Harvey Weinstein defense challenges Jennifer Siebel Newsom on rape allegation
LOS ANGELES — Harvey Weinstein has made good on a threat to sue Jennifer Siebel Newsom in advance of the former California Democratic Party vice chairwoman’s scheduled court appearance Friday in Los Angeles, according to several people familiar with the matter.
Newsom, who says she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Weinstein between 2004 and 2014, is scheduled to appear before Los Angeles County Judge Janis Sammartino on Friday afternoon to face an accusation of rape filed by a former intern.
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The woman, who has declined to be identified given laws that prohibit news of rape cases from being made public, filed a petition in 2015 with the Los Angeles County Clerk’s office requesting a protective order. The judge granted the petition last year after ruling that the woman could not have a reasonable belief that Weinstein would not be subject to criminal prosecution for rape, which she says occurred during a party at Weinstein’s hotel suite in December 2013.
It has been widely reported that Weinstein has threatened to sue Newsom in several other states, including Washington, New York and Pennsylvania, as well as in federal court in L.A. based on her civil lawsuit against him. The threat — reported by The New Yorker and The New York Times — followed a $100,000 payment Weinstein made to a female law professor who claimed he raped a woman at a party he was hosting, according to the Times. That ruling of rape was not made public.
A woman who was present at the 2013 party told The New Yorker that Newsom had previously asked Weinstein to have dinner with her at his hotel suite to watch a movie, and he agreed. The woman declined his offer, and Weinstein invited other women, according to the report.
Newsom told the newspaper that Weinstein had never invited her to his hotel suite to watch a movie before. She said she was groped on the neck and genitals during the party, and that she was forced to perform oral sex on one man as well as watch a party-supplied sex film with another.
In her recent police report, Newsom