(Reuters) - Lawyers for former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who was convicted last month of rape and sexual assault, have asked a New York court to take into consideration his health and age and sentence him to prison for five years.
Weinstein, 67, faces up to 29 years in prison after being found guilty of sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006 and raping former aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013.
“Please accept this letter as our request that the court sentence Mr Weinstein to a period of incarceration of five years,” three of Weinstein’s lawyers said in a letter addressed to Justice James Burke of state Supreme Court in Manhattan.
Reuters saw a copy of the letter, which was signed by lawyers Damon Cheronis, Donna Rotunno and Arthur Aidala and dated Monday. Sentencing is due on Wednesday.
Weinstein’s conviction was a milestone for the #MeToo movement, which was fueled by his case starting in late 2017. The movement inspired women to accuse hundreds of powerful men - in entertainment, business, the media, politics and other fields - of sexual misconduct.
Last week, Weinstein was transferred to New York’s Rikers Island jail complex from Bellevue Hospital after undergoing a procedure to clear a heart blockage.
In their letter, Weinstein’s lawyers mentioned his poor health and age, as well as his “accomplishments” and “charitable endeavors”.
“His life story, his accomplishments, and struggles are simply remarkable and should not be disregarded in total because of the jury’s verdict,” they said.
Jurors acquitted Weinstein on the two most serious charges against him, predatory sexual assault, which carried a maximum life sentence.
New York prosecutors said last week Weinstein should get a prison sentence that reflects not only his conviction for sexually assaulting two women, but a “lifetime of abuse towards others”.
Throughout his adult life, Weinstein has shown a “staggering lack of empathy, treating others with disdain and inhumanity,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s office said in a letter to Burke.
Weinstein, who reshaped the independent film industry with critically acclaimed pictures such as “The English Patient” and “Shakespeare in Love,” fell from grace after more than 70 women, most of them young actresses and others in the movie business, accused him of rape and sexual misconduct dating back decades.
He denied the accusations and said any sexual encounters were consensual.
In addition to his convictions in New York, Weinstein faces several felony charges in Los Angeles in connection with alleged sexual assaults against two women in 2013.
Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Robert Birsel
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former movie producer Harvey Weinstein will not testify in his own
defense at his rape trial, his lawyers said on Tuesday as they rested their case.
Outside the presence of the jury, one of Weinstein’s lawyers told Justice James Burke that Weinstein would not be taking the stand in the trial that began in New York on Jan. 6 and is a milestone in the #MeToo movement.
“That’s correct,” Weinstein confirmed when asked by the judge.
The defense rested its case shortly after this exchange, setting the stage for closing arguments to begin on Thursday.
Asked outside the courtroom whether he had been thinking of testifying, Weinstein responded, “I wanted to.”
“He didn’t have to,” said one of his lawyers, Damon Cheronis.
Arthur Aidala, another one of his lawyers, said outside the courthouse that Weinstein had been “anxious to testify to clear his name,” but that his lawyers had advised him that “he did not need to do that because the evidence presented in this case was anemic at best.”
Earlier on Tuesday, a former agent of accuser Jessica Mann took the stand, testifying that Mann showed no signs of distress on the morning she says she was sexually assaulted by Weinstein.
Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to raping Mann, a onetime aspiring actress, and to sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi.
Mann accused Weinstein of raping her in a Manhattan hotel one morning in March 2013. She previously testified that the rape occurred in the course of an “extremely degrading” relationship with Weinstein that lasted for years.
Thomas Richards, a former friend and agent of Mann testified that he had breakfast with Mann and Weinstein the same day. Richards told jurors that the dynamic between Mann and Weinstein appeared “friendly.”
Richards testified under a subpoena from the defense. Asked by Weinstein’s lawyer Damon Cheronis whether he was testifying to help Weinstein, Richards answered, “Not at all.”
Under cross-examination by Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi, Richards said he had been drinking the night before the breakfast and his memory of the next day was not clear.
On Monday, Mann’s former friend Talita Maia, a Brazilian-born actress, testified that Mann did not show any distress after the alleged attack. Mann has said Richards was also with her in New York at the time.
The trial is a key moment in the #MeToo movement in which women have accused powerful men in business, entertainment, media and politics of sexual misconduct.
Since 2017, more than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct.
The former producer, who was behind films including “The English Patient” and “Shakespeare in Love,” has denied any nonconsensual sex.
Weinstein faces life in prison if convicted of predatory sexual assault, the most serious charge against him.
Prosecutors rested their case last Thursday after jurors heard testimony from six women accusing Weinstein of sexual assault, including Mann, Haleyi and actress Annabella Sciorra, who said Weinstein raped her in her home in the early 1990s.
Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; writing by Noeleen Walder; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Grant McCool
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dozens of potential jurors were excused on Wednesday from serving in the rape trial of Harvey Weinstein, as the former movie producer’s lawyers accused the judge presiding over the trial of bias.
In all, 90 of the 120 potential jurors summoned to state court in Manhattan on the second day of jury selection were dismissed, most after saying they could not be impartial in the case.
Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting two women in New York, and faces life in prison if convicted on the most serious charge, predatory sexual assault. His trial began on Monday and could last as long as two months.
“I read every article and it’s gonna be very hard for someone who’s been assaulted multiple times,” one female potential juror said, explaining why she could not be impartial.
“I was assaulted in my past, so I don’t think I can be a fair juror,” another woman said.
A third woman said she had “a very close friend who had an encounter with the defendant.”
Many other jurors simply said they could not be fair, without giving a reason.
The 30 potential jurors who were not dismissed Wednesday are expected to return Jan. 16 for the next phase of jury selection.
Also on Wednesday, one of Weinstein’s lawyers, Arthur Aidala, filed a motion asking Burke to recuse himself, saying the judge had made “prejudicial and inflammatory comments” that showed “animus” toward Weinstein.
Burke on Tuesday threatened to revoke Weinstein’s bail after catching him using his cellphone in court, asking him, “Is this really the way you want to end up in jail for the rest of your life, by texting and violating a court order?”
Aidala said the question suggested Burke had already decided Weinstein was guilty and should be sentenced to life. Burke has not ruled on the motion.
Since 2017, more than 80 women, including many famous actresses, have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct dating back decades.
The Weinstein allegations helped fuel the #MeToo movement which encouraged women to go public with misconduct allegations against powerful men.
Weinstein has denied the allegations, saying any sexual encounters he had were consensual.
The former film producer made his mark with critically acclaimed films such as “The English Patient” and “Shakespeare in Love.”
Prosecutors need 12 jurors to back a conviction, while Weinstein needs just one holdout for a hung jury.
On Monday, Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced new sexual assault charges against Weinstein.
Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York and Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Grant McCool and Jonathan Oatis
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WASHINGTON - A US ambassador nominated by President Donald Trump who provided key testimony in his impeachment hearings was accused Wednesday of sexual misconduct by three women.
Gordon Sondland, the US envoy to the European Union, denied the allegations, with his lawyer alleging that the accusers were trying to taint his credibility in the inquiry.
The Portland Monthly published named accounts by three women who said that Sondland, a wealthy hotel owner from Seattle, retaliated against them professionally after they rejected him sexually.
One of the women, Jana Solis, said she met Sondland in 2008 when she was seeking work in her position as a safety expert for hotels.
She said Sondland met her for lunch and offered her a job as "my new hotel chick" before slapping her rear.
She said Sondland later invited her to his Portland home to evaluate his personal art collection -- which included a picture of himself with then president George W. Bush -- and that he exposed himself in the pool house.
She said Sondland at a later meeting also forcibly kissed her.
Another woman, Nicole Vogel, said she met Sondland in 2003 over dinner to seek investment in a new magazine.
He then took her to a hotel he owned and invited her to see a room, where he requested a hug and then "grabs my face and goes to kiss me," she said.
Vogel said she refused and left. She pointed to an email afterward in which Sondland declined funding for her project.
Sondland in a statement rejected all the accusations and accused Vogel of "underhanded journalism" out of anger that he did not invest in the magazine.
"These untrue claims of unwanted touching and kissing are concocted and, I believe, coordinated for political purposes," he said.
"They have no basis in fact and I categorically deny them," he said.
Vogel owns the Portland Monthly, which published the article. The magazine said that, due to her implication in the story, it teamed up with ProPublica, a respected non-profit news group known for investigations.
A lawyer for Sondland told the magazine the article was timed to damage the ambassador's credibility in the impeachment inquiry.
Sondland donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration and was afterward named ambassador to the European Union.
Despite his support for Trump, Sondland, testifying last week under oath before lawmakers, said he was following the president's orders in demanding that Ukraine investigate domestic rival Joe Biden before he would agree to a White House summit.
The accusation is key evidence for House Democrats as they look to impeach the tycoon turned president.
sct/ft
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WASHINGTON -- Former US Vice President Joe Biden attempted on Wednesday to tamp down a controversy over allegations of unwanted physical contact with women, releasing a video in which he pledged to be “more mindful" of respecting "personal space."
The move marked the most extensive and personal effort yet by Biden to quell the furor ahead of a likely bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. An announcement is expected later this month.
In recent days, four women have said Biden made them feel uncomfortable when he touched them at political events in past years.
"The boundaries of protecting personal space have been reset and I get it. I get it. I hear what they're saying," Biden said in the two-minute video posted on Twitter.
"I will be much more mindful, and that’s my responsibility," he said. "I’ve worked my whole life to empower women. I’ve worked my whole life to prevent abuse."
After a former Nevada politician, Lucy Flores, said last week that Biden made her feel “uneasy, gross, and confused” when he kissed the back of her head at a 2014 campaign event, Biden released a statement saying he believed he never acted inappropriately during his many years in public life.
Three more women followed suit with similar complaints. Biden’s political team has tried to contain the damage, encouraging women who have known him to come forward with positive accounts of their interactions with him.
Flores could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday. She supported US Senator Bernie Sanders during his 2016 Democratic presidential campaign. Sanders is running again, and his campaign has denied any involvement in her going public with her story.
There was no immediate response to Biden’s statement from leading Democratic contenders. US Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren and former congressman Beto O’Rourke, among others, have expressed sympathy for Biden’s accusers and have said they deserve to be heard.
President Donald Trump poked fun at Biden on Tuesday over the allegations. On Wednesday, the Republican president, who during his 2016 campaign faced multiple accusations from women of unwanted sexual contact, wished his potential rival luck, saying it was up to Biden to decide if he should apologize.
Biden, 76, has long been known for a warm and intimate campaign style. He served eight years as vice president under Democratic President Barack Obama after 36 years as a US senator from Delaware.
But his propensity for hugging and physical touching has come under new scrutiny in the era of #MeToo and #TimesUp as awareness about sexual assault and harassment has grown and damaged the careers of dozens of men in politics and entertainment accused of sexual misconduct.
CAMPAIGN PREPARATIONS
Sources close to Biden told Reuters that preparations for a run had not been slowed by the controversy.
“I don’t think there is anything to change the work we are doing,” one source connected to the putative campaign said.
Another source who has been in contact with Biden’s team said the flap over his personal conduct had been anticipated. Both sources asked not to be named in order to speak freely about the campaign.
A top Biden donor, New York attorney James Kreindler, said his support of Biden had been unshaken by the controversy. Dick Harpootlian, a prominent lawyer in Democratic Party circles in South Carolina, added he did not think it would harm Biden's bid.
Public opinion polls have consistently shown Biden to be atop the 2020 field, which features more than a dozen candidates. There is yet to be any evidence that he has suffered lasting political damage from the accusations.
Tracy Sefl, a Democratic strategist in Chicago and former adviser to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, said Biden’s supporters were largely familiar with his public persona and unlikely to desert him over the issue.
The challenge for Biden if he does mount a run, Sefl said, was to appeal to voters who may be more skeptical about his behavior. She suggested he place women in high-profile roles within his campaign as one way to send a signal he is adapting to the times.
She also encouraged him to talk about his work supporting causes such as the Violence Against Women Act, which Biden sponsored while in the Senate. She recalled witnessing Biden speaking in support of the legislation as vice president.
“He was as emotional as any woman in that room,” Sefl said. “I want to see that should he be a candidate."
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PARIS - Louis Vuitton said Thursday they were pulling Michael Jackson-themed clothes from a new collection in the wake of the "Leaving Neverland" documentary which revived claims that the singer sexually abused children.
The brand's men's autumn winter collection, designed by the label's American designer Virgil Abloh, was designed as a homage to Jackson's "prodigious talent".
It was shown at Paris fashion week in January on a spectacular set inspired by his "Billie Jean" video.
Abloh -- one of fashion's brightest new stars -- penned a long tribute to Jackson in his notes for the show and posted a poem he wrote about him to his 3.4 million Instagram followers.
He called the singer a "universally relatable marvel. Every person on Earth could mirror themselves in him".
But the world's richest brand said Thursday that it would not now make any piece from the collection "that directly features Michael Jackson elements".
"I am aware that in light of this documentary the show has caused emotional reactions," Abloh told the Women's Wear Daily (WWD), the fashion industry's house journal.
"I strictly condemn any form of child abuse, violence or infringement against any human rights," he added.
'Troubling and disturbing'
The collection, only Abloh's second for Vuitton, featured a black T-shirt printed with Jackson's trademark shoes and white socks as well as takes on the legendary 3-zip red jacket worn by the late singer in the video for his megahit "Beat It".
The invitation to the show was a sparkly Michael Jackson white glove, several variations of which also made the catwalk.
The collection also included a string of looks inspired by "The Wiz", the 1978 all-black musical version of "The Wizard of Oz" in which Jackson starred.
The flag of the singer's home state, Indiana, was also emblazoned on one of Abloh's coats.
The clothes were not meant to go on sale until later this year.
The label said that "Leaving Neverland", which features 2 men who claimed Jackson sexually abused them for years, had caused the French fashion house "the greatest pain".
"We find the allegations in the documentary deeply troubling and disturbing," it added in a statement issued to WWD but which it refused to release to AFP.
"Leaving Neverland" has broken streaming records in Britain and prompted radio stations from Australia to Canada to drop Jackson's music from their playlists.
The creators of "The Simpsons" also shelved one of the animated series' classic episodes because it features Michael Jackson's voice.
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TAMPA - A woman who worked on Donald Trump's presidential campaign sued the president on Monday, accusing him of kissing her without consent before a 2016 rally in Tampa, Florida.
Alva Johnson said in the lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Florida's Middle District, that the alleged incident was "part of a pattern of predatory and harassing behavior towards women" by Trump.
"This accusation is absurd on its face," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement. "This never happened and is directly contradicted by multiple highly credible eye witness accounts."
Trump has denied charges by a number of women who said he groped and kissed them over a period of years without permission.
The lawsuit alleges the encounter occurred inside a campaign RV before a rally on Aug. 24, 2016. While leaving a meeting in the vehicle, Trump gripped Johnson by the hand and leaned in so close that she felt his breath, the lawsuit says.
Johnson turned her head, trying to avoid a kiss, but Trump still managed to kiss the corner of her mouth, the lawsuit says. Johnson claims Trump had to move deliberately because her face was framed by a baseball cap.
"She felt confused and humiliated," the lawsuit said.
High-profile Trump supporters including then-Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Trump's Florida campaign director Karen Giorno were in the RV at the time, the lawsuit said. Both told the Washington Post, which first reported the lawsuit, that they saw nothing inappropriate.
Johnson is seeking financial damages and a court order to prohibit Trump "from grabbing, kissing or otherwise assaulting or harassing women without prior express consent."
According to the lawsuit, Johnson called her partner and her parents in tears the day of the encounter with Trump and described what had happened. She said fellow campaign workers subsequently joked about the kiss after Giorno shared details.
In a phone interview on Monday, Johnson's lawyer, Hassan Zavareei, rejected the White House denial and said the witness accounts were not credible.
He said Johnson, 43, a mother of 4 living in Alabama, was not available for an interview and worries about her family's safety as a result of the lawsuit.
The lawsuit said Johnson also experienced discrimination as one of the campaign's few female and African-American staff members. She earned less than her colleagues and experienced "a larger culture of racist and sexist behavior," the lawsuit said.
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WASHINGTON - Ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl, tens of thousands of unaccompanied men will arrive in Atlanta to schmooze and be schmoozed, but most of all to party.
That brings sex trafficking to the top of the agenda for US authorities such as the Atlanta Police Department and the FBI, and for smaller organizations that fight trafficking without guns, or even flashlights, but rather with bars of soap.
The bars – and makeup wipes – were dropped off last weekend at hundreds of hotels and motels around the city, labelled with a phone number and a message.
"Are you being forced to do anything you do not want to do? Have you been threatened if you try to leave? Have you witnessed young girls being prostituted?" the black letters on the red label say.
"If so, please call: 1-888-373-7888," the Nation Human Trafficking Hotline.
Big sporting events, from the World Cup to the Olympics, regularly trigger a panic over an influx of sex workers, with many being victims of human trafficking.
Arrests of pimps running underage sex rings are reported at the National Football League's championship game almost every year, with girls being trafficked from as far away as Hawaii to hook up with clients via the internet, hotels and strip clubs.
The founder of the SOAP (Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution) project, Theresa Flores, believes what matters is putting the right message in the right place at the right time.
To her, that is a bar of soap in a hotel bathroom where a trafficking victim may be able to grab a moment alone.
And when a hotel or motel is hesitant to take the proffered soap or wipes?
"I tell them my story about how I would have found it when I was left for dead in a motel," Flores told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
She herself is a survivor.
A TRAFFICKING MECCA?
Numerous local and national charities are using the most-watched event on US television to spread their message.
And every Atlanta police officer has taken two hours of instruction on how to recognize and deal with trafficking, spokesman Jarius Daugherty said in emailed comments.
The police are also working with the FBI, which declined to give specifics about its plans ahead of the Super Bowl.
Still, for all the attention trafficking receives around the Superbowl, experts are unclear whether it causes a big spike.
Some 1.5 million people in the United States are victims of trafficking, mostly for sexual exploitation. The majority are children, according to a US Senate report published in 2017.
The state of Georgia ranked seventh in the United States for calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in 2017, according to Polaris, which runs the hotline.
But any increase in reports of trafficking could have more to do with awareness efforts than a spike in women and girls being brought to the Atlanta area for sex.
"We don't believe there is a significant increase in actual trafficking cases or victimization," Polaris spokesman Brandon Bouchard said in emailed comments.
"Rather it's a change in the marketing of commercial sex services that use the Super Bowl as a hook."
SOAP uses big national events like the Super Bowl and the Detroit autoshow to anchor their efforts, but over the weekend they also worked to help trafficking victims who have been in Atlanta all along.
In addition to the soap and makeup wipes, the group distributes posters with photos of 12 suspected victims in the Atlanta area.
Flores said it is not unusual for hotel clerks to recognize the girls from the posters.
"A lot of them think of this as prostitution - no, this is human trafficking," she said.
"We're really educating every single hotel out there."
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PHOENIX - An Arizona male nurse has been charged with raping a severely disabled woman at the long-term care facility where he worked, a crime that came to light only after she gave birth, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Nathan Sutherland, 36, was arrested by investigators who linked him to the case through DNA evidence after the woman, who is in her 20s, unexpectedly gave birth on Dec. 29 at Hacienda Healthcare Skilled Nursing Facility in Phoenix.
"From the minute we first became aware of this crime, a sexual assault, we have worked virtually non-stop every day, every night, seven days a week trying to solve and resolve this case," Police Chief Jeri Williams told a news conference.
Williams said the case, which has made international headlines, was solved through a combination of DNA and "good old fashioned police work."
Sutherland, a licensed practical nurse who began working at Hacienda Health care in 2012, was charged with one count each of sexual assault and abuse of a vulnerable adult. He was ordered held on $500,000 bail during a brief appearance in Maricopa County Superior Court.
Reuters could not reach Sutherland's defense lawyer for comment on Wednesday.
The Arizona Republic newspaper reported that attorney Dave Gregan said during the hearing that there was no direct evidence against his client, who had no criminal history, and that the defense planned to conduct its own DNA tests.
The woman, who has been disabled since very early childhood as a result of seizures, has spent most of her life in Phoenix's Hacienda Healthcare.
Though she was initially described as comatose, her parents said in a written statement that although she was disabled she could respond to sound, make facial gestures and had some ability to move her limbs, head and neck.
"The important thing is that she is a beloved daughter, albeit with significant intellectual disabilities," they said.
The parents declined to comment on Sutherland's arrest in a separate statement issued through their attorney.
Hacienda employees were not aware that woman was pregnant before she went into labor, police say, and were first alerted to the case when the baby was born. Police then sought DNA samples from all male employees.
The facility said in a written statement that Sutherland was fired as soon as administrators learned of his arrest.
"Before he started work with Hacienda, he underwent extensive background checks, including an extended criminal history search; a search of multiple government registries, including sex offender registries and Arizona Department of Economic Security and Child Protective Services registries; and checks of his personal references," it said.
The baby, a boy who is being cared for by family members, is doing well, police said.
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WASHINGTON - With the FBI poised to report as soon as Wednesday night on sexual misconduct allegations against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's mocking remarks about one of Kavanaugh's accusers raised concerns among three Republicans whose votes could decide the confirmation fight.
Several people with information related to allegations against Kavanaugh told Reuters they had not heard from the FBI, suggesting its report may be narrower than was desired by some of the lawmakers who demanded it just days ago.
Christine Blasey Ford, a college professor from California who accused Kavanaugh of assaulting her in 1982 when they were high school students, has not been contacted by the FBI, her attorneys said.
As Senate Republican leaders marched toward a final vote on Kavanaugh's nomination, perhaps over the weekend, the three Republicans who could be key to whether Kavanaugh is confirmed, criticized Trump for his remarks about Ford at a political rally in Mississippi on Tuesday night.
Senators Jeff Flake, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski were among lawmakers who objected to Trump's comments about Ford's testimony on the alleged assault.
Ford, who testified last week at an extraordinary Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, said she could not remember the precise date or location of the alleged assault or how she got home later, but offered a detailed account of the incident. She said a drunken Kavanaugh pinned her down, tried to remove her clothing and covered her mouth when she screamed.
Imitating Ford's testimony, Trump, who was himself accused during the 2016 presidential race of sexual misconduct with numerous women, said: "What neighborhood was it in? I don't know. Where's the house? I don't know. Upstairs, downstairs, where was it? I don't know. But I had one beer. That's the only thing I remember."
"And a man's life is in tatters," Trump added.
Flake told NBC's "Today" show that "there's no time and no place for remarks like that, that discuss something this sensitive at a political rally ... It's kind of appalling."
Collins told reporters: "The president's comments were just plain wrong." She did not respond when asked if his comments would affect her vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation.
Asked whether Trump's comments would affect her vote, Murkowski told reporters: "I am taking everything into account. The president's comments yesterday mocking Dr. Ford were wholly inappropriate and, in my view, unacceptable."
A day after the hearing, Trump had called Ford "a very credible witness" who provided "very compelling" testimony.
Kavanaugh has denied Ford's accusation as well as allegations by two other women, all dating from the 1980s.
'CLEARLY A REASON'
Flake was instrumental last Friday in getting Trump to order an FBI investigation into the allegations against Kavanaugh, a conservative federal appeals court judge nominated by Trump for a lifetime job on the top U.S. court.
Trump limited the investigation to no more than a week.
Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, complained in an interview with Reuters that the White House had not responded to requests for documents detailing its instructions to the FBI about the scope of its investigation of Kavanaugh.
“There's clearly a reason for that and I assume the administration doesn't want members of Congress and the public to see it,” Durbin said.
It was not immediately clear whether the FBI report, which will be made available to senators, would be released to the public.
The No. 2 Senate Republican, John Cornyn, said the report could be given to senators as soon as Wednesday. Republican Senators John Kennedy and Roy Blunt said the FBI report should be made public.
Trump's fellow Republicans control the Senate by a 51-49 margin. If all the Democrats oppose Kavanaugh, Trump cannot afford to lose the support of more than one Republican for his nominee, with Vice President Mike Pence casting a tiebreaking vote. No Republicans have said they will vote against Kavanaugh.
Opposition among Americans to Kavanaugh has increased since last week's hearing, Reuters/Ipsos polling data showed on Wednesday.
In the latest seven-day average in a survey of 4,057 U.S. adults, 41 percent of respondents opposed Kavanaugh, 33 percent supported him and 26 percent said they did not know. Opposition to Kavanaugh grew 4 percentage points after the hearing, apparently driven by people who previously were undecided.
In a Twitter post on Wednesday, Trump did not back away from his rally comments, instead attacking Kavanaugh's Democratic critics. Trump said when he goes to political rallies, which are organized by Republicans, he sees that voters are angry at the "vicious and despicable" way Democrats are treating his nominee.
At a White House briefing, Trump's spokeswoman Sarah Sanders defended his remarks in Mississippi and said he was not concerned the comments may have jeopardized the votes of key senators. "The president was stating the facts" about the gaps in Ford's recollection of the alleged incident, Sanders said.
The FBI has interviewed Mark Judge, a high school friend of Kavanaugh who Ford said was in the bedroom where Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted her.
Judge has denied any memory of such an incident, as have at least three others with information about Ford's allegations and those of a second accuser, Deborah Ramirez, who has said Kavanaugh exposed himself to her when they were Yale University students.
A person familiar with the matter said the FBI questioned Ramirez for more than two hours on Sunday and that she provided the FBI with a list of more than 20 possible witnesses.
Two Yale classmates of Ramirez told Reuters on Tuesday that they had reached out to the FBI over the weekend but had not yet heard back.
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WASHINGTON - Democratic U.S. senators expressed concern on Sunday over reports the White House was working with Republicans to narrow the scope of an FBI investigation into sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
President Donald Trump bowed to pressure from moderate members of his Republican Party on Friday and ordered the probe after Christine Blasey Ford, a university professor, detailed her allegations at a Senate hearing that Kavanaugh assaulted her in 1982, when the two were in high school.
The stunning reversal capped two weeks of allegations, followed by furious denials, that roiled prospects for Trump's nominee, a conservative federal appeals court judge once expected to easily become the second Trump nominee to win a lifetime appointment to the top U.S. court.
Kavanaugh has denied Ford's accusation, as well as those of two other women.
Republicans, who are trying to retain control of the U.S. Congress in November elections, are seeking to balance their desire for another conservative justice on the court with sensitivity about how they handle sexual misconduct allegations amid the reverberations of the #MeToo movement.
It did not take long, however, for the FBI probe to become an object of partisan divide.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the White House had defined the parameters of the probe for the FBI, and that the investigation would start off with interviews with only four people.
NBC News, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal previously reported that the White House was constraining the investigation, prompting Senate Democrats on the Judiciary Committee to express concern.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the panel's top Democrat, wrote to White House counsel Donald McGahn and FBI Director Christopher Wray and asked that the committee be provided with a copy of the written directive the White House sent to the FBI, as well as the names of any additional witnesses or evidence if the probe is expanded.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The administration denied it was trying to control the probe, which the Judiciary Committee said on Friday "would be limited to current credible allegations" and wrapped up within a week.
"We're staying out of the way" and letting the FBI do their job," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told "Fox News Sunday."
But the administration made clear there would be limits. "It's not meant to be a fishing expedition," White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said on CNN's "State of the Union."
Trump vowed on Saturday that the FBI could interview "whoever they deem appropriate." On Sunday, he criticized Democrats for expressing concerns about the length and scope of the probe.
"For them, it will never be enough!" he wrote on Twitter.
FBI PROBE
The FBI will question Deborah Ramirez, who said Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party when both were students at Yale University, the White House official told Reuters.
It will also question Mark Judge, a friend of Kavanaugh who Ford said witnessed the assault, and Leland Keyser and P.J. Smyth, who she said were at the gathering.
A third accuser, Julie Swetnick, was not on the initial list of witnesses to be interviewed.
Senate Republicans compiled the list of four witnesses, and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell shared it with the White House, the official and another source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The New York Times, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that the White House asked the FBI to share its findings after the initial interviews and that Trump and his advisers would then decide whether the accusations should be investigated further.
Neither the FBI nor a Judiciary Committee representative would comment on the probe.
Asked on Friday which allegations would be investigated, Republican Senator Jeff Flake, who was instrumental in forcing the investigation, told reporters: "We'll leave that to the FBI." His office did not respond to a request for comment on the latest reports on Sunday.
Senator Susan Collins, among a handful of moderates who joined Flake, said in an email: "I am confident that the FBI will follow up on any leads that result from the interviews."
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said it would not be unlawful for the White House to restrict the investigation's scope since the FBI is under the executive branch.
But Tobias said FBI agents were usually allowed to act independently and it would be a "clear conflict of interest" for White House officials involved in Kavanaugh’s confirmation process to interfere with the FBI’s investigation.
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WASHINGTON - Christine Blasey Ford began her testimony in front of a Senate committee by saying she was “terrified,” and at times she looked it.
But by the time she finished detailing her allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers, Ford was being widely praised as credible and brave.
Before the Senate hearing on Thursday, Ford had never appeared on camera, and was only depicted in news media reports with a grainy photo lifted from the internet.
She emerged in the eyes of many American women as a compelling figure in the #MeToo movement that is usually associated less with the names of victims and more with a list of high-profile men accused of misconduct.
Thousands of conservatives took to social media to accuse Ford of lying to bring down Kavanaugh, who angrily and tearfully denied her accusations in a day of dramatic, high-stakes testimony from both the accused and the accuser.
While Republican senators depicted her testimony as part of a partisan attack orchestrated by Democrats, they -- and Kavanaugh -- were careful not to attack Ford personally.
And outside Congress, even many prominent conservatives were willing to praise Ford.
e"Dr. Ford comes across as a credible person who has suffered the serious emotional impact of a disturbing incident in her teens," said Alice Stewart, a conservative strategist who has worked on several Republican presidential campaigns. "This will boil down to the sincere credibility of someone with nothing to gain versus the sincere credibility of someone with everything to lose."
Right-wing commentator Mike Cernovich tweeted, "Ford seems kind. This doesn’t strike me as partisan." Fox News commentator Chris Wallace called Ford’s testimony “extremely credible" and a "disaster for the Republicans."
Moira Donegan, a writer and prominent voice in the #MeToo movement, said Ford struck a chord among American women.
“So many women around the country were watching it together in rooms and texting one another about what they were seeing, identifying with her,” said Donegan said.
Still, even many Republicans who believed Ford was honestly recounting what happened to her took the view that it was a case of mistaken identity, believing Kavanaugh's emotional testimony that was not there and did not attack her.
The Republican Party posted online videos of women supporting Kavanaugh throughout Ford’s testimony.
Ford, a 51-year-old psychology professor from California, began her appearance by asking for a cup of coffee, her jaw tight with nerves. Her voice cracked at times as she then gave an emotional account of the alleged assault in 1982.
When a male senator read Kavanaugh’s denial, Ford appeared to shudder. She appeared to be close to tears at times, but she was firm and dignified throughout.
A GoFundMe page to support Ford and pay for her security and legal expenses quickly doubled its fundraising total after it was mentioned during the hearing.
It had already raised the initial target of $150,000 before the hearing and that jumped about $250,000 on Thursday to over $412,000 -- from a total of 8,888 people with average donations of about $46.
RAINN, a group that provides a support hot line for victims of sexual assault and crimes, said it saw a 147 percent increase above the normal volume of people reaching out for help.
An analysis of social media sentiment conducted by the Ipsos polling firm using an artificial intelligence prototype found that positive sentiment directed toward Ford increased each time she spoke, said pollster Chris Jackson.
“People were responding to her very strongly,” Jackson said, although he also cautioned that it measured posts on Twitter and Facebook and was not a representation of total public sentiment.
It was Ford's telling the committee she now has two front doors at her home -- a decision she said she made because of the lasting trauma of the alleged assault -- that convinced Kathleen Pierman, 66, who watched the testimony at home.
"She didn't seem in it for gain,” said Pierman, who lives in the suburbs of Cleveland. She said she found Kavanaugh more convincing than she expected, but said confirming him would be a "huge mistake" because "no one will trust the Supreme Court."
Three political scientists who specialize in voting behavior and political psychology told Reuters they expected Ford’s testimony to galvanize female Democratic voters to vote in November.
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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles prosecutors said on Tuesday they would not charge Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter over a 2003 sexual assault accusation because it fell outside the California statute of limitations.
The Los Angeles District Attorney’s office said it had reviewed the accusation by a woman who was 18 years old at the time, but said the statute of limitations had expired in 2013.
“An analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence is not warranted, and the matter is declined,” prosecutors said in a charge evaluation worksheet released to the media.
They gave no details of the case, but Carter last year denied an allegation that he raped a teen pop singer 15 years ago.
An attorney for Carter, whose band is currently playing a long-term engagement in Las Vegas, said in a statement on Tuesday that the singer was “happy to put the matter behind him.”
“Nick has denied these allegations ever since he first learned of them last year,” attorney Michael Holtz said in the statement.
The Backstreet Boys were one of the biggest boy bands of the late 1990s and early 2000s, with hits like “Quit Playing Games With My Heart.”
Accusations of sexual misconduct, inspired by the #MeToo social media movement, have forced multiple celebrities, politicians and businessmen to step down or be fired in the past year.
Reporting by Jill Serjeant
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CBS Corp CEO Leslie Moonves resigned from the company, the company said on Sunday, amid fresh allegations of sexual assault and harassment.
CBS also announced a deal to end litigation against controlling shareholder Shari Redstone and National Amusements Inc for control of the broadcaster and media company.
Chief Operating Officer Joe Ianiello will take over as interim CEO as the board searches for a replacement, according to the announcement. The settlements end years of uncertainty over the future of CBS and could potentially open the door future deals.
The announcement comes after 6 more women accused Moonves of sexual assault and harassment in a report published on Sunday in the New Yorker magazine.
National Amusements agreed to avoid pressing for a merger of CBS and Viacom, which is also controlled by National Amusements, for at least two years.
In earlier court filings, NAI had dropped support for a deal before it was sued in May by CBS for control of the company. The settlement does not preclude other parties from suggesting a merger or bringing other potential transactions to the board, one source said.
Moonves, 68, who turned CBS from an aging radio and TV broadcaster into a provider of shows to digital platforms, was expected to reap an estimated $100 million in severance.
But Moonves could end up with nothing pending an investigation into allegations of violence against women conducted by law firms hired by an independent committee of the CBS board of directors.
CBS said it and Moonves will donate $20 million of Moonves' severance to organizations supporting the #MeToo movement.
Five current independent directors and one National Amusement-affiliated director have stepped down from the board of directors and 6 new directors have been elected, the company said.
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BEIJING - The CEO of JD.com Inc, Richard Liu, has returned to China, the Chinese e-commerce giant said on Monday, days after he was arrested by police in the U.S. city of Minneapolis on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct and later released.
Police said an investigation was ongoing.
JD.com, has said that the accusation against Liu, 45, was unsubstantiated.
"He has been released without any charges, and without requirement for bail. Mr. Liu has returned to work in China," the company said in a brief statement late on Monday, referring further questions to two U.S.-based lawyers representing Liu.
The lawyers, based in Minneapolis, could not immediately be reached by Reuters for comment.
Minneapolis police said on Sunday that "an active investigation" was underway, although it was possible for the billionaire founder of the firm to leave the United States.
Reuters has not been able to reach Liu for comment.
"We don't know if there will be charges or not because we haven't concluded an investigation," John Elder, a spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Department, told Reuters on Sunday. He declined to provide details of the arrest.
In addition to making Liu the highest-profile Chinese businessperson to be accused publicly of sexual misconduct, the case has raised concerns that loss-making Nasdaq-listed JD.com could face difficulties making decisions due to its unusual governance structure.
The company is backed by Walmart Inc, Alphabet Inc's Google and China's Tencent Holdings.
JD.com's rules require Liu, who holds nearly 80 percent of the company's voting rights, to be present at board meetings for the board to make decisions, although it was not immediately clear if he has to be physically present or could participate by teleconference.
"I'm not aware of any other company that has similar rules," said Chris Leahy, co-founder of advisory firm Blackpeak and a corporate governance expert.
"If the board isn't quorate without Richard Liu, if he is unable to attend, and if there are no other provisions that offer a way round that, the company could become ungovernable," he said.
The Financial Times, citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter, reported that the case involved Liu, who is a student in the University of Minnesota's doctor of business administration program, and a Chinese student at the university.
While the doctoral program primarily takes place in Beijing in partnership with the prestigious Tsinghua University, the students were in the Twin Cities last week as part of their training. According to its website, the program is designed for top-level executives working in China, and the average age of participants is 50.
The complaint against Liu was made just before midnight local time on Friday, and he was released just after 4 p.m. on Saturday, according to the Hennepin County Sheriff website.
University spokeswoman Emma Bauer referred questions to the Minneapolis Police Department.
China's foreign ministry said its consulate in Chicago was closely watching the situation.
"We are currently seeking information and verification from the relevant U.S. departments," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular Beijing news conference on Monday.
SELF-MADE BILLIONAIRE
Chinese social media was abuzz over the arrest, with a thread on Liu's police booking photo ranking as the most discussed topic on China's Weibo platform on Monday morning, read more than 250 million times.
JD.com, one of China's tech heavyweights, competes with larger rival Alibaba Group, and Liu has a net worth of $7.9 billion, according to Forbes. The company, worth some $45 billion, has seen its stock lose 24 percent of its value this year amid concerns of weakening growth momentum.
The company has been in and out of the red for the past year and last month reported a second-quarter net loss of $334.4 million - almost twice market estimates - reflecting increased investment.
Liu built JD.com from scratch. In 1998, he spent 12,000 yuan ($1,760) of his savings to lease a four-square-metre retail space in Beijing's technology hub of Zhongguancun, setting up a firm that would become JD.com. He is also known for his marriage to Chinese internet celebrity Zhang Zetian.
Zhang, described by Chinese media as 24, shot to fame while a student in 2009 when a photo of her holding a cup of milk tea went viral, giving her the nickname "Sister Milk Tea". She met Liu while studying in the United States and married him in 2015.
In July, a court in Australia denied Liu's efforts to block the release of his name in association with a sexual assault trial in which he was not accused of any wrongdoing, according to a court document.
In that case, Liu had hosted a party in late 2015 at his luxury home in Sydney, after which one of his guests accused another guest of sexually assaulting her at a hotel. The defendant was found guilty of seven offenses, according to a court document.
Trade in JD.com shares is set to resume on Tuesday as U.S. markets are closed for the Labor Day holiday on Monday.
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WASHINGTON - Chinese e-commerce billionaire Liu Qiangdong -- also known as Richard Liu -- was briefly arrested in the midwestern US city of Minneapolis over allegations of criminal sexual conduct, authorities said.
Records from Hennepin County Jail showed Liu, founder and CEO of Chinese online retail giant JD.com, was arrested over the misconduct allegations late Friday night and released Saturday afternoon.
The Minneapolis Police Department said the investigation remained active and would not confirm details of the arrest or the allegations against the 45-year-old Liu.
"The individual was arrested Friday evening and released Saturday afternoon. He was released pending formal complaint," Public Information Officer John Elder told AFP.
In the state of Minnesota, "criminal sexual conduct" encompasses a broad spectrum of nonconsensual sexual activity.
In a statement posted on Chinese social media network Weibo, JD.com confirmed that Liu had been arrested over what it described as a false allegation during a business trip.
The statement, contradicting US police, added authorities found no evidence of misconduct and released Liu to continue his trip.
Founded in 1998, the Fortune Global 500 company is China's second-largest e-commerce firm and an aggressive competitor of Alibaba.
The company says it offers a "one stop" shopping experience to over 300 million active customers in China, with same- and next day-delivery as standard.
In June, Google announced it would invest more than half a billion dollars into JD.com as part of a move to expand retail services around the world.
The firms will marry JD's supply chain and logistics experience with Google technology to create "next generation" personalized retail in regions including Southeast Asia, the US and Europe, both companies said in a statement.
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NEW YORK - US television giant CBS announced Monday that it would select outside lawyers to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct lodged against CEO Leslie Moonves but declined to take further immediate action on his fate.
Moonves, who transformed CBS into a ratings winner after joining the network in 1995, is one of the most powerful American men implicated in the #MeToo era that ignited last year after the career implosion of Harvey Weinstein.
A New Yorker article published Friday revealed allegations from six women who said Leslie Moonves sexually harassed them between the 1980s and late 2000s.
Four described forcible touching or kissing during business meetings, and two said Moonves physically intimidated them or threatened to derail their careers.
"CBS Corporation announced today that its board of directors is in the process of selecting outside counsel to conduct an independent investigation," it said in a statement. "No other action was taken on this matter at today's board meeting."
The board also postponed the corporation's annual meeting of stockholders, which had been scheduled for August 10. No new date or location was announced.
Moonves, 68, acknowledged Friday that "decades ago" he "may have made some women uncomfortable... Those were mistakes, and I regret them immensely."
But he also denied having ever retaliated by harming anyone's career.
His wife, "Big Brother" show host Julie Chen on CBS has come out publicly in his support, as have several women executives at CBS.
Last week, the board of directors issued a preemptive statement before The New Yorker article was published, saying that upon conclusion of its investigation, it would "promptly review the findings and take appropriate action."
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PETALUMA, California – A Filipina-American valedictorian said her speech was cut-off after she expressed critical views against the school for its handling of her alleged sexual assault on campus.
Last June 2, 17-year old Lulabel Seitz’s speech was cut off for going-off script. Crowd members then proceeded to rally for Seitz chanting: “Let her speak.”
Seitz later posted the full version of her speech on YouTube, describing the campus as a place where perpetrators of sexual assault were defended.
According to Seitz, she was assaulted on campus last fall and while the student was arrested, administrators did not suspend or expel the one responsible and instead encouraged her to drop the case.
In a statement, campus officials said they cannot respond due to privacy issues.
But one school official has said that Seitz’s assertions do not match the school’s perspective.
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