
“Please stop, I don’t want this. What are you doing?”, one quotation read.
“I was trying to convince him that it’s not gonna happen … I was like please, I have kids,” said another.
“I told him to stop. I told him to leave the bathroom. And he didn’t. He just kept going towards me,” read a third.
Mr Thompson says the accusers “feared that he could crush their careers if they reported what he had done”.
Read more:
Everything you need to know about Weinstein’s LA trial
Harvey Weinstein: The fall of the king of Hollywood
Weinstein was pictured with a walking frame at New York trial in 2020
Three of the alleged victims are remaining anonymous – they are Jane Doe 1, a model and actress who lived in Italy at the time; Jane Doe 2, a 23-year-old model and aspiring screenwriter; and Jane Doe 3, a licensed massage therapist.
Another of the alleged victims, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, has waived her anonymity.
She is now a documentary filmmaker and wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom.
But 17 years ago, when she met Weinstein, she was a “powerless actor trying to make her way in Hollywood”, the prosecution says.
Mrs Newsom will testify that she met Weinstein at the Toronto International Film Festival and later invited him to a party attended by many others at her home in West Hollywood.
Weinstein then invited Mrs Newsom to “discuss her career” at the Peninsula Hotel, the court heard.
She sat on the couch and awaited Weinstein, who entered the room wearing business attire with five or six other people.
“But to her surprise, the aides quickly left,” Mr Thompson, for the prosecution, said.
“Harvey Weinstein went to the bathroom, then he summons her. She goes to him and finds him in a bathrobe.
“She was shocked, and her mind raced,” Mr Thompson said, alleging that Weinstein forced Mrs Newsom onto the bed, “crying and shaking”.
“She couldn’t get any words out because of her fear,
“Weinstein told her to ‘relax, this is going to make her feel better’.”
The prosecution alleges Weinstein then forced her into oral sex and then raped her.
In total, eight women will testify that they were sexually assaulted by Weinstein.
The trial is expected to last another six weeks.
It’s 5.30am, but the car park outside a laundrette in south central Los Angeles is already bustling.
A woman is setting up a stand selling tacos on the pavement and the sun is beginning to rise behind the palm trees.
A group of seven women and two men are gathered in a circle, most wearing khaki green t-shirts.
The leader, a man named Francisco “Chavo” Romero, begins by asking how everyone is feeling. “Angry,” a few of them respond. “Proud of the community for pushing back,” says another.
Ron, a high school history teacher, issues a rallying cry. “This is like Vietnam,” he says. “We’re taking losses, but in the end we’re going to win. It’s a war.”
Francisco ‘Chavo’ Romero leads a volunteer group, attempting to warn people ahead of ICE raids
This is what the resistance against Donald Trump’s immigration policy looks like here. In the past month, immigration and customs enforcement agents – known as ICE – have intensified their raids on homes and workplaces across Los Angeles.
Since the beginning of June, nearly 2,800 undocumented immigrants have been arrested in the city, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The previous monthly high was just over 850 arrests in May this year.
Police use tear gas against protesters, angry at a recent immigration raid at a farm in Camarillo, California. Pic: AP
Videos have circulated online of people being tackled to the ground in the car park of DIY shops, in car washes and outside homes. The videos have prompted outrage, protests and a fightback.
“Chavo” and Ron belong to a group of organised volunteers called Union del Barrio. Every morning, a group of them meet, mostly in areas which have high immigrant populations.
The day I meet them, they’re in an area of LA which is heavily Latino. Armed with walkie talkies to communicate with each other, megaphones to warn the community and leaflets to raise awareness they set out in cars in different directions.
A volunteer from Union del Barrio shows Sky’s Martha Kelner how they try to stay one step ahead of ICE agents
They’re looking for cars used by ICE agents to monitor “targets”.
“That vehicle looks a little suspicious,” says Ron, pointing out a white SUV with blacked-out windows, “but there’s nobody in it”.
An elderly Latino man is standing on a street corner, cutting fruit to sell at his stall. “He’s the exact target that they’re looking for,” Ron says. “That’s what they’re doing now. The low-hanging fruit, the easy victim. And so that is proving to be more successful for their quotas.”
This man, selling fruit on a street corner in LA, is a potential target of immigration agents
In the end, it turns out to be a quiet morning in this part of LA, no brewing immigration operations. But elsewhere in the city, dawn raids are happening.
ICE agents are under pressure from the White House to boost their deportation numbers in line with Donald Trump’s campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration.
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In June, tear gas and rubber bullets were fired at protestors demonstrating against immigration raids
Maria’s husband Javier was one of those arrested in LA. He came to the United States from Mexico when he was 19 and is now 58.
The couple have three grown-up children and two grandchildren. But Javier’s work permit expired two years ago, according to Maria and so he was living here illegally.
Maria’s husband Javier was arrested after his work permit expired
She shows me a video taken last month when Javier was at work at a car wash in Pomona, an area of LA. He is being handcuffed and arrested by armed and masked ICE agents, forced into a car. He is now being held at a detention centre two hours away.
“I know they’re doing their job,” she says, “but it’s like, ‘you don’t have to do it like that.’ Getting them and, you know, forcing people and pushing them down on the ground. They’re not animals.”
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US troops accused of ‘political stunt’ after park raid
Maria wipes away tears as she explains the impact of his absence for the past four weeks. “It’s been so hard without him,” she says. “You feel alone when you get used to somebody and he’s not there any more. We’ve never been apart for as long as this.”
The family have a lawyer and is appealing for him to remain in the US, but Maria fears he will be sent back to Mexico or even a third country.
Maria fears her husband, who has lived in the US for nearly 40 years, will be sent back to Mexico
“I don’t know what to say to my grandkids because the oldest one, who is five was very attached to his papas, as he calls him. And he’s asking me, ‘When is papa coming home?’ and I don’t know what to say. He’s not a criminal.”
The fear in immigrant communities can be measured by the empty restaurant booths and streets that are far quieter than usual.
People in LA are being asked to report sightings of ICE officials so others can be warned
I meet Soledad at the Mexican restaurant she owns in Hollywood. When I arrive, she’s watching the local news on the TV as yet another raid unfolds at a nearby farm.
She’s shaking her head as ICE agents face off with protesters and military helicopters hover overhead. “I am scared. I am very scared,” she says.
All of her eight employees are undocumented, and four of them are too scared to come into work, she says, in case they get arrested. The process to get papers, she says, is too long and too expensive.
Read more from Sky News:
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Soledad, who owns a Mexican restaurant, plans to hide her illegal workers if immigration officials arrive
“They call me and tell me they are too afraid to come in because immigration is around,” she says.
“I have to work double shifts to be able to make up for their hours, and yes, I am very desperate, and sometimes I cry… We have no sales, and no money to pay their wages.”
There is just one woman eating fajitas at a booth, where there would usually be a lunchtime rush. People are chilled by the raids.
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Soledad says she plans to hide her illegal workers if immigration officials arrive.
“I’ve told them, get inside the fridge, hide behind the stove, climb up where we have a space to store boxes, do not run because they will hunt you down.”
The White House says they’re protecting the country from criminals. ICE agents have been shot at while carrying out operations, their work becoming more dangerous by the day.
The tension here is ratcheting up. Deportation numbers are rising too. But the order from Donald Trump is to arrest even more people living here illegally.
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