Peter Charalambous, ABC News investigative reporter Interview

Peter Charalambous talks to Mendte in the Morning about the latest ruling of a mistrial in Harvey Weinsteins sex crimes retrial.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us now in the line a man who probably
has dozens of them. He is, of course a superstar.
ABC News investigative reporter Peter Harlambuos joining us now.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hello, Peter, good morning. Thanks for the kind of introduction.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Oh listen, I have to butter up my guests so
they put up with me.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
You're doing a great job of that.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
I gotta say, there's a lot of razzle dazzle to
distract from my glaring lack of intellect. Now, have you
ever gotten a Mentie in the Morning T shirt? Because
I have not, and I've done a lot for this show.
I've never been offered the T shirt you.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
No, neither of I. That seems I would love the Larry.
I'm an extra large for what it's worth.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Okay, ye got it, Peter, Well, Peter, if it makes
you feel any better, You're extra large is my target
weight right now? So you got that yelling for you.
Neither of us have a shirt, but you could wear
both sizes should they come in. Let me ask you this,
since we've got you in a line and we're so
excited to hear what you have to say about it.
So the judge declared a mistrial on the rape count

(00:57):
in Harvey Weinstein's sex crime retry. And it sounds like
the one juror who wouldn't bend told the judge he
didn't feel safe in the room with them. It things
sound like things had to have gotten pretty intense.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Now, yeah, I mean, we're still piecing together the pieces
of how exactly this happens, but it increasingly it looks
like that foreman, the one who was saying that he
was getting threatened, the one who said that another juror
told him that he wanted to meet her outside, I
meet him outside. It appears that person was the holdout.
After court yesterday, these jurors met with the judge, the
judge told the court that it seemed like, actually the

(01:31):
threats weren't that bad. A few of these jurors actually
spoke to media outlets kind of pushing back against the
foreman's narrative that he was being attacked basically in that
jury rum and basically made it seemed like they had
an impassioned deliberation that it ended with them getting closer
and closer to a verdict on that third and final count.
But it was really that juror that that ended it. Basically,

(01:51):
he told the judge that he didn't feel comfortable going
back in there, and because of that, the judge decided
to declare mistrial. With that, it looks like Harvey Weinstein
not only faces the possble ability of life in prison
basically dying there all things considered between his two different convictions,
but also the possibility of another trial. The Manhattan Strict
Attorney Alsen Bragg has signaled that he's willing to retry

(02:11):
this case just on that individual account, meaning we could
be doing this all over again in a few months.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Wow, this is everything in Hollywood gets a sequel, So
it's kind of fitting, unfortunately. Peter harr Alambus for Harvey, Yeah,
for sure, that's true. Good point, Peter Harrlambus, ABC News
investigative reporter. It's interesting to me that the dynamic in
these juror rooms play such a pivotal role in a
case like this. And I only bring that up because

(02:37):
I know downtown at the Diddy trial they have some
other issue about a juror possibly not remaining on the case.
Did you see anything of that about that.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah, we haven't gotten an update from the judge since
it came up two days ago. But it appears there
was one juror who prosecutors say was a bit dishonest
when he was asked about his knowledge of the case.
At this point, the defense is pushing strongly against releasing
me juror, saying that it would be racially biased, that
they're basically just trying to remove a black juror from
this jury pool. But it really goes to show you

(03:06):
the stakes of what one jur can do here in
an entire trial. If we look across at high profile trials, yes,
some of them come back with a verdict quickly, but
you can look at things like this Harvey Weinstein case,
or this case called We Build the Wall that was
originally charged against Steve Bannon. He was pardoned, one of
his co defendants went to trial. He ended up getting
a hung jury because of one very stubborn juror who

(03:27):
really refused to buy into the case theory. That's all
it really takes for a case to be a success,
at least in the eyes of these defendants, who might
not necessarily be getting an acquittal, but a hung jury
might be wood enough.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, it might be enough. What's so fascinating right now
is the dynamic on display here as you have all
this expertise that revolves around the courtroom. I am a
former cab driver who only knows how to beat a
traffic ticket, and we've managed to meet in the middle
so far, don't you think Yeah?

Speaker 2 (03:55):
I think so.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Peter r alongboos on the line, navigating a five hundred
point IQ gap between him and myself as we take
you through some of the legal goings on. The other
thing I read and this is just pure sensationalism. This
is not specific to your legal acumen. But there are
reports today that Kanye West now known as Ye, could
be attending the Didy trial sometime soon. He's in touch

(04:17):
with the family, so that trial could be heading into
circus mode.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yes, I mean this whole thing about Kanye. There's speculation,
there's at least one report confirming it. All of this
to say, apparently mister West wants to attend the trial,
wants to show his support, and there was speculation yesterday
that he might have been under a pseudonym or just
anonymously mentioned in the testimony. None of that is confirmed.
That is just speculation. But basically this came as there

(04:46):
was a two hour behind closed door conversation where defense
attorneys wanted to have this person in the courtroom because
they might have knowledge relevant to this testimony. And all
this testimony focused on a twenty twenty alleged excuse me,
alleged freak off, excuse me, Las Vegas with a famous rapper,
So you one can piece together the potential pieces that
links Kanye to this. So that's all confirmed. His people

(05:09):
have not commented on this, but apparently there is a
desire among Combs's camp to have him attending this court now,
this trial.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Real quick before I let you go. Just based on
my limited legal acumen, can the defense invoke the famous
protective clause what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
You know, I don't think that works in the New
York court.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
When Peter or I gave it a shot, man, I
brought all I could to the table. Stellar work by
yourself as always, thank you, and if you don't get
a mente in the morning T shirt, now you're never
gonna okay.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
Please put the request in Natalie extra large. Thank you
very much. You got it.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
The Great Peter Harlam Booth