Weinstein Lawyer Says She’s Never Been Sexually Assaulted, ‘Because I Would Never Put Myself In That Position’

Kena Betancur/Getty Images
New York Times reporter Megan Twohey interviewed Harvey Weinstein’s defense lawyer Donna Rotunno for an episode of The Daily Friday — which produced a tense moment after lawyer said that she had never been a victim of sexual assault due to the fact she had never put herself “in that position.”
Rotunno was confronted with a series of hard questions in the interview — which covered many topics, from Weinstein’s case to the lawyer’s personal life experiences.
After wrapping up her questioning, something striking happened. Twohey had one more question: she asked if Rotunno had ever been sexually assaulted. The defense attorney to Weinstein replied, “I have not.”
An pause followed before Rotunno added: “Because I would never put myself in that position.”
“So you’re saying that you have never been sexually assaulted because you would never put yourself in the position of being sexually assaulted?” Twohey asked, audibly stunned.
Rotunno responded, “No, I’ve always made choices from college-age on where I never drank too much, I never went home with someone I didn’t know, I just never put myself in any vulnerable circumstance. Ever.”
At the end of the interview, the defense attorney said, “If I was a man in today’s world, before I was engaging in sexual behavior with any woman, today, I would ask them to sign a consent form”
“You are being serious?” Twohey asked after a pause.
“I am being dead serious,” she replied
Weinstein currently has pleaded in a New York court not guilty on the five charges against him, including first-degree rape.
The exchange begins at the 24 minute mark.