Harvey Weinstein's new defense attorney says she is confident that the disgraced movie mogul will be exonerated at his trial next year.

Donna Rotunno, a former prosecutor who specializes in defending men accused of sexual assault, joined Weinstein's legal team in July.

The executive producer is facing two counts of predatory sexual assault for allegedly raping an unnamed woman in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006.

Rotunno spoke to CBS This Morning on Tuesday about how the defense is preparing for the trial, which is set to begin January 6 after being delayed earlier this month.

She said she believes there is sufficient evidence to exonerate Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than 70 women in the two years since the first allegations against him came out in 2017, sparking the #MeToo movement.

'I'm not here to say that he was not guilty of committing sins,' Rotunno said when asked about the mountain of accusations against Weinstein.

'But there's a difference between sins and crimes, and I don't think he's a rapist. I don't believe he's a rapist.'

Rotunno also criticized the #MeToo movement, saying that it 'allows the court of public opinion to take over the narrative'.

'When you can't come out and then either correct or challenge that narrative, it puts you in a position where you're stripped of your rights,' she said.

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Donna Rotunno, Harvey Weinstein's new defense attorney, says she is confident that the disgraced movie mogul will be exonerated at his trial next year. In an interview with CBS This Morning on Tuesday, Rotunno said: 'I'm not here to say that he was not guilty of committing sins. 'But there's a difference between sins and crimes, and I don't think he's a rapist'

Weinstein is facing two counts of predatory sexual assault for allegedly raping an unnamed woman in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006. His trial is set to start in January

Rotunno said the defense will focus on the specific charges rather than the larger narrative surrounding Weinstein.

'The strategy in defending him is just evaluating the case for what it is, and determining whether or not these allegations are things that we can refute,' she said.

'In the criminal case, there are two charged victims and in both cases I feel strongly about the fact that we have evidence that is favorable to us and evidence that I think will exonerate him.'

In addition to the two alleged victims in the case, at least three others are expected to testify against Weinstein as 'prior bad act witnesses', a strategy prosecutors use to demonstrate a patter of behavior.

King mentioned that similar witnesses in the case against Bill Cosby, which involved allegations from one woman, seemed to have influenced the guilty verdict.

'I think there's always a concern about those things,' Rotunno said. 'I think the notion of where there's smoke, there's fire is always something that we have to worry about.'

King replied: 'This is more than fire, though, Donna. This is an inferno when it comes to Harvey Weinstein.'

Rotunno didn't directly address that assertion but said it didn't factor into the defense strategy.

When asked whether the large number of serious allegations from actresses including Gwyneth Paltrow, Salma Hayek, Ashley Judd, Lupita Nyong'o mattered to her, Rotunno said: 'Well, sure, I think it matters. It might matter to me in my analysis of the whole - in the whole circumstance.

'But if I look at the criminal case, frankly, those allegations don't matter in the context of the criminal case.'

Rotunno insisted that she was not minimizing the claims from other accusers, but said: 'For my purposes in this case, it's not where I have to put my time and attention. It's really about making sure those issues don't cloud our ability to pick a fair jury.'

Rotunno, a former prosecutor who specializes in defending men accused of sexual assault joined Weinstein's legal team in July. She is seen with Weinstein on August 26

When host Gayle King asked whether the mountain of serious allegations against Weinsteain mattered to the defense team, Rotunno said: 'Well, sure, I think it matters. It might matter to me in my analysis of the whole - in the whole circumstance. But if I look at the criminal case, frankly, those allegations don't matter in the context of the criminal case'

At one point during the interview, the attorney alluded to the fact that many of Weinstein's accusers continued to work with him after alleged assault incidents, a strategy his legal team has heavily relied on to cast doubt on accusers' claims.

'Anytime we talk about men and women in sexual circumstances, I think we have to look at the fact that there's always an area of gray,' she said.

'There's these blurred lines and then sometimes one side walks away from an event feeling different than the other, and how do we reconcile with that.'

King replied: 'It's not uncommon for a woman who has been through a very difficult, traumatic experience with a man to still be engaged with that man.'

'And that's a choice. And if a woman makes that choice, she makes that choice,' Rotunno said.

She expressed skepticism over claims from women who come forward years after alleged assaults, stating: 'Who knows years later if your memory is exactly the way something happened at the time that you're claiming that it did.

'I get frustrated when I listen to these types of situations, and I hear women say: "Well, I didn't have a choice." Well, no, you had a choice and you made a choice.'

Rotunno criticized the #MeToo movement, saying that it 'allows the court of public opinion to take over the narrative'. The attorney is seen outside the the court in New York in August

King pivoted toward Rotunno's reputation as a defender of accused sexual predators, asking her: 'Do you ever worry that you're making it harder for women who have been sexually harassed, assaulted, raped to come forward?'

Rotunno said: 'No. I would hope that I'm making it easier for them.'

She continued: 'I would hope that doing what I'm doing makes them realize they have choices, and if they really are in a position that they feel uncomfortable, then the first thing they should do is report it. They should go to the police and I think that that sort of weeding out the cases that don't rise to the level of real assaults should help real victims.

'So no, I think I'm helping them, actually.'

'Doesn't a man have to take responsibility for his actions too? And the choices that he makes?' King asked.

'No question,' Rotunno said firmly.

'And I think that no matter what happens to Harvey Weinstein, he will pay the biggest price there is.

'Even if he wins, Gayle, his whole life has been ruined, toppled, damaged. And whether it's by his own doing or others, that's the fact.

'And the fact is that no matter what we do -- and we can walk out of that courtroom with a not guilty and walk him out onto those courtroom steps -- and he never gets to be Harvey Weinstein ever again.'

Rotunno said Weinstein has taken an active role in preparing his own defense and that they haven't yet determined whether he will take the stand at next year's trial.

Gloria Allred, the attorney representing accuser Mimi Haleyi, said in a statement to CBS: 'I challenge Harvey Weinstein to take the witness stand and deny under oath the testimony of prosecution witnesses against him.'

Weinstein has denied all accusations against him. He faces life in prison if convicted on both charges.