Behalf of all the great folks here at the auditorium, welcome, thank you so much for coming. We have been partnering for a number of years now sponsoring these author talks and we are very grateful to have access to such a spacious and convenient facility here in the center of washington. We are also grateful for the support from all of you. We know you have choices on where to buy books these days and we would like to thank you for choosing to shop with a local independent bookstore. [applause] [cheering] it is especially exciting to be hosting this evening. Hes here of course to talk about his new book and its been two years since roman writing in the new yorker and jodi kantor and megan writing in the New York Times and the two years since they published their separate exposes of Sexual Assault and harassment allegations against movie producer those stories encouraged many other women around the world to come forward with allegations against other powerful privileged and previously protected and handheld give rise to the need to movement. Both the new yorker and the times subsequently shared last Years Service which honored [applause] the award honored the courageous breakthrough reporting of ronan, joey and megan. Recounting the part in breaking the weinstein story and details the institutional resistance and the intimidation and threats he faced in doing so. The book contains additional revelations in this an it isnte work of the investigative journalism, but it is itself a humbling and instructive spy story. He writes about not only the extreme tactics taken in the fall on espionage operation that has stymied the coverage but also explains executive and abc news where ronan initially pursued stories but to keep it from being broadcast. Im not giving away any spoilers because this has been widely ported since the release that he speculates the behavior was motivated to protect the news anchor matt lauer who himself was subsequently accused of Sexual Misconduct and let go. In the interest of fairness let me say he denies the path to voo block the investigation were to coverup conduct and he maintains that his actions were consensual, but ronan stands by his account into the controversy certainly helps in a very revealing and riveting book. Roharonan of course is accustomo the public attention having lived a sort of wonder existence with mia farrow and woody allen he started college and graduated at 15 admitted to Yale Law School to work at the unicef and after graduating from law school at age 21, he joined the state Department Work for Richard Holbrook focusing on ngos in afghanistan and pakistan and later became the secretary of state Larry Clinton special advisor 2012 he went off to oxford on a road scholarship. 2014 nbc signed him to a contract with his own daytime program the show lasted a year but the network kept him on as an investigative correspondent. In 2017 after the lack of support for his pursuit of weinstein, he took the story to the new yorker and finished up there. Last year he came out with a wellreceived book war and piece lamenting the decline of the diplomacy and earlier this year earned in International Relations from oxford. All that and hes yet to turn 32. [applause] [cheering] he will be in conversation with sonny the former federal prosecutor who now serves as the cohost of the daytime talk show the view and senior Legal Correspondent and analyst for abc news. Also hosts an executive producer truth about murder which is about Tv Network Investigation Discovery highlighting the stories of victims and their loved ones. Ladies and gentlemen please join me in welcoming ronan and sunny. [cheering] when ronan asked me to be here, i was thrilled because as you know, i am a big fan and this book is incredible. So lets get right in. As we launch into the conversation i just got to say i asked and was excited and hoping you could do it because sony has been such a powerful voice on this i dont know if youve seen the way she speaks of the issues of Sexual Violence and how it gets covered up by powerful people including the contentious conversations sometimes its really important and it shows that in your whole story as a prosecutor has been about speaking truth to power. Thank you. [applause] lets talk about the allegations about the former today show anchor that made a lot of news. Nbc claims he was fired in 2017 for inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace and that they only found out about it very shortly before he was fired but in the book you write they knew about his behavior for a long time. Its important to note here there are very fallacious headlines around individual allegation and thats not incorrect that they get a lot of attention, they are very serious claims. They should start a conversation, but it uncovered in a very carefully fact checked way and its much bigger than any one network star or executive or any one network. Its about pattern of coverups in Corporate America and the way in which people get hurt is swept under the rug with nondisclosure agreements. Weve talked about this several times now. It is a component of the case into component of the report on cbs news. This is a company that previously claimed there were no Sexual Harassment settlements in the company and a six or seven year period the general counsel said that in the document in the book a paper trail of at least seven settlements of people involved and each were harassment settlements with women with complaints about matt lauer and others. In the years before his firing. Years before, and i personally spoke to Senior Executives of leadership level worried about a problem with him this isnt just coming from me and my reporting, its something that ann curry said and that checks out with the reporting here. Again, the point here is bigger than this company. Its about people getting hurt when these problems are not confronted. Host my understanding is rather than call them settlement agreement, they were called severance agreements. [laughter] guest yes enhanced severance. Host what does that even mean . Guest these are the kind of euphemisms and contortion that you see when a problem is being covered up. Nbc news has rebuttals all of this into the buck and you can do to you could judge the facts for yourself. The responses continue to play out these packages into a pit of this woman seven figures more and coincidentally she also had a Sexual Harassment complaint. All these coincidences and while we worked on this and made sure to put the responses there it is unfair to other parties that report on their. Its worth noting that this is a coverup looks like. It is euphemism and tools that allow you to to say what it actually is and you know as an attorney and former prosecutor when there is a Sexual Harassment or violence related, it doesnt say in big bold letters this woman was abused by this person. Its talking around the issue entirely. So this Company Found a way to sweep the problem under the rug. Lets talk about the book level because nbc says when they found out about her allegation, thats when it was too much. Thats when they say he has to go, matt lauer was fired. Her allegation is true of rape, she says she was raped, she reported it to nbc, they fired him, it wasnt reported to the police or to the das office. What exactly did she tell you happened to her . She described unambiguously a rape. The definition of the term and her full story and all of its competition is laid out in the book and i would encourage you to read it in context. His thinking is reflected in here and he released a letter in a slightly menacing tone that might come forward about allegations and one of the points he emphasizes is that they had contact. He wrote a response letter and says they are categorically false. The sexual encounter with her was completely consensual she was an enthusiastic and willing partner and also said all of these women hes had affairs with have shared responsibility but she continued after this to have a sexual relationship with him and many people are questioning why would you go back and have a sexual relationship. Guest this is a current theme of reporting Harvey Weinstein has been allegation against him in many cases these were women that went back in various ways and he says at one point in his column Fact Checking the peace seeking a comment from him its not rape if they come back. That isnt consistent with any Legal Definition of rape. Indeed you would know better thathan my having worked on the criminal justice side of this, it is a very common factor that these are crimes committed by pastors and bosses and parents with Power Dynamics that entrap people with professional dynamics that make it difficult. There was a machine from the moment they described a non consensual sex act with potential criminal implications with this Company Despite the fact that her attorney very clearly signaled and while she wasnt using the term she was describing one. Planned in the press and to discuss the idea that this was an unfair and in his letter he says if they continue to plan things it is up to and including last weeks news cycle. I understand that there is a strong incentive for not doing enough to stop this at the time people knew about it but the fact is that is what she described hi in the following contact that she described are not consistent with any definition that i know. As a junior employee at the company, the most powerful man at that company was in a dynamic that she described the. The. And at times as she struggles to get away from this in her narration was simply in situations where she was to get something for purely professional things for matt lauer and he would be demanding sexual favors in his office or dressing room and that is a difficult and computed dynamic and she described consensual and nonconsensual items and readily concedes that there were periods early on after the election result where she tries to put him at ease and send texts and calls it sounded enthusiastic because she wanted desperately to make the situation okay and not anger this guy with a lot of control over her career but while all of those shades of gray are laid out they are not germane to this question. You would understand people see. What happened after has nothing to do with what happened that night. The skull along the ambiguities are common but she eloquently points out in the book regardless whether she thought he was flirting before hand or how he interpreted the interactions afterwards, that night she was too drunk to consent, she says and she said no repeatedly to a sex act he then proceeded. He denies but heres the story how d would you have told it frm the beginning. It is baked into the very fabric of nbc and in our whole culture. [inaudible] [laughter] c. Was the head of nbc news at the time and you write during his years as a writer he wrote some things that were pretty provocative in fact he had some headlines entitled reading cliffs notes and he wrote the angry feminist is nothing wrong with institutions and men just like women to themselves and women who feel threatened should seek team pastors although they enjoy being confined and preyed upon. This is the same person that would have been pulled at oak brook meadow. Into savings thaand to say te did describe a nonconsensual introduction and she learned it was being downplayed the. The way that its being handled is traumatic and there is a bigger point about the pattern of corporate behavior. She talks eloquently about the decision to come forward in the book and appealing with the women who came before her. Guilt and she carried a sense of guilt without anyone who might face violence afterwards. That is why she wanted to speak to break the cycle because the moment you have a set of legal structures coming you can feel to allow the perpetrators to stay in the position of power you have victimization and there was nothing in his file that was technically about Sexual Harassment and nothing in the file about it where there were payouts happening over and over again. This isnt an nbc problem it is a culture problem and brought the bill isnt wrong. It shouldnt have been on her shoulders that should have been on the shoulders of the company. Its only now coming under scrutiny because she was brave enough and there is a wider group about this conduct so a lot of people were brave to expose the story. Hell do the folks that you outline did you hear that precision. [laughter] multiple women are on the record saying that they retaliated against them. Dated a polling to come in and investigate the claim and if it is found to be true, they need to go. Many are demanding accountability and they say over and over again to the executive chain of command why dont we use an outside investigation inside and outside of the company for years. This is another important point about Corporate America. Interval investigations are not investigations. It is a serious problem and there are a set of technique having outside firms rubberstamp it without having any evidence and they have said we will not do an outside investigation and thats pretty telling there is a dramatic moment the journalists inside the building are so angry as this is all coming out and meeting with the general counsel shes getting all these contentious questions. A woman journalist in the room says what about an outside investigation it will help us be transparent. If the press would just stop talking about this, it will go away and another reporter says we are the press. Lets talk about the Harvey Weinstein story because the one they pulitzer prize. It was magnificent. [applause] and to those that reached up and spoke when you are able to do something that helps the conversation and transparency and accountability you view it you have that story at nbc and they refused to air it. To this day they say this story didnt meet journalistic standard and then a few weeks later you publish the pulitzer prizewinning story at the new yorker across the street. What did you have that nbc, did you have enough . Thats no longer in dispute and producer on the story is a brave guy about protested. Can we get some applause . [applause] hes a profile in courage and does whaitdoes with every journs at this as this should have been on air. We had a recorded admission of guilt from Harvey Weinstein had enough just to a Sexual Assault serial Sexual Assault. We have multiple named women and was inexpensive audio recording but that isnt even the point. It the tactics to pull the conversation of was it not at a point that given time i brought it across the street and the judgment of the body before they went back and within a few years its the story that paul had seen. But the point wasnt that it was done at any of those moments in time that is to striking the smoking gun but it wasnt a journalistic decision happening. We were told to cancel interviews and stand down and not take a single call on the subject. I was threatened by this going to be exposed is terminated and let go if i ever disclosed that nbc had anything to do with the story. Then i recovered what is happening at the company and the secrets that were under exposure as harvey one the most bearing down on them in secret conversations and contacts. Host you outline im only careful to go as far as the back story. Nbc denies this saying there was a threat communicated that there is a bigger point which is a secret settlement created the situation where nbc news was dealing with a lot of secrets about to come out. When i document these, they admitted that the calls happen happened. These were executives but didnt feel they had secrets to guard in the paper simultaneously booking and telling me their legal judgment is we couldnt report on secret sexualharassment as it turns out they had a talking point given to them. My hope is by exposing this is a conversation on how to prevent this from happening to other people who might be targeted at individuals quote by these practices and how to prevent this from happening to any other journalist. You also discuss he went to Great Lengths to keep the story under wraps. He went so far as to follow you and other reporters so much so you felt your life was in dang danger. Guest multiple sources advised me to get a gun. I was very stressed out. Maybe someone with a Legal Training background i am inclined to skepticism and theres many points in the book im the last to admit something is happening but even then you dont expect it is an International Espionage plot involving former agents, russians by contractors and an international posing, these are all things that happen in international life. People are kind of reading the book it still felt extremely sha shady. I have to stop telling my mom when this stuff happens. Like going to my apartment, im not good at selfdefense. These are tactics that should be reserved. To be the nature of where we are these days. To try to infuse us wit it witha perspective very aware of and grateful or the fact i i am noa journalist in pakistan or russia or any of the places when you are reporting on power yo youre just dead the next day. They are killed in the line up for work every single day and so important and precious and all these stories about powerful and wealthy people for which the News Organization gets subvert subverted. It goes to questions about access to free and transparent information and the stories we tell ourselves as we enter the next. This matters and they never want to see them transpire here in our country. Its the only profession that is protected in the constitution and in so many ways it is a love letter to journalist and to the sources that. They chased a neighbor that looks like me for a while. Then they called me on my cell phone and they picked up o i pie other side of town and heard cursing like they are pulling long hours. One who was on my tail had an incredible evolu