‘Regret is not rape,’ lawyer says in Weinstein closing

LOS ANGELES >> An attorney for Harvey Weinstein at his Los Angeles rape and sexual assault trial told jurors Thursday that prosecutors’ case relies entirely on asking them to trust women whose testimony showed they were untrustworthy.

Jackson argued that two of the women 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.

“Regret is not rape,” Jackson told jurors several times.