On Harvey Weinstein alleged sexual abuse of women in his book catch and kill in his book catch and kill. Good evening everybody. Thank you for your patience. I am the coowner of politics and prose on behalf of everybody here we are grateful here at the auditorium thank you for coming. We have been partnering with gw for a number of years now sponsoring the author talks and we are very grateful to have access to such a spacious and convenient facility here in washington we are also grateful for the support for all of you we know you have choices on where to buy books and we like to thank you for choosing to shop with your local independent bookstore. [cheers and applause] especially nice to be hosting ronan farrow this evening talking about his new book catch and kill it has been two years since he was writing in the neww yorker and with his writing in the New York Times since they published the separate Sexual Assault allegations against would be producer Harry Weinstein and that cause many other women to come forward with allegations for those that were privileged to help give rise to the Metoo Movement subsequently a Pulitzer Prize for public service. [applause] the award honored the reporting and in catching kill he talks about the weinstein story the institutional resistance in the intimidation and the threats he faced while doing so. It contains additional revelations not just for Investigative Journalism but it a self a compelling spy story writing only not about those extreme tactics but what he calls full on espionage to stymie the coverage like nbc news where initially he pursued the story to keep it from being broadcast. Im not giving away any spoilers. This is been widely reported that nbcs behavior was motivated by the desire to protect them out on matt lauer who also was accused of Sexual Misconduct and let go strongly nbc strongly denies the plot of the investigation they tried to cover up and lauer maintains his actions were consensual the controversy has certainly helped to have a very revealing and riveting book over the course of public attention leading resistance starting college at age 11 graduating at 15 with a delayed entry into work and after graduating from law school at age 21 he joined the state department rich one working for richardsi holbrook and later became secretary of state special advisor for global issues and then went to oxford as a Rhodes Scholar 2014 nbc signed him to a contract at the age of 26 on the msnbc program it lasted one year and in 2017 after lack of support for the pursuit of weinstein he took the story to the n new yorker and finished it there. Then he came out with a well received book over the decline of jewish diplomacy and then got a phd in Public Relations from oxford. All of that and has yet to turn 32. [applause] he will be in conversation with a former federal prosecutor who now serves as cohost of the view and senior lead correspondent analyst for abc news he also hosted executive produces a show thats about to start on investigation discovery to highlight the stories of their loved ones please join me to welcome our guests. [cheers and applause] thank you for doing this for me. I was thrilled to ask to be here because im a big fan and this book is incredible. Thank you. Lets get right in. And as we launch and was really asking hope you could doca it because to be such a powerful voice i dont know if you see the way she speaks up about issues and how its covered up by powerful people but its important and it really shows your history so i am honored. [applause] thank you lets talk about the allegations about former today show anchor matt lauer. That made a lot of news. He claims he was fired in 2017 for inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace and a it very out about shortly before he was fired but in the book you write they knew about his behavior for a long time. Its important to know there are very salacious headlines that is not incorrect that they get a lot of attention they are very serious claims. But what is documented its much deeper than any one network star or executive or network by patterns of coverups in Corporate America and the people that get hurt if it is swept under the rug with a payout. We have talked about this several times like the Harvey Weinstein case it was on cbs news and then even nbc news. That there were no Sexual Harassment settlements and as i document in this book a paper trail of seven settlements of those of Sexual Harassment settlements the women complained about matt blauer years before he was fired. Years and i personally spoke to Senior Executives at the leadership level warned of problems and curry has talked about the leadership and that checks out with the reporting and again its about people getting hurt when the problems are not confronted. That they c are called enhanced severance agreements not settlement agreement. Yes enhanced severance. What does that mean these are the euphemisms and contortions that you see when a problem is covered up. Nbc news rebuttal goes into the book you can judge their responses and they continue to claim these were severance packages they just paid this woman seven figures and coincidentally she also had a Sexual Harassment claim inex place what a coincidence. While we all worked on this to see it was very fair to nbc it is worth noting this is what a coverup looks like they are terms that allow you that you know as a former prosecutor and attorney if there is Sexual Harassment or violence it doesnt say in big bold letters this woman was abused by this person on this date is just somebody who tries to talk around. As a substance agreement. When nbc found out about her allegation that was too much that now matt lauer is fired. She says she was raped she told nbc and they fired him but it was not reported to the police. It was not reported to the das office. So what exactly did she tellou yo you . She described unambiguously a rape by every definition of the term her full story is laid out i encourage people to read in context rather than just the headlines. His thinking is reflected in here he writes very fiery letter with a menacing tone that women might come forward with allegations and he meeemphasized the contact. I want to ask about that because he wrote a response letter and said it is categorically falseal the sexual encounter was completely consensual she was a enthusiastic and willing partner and also says that all of these women he has had affairs with has had shared responsibility that continued after the alleged rape to have a physical relationship with him. So if you were really raped then why would you go back and have a sexual relationship . This is a current theme and this is the response of Harvey Weinstein in many cases they went back in various ways. When he says at one point as we were Fact Checking this piece it to comment its not rape if they come back. And that is not consistent with any Legal Definition of rape and indeed you would know better than i it is a very common facet these are crimes committed by pastors and bosses and the Power Dynamics that attract people with professional dynamics that make it difficult to get away from someone. There was a machine that unambiguously described a nonconsensual sex act with potential criminal implications where despite the fact the attorney clearly signaled this is not consensual she was not using the term rate but was describing one. And then to discuss within the News Organization it was and matt lauer says its an affair up to and including weeks in the new cycle. And that they were under scrutiny for not doing enough to stop it that people knew about and talked about the problem but they downplayed it. Because theth fact is that is what she described in the followon contact that she described is not consistent with any definition of an affair that i know. At a junior employee, the most powerful man at that company was inin a dynamic when he said come to my apartment for drinks. Come to my dressing room. And then as she struggled to get away from this she was under orders to go get something for purely professional reasons and he would be demanding sexual favors in his office or his dressing room and that is a complicated dynamic with a mix of sexual and nonconsensual interactions and readily concedes after the alleged assault she tried to put him at ease that sounded maximum all enthusiastic into not anger this incredibly powerful guy. But with all the shades of gray to be laid out they are not germane was the Sexual Assault. And then to conflate it with what happened that night. But she eloquently points out regardless if he thought she was flirting before or how he interpreted the interactions afterward that night she was too drunk to consent and she said no repeatedly to a sex act that he did. He denies that but consistently this is how she has told the story from the beginning. You also describe a culture of misogyny baked into the very fabric of nbc but also just in our culture and describe no one to oppenheimer. You say that like. No i say that neutrally. [laughter] because i was trying to be generous. [laughter] my tone is very measured. Your tone may not be. [laughter] and was the head of nbc news at that time. And you write that you as a writer at the harvard crimson welcomed things that were pretty provocative. He had some headlines talking about transgender and the angry feminists, and then to be threatened but then apparently women enjoyed being confronted and prayed upon they feel desired and not demeanedhi. This is the same person that would have beenn told about brooke. And had the conversations immediately afterward and said she did not describe a nonconsensual interaction. And was part of that machine this was downplayed. The way this was handled after the fact was dramatic. But there is a bigger point about a pattern of corporate behavior. She talked very eloquently about making a painful decision to come forward in this book and the women that came before her had voiced about their concerns about matt lauer but she in turn carried a sense of guilt for anyone who could face violence afterwards. And ultimately that is why she wanted to break the cycle. A sense of guilt because of the silence . If you have legal structures to conceal the alleged crim crime, and to allow the perpetrators to stay in position of power, you expose subsequent people toma victimization. If that is a feature so many of the stories that i reported like weinstein there was nothing in the file technically about Sexual Harassment. And then to conceal the record and at cbs news this is not an mvc problem it is culture and corporate a america. It should not have been on her problems but now it is only because she was brave enough to speak and a variety of sources there is still a wider group of claims about the company and the series of misconduct. People were brave to expose this story. I t asked you how do the people that you outline on page 213 who have a history of praying upon the work forwo him for nbc news. She has read this book. [laughter] page numbers. Multiple women are on the record he slept with underthing underthings. So how do they survive Something Like this with magin kelly and Greta Van Susteren they are called to come in and investigate these claims andg are asking if it is true then they need to be fired. It is striking it is the wonderful and brave journalists. Those that hold their feet to the fire to demand accountability to say over and over again why dont we do an outside investigation . And they have flatly refused. Internal self investigations are not investigations. If you ask me to grade myself i get an a every time. It is a serious problem. And there are a set of p techniques when a company tries to conceal doing their own self investigation and having outside firms to rubberstamp with no access and nbc employed that full set of tools that we will not do an outside investigation and that is pretty telling. There is a dramatic moment as the plot unravels the journalist inside are so angry it is coming out there is a meeting with the general counsel to descend into the Investigative Unit from the general suites to do damage control. Theres all these questions and a woman journalist says what aboutut an outside investigation how do i know are you the parent of a new addition News Organization. And they saved the press would stop talking about this it would go away another reporter says we are the press. [laughter] talk about Harvey Weinstein because you won a Pulitzer Prize for that story. [applause] it was magnificent. Thank god for the sources who spoke. Talk about your prosecutorial record. When you are able to do something to help the conversation and help transparency and accountability you do it on the backs of fan because of the bravery of the victims. But you had that story at nbc and they refused to air it and they killed it. To this day they say you did not have enough. Your sources or your story did not meet journalistic standards. Then a few weeks later you publish the Pulitzer Prizewinning story at the new yorker. Did you have enough . And if you did why did they kill a quick. Of course we had enough. I dont think thats no longer in dispute because the working level producer is a great guy who resigned in protest. [applause] he is a profile encourage. He does what every journalist said this should have been on airro. We have and admission of guilt doing a sting operation admitting not just Sexual Assault but serial Sexual Assaults. We had multiple named women and every version to the body of reporting but thats not even the point it is a distraction tactic and to say with the judgment of that body and within a few weeks it was that story. But it wasnt that it was done or could not have expanded but they ordered us to stop. That is the striking smoking gun that this was not a journalistic decision. We were told to cancel interviewsic. We were told to stand down and not take a single call. I was threatened i would be exposed to be terminated and let go from the company if i ever disclose that nbc ever had anything to do with the story. Over several years of investigative reporting i uncover what was happening at this company and the secrets with the threat of exposure as he was bearing down on them with secret conversations and emails and contacts behind our back. You outline in the story that Harvey Weinstein was blackmailing nbc news over them at lower allegations over them at lower allegations only to go as far as the facts but it is true that nbc news and the National Enquirer and they can deny this to say there was a threat communicated that what you just alluded to but there was a bigger point that is un disputable the secret settlement in the high level conversations of matt lauer created a situation where nbc news was dealing with a lot of secrets ever about to come out at least 15 secret calls about Harvey Weinstein and then they promised to kill the story had of any journalistic decision. It was very clear that these were executives who felt they had secrets to guard and simultaneously brokering and enforcing while telling me the legal judgment is that we cannot report on secret Sexual Harassment of Harvey Weinstein. As it turns out i can now reveal they were parroting a talking point given to them by Harvey Weinstein. So my hope is by exposing a conversation of how to prevent this from happening to other people in a company that might be targeted with individuals cloaked and a conversation of how to prevent this from happening to any other journalist. Thats the thing that you also discuss in the book that Harvey Weinstein went to Great Lengths to keep the story under wraps. He went so far to hire spies to follow you and other o reporters that you felt your life was in danger and people advised you to get a gun. I moved out of my apartmen apartment, i was very stressed out, not getting a lot of yeep, looking over my shoulder. Like you except the Legal Training background im inclined toward skepticism theres many parts i am the last to admit even then you dont expect the answer is an International Espionage plot with russian spies have contractors outside of your apartment and an international femme fatale. But these are things that happened in an actual way. [laughter] people are reading the book. And there is a lot of reviews it reads like a spy thriller which is glamorizing after the fact but it didnt feel that way at the time. It seemed extremely shady. [laughter] i was scared. I had to stop telling my mom what was happening. I would always have my keys out before i moved out of my apartment work im not good at selfdefense despite the target practice. [laughter] and i would just point out that it isnt glamorizing and it is a sign of just how over the line the behavior is. These are tactics that should be reserved for spy thrillers not added journalist in real life in the country with the protections of the first amendment. [applause] unbelievable. And i do try to imbue that plot with a sense of perspective. I am very aware and grateful for the fact i am not a journalist they are killed in the line of work every single day of the work is so important and precious in our democracy also. And all the stories about tactics deployed by powerful people about the way News Organi