Jennifer Siebel Newsom accused of performance in Weinstein rape trial

Jennifer Siebel Newsom is accused of giving a ‘theatrical performance’ in Harvey Weinstein rape trial to cover up her shame at having ‘transactional sex’ with movie mogul

• Jennifer Siebel Newsom, 48, was accused of giving a dramatized performance
• Weinstein’s attorney said she lied as she regrets ‘transactional’ sex with him
• Jennifer Siebel Newsom accused Harvey Weinstein of raping her in LA in 2005

Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer has accused Jennifer Siebel Newsom of lying and giving an ‘overly dramatized’ performance because she regrets having ‘transactional’ sex with the disgraced movie producer.

Weinstein’s defense attorney said that Mrs Siebel Newsom was lying because she can’t ‘square away’ the fact that she had a consensual relationship with the film producer and made up the story to ‘cope’ with her decisions.

‘Regret is not rape,’ Weinstein’s attorney repeated several times.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, 48, who is married to California Governor Gavin Newsom, testified in the case two weeks ago and said that Weinstein lured her into his Beverly Hills hotel room and raped her in 2005. She was referred to throughout the sexual assault trial anonymously as ‘Jane Doe 4’.

The attorney for Harvey Weinstein, who was defending the former movie magnate at his Los Angeles rape and sexual assault trial, stressed to jurors on Thursday that the prosecutors’ case relies entirely on asking them to trust women whose testimony showed they were untrustworthy.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom 48, testified in the case two weeks ago and said that Weinstein lured her into his Beverly Hills hotel room and raped her in 2005. She is pictured in California in 2019

Harvey Weinstein is charged with raping and sexually assaulting two women and committing sexual battery against two others in an LA trial. He is pictured appearing in court at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, in October 2022

The 70-year-old former movie magnate is charged with raping and sexually assaulting two women and committing sexual battery against two others in the LA trial. Weinstein is already serving a 23-year sentence for a conviction in New York for rape and sexual assault against two women.

‘Take my word for it’ – five words that sum up the entirety of the prosecution’s case,’ Mr Jackson told jurors in his closing argument.

Mr Jackson, referring to Mrs Siebel Newsom’s tearful and dramatic testimony earlier in the trial, said: ‘It was a theatrical, overly dramatized performance. What you saw was an act.’

She engaged in ‘transactional sex,’ Mr Jackson argued. ‘She knows it, and she hates it.’

He said the testimony was also dishonest, as when Mrs Siebel Newsom testified that she bumped into Weinstein occasionally after the assault, including an encounter at the 2007 film festival, which left her ‘triggered.’ Jackson pointed to an email where Siebel Newsom had actually sought out the meetup with Weinstein.

Including all four women in the trial, Mr Jackson argued that two were entirely lying about their encounters, while the other two took part in ‘transactional sex’ for the sake of career advancement that was ‘100% consensual.’ But after the #MeToo explosion around Weinstein with stories in the New York Times and the New Yorker – which Jackson called a ‘dogpile’ on his client – the women became regretful.

Prosecutors in Los Angeles completed their closing argument earlier Thursday, after giving most of it Wednesday, and urged jurors to complete Weinstein´s takedown by convicting him in California.

‘It is time for the defendant´s reign of terror to end,’ Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez said. ‘It is time for the kingmaker to be brought to justice.’

In his closings, Weinstein’s attorney urged jurors to look past the emotion of the testimony the four women gave, and focus on the factual evidence.

‘Believe us because we´re mad, believe us because we cried,’ Mr Jackson said jurors were being asked to do. ‘Well, fury does not make fact. And tears do not make truth.’

Harvey Weinstein is already serving a 23-year sentence for a conviction in New York for rape and sexual assault against two women. He is pictured appearing in court at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, in October 2022

Addressing the other women’s cases against Weinstein, Mr Jackson said: ‘Jane Doe 1 is lying. Period,’ Jackson said, pointing to the absence of evidence putting Weinstein at the scene. ‘Not a single witness can corroborate that Harvey Weinstein ever walked through that door.’

He showed photos of Jane Doe 1 smiling as she interacted with director Quentin Tarantino on the following night of the festival, with Weinstein sitting just a few feet away.

‘This is not consistent with her having suffered the violence she suffered just hours before,’ the lawyer said.

Earlier on the night those pictures were taken, according to the allegations, Weinstein trapped model Lauren Young in a hotel bathroom, groped her and masturbated in front of her during what was supposed to be a meeting about a script she’d written.

Jackson said the meeting was real but she had fabricated most of the rest, focusing on what he said were the impossible details of her being locked in the bathroom by a woman on the outside, and the room having a sliding door where photos proved it didn’t.

‘None of it makes sense, because she’s making it up,’ Jackson said.

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