Hillary: My ex-friend’s an ‘assaulter’ just like the one in the White House
HILLARY Clinton has compared Harvey Weinstein to Donald Trump, saying the sexual assault allegations that have been levelled at them ‘sound quite similar’.
Mrs Clinton has condemned the shocking revelations about Weinstein – a former friend and key political fundraiser for the Democrats – as ‘disgusting’ and ‘heartbreaking’.
However, in a forthcoming interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr, she attempted to shift the spotlight to her old political rival President Trump.
‘It’s important that we not just focus on him and whatever consequences flow from these stories about his behaviour,’ she said of Weinstein.
‘But that we recognise this kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated anywhere, whether it’s in entertainment, politics. After all we have someone admitting to be a sexual assaulter in the Oval Office.’
Her remarks are likely to incense many Trump supporters given that, unlike Weinstein, he has never been accused of rape.
Instead, after he was revealed in a tape boasting about groping women, 15 of them came forward to say he had sexually assaulted or kissed them against their will.
But Mr Trump denied all of their claims.
Asked if she believed Weinstein and President Trump were ‘deep down the same person’, Mrs Clinton said: ‘I’m not a psychologist, I can’t draw that conclusion.
‘There are credible reports from women about both that sound quite similar.’
Mrs Clinton, in Britain to promote her book about her election defeat, said Trump had a ‘ very narrow view of what a woman should be and was very focused on keeping women in their place’.
Mr Trump insists his groping claims on tape were merely ‘locker room talk’.
In her book, Mrs Clinton dismisses the women who accused her husband Bill of sex offences. She told Mr Marr: ‘That had all been litigated. That was subject of a huge investigation in the late 1990s and there were conclusions drawn. That was clearly in the past.’
Weinstein has checked into rehab in Arizona to be treated for sexual addiction but he continues to face new accusations and condemnation from the Hollywood over which he once held sway.
It was also claimed that Weinstein’s employment contract with his production company allowed him to treat someone ‘improperly’ as long as he paid the damages.
According to the website TMZ, Weinstein’s 2015 contract specified that he could violate The Weinstein Company’s code of conduct if he reimbursed it for any settlements or judgements against him. It laid out how he would pay the company £188,000 for the first instance, £376,000 for the second, £564,000 for the third and £752,000 for each additional one.
If so, the company was making far more out of the settlements than Weinstein’s accusers. It has been revealed that Weinstein paid off at least eight women who made sexual harassment claims against him stretching back nearly 30 years but none of them exceeded £112,000. The company’s board of directors –which includes his brother, Bob – insist his sexual misbehaviour came as an ‘utter surprise’ to them.
But Lance Maerov, the board member who negotiated the Weinstein contract, said the directors knew Weinstein had settled lawsuits but assumed they were to cover up consensual affairs.
David Boes, a lawyer for Weinstein, also stated the company knew of three or four settlements that Weinstein made to women.
The Weinstein Company faces an uncertain future amid accusations that it covered up its cofounder’s behaviour for years. Although Weinstein has been sacked from the company, he and brother Bob still hold a 42 percent share – the biggest single stake in the business.
Five of its nine board members have now stepped down and the banking giant Goldman Sachs has confirmed it is ‘exploring options’ to get rid of its £752,000 stake in the company.
A Goldman’s spokesman said: ‘There is no place for the inexcusable behaviour that had been reported, and we strongly condemn it.’ Police in both London and New York have opened investigations into Weinstein, who has denied any allegations of nonconsensual sex.
‘Narrow view of women’