Harvey Weinstein trial stay: Mogul’s attorneys blame the accusers and says they ‘tried to cut the line’ for roles

Court has been adjourned for a lunch break until 2.45 p.m.

We’ll start hearing witness testimony then.

Aidala says that the women came forward with their accusations in 2017, following the advent of the #MeToo movement.

“Sorry Mr Weinstein,” he says, looking to his client, “but he wasn’t the most powerful man in Hollywood,” unlike Warner Bros and Paramount. “It’s not like if he didn’t give you a job, there was nowhere else to go.”

“There were no complaints before they started handing out the money,” he adds.

Aidala is delivering a crazy long metaphor about the circus and how the prosecution wants jurors to be enthralled with the acrobatics and popcorn during direct examination.

But the defense, through cross-examination, is going to show you what really goes on, he adds, showing you “the smell…the poop and the pee” that is overwhelming at the circus.

You can’t make this up.

At one point the judge even said “I don’t know where you’re going with this” prompting laughter from the whole room.

Aidala adds that the three female accusers are “smart, sophisticated women” as well as “manipulating” and “conniving.”

“They wanted to use Harvey when he’s at the top and they wanted to use Harvey when he’s at the bottom,” he says.

He argues the women didn’t go to police, a doctor, a hospital or a psychiatrist in the wake of the alleged encounters, before singling out high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred in the back row of the court.

“She’s one of the greats,” he says of Allred. Mimi picked her “because she’s known for suing men.”

In his opening statement, Aidala says that Kaja Sokola’s “whole story is based on a lie” and she has a “lot of problems.” The prosecution previously highlighted that she struggles with eating disorders and alcohol addiction.

“From her teens through 30, she doesn’t complain to a human being” about Weinstein, he says.

All three women have maintained “long-term relationships” with Weinstein that were “very friendly, very amicable,” Aidala adds, pointing to texts and emails that they wrote to him. They apparently wrote “miss you” and “love you” to Weinstein after these alleged crimes took place.

“They’re asking you to make sense of things that don’t make sense,” he tells the jury.

Aidala tells the majority-female jury that Weinstein’s accusers had attempted to “cut the line” with their careers in the industry.

“They fooled around with him consensually. Jessica [Mann] fooled around with him probably more times than she can count,” he says.

In Hollywood, there was the casting couch. For these three women, “the casting couch was not a crime scene,” Aidala says. “Was it immoral? 100%.”

These women “tried to cut the line, they tried to take a shortcut… There’s a lot of real estate between immorality and criminality.”

In his statement Aidala waxes lyrical about Weinstein, dropping some of the biggest names in Hollywood including Gwyneth Paltrow and Meryl Streep.

“Although he doesn’t look like George Clooney or Leonardo DiCaprio or Brad Pitt, you’ll hear in their words how he’s charismatic and generous,” he says.

“A real argument can be made that he was the greatest movie executive, at the very least, of his generation.” Weinstein has been thanked at the Academy Awards as many times as God and Steven Spielberg, he adds.

“The charged crimes are minutes. The witnesses want you to read a page of that book…For context, you need to read the whole book. We want you to read the whole book and watch the whole movie,” Aidala says.

Each of the witnesses were “doing fine in their own right….They’re all good. And then through different circumstances, they meet Harvey Weinstein. According to them and according to us, he is a man who can make dreams come true.”

The accusers all all realized Weinstein had the key to get them into the room, Aidala says, adding the that they were “flirtatious.” “They wanted him. He could change the trajectory of their lives.”

Arthur Aidala, Weinstein’s defense attorney, started off his testimony by emphasizing that opening statements are not evidence or facts.

“There’s common sense and then there’s something that just doesn’t seem right to me. Their evidence just doesn’t seem right.” That’s reasonable doubt, he said.

“Folks, after you hear all the evidence, their case is going to fall flat on its face,” he adds.

The prosecution has concluded it’s opening statements.

This case is about “one of the most powerful men in show business,” Lucey said. She added that Weinstein was so used to getting what he wanted, “he was incapable of taking ‘no’ for an answer.”

There will now be a 10 minute recess before the defense makes its opening remarks.