A week after model Lauren Young testified that she’d once been locked in a bathroom with a masturbating Harvey Weinstein, the woman Young accused of closing her in says that “never happened.”
“If I had done that, I would have remembered,” social media influencer Claudia Salinas testified Monday in Manhattan during Weinstein’s criminal trial, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “I have never closed the door behind anybody, ever.”
Young said under oath that Salinas had waited outside a hotel bathroom as Young was assaulted. In fact, she’d thought Salinas had set up the incident, USA Today reported. And when Young managed to get out of the bathroom, she said she’d given Salinas “an evil look.”
But when shown photos of the hotel suite where the assault allegedly happened, Salinas said she had never been there. During cross-examination, a prosecutor said that Salinas had previously told investigators she didn’t remember what had happened, the New York Times reported.
“It could have happened, but it doesn’t mean I was there,” Salinas also added.
Weinstein is facing five sex crime charges, none of which directly stem from Young’s alleged encounter with the fallen Hollywood mogul. If convicted of the most serious of the charges, Weinstein could spend the rest of his life behind bars.
But Young testified as part of an effort by prosecutors to unearth Weinstein’s alleged history of sexual abuse — an effort that Salinas’ explosive testimony could now undermine.
