Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers try to poke holes in Miriam Haley’s testimony during cross-examination

Harvey Weinstein’s defense team on Thursday deployed a pit bull lawyer with a history of defending notorious men to try and poke holes in the testimony of a former “Project Runway” production assistant who has accused the Hollywood mogul of sexually assaulting her twice.

When Miriam Haley took the stand for the third day, defense attorney Jennifer Bonjean, who is known for representing accused sex predators Bill Cosby and R. Kelly, grilled her about the jet-setting lifestyle that gave her access to celebrities like Weinstein.

During her questioning, Bonjean got Haley to say that she didn’t give reporters a complete picture of her complicated relationship with Weinstein after she first came forward with allegations that the Hollywood heavyweight had performed forcible oral sex on her in June 2006 and then, a month later, raped her.

“I told the part that was relevant,” Haley said when Bonjean asked if she had told the press about friendly email exchanges she had with Weinstein over the years following the alleged 2006 assault.

A key detail in Haley’s testimony on Wednesday was that she had had her period during the time Weinstein allegedly assaulted her in 2006. During questioning from Bonjean, Haley said that she didn’t remember “exactly” when she got her period in 2006 after the defense attorney showed Haley her calendar, where the former assistant sometimes tracked the start date of her period by writing “P.”

Haley testified that there was no “P” indicated in the months of January, February and April but there was “something in March that may be a ‘P’.” She said she didn’t always remember to add it to her calendar and that she “skipped” her period some months, adding that she doesn’t have a clear memory of her cycle from that year.

Bonjean focused on this detail a day after Haley, in graphic detail, told the court Weinstein was not deterred during the first alleged assault when she told him she was having her period.

Haley is expected to field more questions from Bonjean about the alleged assaults when court resumes on Friday.

Weinstein is on trial again after the New York State Court of Appeals last year overturned his landmark 2020 conviction for sexually abusing young women which defined the #MeToo movement and helped turn the Oscar-winning producer into a pariah. 

Bonjean was enlisted to be part of Weinstein’s defense team partly because she helped get Cosby’s conviction for aggravated indecent assault overturned in 2021. But after Friday, Bonjean will no longer be representing Weinstein because she has to appear in a Brooklyn court next week for another case she is defending.

Weinstein is charged with one count of engaging in a criminal sex act in connection with Haley’s allegations that he forcibly performed oral sex on her in June 2006. He is also charged with one count of third-degree rape for allegedly assaulting actress Jessica Mann in 2013.

Both women were part of Weinstein’s first trial and Mann is also expected to testify in his retrial.

New to the retrial is an additional charge of engaging in a first-degree criminal sexual act for the alleged assault of a Polish former model named Kaja Sokola.

Sokola claimed in a lawsuit that she was 16 when Weinstein in 2006 performed oral sex on her without her consent at a Manhattan hotel. She, too, is expected to testify at Weinstein’s retrial.

Weinstein, 73, has denied assaulting Haley, Mann and Sokola.

Prosecutors contend that Weinstein used his Hollywood clout to prey on young women like Haley who were searching for jobs in the TV and film industry — and to silence them after the alleged assaults.

Haley, whose testimony at the retrial has largely been a reprise of the testimony she provided in 2020, has already testified that she reached out to Weinstein because she wanted his help finding a job. She has also testified that she did not report the assaults to the police or cut ties to Weinstein immediately after the assaults because she feared what he would do to her professionally.

But, under questioning from Bonjean, Haley acknowledged that Weinstein was not the first producer she tapped for job connections. She recounted that she had previously worked for British film and theater producer Michael White, and that, through White, Haley met numerous “A-listers” like rock stars Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney, as well as actor Jack Nicholson.

Weinstein’s lead attorney, Arthur Aidala, has insisted from the start of the retrial that his client’s sexual encounters with the accusers were “transactional” and “consensual.”