Fox News Flash top headlines for Feb. 10
Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.
A social media influencer said she "wasn't there" when disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein allegedly sexually assaulted a model in a Beverly Hills hotel bathroom in 2013, contradicting testimony earlier given by the accuser.
The model, Lauren Marie Young, testified last week that Mexican actress and model Claudia Salinas, a friend of Weinstein's who helped arrange the meeting between the two, shut the bathroom door in a hotel room, leaving Young trapped with Weinstein, who then stripped off his clothes, grabbed her breast and masturbated despite her protestations for him to stop.
HARVEY WEINSTEIN'S LEAD LAWYER DONNA ROTUNNO MISTAKES DATE OF CONTROVERSIAL INTERVIEW
Young said Salinas “was standing right there” when she finally managed to escape the bathroom, but Salinas, the defense's witness, testified Monday that it "never happened."
Mexican model Claudia Salinas leaves court after testifying in Harvey Weinstein's rape trial, Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
“If I had done that, I would remember that,” Salinas said. “I would never close the door on anybody.”
Young’s allegations involving the hotel encounter in California are partly the basis of criminal charges filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney on Jan. 6, that is separate from the New York trial. In New York, Weinstein is accused of forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006 and raping a woman in 2013.
Young's testimony, along with that of five other women who accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct, was introduced by prosecutors to establish a pattern of lewd and aggressive sexual behavior by the famed Hollywood producer.
Model Lauren Marie Young arrives to testify at Harvey Weinstein's rape trial, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Salinas also testified that, although she did meet up with Young and Weinstein at the hotel bar on the night of the alleged assault, she didn't recognize the hotel suite nor does she recall going up to Weinstein's hotel room with Young and Weinstein, as Young alleged.
Asked on cross-examination if she told investigators last year that it was possible Weinstein took Young to the room, Salinas replied: “What’s true is that I wasn’t there in a bathroom scenario. It could have happened but it didn’t mean I was there.”
Defense attorneys for Weinstein also called Talita Maia to the stand, a former roommate of an alleged Weinstein victim, who had a falling out with the accuser in 2016.
Maia, a Brazilian actress who lived with the woman in the Los Angeles area, said the pair were together in New York on a trip and she didn't notice anything strange in the accuser's behavior on the day after the woman alleges Weinstein raped her.
Talita Maia, who was a witness at the rape trial of Harvey Weinstein, leaves the courtroom in New York, Monday, Feb. 10, 2020. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The accuser testified last week that she didn’t tell anybody what happened but was “pretty shut down” at breakfast, but when asked by Weinstein lawyer Donna Rotunno: “Did she seem like herself to you?” Maia responded, "Yes."
Maia also told the court the accuser had once described Weinstein as her "spiritual soulmate" and said she believed that the woman and Weinstein were in a relationship at some point and remained friends afterward.
Maia said she initially didn't know who Weinstein was, but once she found out he was a Hollywood bigshot, she teased him by saying, “That’s why everybody is being so nice to you.”
Maia said the woman she was summoned to testify about put her arm around Weinstein and said: “No. It’s because he’s so cute.”
The 67-year-old Weinstein has maintained any sexual encounters were consensual. His attorneys have attempted to poke holes in the memories of accusers and cast doubt on their claims by highlighting messages and friendly encounters some of the women seemed to have with Weinstein after the alleged abuses took place.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Trending
