NEW YORK (AP) — One of Harvey Weinstein ‘s accusers broke down in tears and cursed on the witness stand Friday as a defense lawyer questioned her account of the former Hollywood mogul forcing oral sex on her nearly two decades ago.
“He was the one who raped me, not the other way around,” Miriam Haley told jurors.
“That is for the jury to decide,” Weinstein lawyer Jennifer Bonjean responded.
“No, it’s not for the jury to decide. It’s my experience. And he did that to me,” Haley said, using expletives as tears began streaming down her face.
Judge Curtis Farber halted questioning and sent jurors on a break. Haley, her eyes red and face glistening, did not look at Weinstein as she left the witness stand.
Haley, 48, was testifying for a fourth day at Weinstein’s rape trial. Questioning resumed after the break, with Haley composed but frustration sometimes flickering in her voice.
By midafternoon, the judge grew impatient with contentious cross-talk and extraneous comments from Haley and the attorney. Farber pounded his fist on the bench at one point and banged his gavel at another, telling them: “Let’s behave, both of you.”
Farber later said it was the first time in 13 years that he’d used the gavel.
Weinstein is charged with sexually assaulting Haley and another woman, Kaja Sokola, and raping a third, Jessica Mann. Mann and Sokola also are expected to testify.
Weinstein denies the allegations. His lawyers argue that his accusers had consensual encounters with a then-powerful movie producer who could advance their careers.
Haley, who has also gone by the name Mimi Haleyi, is the first accuser to testify at the retrial, which is happening after an appeals court overturned Weinstein’s conviction at an earlier trial. Haley’s testimony at that 2020 trial took just one day.
Haley alleges that Weinstein assaulted her after inviting her to stop by his apartment. She had worked briefly as a production assistant on the Weinstein-produced TV show “Project Runway,” and his company had booked her a flight to Los Angeles the next day to attend a movie premiere.
She testified earlier in the week that Weinstein backed her into a bedroom and pushed her onto a bed, holding her down as she tried to get up and pleaded: “No, no — it’s not going to happen.”
Haley and two of her friends testified that she told them soon after that Weinstein had sexually assaulted her. She maintains she was never interested in any sexual or romantic relationship with Weinstein but still wanted his help professionally.
Weinstein, 73, listened with his hands clasped against his chin as Haley reiterated she never had romantic feelings for him and never wanted any sexual contact with him.
Bonjean questioned why Haley would agree to go to Weinstein’s apartment after being put off by some of his prior behavior, including what she described as him barging into her home as he sought to persuade her to go to Paris with him.
Haley said she thought it would be “weird” to refuse the invitation to his Manhattan loft, since his company had paid for the L.A. flight she was taking the next day.
Haley and grew emotional when asked just how her clothes came off before Weinstein allegedly yanked out a tampon and performed oral sex on her. Haley said Weinstein took off her clothing, but she didn’t recall the details: “I was, you know, busy struggling,” she explained.
“You removed your clothes, right?” Bonjean soon asked, leading to Haley’s tearful and cutting response.
Later, Bonjean continued to press her about the alleged July 2006 assault and its aftermath, including a time a couple of weeks later when Haley has said she had sex with Weinstein that she didn’t want but didn’t fight.
“You didn’t say, ‘Like, hey, what you did to me the other night wasn’t cool?’” Bonjean asked.
“No,” said Haley, reiterating that she “went numb” during the hotel encounter.
Haley stayed in continued, sporadic contact with Weinstein for about three years afterward, according to testimony and documents. At times, she asked him for work, premiere tickets and financial backing for an online TV show she was trying to launch.
“The other stuff is neither here nor there. It doesn’t mean that I wasn’t sexually assaulted,” Haley said.
Bonjean also queried her about her continued interactions with Weinstein and his assistants, about her frequent travels and famous acquaintances at the time, and about her 2020 lawsuit against Weinstein. It ended in a $475,000 settlement.
The Associated Press generally does not name people who allege they have been sexually assaulted unless they give permission to be identified. Haley, Mann and Sokola have done so.
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