(Daily Mail) Jurors in the trial of Harvey Weinstein will be allowed to hear Gavin Newsom’s wife emailed the movie magnate for advice about dealing with the media amid a scandal involving the California Governor two years after Weinstein allegedly raped and sexually assaulted her, a judge has ruled.
The judge granted narrow permission to the defense to introduce evidence of the message sent to Weinstein in 2007, when Newsom was mayor of San Francisco and dating Jennifer.
But Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench forbid the defense from discussing the underlying issue behind the email – the revelation of an affair Newsom had had in 2005 with an aide.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, wife of Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom has confirmed that she is one of Weinstein’s accusers and will testify at trial . Pictured in 2019
The couple are pictured years earlier at a San Francisco gala in 2010
Judge Lench called it ‘too tangential in relation to this trial.’ Weinstein’s attorney Mark Werksman argued adamantly for the inclusion of the details.
Of all things you’d think a woman that is raped by Harvey Weinstein wouldn´t do, it’s ask him how to deal with a sex scandal,’ Werksman said.
Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez responded: ‘I´m not sure how Mr. Werksman knows’ how a rape victim would behave.
‘They do not react in a matter how someone who has not been raped would think,’ Martinez said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Jennifer Lynn Siebel Newsom seen in September 2021
Siebel alleges that Weinstein raped her in 2005, when she was an actress. It was three years before she married Newsom
Werksman argued that the contents of the email were essential, saying that for Siebel Newsom and the other accusers in the trial, the power dynamic with Weinstein was essential.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench has been deciding what evidence will be allowed to be presented in court to the jury during the trial
‘When her boyfriend the mayor seduces an underling’s wife and gets scandalized over it,’ she sides with the mayor,’ he said, and suggested it was essential to Weinstein’s rights that the judge allow that line of questioning.
The judge suggested the attorney was overstating the case by saying Weinstein’s due process was at stake.
‘Very dramatic, Mr. Werksman,’ Lench said.
Werksman replied, ‘Forgive the melodrama your honor.’
Weinstein is charged with raping Siebel Newsom at a Beverly Hills hotel and forcing oral sex on her in 2004 or 2005.
Elizabeth Fegan, her attorney, said: ‘Like many other women, my client was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein at a purported business meeting that turned out to be a trap.
