Los Angeles (USA), Oct 18 (EFE).- Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom, contacted Harvey Weinstein in 2007 to ask him for advice on how to deal with a sex scandal in which her husband he was implicated when he was mayor of San Francisco.
The email has become known after the Superior Court of Los Angeles has admitted it as evidence in the trial that is taking place against the film producer, accused of eleven counts of rape and sexual abuse of five victims.
This is the second trial faced by the producer of films such as “Pulp Fiction” or “Shakespeare in Love”, after being sentenced by a New York court in 2020 to 23 years in prison for similar crimes.
Weinstein’s lawyers are using the exchange of messages to argue that Siebel Newsom, who has identified herself as one of his victims, had a good relationship with the producer and therefore their relationships were consensual, something she denies by stating that she was raped. in the year 2005.
“Of all the things you wouldn’t expect a woman raped by Harvey Weinstein to do is ask her how to handle a sex scandal,” the producer’s lawyer, Mark Werksman, said at the oral hearing, according to Variety magazine.
Specifically, the woman asked for advice to prevent Newson’s reputation from being damaged after he admitted to having a sexual encounter with the wife of his campaign manager, when he was serving as mayor of San Francisco and had not yet formalized his relationship with Siebel. Newsom.
For her part, the district attorney played down the words of Weinstein’s defense by assuring that a victim “does not act in the way that someone who has not been raped might think.”
Siebel Newsom is a filmmaker who began dating Newsom in 2006, when he was mayor of California. The couple have four children and now live in Sacramento, the seat of California’s state government, since he took office as governor in 2018.
The 11 charges for which Weinstein is accused in California refer to events that occurred between 2004 and 2013.
If convicted of all crimes, the producer, who is already behind bars, could receive a sentence of up to 140 years in prison, which would be added to the 23 that the New York judge has already ruled for rape and sexual assault.
Weinstein’s conviction in New York marked a great triumph for the #MeToo movement in its feminist fight against sexual abuse and assault.
In all, more than 80 women have accused the former producer of sexual offenses and misconduct.