Kevin Spacey trial: Aspiring actor ‘woke to find Hollywood star performing sex act on him’, court hears
An aspiring actor was left “massively in shock” when he woke to find Kevin Spacey performing a sex act on him after being invited into the Hollywood star’s London flat, a court has heard.
The man – the last of four complainants to give evidence against the double-Oscar winner during a trial at Southwark Crown Court in London – became emotional as he recalled the alleged offence in a police interview played to jurors.
He told the police officer he wrote to Spacey asking for mentorship and was “dumbstruck” to receive a call from the star a few weeks later suggesting they meet later that evening.
He had been told the American Beauty actor liked “young, straight men” but did not know at this point that “he was a predator”, the court heard.
Read more: The latest developments from court
A court sketch of Spacey in the dock. Pic: PA/Elizabeth Cook
In his police interview, the man – who cannot be named for legal reasons – said the Hollywood star made him feel “weirdly special” by asking him to meet for a beer. The alleged victim was “starstruck” and did not question his intentions, the court heard.
Spacey, 63, denies all the allegations made against him.
Giving details of the night of the alleged sexual offence, the complainant said he met Spacey in London at about 11pm and that they walked for about 10 minutes before the actor invited him into his flat.
The man told the officer he drank a couple of beers and smoked part of a joint with Spacey. At some point, the House Of Cards star went to hug the man as they sat on the sofa in the living room area, and then rubbed his face into the complainant’s crotch, jurors heard.
The alleged victim said he remembered looking at the “bald patch” on the back of Spacey’s head and thinking what was happening was “one of the strangest moments of my life” – and something he would “never forget”.
Alleged victim ‘conked out’
The man told police he was “very nervous” and felt “vulnerable” during the alleged incident but he did not leave at this point.
He questioned his own behaviour, whether he was being a “d***head” and if this was just how some people behaved in the “theatre world”, jurors heard from his police interview.
He also did not want to “annoy” Spacey, the court heard.
“You just don’t want to annoy someone who is that powerful in the business you are trying to break in to,” the man told the police officer. “The social sway he had was massive.”
After about an hour at the flat, things started to become “hazy” and he “conked out”, the man told the officer, saying this was “unusual” – although he added that he did not want to “insinuate” reasons why this happened.
When he woke a few hours later, Spacey was kneeling on the floor, performing a sex act on him, it was alleged.
“Going to sleep isn’t something I would normally do – it is unusual in my behaviour just to conk out,” the complainant told the officer.
“I remember four to five hours later waking up – my belt was still together but my button and my zip were down and he’s just performed [a sex act] on me.”
Spacey ‘incredibly dismissive’
The alleged victim said he told Spacey “no” and “pushed” him off.
“My belt was still together but the rest of it was undone,” he told the officer about his trousers. He was “massively in shock”, the court heard.
The man told police Spacey then said it was “best” that he left and told him not to tell anyone.
Becoming emotional in his police interview, the man said he did not know how long the alleged sex offence went on for or whether “something happened” while he was asleep.
Spacey was “incredibly dismissive” afterwards, he added.
The complainant said he “completely buried” the alleged incident afterwards. Asked by the officer whether he thought about reporting it to police before he eventually did, he said he feared this could have affected his acting career, and that he might have been “slammed” by a “hotshot” lawyer of Spacey’s.
“It’s David and Goliath,” he told the police officer.
The man added that while “your gut tells you” that you are not “unique”, that there might have been others, he did not have the “confidence” to come forward.
The alleged victim said he eventually found the confidence to report the incident when allegations were first made about the now disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in 2017.
‘Nothing happened that was consensual’
Under cross-examination from Spacey’s lawyer Patrick Gibbs in court, the complainant answered questions from behind a screen.
Asked about phone calls on the night of the alleged sexual offence, the man agreed that a phone call shortly after 6pm was the first time Spacey rang him, while a second at about 11.16pm was the star ringing at the time they met up.
He denies another call after midnight, lasting 19 seconds, was Spacey calling him after he left the flat – earlier than his account of how long he was there on the night.
Mr Gibbs put it to the alleged victim that he had “upped and left” without any proper explanation after “intimate contact” between the pair.
The man denied this. “Nothing happened that was consensual”, he said in court.
Spacey pleaded not guilty in July 2022 to four charges of sexual assault and one of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
In January this year, he pleaded not guilty to seven further charges – three counts of indecent assault, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.
The trial continues.
A judge has postponed sentencing in Donald Trump’s hush money case and granted permission for his lawyers to seek a dismissal.
It comes after the Manhattan district attorney said he wouldn’t oppose a motion to delay the sentencing.
In May, a New York jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to commit election fraud.
It was the first time a US president had been convicted of or charged with a criminal offence.
Trump had tried to cover up “hush money” payments to a porn star in the days before the 2016 election.
When Stormy Daniels‘ claims of a sexual liaison threatened to upend his presidential campaign, Trump directed his lawyer to pay $130,000 (£102,000) to keep her quiet.
The payment buried the story and he later won the presidency.
Trump denied the charges and said the case was politically motivated. He also denied the sexual encounter took place.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan today delayed the sentencing, which had been due to take place on Tuesday.
The New York case revolved around payments to Stormy Daniels. Pic: AP
The office of district attorney Alvin Bragg had asked the judge to postpone all proceedings until Trump finishes his four-year presidency, which starts on 20 January.
Trump’s lawyers say the case should be dismissed because it will create “unconstitutional impediments” to his ability to govern.
Responding to Friday’s decision, a Trump campaign spokesman said: “The American People have issued a mandate to return him to office and dispose of all remnants of the Witch Hunt cases.”
The judge set a 2 December deadline for Trump’s lawyers to file their motion, while prosecutors have until 9 December to respond.
He did not set a new date for sentencing or indicate when he would rule on any motion to throw out the case.
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Even before Trump’s win in this month’s election, experts said a jail term was unlikely and a fine or probation more probable.
But his resounding victory over Kamala Harris made the prospect of time behind bars or probation even less likely.
Trump, 78, was also charged last year in three other cases.
One involved him keeping classified documents after he left office and the other two centre on alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
A Florida judge dismissed the documents case in July, the Georgia election case is in limbo, and the Justice Department is expected to wind down the federal election case as it has a policy of not prosecuting a sitting president.
Trump last week nominated his lawyers in the hush money case, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, for senior roles in the Justice department.
When he re-enters the White House, Trump will also have the power to shut down the Georgia and New York cases.
US
Pam Bondi: Key proponent of Trump’s false 2020 election claims set to head justice department after Gaetz withdrawal
Donald Trump has pledged for years to surround himself with ultra-loyalists who can mould his government to his vision without barriers.
That’s precisely why he picked Matt Gaetz. Now he’s out, Pam Bondi is in and she’s equally loyal.
Gaetz was uniquely unpopular on Capitol Hill but ultra-MAGA and ultra-loyal to the president-elect.
He was chosen by the president-elect to do his bidding inside the Justice Department as attorney general.
Critics called his pick “a red alert moment for democracy” and the man a “gonzo agent of chaos” – language that would surely only affirm Trump’s decision in his own proudly disruptive mind.
Matt Gaetz has withdrawn despite Trump putting him forward for attorney general. Pic: AP
If it wasn’t for the fact that the president-elect is himself a convicted felon, and a man found liable in a civil court of his own sexual offences, the prospect of Gaetz, with all his baggage, making it through the nomination process would have seemed remote.
But Donald Trump’s return to the White House suggested anything is possible.
And so, beyond his loyalty, Gaetz was Trump’s test for his foot soldiers on Capitol Hill. How loyal were they? Would they wave through anyone he appointed?
It turns out that Gaetz, and the storm around his private life, was too much for a proportion of them.
At least five Senate Republicans were flatly against Matt Gaetz’s confirmation. We understand that they communicated to other senators and those close to Trump that they were unlikely to be swayed.
They included the Republican old guard like Senator Mitch McConnell.
Beyond the hard “no” senators, there were between 20 and 30 other Republicans who were very uncomfortable about having to vote for Gaetz on the Senate floor.
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Trump pick Matt Gaetz withdraws
The key question is whether Gaetz was Trump’s intentional wild card crazy choice that he knew, deep down, would probably never fly.
Was Gaetz the candidate he had accepted would be vetoed by senators – who would then feel compelled to wave the rest of his nominees through?
Will Pete Hegseth’s alleged sexual impropriety concern them as they consider the suitability of the former Fox News host and army major to run the Department of Defence?
What about Tulsi Gabbard, the candidate Russian state TV calls ‘our girl’, and the appropriateness of her running America’s intelligence agencies?
These are all appointments that the politicians on Capitol Hill must consider and confirm in the weeks ahead.
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We don’t yet know who Trump will choose to direct the FBI.
There are some names being floated which will make the establishment of Washington shudder but then that’s precisely why Trump was elected. He is the disrupter. He said so at every rally, on repeat.
He was quick to pivot to another name to replace Gaetz.
Bondi is the former attorney general of Florida. Professionally she is in a different league to Gaetz. She’s been a tough prosecutor, with a no-nonsense reputation.
She is also among the most loyal of loyalists. Her attachment to Trump stretches way back.
Pam Bondi speaks during a Trump rally in November 2024. Pic: Reuters
I first came across her in Philadelphia in November 2020 when she was among Trump surrogates claiming the election back then had been stolen from them by Joe Biden and the Democrats.
She was a key proponent of the false claims the election had been rigged and Trump was the rightful winner.
The court cases concluding that was all nonsense didn’t seem to convince her.
Now she is poised to head up the Department of Justice as the country’s top law enforcement official.
US
Donald Trump on day one: Pace of change ‘like nothing you’ve seen in history’, warns campaign official
Within hours of taking office, president-elect Donald Trump plans to begin rolling out policies including large-scale deportations, according to his transition team.
Sky News partner network NBC News has spoken with more than half a dozen people familiar with the executive orders that his team plans to enact.
One campaign official said changes are expected at a pace that is “like nothing you’ve seen in history”, to signal a dramatic break from President Joe Biden’s administration.
Mr Trump is preparing on day one to overturn specific policies put in place by Mr Biden. Among the measures, reported by sources close to the transition team, are:
• The speedy and large-scale deportations of illegal immigrants
• Ending travel reimbursement for military members seeking abortion care
• Restricting transgender service members’ access to gender-affirming care
But much of the first day is likely to focus on stopping illegal immigration – the centrepiece of Trump’s candidacy. He is expected to sign up to five executive orders aimed at dealing with that issue alone after he is sworn in on 20 January.
“There will without question be a lot of movement quickly, likely day one, on the immigration front,” a top Trump ally said.
“There will be a push to make a huge early show and assert himself to show his campaign promises were not hollow.”
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Donald Trump ally Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration to be the next US attorney general.
But Mr Trump’s campaign pledges also could be difficult to implement.
Deporting people on the scale he wants will be a logistical challenge that could take years. Questions also remain about promised tax cuts.
Meanwhile, his pledge to end the war between Russia and Ukraine in just 24 hours would be near impossible.
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Even so, advisers based at Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort or at nearby offices in West Palm Beach, Florida, are reportedly strategising about ending the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Following his decisive victory on 5 November, the president-elect has moved swiftly to build a cabinet and senior White House team.
As of Thursday, he had selected more than 30 people for senior positions in his administration, compared with just three at a similar point in his 2016 transition.
Stephen Moore, a senior economic adviser in Mr Trump’s campaign, told NBC News: “The thing to realise is Trump is no dummy.
“He knows he’s got two to three years at most to get anything done. And then he becomes a lame duck and we start talking about [the presidential election in] 2028.”
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