The lawyer Lisa Bloom resigned on Saturday as an adviser to Harvey Weinstein, the high-powered film producer facing allegations of rampant sexual harassment, amid harsh criticism of her handling of his defense.
Among those upset with her were two members of the board of Mr. Weinstein’s company: his brother, Bob Weinstein, and Lance Maerov, who both exchanged confrontational emails with Ms. Bloom over the past two days.
.. The tactics and tenor of her defense of Mr. Weinstein have varied, and there were often substantial differences in her public and private statements. The emails, viewed by The New York Times, reveal that at least two board members did not approve of her approach.
.. Ms. Bloom sent an email to board members attacking the article. She outlined a plan that involved “more and different reporting,” including “photos of several of the accusers in very friendly poses with Harvey after his alleged misconduct.”
.. Bob Weinstein wrote Ms. Bloom a disapproving email on Friday morning, shortly before she appeared on “Good Morning America.” He pointed out that Democratic politicians were giving away money that Mr. Weinstein had donated to them, women’s rights organizations were calling for him to be fired and actors and actresses were openly stating how appalled they were. “It is my opinion, that u are giving your client poor counsel,” he wrote. “Perhaps, Harvey as he stated in the NY Times, to the world, should get professional help for a problem that really exists.”
.. Ms. Bloom said Saturday that there was a large team handling Mr. Weinstein’s defense and that she personally “did not release photos of accusers” to the media. She also denied that her work with Mr. Weinstein created a conflict of interest.
“A conflict is representing two different sides in the same case,” she said. “This is a difficult time for all involved and I wish everyone the best.”
.. Mr. Davis, a lawyer and crisis counselor who served as special counsel to President Bill Clinton, declined Saturday to discuss his departure. But he and Mr. Weinstein had disagreed over how to handle the sexual harassment allegations, with Mr. Davis advising a more conciliatory tone and approach than Mr. Weinstein seemed willing to adopt... The allegations of harassment against Mr. Weinstein reach back decades. Women accused him of requesting massages, appearing naked in front of them and asking if they wanted to watch him shower, among other behaviors... Mr. Weinstein apologized for his behavior and acknowledged that it had “caused a lot of pain.” But he denied many of the allegations and said he intended to sue The Times for failing to give him enough time to respond to them... Danielle Rhoades Ha, a Times spokeswoman, said that Mr. Weinstein had had two days to respond before the article was published, and that his full statement had been included.Mr. Weinstein and his lawyer have confirmed the essential points of the story,” she said. “They have not pointed to any errors or challenged any facts in our story.”.. Ms. Bloom, who had been advising Mr. Weinstein over the past year on gender and power dynamics, said on “Good Morning America” that his behavior had been inappropriate. She agreed with an interviewer who characterized his reported actions as illegal... Ms. Bloom has in the past represented women who brought sexual harassment claims against the actor Bill Cosby and the former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. Her work for Mr. Weinstein drew criticism, including from her mother, Gloria Allred, the famed women’s rights lawyer... MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski, who said on Twitter that she was considering walking away from a three-book deal with Weinstein Books.“I can’t go forward with those books unless Harvey resigns,” she said, adding, “Authors, actors, and moviemakers should not work for any Weinstein company until he resigns. Not a close call.”
.. Mr. Trump told reporters that he had known Mr. Weinstein “for a long time,” adding “I’m not at all surprised to see it.”
Zinke says his workers are disloyal. They say his personnel moves break the law.
As Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke blasted many within his department for being disloyal to the Trump administration’s agenda this week, the agency’s inspector general’s office continued a probe into whether officials acted inappropriately when they abruptly reassigned dozens of senior workers.
.. The reassigned workers include Joel Clement, a climate scientist who was removed from his job as director of policy analysis and reassigned to a revenue accounting position for which he has no experience. Clement became a whistleblower when he publicly complained about his switch from his longtime role, in which he assessed climate impact on Alaska Native communities.
.. “He believes . . . that the administration targeted him because he was speaking out about the danger [of climate change] to Alaska Native Communities,” said attorney Katherine Atkinson, who is representing Clement. “As a result, they labeled him as a climate guy.”.. Beyond how the reassignments were carried out — which Atkinson said violated the U.S. Code — “it’s a waste of government money to just arbitrarily move people around in the hopes that they will quit,” she said... Another staffer called the news a “shock to the system” that would require a move to Washington from a post hundreds of miles away.
Trump Is Getting Even Trumpier!
He doesn’t really speak in sentences or paragraphs. His speeches are punctuated by five- or six-word jabs that are sort of strung together by connections that can only be understood through chaos theory: “They want the wall … I dominated with the evangelicals … I won in a landslide … We can’t be the stupid people anymore.”
Occasionally Trump will attempt a sentence longer than eight words, but no matter what subject he starts the sentence with, by the end he has been pulled over to the subject of himself... Here’s an example from the Mike Pence announcement speech: “So one of the primary reasons I chose Mike was I looked at Indiana, and I won Indiana big.” There’s sort of a gravitational narcissistic pull that takes command whenever he attempts to utter a compound thought... McKay Coppins recalls the fusillade of abuse he received from Trump after writing an unflattering profile (he called Mar-a-Lago a “nice, if slightly dated, hotel”).Trump was so inflamed he tweeted retaliation at Coppins several times a day and at odd hours, calling him a “dishonest slob” and “true garbage with no credibility.” The attacks went on impressively for over two years, which must rank Coppins in the top 100,000 on the list of people Donald Trump resents... But Trump could not keep his attention focused on this through line — since the subject was someone else — so every 30 seconds or so he would shoot off on a resentment-filled bragging loop... you had to do a rough diagram of the Trump remarks it would be something like this: Pence … I was right about Iraq … Pence … Hillary Clinton is a crooked liar … I was right about “Brexit” … Pence … Hillary Clintons ads are filled with lies … We’re going to bring back the coal industry … Christians love me … Pence … I talk to statisticians … Pence is good looking … My hotel in Washington is really coming along fantastically … Pence... Donald Trump is in his moment of greatest triumph, but he seems more resentful and embattled than ever... If the string of horrific events continues, Trump could win the presidency. And he could win it even though he has less and less control over himself.
What Happened to Jane Mayer When She Wrote About the Koch Brothers
Ms. Mayer began to take the rumored investigation seriously when she heard from her New Yorker editor that she was going to be accused — falsely — of plagiarism, stealing the work of other writers. A dossier of her supposed plagiarism had been provided to reporters at The New York Post and The Daily Caller, but the smears collapsed when the writers who were the purported victims made statements saying that it was nonsense, and that there had been no plagiarism whatsoever.
.. “The firm, it appears, was Vigilant Resources International, whose founder and chairman, Howard Safir, had been New York City’s police commissioner under the former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani,” she writes in “Dark Money.”
.. “As far as what we do, we don’t talk about clients, whether we have them or don’t have them. Even answering the question would violate the policy of our business.”