JUDY WOODRUFF: Finally, we
return to the Harvey Weinstein
story and new revelations about

the great lengths he allegedly
went to in order to quash
stories, silence his accusers

and intimidate journalists.

The latest investigation in
"The New Yorker" magazine
chronicles those efforts.

It includes details
of how Weinstein hired
private investigative
firms to collect damaging

information on his accusers,
including one that used former
Israeli intelligence agents

to allegedly befriend and
spy on actress Rose McGowan.

McGowan has alleged that
Weinstein raped her.

He has denied that accusation.

And his spokeswomen told "The
New Yorker": "It is a fiction
to suggest that any individuals

were targeted or
suppressed at any time."

That's a quote.

Ronan Farrow is the journalist
behind this investigation,
and he joins me now.

Ronan Farrow, this is a stunning
collection of reporting.

Do we know what triggered
these actions on Harvey
Weinstein's part?

RONAN FARROW, "The New Yorker":
Yes, Judy, in the fall of last
year, women began to speak

to reporters and speak
publicly in some cases.

Most prominently, perhaps, Rose
McGowan tweeted, describing,
in her words, her rapist, and

implying heavily that
that was Harvey Weinstein.

This was one of several factors
that precipitated this rush to
staff up with criminal defense

attorneys and private
investigation firms, and,
as you just described,
to engage in some

pretty aggressive human
intelligence tactics.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, who --
what kind of folks work at
these investigative agencies?

What do they do?

RONAN FARROW: You know, those
are an array of firms, and
they would say that their work

is very legitimate and
that they do all sorts of
open-source research for
clients and consulting

for clients.

But, certainly, in some cases,
for Harvey Weinstein, these
firms were either, A, compiling

information that was
specifically, according
to the documents that
we have, designed to

undermine and smear people,
both women with allegations and
reporters, and in other cases

were actually engaging in
hands-on human intelligence
tactics, insinuating
themselves into people's

lives using false identities.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Using
false identities.

And, specifically, what happened
with Rose McGowan, the actor?

RONAN FARROW: A woman calling
herself Diana Filip of Reuben
Capital Partners, a wealth

management firm in London,
reached out to McGowan through
agents working with her, and

over the course of several
months met with her repeatedly,
offering to invest in her

company and to enlist
her in a women's rights
campaign, and, over the
course of those meetings,

recorded secretly tens of
hours of audio that were then
relayed back to Weinstein in the

form of transcripts.

That same Diana Filip
reached out to me,
actually reached out to and
successfully met with another

reporter, Ben Wallace
of "New York Magazine,"
multiple times, posing as
a woman with allegations.

She used several identities.

And the truth of the matter,
Judy, is that she was an
undercover operative working for

this Israeli intelligence
firm Black Cube.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, using a
false identity, talking to you.

What kinds of questions
was she asking you?

RONAN FARROW: Well, in my case,
she reached out repeatedly,
both through representatives

of mine and directly to me in
e-mails, and I didn't respond.

A representative of mine, a
speaking agent that she got
to, did speak to her and found

it suspicious that she was
demanding a meeting before
discussing a supposed
speaking engagement

that she wanted to
approach me about.

And so it didn't go
farther than that.

But, as I said, you know,
this was a tactic used
on a number of reporters.

And, in some cases, this
resulted in meetings,
with this woman, using
a range of identities,

posing as a source.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You also point
out -- and you referred to this
a minute ago -- that Weinstein

used -- tried to use and then
did use his own attorney,
David Boies of the law firm

Boies, Schiller, Flexner.

Boies is of course well-known.

He represented Al Gore
in the 2000 election.

What happened there?

RONAN FARROW: David Boies
is someone that I know well.

He used to appear on my show.

He's extremely well-regarded
in many circles.

And he personally signed
contracts directing
undercover operatives
for Black Cube to kill

a New York Times story about
the Weinstein allegations
and to obtain a manuscript of

Rose McGowan's in-progress
book, which they believed
would contain rape allegations.

And they were successful
in sending to Weinstein
numerous transcripts
describing the contents

of that book.

Now, David Boies' role
in this is interesting.

And he has defended his
actions in detail in the story.

We quote him at length.

I had many
conversations with him.

But it certainly raises
questions, because his firm was
representing The New York Times

while this all happened.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Right, which
is another part of this.

But I was just going to read
part of the statement that
David Boies put out today.

He said: "Had I known at the
time that this contract would
have been used for the services

that I now understand it was
used for, I would never have
signed it or been associated in

any way with this effort."

So, he's not denying that
it happened, but he's
saying he didn't know.

RONAN FARROW: Look, he
confirmed all of this
in our conversations,
which again are quoted

on the record in the story.

As well, you know, he also said
he regretted it at the time.

He is now saying in a still more
forceful way that he regrets
it and even that he didn't

understand fully what services
he was contracting for.

But I will say, Judy, that the
contract is extremely explicit,
and it is one of several

that either he or
his firm signed.

JUDY WOODRUFF: I want to ask
you also about the fact that
there were -- you name at least

one journalist, a person
you describe as a chef
content officer at "The
National Enquirer,"

who seemed to be working --
or helping Harvey Weinstein.

RONAN FARROW: In that case,
Dylan Howard, who is the editor
in chief of "The National

Enquirer" and works
at the company that
publishes "The National
Enquirer," as you said, did

exchange e-mails with Harvey
Weinstein in which he appeared
to be collaborating with

Weinstein, generating
lists of people to
contact, and having several
reporters working for him

reach out to those women,
secretly record the conversation
with a woman in one case,

and relay back to
Weinstein information
about those interviews.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Ronan Farrow,
are we -- where are we in this
Harvey Weinstein reporting?

Is it your sense, after spending
a lot of time, months on this,
that we now have a pretty

full sense of what happened?

RONAN FARROW: You know,
Judy, I wish I could
say that were the case.

There is still much more to
learn about the ways in which
the powerful elites of this

country manipulate the media and
manipulate people coming forward
with important allegations,

the way in which the tools
of the kinds described in
this article can forestall
the public dissemination

of allegations and also
potentially in some cases
criminal proceedings about them.

We are seeing that only now are
law enforcement agencies really
picking up the baton, where

it was dropped so often
before in the Weinstein case.

I think this is a much
bigger issue than has
even been unpacked so far,
and that the reporting

is going to continue
to go on about this.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, a lot of
disturbing information here.

Ronan Farrow, writing for
"The New Yorker" magazine,
thank you very much.

RONAN FARROW: Thank you, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And a postscript.

In the wake of the Weinstein
stories, there have been a
number of other accusations of

assault or harassment
brought to light.

At NPR, the head of news,
Michael Oreskes, resigned after
accusations of sexual harassment

from a number of women.

This evening, Jarl Mohn, the CEO
of NPR, says that he is going
on medical leave for a month.

Mohn cites the fact that he
suffers from hypertension
at a dangerous level.

In a letter to staff, he
apologizes, saying that he could
have handled the allegations

against Oreskes -- quote --
"faster and more decisively."