‘Never happened’: Model rebuts Weinstein accuser
NEW YORK — In the strongest defense testimony yet, a Mexican model on Monday denied a Harvey Weinstein accuser’s claim that she stood by and did nothing while the once-powerful movie mogul sexually assaulted the woman at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2013.
“Never happened,” Claudia Salinas told jurors Monday at Weinstein’s rape trial in New York City, forcefully repudiating model Lauren Marie Young’s testimony last week.
Young testified that Salinas closed the door behind her and Weinstein as they went into the bathroom, where she alleges he stripped off his clothes, grabbed her breast and masturbated. Once it was over, Young said she found Salinas standing outside the bathroom and shot her an evil look before leaving as quickly as she could.
“If I had done that, I would remember that,” Salinas testified. “I would never close the door on anybody.”
Salinas, now working as a social media influencer, took the witness stand as the defense called witnesses for a third day after more than two weeks of prosecution testimony. Among the prosecution witnesses were six women, including Young, who say the once-powerful Hollywood boss subjected them to vile sexual behavior.
“My name has been used in a disparaging way. Ms. Young’s testimony that I’ve heard in the media is fictitious and flat out untrue,” Salinas said in a statement sent to The Associated Press after she testified. “Under no circumstances would I ever have anything to do with an assault on a human being. This accusation was a vicious attack on my reputation.”
The biggest remaining question at the landmark #MeToo trial is whether Weinstein will testify. Weinstein declined to answer a reporter’s question about it as he left court on Monday, deferring to lawyer Arthur Aidala who declared: “It was a great day for the defense today.”
Weinstein, 67, is charged with raping a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and forcibly performing oral sex on a different woman in 2006, but other accusers, such as Young, were called as witnesses as part of a prosecution effort to show he has used the same tactics to victimize many women over the years.
Weinstein has maintained any sexual encounters were consensual.
Jurors also heard Monday from the former roommate of the woman Weinstein is on trial for allegedly raping. Talita Maia said that the woman spoke highly of Weinstein and once called him her “spiritual soulmate.”
Maia, a Brazilian actress who lived with the woman in the Los Angeles area, was with her on the New York trip and said nothing seemed amiss when they met Weinstein for breakfast after the alleged rape.