Ronan Farrow on Weinstein Scandal: These Women Were All Terrified to Speak Out

RUSH EXCERPT: 
TAPPER: "Here to talk more about the story is Ronan farrow, he’s the author of the expose that ran in “The new Yorker” in which 13 women told him they had been sexually assaulted, harassed or even raped by roan. Thanks for being here."
FARROW: "Good to be here."
TAPPER: "We know for decades reporters have been trying to get this story into print. You finally did. How is it that a story with such enormous a scope, such horrific really human rights violations didn’t come to public light until now because of you and “The New York Times”?"
FARROW: " I mean, look, these women describe obviously horrific allegations. They really tore their guts out, Jake, telling these stories. They had nothing to gain and everything to lose. They were all terrified to do this. That terror, I think, speaks to the question you’re asking. Again and again, they said they feared retaliation. They talked about a vast machine, a legal apparatus that locked them into restrictive nondisclosure agreements in return for payouts, a pr apparatus that smeared some of these women. It is perhaps not coincidental several of them said in the case you highlighted of Ms. Gutierrez, several items began to appear as the D.A. Was considering this case about her sexual history, her past in Italy."
TAPPER: "Yeah. These stories, they’re really human rights abuses. As the reporter that uncovered so many of them, what was the most horrific part of this for you?"
FARROW: "You know, I want to highlight one story in particular. This Italian actress told a really horrific story of a rape, and, you know, very credible. Wouldn’t be reading this in “The new Yorker” if it hadn’t checked out to the nth degree. She went back afterwards. She went back to her alleged attacker. That was a source of tremendous shame for a lot of these women, that he was immeshed in their professional lives. They continued to be afraid that made them submit to him. That is a facet of sexual assault and harassment that often is very real."