INSIDE EDITION EXCLUSIVE:

NEVER-BEFORE-HEARD AUDIO OF HARVEY WEINSTEIN & THE NEW YORK TIMES TWO DAYS BEFORE ITS 2017 BOMBSHELL REPORT ABOUT THE SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS

 

Please mention airdate:

Thursday June 27^th

 

Check local listings at www.insideedition.com

 

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New York, NY — June 26, 2019 – It’s the phone call at the beginning of Harvey Weinstein’s fall from grace. In an exclusive airing on Thursday, INSIDE EDITION obtained a secret audio recording of a conference call between Harvey Weinstein and two New York Times reporters.

 

The conversation took place about 48 hours before the Times published its bombshell report in early October 2017 detailing allegations that Weinstein paid off sexual harassment accusers for decades. On the recording, you can hear Weinstein challenge the reporting of Times Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey.

 

“No, excuse me, this is Harvey Weinstein talking!” Weinstein bellows during the call.

 

A Times reporter starts the interview by saying, “We’ve found a pattern over three decades of allegations of sexual harassment of multiple women…”

 

Weinstein responds, “I think you ought to be specific and tell me who they are and if they’re on the record.” He later adds, “There are many mistakes you’ve made. I promise we will find them.”

 

As the call continues, the Times reporters ask Weinstein to comment on their investigation:

 

“Harvey, while we’re on the phone now, is there anything you want to say?”

 

At one point, Weinstein responds, “It seems like you have a lot of hearsay on your hands… I’m going to say this nicely, get the facts right. You’re journalists.”

 

When the call took place, Weinstein was in a conference room at his now-shuttered offices in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan. The Times reporters begin the call by telling Weinstein they wanted to tape the interview for accuracy, which they said is standard procedure. Weinstein told them he was not comfortable with the call being recorded, to which the Times reporters responded, “So then I assume that you’re not recording us?”

 

Weinstein responds, “No, we’re not recording you.”

 

But according to a former insider at The Weinstein Company, that was a lie. Frank Gil, the former head of human resources for The Weinstein Company, tells INSIDE EDITION’s Les Trent that Weinstein ordered him to tape the conversation.

 

“He tells me to tape the conversation,” says Gil.

 

“Did the New York Times know that Harvey was recording the call?”

 

“No they didn’t,” responds Gil. The New York Times did not record the call.

 

As the call proceeds, Weinstein grows frustrated at times and defends himself to the reporters saying, “I’m not a saint, but I’m not the sinner you think I am.”

 

When the reporters ask Weinstein about actress Rose McGowan, who claimed she was sexually assaulted by Weinstein in 1997, Weinstein refers to his attorney Charles Harder.

 

“We know that in 1997 you paid $100,000 to Rose McGowan following an encounter in a hotel room,” one of the reporters says. “Is there anything you want to tell us about that?”

 

“Charles?” Weinstein says.

 

Charles Harder responds, saying “We’ll get back to you on that.”

 

Over the course of the 59-minute call, Weinstein sounds like a broken record, repeatedly steering the Times reporters to Harder for a response to their questions.

 

Weinstein says, “Let me have Charles handle that…” “I’ll let Charles handle that…” “I think Charles can respond to that.”

 

Harder’s frequent reply was simply: “Let me get back to you on that.”

 

Later, Frank Gil says Weinstein became paranoid that an insider at The Weinstein Company might be feeding information to the Times.

 

He tells INSIDE EDITION, “I go to Harvey’s office, the first thing I see when I walk in are guys wanding the wall for bugs. From there, I took over and Harvey is like, ‘I want you to find out who’s leaking the information.’”

 

In a recently filed lawsuit, Gil says Weinstein promised to pay him $450,000 and asked him to find the informants. Gil says he traced the leak to top executives at The Weinstein Company, including Harvey’s own brother, Bob Weinstein. But Gil says Weinstein never paid him and he resigned soon after as Weinstein’s entertainment empire began to crumble in the wake of the Times’ award winning articles.

 

“This is a point where I’m around one of the most powerful Hollywood producers of all time and just seeing his face you could tell that he senses impending doom,” Gil tells INSIDE EDITION.

 

Weinstein denies any wrongdoing and also denies all the allegations of nonconsensual sexual activity. Weinstein and his attorneys did get back to The New York Times with a statement prior to publishing their first article on Weinstein. Weinstein was arrested in May 2018 on sexual assault and rape charges in New York. His trial is scheduled to begin in September. He has pleaded not guilty.

 

For Inside Edition’s full report tune in on Thursday, June 27th. For stations and times in your area, check local listings at www.insideedition.com.

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