Rape accuser Jessica Mann testifies against Harvey Weinstein for a third time

NEW YORK (AP) — Jessica Mann once had reason to think she was done being publicly grilled about Harvey Weinstein.

She had spent three daystelling a jury that the ex-movie mogul raped her, explaining why she continued a relationship with him afterward and discussing other deeply personal aspects of her life, once sobbing so hard that court ended early. Weinstein had then been convicted, in a 2020 verdict seen as a victory for the #MeToo campaign against sexual misconduct.

Yet six years later, Mann again walked to a witness stand Monday, passed Weinstein in court and began — for a third time — to give a jury her account of what happened between them.

“One of the things he said is that ‘my friends go far — my enemies don’t step a foot in this town,’” she recalled while describing the early stages of a relationship that, by her account, started out with professional advice, abruptly turned sexual and descended into rape.

Weinstein denies sexually assaulting anyone. He watched from his wheelchair at the defense table as Mann testified, occasionally leaning over to talk with his lawyers. Mann looked at Weinstein only when asked to point him out.

Mann’s allegation of a 2013 rape in a Manhattan hotel is again up for consideration because of a series of legal switchbacks. First, Weinstein's 2020 conviction was overturned for reasons unrelated to her testimony. Then a jury failed to decide her part of a retrial that involved multiple accusers and allegations last year, leaving only her rape charge to be tried again.

“I am ready, willing and able to endure this as many times as it takes for justice and accountability to be served,” Mann said in a statement at the time.

That determination now stands to be tested.

Mann returns Tuesday to the witness stand, where she could face days of additional questioning by prosecutors and Weinstein's new lawyers. Like their predecessors, they have portrayed Mann as a canny wannabe who got involved consensually with a Hollywood heavy-hitter, enjoyed his connections and invitations, then turned on him after news reports about other women’s claims about Weinstein. The 2017 reporting catalyzed the #MeToo movement.

Mann, 40, grew up in a small town in Washington state and trained as a hairstylist, but she yearned to pursue acting and moved to Los Angeles in her 20s. She was sometimes so broke that she lived in her car, but she had done some commercial and film work before she met Weinstein at a party in early 2013. The Oscar-winning producer complimented her looks, she recalled Monday.

“I thought I just got discovered,” she told jurors.

Thrilled at the prospect of a breakthrough, Mann accepted invitations to a shopping trip for books about cinema, dinners and glitzy Oscars-season events, she testified. Soon, she said, Weinstein started making intimate overtures.

First, she said, there was an awkward request for a massage that she parried by unenthusiastically giving Weinstein a back rub instead. Then she and her then-roommate accompanied him to a Los Angeles-area hotel suite to see a movie script, and he pulled Mann into a bedroom and started aggressively kissing her, she said.

She told him, “whoa, whoa, whoa,” but he said he wouldn't let her leave until she let him “do something,” so she submitted to oral sex and pretended to enjoy it, she recalled. Mann said the experience left her feeling “confused and sick.”

Court ended for the day before she was asked about what happened next. In prior testimony, Mann has said she embarked, with jumbled feelings, on a relationship with the then-married mogul.

In March 2013, she arranged to meet Weinstein for breakfast with her pals in New York. She previously testified that he got her alone in a hotel room, slammed the door shut when she tried to leave and ultimately raped her, though she told him, “I don't want to do this” and “no.”

Afterward, Mann kept seeing and having what she has said were largely consensual sexual encounters with Weinstein. At points over the next roughly four years, she emailed him “miss you,” that no one “understands me quite like you” and “I love you, always do. But I hate feeling like a booty call.”

Weinstein's lawyers have argued that the messages show there was nothing but a caring relationship. Mann has said she was trying to manage a complicated dynamic with a volatile man.

The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, unless they agree to be named, as Mann has done.

Harvey Weinstein appears in state court in Manhattan for his retrial in New York, Monday, April 27, 2026. (Charly Triballeau/Pool Photo via AP)

Jessica Mann, center, arrives for Harvey Weinstein's trial in criminal court, followed by Manhattan Assistant District Attorneys Candace White, left, and Nicole Blumberg, in New York, Monday, April 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Jessica Mann, center, arrives for Harvey Weinstein's trial in criminal court in New York, Monday, April 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Jessica Mann, right, arrives for Harvey Weinstein's trial in criminal court, followed by Manhattan Assistant District Attorneys Candace White, left, and Nicole Blumberg, in New York, Monday, April 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Jessica Mann arrives for Harvey Weinstein's trial in criminal court, in New York, Monday, April 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

The co-pilot suspected in this week's FlyDubai attack has been identified as an Omani national, and the United Arab Emirates says he attacked the captain with the cockpit's crash axe before trying to seize the controls.

Meanwhile, a hospital in Gaza says Israeli strikes have killed five people, including two from the Palestinian territory's Christian minority. And a fire broke out at an oil facility in the Saudi capital, with no details released on the cause.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Saturday. Full coverage is available here.

The co-pilot suspected of stabbing the captain of an Israel-bound FlyDubai flight before passengers and others stopped the attack is an Omani national named Hamam al-Hammami, three people with knowledge of the situation, including a Gulf and a Western diplomat, said.

All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The Gulf diplomat said investigations are underway to establish whether he acted alone.

The United Arab Emirates said the co-pilot attacked the captain with the cockpit’s crash axe and tried to take control of the plane in a “terrorist attack.”

The co-pilot, who officials said nearly crashed the sharply plummeting flight with 182 people aboard, was barred from flying by Oman over concerns he had adopted extremist views, a separate person familiar with the matter said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.

— By Samy Magdy, Sam Mednick, Anna Johnson

Israeli strikes overnight in Gaza killed five people, according to Shifa Hospital, where the casualties were taken. Four women were among the dead. A mother and daughter among them were Christians, a minority in Gaza, the hospital said, and the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, expressed condolences.

A large fire burned at the site, where the strikes tore a gaping hole in the ground floor of a multistory building. The hospital said people were still reported missing beneath the debris.

Israel's military did not immediately comment, saying it was checking for information.

Israeli strikes have killed at least 1,439 Palestinians in Gaza since a ceasefire was reached with the Hamas militant group nearly a year ago, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Its figures are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas and other militants who pose a threat, and in response to ceasefire violations, including occasional attacks.

A fire broke out at an oil facility in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, sending dense black smoke into the air, an eyewitness said, speaking on condition of anonymity for their safety.

It wasn’t clear what caused the fire at an Aramco oil refinery. Authorities tightened security in the area and police blocked roads leading to it, the witness said.

The Saudi state-run Aramco oil company and the government-run Center for International Communication, which oversees foreign media in Saudi Arabia, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Saudi oil facilities have recently been hit in missile and drone attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. A major escalation between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthis has revived Yemen’s civil war.

— By Samy Magdy

Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said airstrikes hit the capital, Sanaa, as renewed fighting raged between the Houthis on one side and Saudi Arabia and Yemen's internationally recognized government on the other. Residents reported hearing three loud explosions.

The Houthi media office accused Saudi Arabia of launching the strikes but didn’t offer evidence. There was no immediate Saudi comment.

Yemen’s military claimed responsibility. In a social media post, a spokesperson, Col. Majed al-Nazili, claimed hitting “legitimate vital military targets.” He didn’t offer details.

Iran executed a man convicted of firing at police during widespread unrest in January, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

The report identified the man as Siavash Jamshidi Kheirabadi, a resident of Shahrekord in central Iran. It said he confessed to possessing weapons and firing at police, and was convicted on charges including moharebeh, Farsi for "waging war against God."

The report did not say how the execution was carried out, though Iran typically carries out executions by hanging. Earlier this week, IRNA reported that Iran had executed two other men over violence during the January protests.

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

Mourners pray over the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in an early morning Israeli airstrike, during their funeral in Gaza city, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A destroyed building is seen at the site of an early morning Israeli airstrike in Gaza city, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians inspect the site of an early morning Israeli airstrike in Gaza city, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)