LONDON (AP) — Six women who accuse Russell Brand of sexually assaulting and raping them in separate instances have described during a London trial their encounters with the British actor and comedian.
The women, who don't know each other, allege they were assaulted by Brand between 1999 and 2009 in locations including workplaces, a hotel room and a bathroom at a bar.
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This court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook shows Russell Brand appearing during jury selection at Southwark Crown Court in London, Monday Oct. 12, 2026. (Elizabeth Cook/PA via AP)
Russell Brand speaks to the media as he arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London, Wednesday Oct. 14, 2026. (Ben Whitley/PA via AP)
Russell Brand arrives at Southwark Crown Court, London, where he faces three charges of rape, indecent assault, and three counts of sexual assault, relating to six women, on Friday Oct. 16, 2026. (Jonathan Brady/Press Association via AP Images)
Comedian and actor Russell Brand arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London, Monday, Oct. 19, 2026 where he is charged with counts of rape and sexual assault against six women.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Comedian and actor Russell Brand, accompanied by his wife Laura Brand, arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London, Monday, Oct. 19, 2026 where he is charged with counts of rape and sexual assault against six women.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Brand, 51, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault. He denies all the charges.
Prosecutors allege Brand was a “ruthless” and manipulative sexual predator who at the time had an “indiscriminate and voracious” desire for sexual contact.
The first woman alleged that Brand raped her in a hotel room in 1999 after she met him during a performance on the fringe of the Labour Party annual conference.
A friend of Brand's testified that some weeks after the alleged rape, the actor told him he "may have gone a bit too far” with a woman.
Another woman alleged that Brand orally raped her in 2004 in the restroom of a London bar. The woman said that she had just met Brand and was chatting to him at the bar when he suddenly grabbed her breasts then dragged her into the bathroom.
A third woman, a then 21-year-old fan, said that Brand anally raped her at his home after she met him at one of his shows in 2009.
Three other women also testified about alleged assaults in their workplaces.
One of them alleged that Brand grabbed her arm and tried to drag her into the men’s bathroom at her office in 2001. Another woman alleged that he kissed and groped her at the London radio station where she worked in 2004 or 2005. A third woman said that he pressed his face into her groin and demanded a massage while recording for a television project in 2009.
The women said they didn't report the alleged assaults at the time out of shame, and because of concern that they wouldn't be believed because of Brand's celebrity status. They individually went to police to report what happened to them after a 2023 television program broadcast anonymous accusations against Brand.
Brand, who is on bail, has appeared in the courtroom with his wife, Laura Gallacher, throughout the trial. He listened intently from the dock, and sat expressionless much of the time as his accusers told of their encounters with him.
In police interviews, he denied ever engaging in nonconsensual sexual activity.
The actor's lawyer, Ian Winter, questioned the women's accounts during the trial. He's expected to argue that sexual encounters from Brand's past have been “reimagined” when he outlines his case next week.
It's not clear if Brand himself will testify. The trial is expected to last up to 10 weeks.
Known for risque stand-up comedy routines and battles with drugs and alcohol, Brand rose to prominence in the early 2000s, hosting television programs and his own BBC radio show. He appeared in Hollywood films including “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to the Greek" and was briefly married to pop star Katy Perry.
But in the past decade, he has largely moved away from mainstream media after he relocated to Florida and amassed millions of followers on social media with videos mixing wellness, conspiracy theories and discussions of his religious devotion.
Brand has come under increased scrutiny in recent years after multiple allegations of sexual assault surfaced. Last year, the BBC said that concerns about his behavior — including complaints that he had sex on the broadcaster's premises and exposed himself in the studio — weren't handled appropriately because of his status.
The Associated Press doesn’t name victims of alleged sexual violence, and British law protects their identities from the media for life.
This court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook shows Russell Brand appearing during jury selection at Southwark Crown Court in London, Monday Oct. 12, 2026. (Elizabeth Cook/PA via AP)
Russell Brand speaks to the media as he arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London, Wednesday Oct. 14, 2026. (Ben Whitley/PA via AP)
Russell Brand arrives at Southwark Crown Court, London, where he faces three charges of rape, indecent assault, and three counts of sexual assault, relating to six women, on Friday Oct. 16, 2026. (Jonathan Brady/Press Association via AP Images)
Comedian and actor Russell Brand arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London, Monday, Oct. 19, 2026 where he is charged with counts of rape and sexual assault against six women.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Comedian and actor Russell Brand, accompanied by his wife Laura Brand, arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London, Monday, Oct. 19, 2026 where he is charged with counts of rape and sexual assault against six women.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — After Ashley Hinson dropped off her boys at school earlier this month, she saw the initials “DJT” flash on her phone.
“'Ashley, it's your favorite president,'” Iowa's Republican nominee for U.S. Senate recently recounted to an audience of her supporters. “That's how he introduced himself.”
She had had a more forceful message about communicating with President Donald Trump on the debate stage with her Democratic opponent, Josh Turek, as she tried to win over undecided voters.
“I’ll be President Trump’s ally when it is important for Iowa, but I will push back on him,” promised Hinson, who currently serves in the U.S. House. “He knows this.”
Although many Republicans are walking a political tightrope in this year's midterm elections, Hinson's balancing act is more challenging than most. Iowans have been hamstrung by manufacturing job losses, health care clinic closures and shrunken farm profits since Trump returned to the White House, but Hinson also is relying on the president's loyalists to show up for her.
On Thursday, Hinson took the stage before Trump came on, at a rally in Sioux City, which is in Iowa's conservative northwest corner. The visit to safe territory is geared toward boosting turnout even as it ties her more tightly to an unpopular president.
To hundreds of Trump's supporters, Hinson played up her relationship with the president.
“I’m not sure, frankly, that he’s always happy when we’re talking because I ask him for a lot of things for Iowa when we’re on the phone,” she said. “And that’s exactly what you would expect me to do, right? As your next United States senator.”
Trump is expected to visit the state again Nov. 1. He is “anxious for Iowans to hear his message before they vote,” Iowa Republican Party Chair Jeff Kaufmann said in announcing the president's schedule.
Turek, a state lawmaker, was in Sioux City for a campaign event Tuesday and told reporters he was happy for Trump to visit to see how his tariffs and the Iran war have “hurt Iowa more than any other state.” Although Turek says he's willing to work with Trump on issues like immigration, he called Hinson a rubber stamp for the president's bad policies.
When Hinson kicked off her campaign last year, she touted Trump’s endorsement and said she was running to be Trump’s “top ally” in the Senate. Almost a year later, Hinson instead says she wants to be “Iowa’s best bipartisan fighter."
The message has crystallized since the summer, with more examples of Hinson vocalizing positions at odds with the president. Recent polling from late September and early October suggests it could work as she carves out about 1 in 10 voters who disapprove of the president even as she continues to secure overwhelming support from those who approve of Trump.
In August, she said Trump’s plan to increase beef imports from foreign countries in an attempt to lower prices was "a bad idea” that would hurt Iowa farmers.
Last month, two of Hinson's Iowa colleagues in the House broke with the White House and voted against Trump's ability to continue the war with Iran without congressional approval.
Hinson didn’t, but she said later the war has gotten too costly for Americans and called for Trump to bring the conflict to a “successful and immediate end.”
More recently, Hinson criticized Trump’s decision to ease sanctions on Russia in exchange for diesel fuel. She said Tuesday that the U.S. needs to make sure “dictators aren’t allowed to win wars.”
“I think the president and I share the goal of lowering costs for working families and for people who are using diesel,” she told reporters after a campaign event. “I, again, just don’t think we need to be making any deals with Russia.”
Hinson said she hadn’t talked with the president about the issue.
“Maybe I’ll have a chance to come have a conversation with him at the rally," she added.
Hinson isn't the only one pitching bipartisanship. So is Turek. In fact, he's the only Iowa candidate seeking federal office who explicitly mentions Trump in general election television advertisements, according to an Associated Press analysis of AdImpact data.
In one, Turek is behind the wheel speaking directly to a camera about Interstate 35, which “connects Iowa to the southern border and the broken immigration system that both parties have failed to fix." He says: “In the U.S. Senate, I’ll work with anyone to fix it, including President Trump, to secure the border, stop the flow of drugs into Iowa.”
Turek has pushed back on the president’s policies, including tariffs and the war in Iran, as the catalysts of high costs that are hurting Iowans, but his message on working with the president on immigration and other select issues stands out from other Democrats. Republicans say he's just pretending to be a moderate to get elected.
Mazie Stilwell, executive director of the progressive organization Progress Iowa, said Turek's message on immigration targets a bloc of voters on an issue that's particularly important to them but doesn't overshadow his otherwise disciplined focus on the high costs facing Iowans.
Trump’s visit to the state Thursday, she added, is “a terrific reminder of the disaster that he has been and his administration has been for our bottom line, for everyday Iowans who are trying to make ends meet.”
Iowa is no stranger to competitive Senate races even though Trump won the state by double digits in the last presidential election.
Ad spending on broadcast and cable television has already surpassed $200 million this cycle, AdImpact shows. But in today’s dollars, the total ad spending in the 2020 Senate race was even higher.
Republicans have spent slightly more for Hinson than Democrats for Turek. That was the opposite in 2020, when Democrats spent nearly $30 million more than the GOP did in their unsuccessful effort to unseat Sen. Joni Ernst.
Iowa Republican activist Kelley Koch has been concerned that complacency will dampen turnout from conservatives, even those who are loyal to the president.
"They say, ‘Why are you all hyped up about the midterms, Kelley, Trump will take care of everything,'” Koch said.
It’s an assumption she’s working to counteract, and she expects “the Trump effect” from his visits will help protect Republican majorities in the House and Senate.
And while Koch supports Hinson, she doesn’t like it when she talks about pushing back on Trump.
“Right now,” Koch said, “we had better unite around our president.”
Associated Press reporter Aaron Kessler in Washington contributed.
Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, speaks to supporters, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Ankeny, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
