Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, is set to testify against disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein as an accuser in a trial in Los Angeles.
Newsom is one of five women who will testify against Weinstein in the Los Angeles trial, according to the Los Angeles Times. He faces 11 accusations of sexual assault between the five of them, and if charged fully, could be sentenced to 135 years in prison. Weinstein is already serving a 23-year prison sentence for sexual assault in New York.
“Like many other women, my client was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein at a purported business meeting that turned out to be a trap,” Newsom’s attorney said in a statement, according to the Los Angeles Times. “She intends to testify at his trial in order to seek some measure of justice for survivors, and as part of her life’s work to improve the lives of women. Please respect her choice to not discuss this matter outside of the courtroom.”
HARVEY WEINSTEIN GRANTED APPEAL TWO YEARS AFTER RAPE CONVICTION
Newsom, an actress and filmmaker, made public her accusations of abuse in a 2017 essay in the Huffington Post.
“I was naive, new to the industry, and didn’t know how to deal with his aggressive advances ― work invitations with a friend late-night at The Toronto Film Festival, and later an invitation to meet with him about a role in The Peninsula Hotel, where staff were present and then all of a sudden disappeared like clockwork, leaving me alone with this extremely powerful and intimidating Hollywood legend,” she wrote.
Weinstein was first charged by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, but the charges were put on hold until the conclusion of his New York trial.
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Though he has been accused by dozens of women since the initial bombshell in 2017, Weinstein denies that any sexual assault ever took place, instead insisting that all of the encounters were consensual.
