Weinstein rape accuser tells jury that 'he just treated me like he owned me'

NEW YORK (AP) — The woman at the center of Harvey Weinstein 's repeatedly retried rape case testified — for the third time — Tuesday that the former Hollywood honcho trapped her in a New York hotel room and assaulted her, ignoring her pleas not to do anything sexual.

“I said ‘no’ over and over, and I tried to leave,” Jessica Mann told jurors, sobbing. “He just treated me like he owned me.”

Mann, 40, is a hairstylist and actor. She's testifying six years after she first gave jurors her account of a consensual, if complicated, relationship that veered into rape.

Weinstein — the Oscar-winning movie producer who became a symbol of the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct — looked on steadily, sometimes sipping water, as Mann detailed what she says he did to her in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013.

Weinstein, now a 73-year-old prison inmate, denies sexually assaulting anyone and is appealing sex crime convictions stemming from other women's accusations on two U.S. coasts. His attorneys haven't yet had their chance to question Mann at this retrial but have argued that everything that happened between the two was consensual.

He was convicted in 2020 of raping Mann, got the conviction overturned, then saw a jury deadlock on it at a retrial last year.

Jurors watched intently, several with pens poised to take notes, as Mann delivered a second day of testimony that sometimes brought her to tears, as it did at the twoprior trials. At points Tuesday, she was asked whether she wanted a break, but she declined.

Mann met Weinstein at a Los Angeles-area party around early 2013, when she had done some acting work but was hoping for a big break.

He expressed interest in her career and followed up with get-togethers that bounced between professional advice, invites to glitzy industry events and advances that made Mann uncomfortable but that she didn't refuse, according to her testimony. At one point, according to her testimony, she had an emotional “meltdown” that cut off an episode involving Weinstein and another woman.

Despite that distress, Mann decided to have a consensual sexual liaison with the then-married producer. She explained Tuesday that she had been taught “this is just normal for men to kind of be that way, and I just thought that maybe by being a in relationship with him, it would make me feel better.”

Sometimes, she said, Weinstein was charming and made her feel validated; other times she felt demeaned by his discussions of sexual practices. And “if he was told no or something, it was just like this monster side came out” of a demanding man who flaunted his Hollywood influence.

Soon after their relationship began, Weinstein surprised Mann by showing up ahead of a planned breakfast with her and others in New York, where she'd piggybacked on a pal's work trip, she said. Weinstein took a room at Mann's hotel, though she protested at the front desk that they didn't need one, according to her and to a former hotel employee who testified earlier in the trial.

Mann said that after Weinstein snapped at her not to embarrass him, she accompanied Weinstein up to the room, hoping to sort things out privately. But “he wasn't listening to me; he was just telling me to undress,” she recalled. She said she begged, “Please don't. I don't want to,” and tried twice to open the door, but the taller, heavier Weinstein slammed it shut, grabbed her wrists and held them crossed in front of her face.

“That was really scary, so I remember just like kind of like — just shutting down and giving up, because I had been fighting and arguing. So I obeyed,” by undressing and lying on the bed, she testified.

After a trip to the bathroom, Weinstein returned and raped her, she said.

Afterward, she said, she went downstairs with him to breakfast with her friends, feeling shocked but not outwardly showing it.

Mann told no one, at the time, about the alleged rape. She accepted Weinstein's invitation to extend her trip, attend a movie screening and have tea with him and his daughter.

“I just wanted everyone to act like everything was normal,” she said.

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

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

Harvey Weinstein, right, and defense attorney Marc Agnifilo appear in criminal court, in New York, Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, Pool)

Harvey Weinstein appears in criminal court in New York, Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, Pool)

Jessica Mann arrives for Harvey Weinstein's trial in criminal court, in New York, Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Jessica Mann arrives for Harvey Weinstein's trial in criminal court, in New York, Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents executed multiple searches in Minnesota on Tuesday, seizing records and other evidence in an ongoing fraud investigation by the Trump administration of publicly funded social programs for children, authorities said.

Few details were released, though armed agents were seen at childcare centers in the Minneapolis area. KSTP-TV said one crew even had a battering ram.

Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who has been on the defensive amid Trump administration claims that he hasn't done enough to root out fraud, welcomed the raids. The state child welfare agency said it shared key information with law enforcement to "hold bad actors accountable."

“We catch criminals when state and federal agencies share information. Joint investigations work, and securing justice depends on it,” Walz said.

The searches were being conducted at daycares, businesses and some residences, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.

Tensions between Minnesota officials and the federal government were high during an extraordinary immigration crackdown that led to the deaths of two people before Operation Metro Surge was eased in February.

Before that crackdown, the government had brought fraud charges against dozens of people, many of them Somali Americans, who were accused of fleecing a federal program that was meant to provide food to children. The investigation began during the Biden administration. More than 60 people have been convicted.

Various state and federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, participated in searches Tuesday. Officers from Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension were removing boxes at some sites.

“The American people deserve to know how their taxpayer money was abused. ... No stone will be left unturned,” said DHS, which also noted the cooperation of local and state authorities.

On social media, FBI Director Kash Patel said Walz didn't deserve much credit "while we smoke out the fraud plaguing Minnesota under your governorship.”

Jason Steck, an attorney who represents childcare centers, said the names of targeted businesses that were shared with him show they're operated by Somali immigrants. They were not his clients.

“A few childcare centers, a few autism centers, a few healthcare agencies of some type," Steck said, adding that it appeared to be a "particular sweep for fraud.”

The executive director of Child Care Aware of Minnesota, a nonprofit that serves childhood educators, said the publicity will be unflattering.

“The majority are in business to do good business. You’re going to come across individuals who try to capitalize on systems that are broken and need to be fixed," Candace Yates said.

Right-wing influencer Nick Shirley posted a video in December that caught the attention of the Trump administration. He alleged that members of Minnesota's Somali community were running fake child care centers so they could collect federal subsidies, fueling suspicions on top of the food aid scandal. The claims were disproven by inspectors.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has used dehumanizing rhetoric, calling Somali immigrants “garbage” and “low IQ.”

In February, Vice President JD Vance said the government would temporarily halt $243 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota over fraud concerns. Minnesota sued in response, warning it may have to cut healthcare for low-income families, but a judge on April 6 declined to grant a restraining order.

Walz told Congress in March that he wanted to work with the federal government in fraud investigations, but that the immigration surge had made it more difficult.

“The people of Minnesota have been singled out and targeted for political retribution at an unparalleled scale,” he said at the time.

Durkin Richer reported from Washington. AP reporters Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis and Corey Williams and Ed White in Detroit contributed to this story.

Federal and state officials load evidence into a vehicle as they execute a search warrant at The Original Childcare Center in south Minneapolis, Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (Ben Hovland/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

A federal police officer stands outside the Metro Learning Center in Minneapolis as federal agents execute a search warrant, Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (Ben Hovland/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

State and federal agents remove boxes of evidence collected from Metro Learning Center on Tuesday, April 28, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)

A federal officer stands outside the Mako Child Care Center in Minneapolis, Minn., Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (Anthony Soufflé/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)

FBI agents walk outside the Mako Child Care Center in Minneapolis, Minn. on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (Anthony Soufflé/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)

FILE - Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on oversight of fraud and misuse of Federal funds in Minnesota, March 4, 2026, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File)