District attorney calls Weinstein 'a vicious sexual predator'
Weinstein convicted on two counts; reaction and analysis on 'The Five.'
"The Five" co-host Greg Gutfeld called out the Hollywood community Monday for protecting disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein after he was found guilty by a Manhattan jury of rape and sexual assault.
"Why was he so powerful? He used the women's movement and empowerment as the liberal virtue signals as a way to protect his own predation," Gutfeld said.
"People knew, people joked about it," Gutfeld added, saying it was Weinstein's willingness to help further "Hollywood issues" that earned him the praise of many high profile figures -- including former first lady Michelle Obama.
"No one in Hollywood could ever lecture us again about morality because they knew all of this-- but he poked all the right buttons ... all the virtue signals," Gutfeld said.
Guest host Dagen McDowell largely agreed with Gutfeld, and called on reporters and investigators to "keep digging into the circle of people around Weinstein throughout Hollywood, throughout politics, who have covered this up for literally decades."
"He was able to get away with it because people either knew and helped him basically destroy women's lives and helped him continue to sexually assault women year after year after year," she said, "or they just looked away because he was benefiting their careers, or he was benefiting their pocketbooks, and that includes a lot of Democrats."
JUDGE NAP CALLS WEINSTEIN VERDICT 'MONUMENTAL SETBACK' FOR GOVERNMENT
Weinstein, 67, was convicted of first-degree commission of a criminal sexual act and third-degree rape but was acquitted of two more serious charges of predatory sexual assault, as well as first-degree rape. The charges Weinstein was convicted of carry a total sentence of up to 29 years in prison.
Juan Williams questioned whether Weinstein was given a rather "light" sentence considering the crimes, but co-host Jesse Watters praised the prosecutors involved in the case for securing the conviction despite Weinstein's high-powered legal defense team.
"I do not think this is light," Watters said. "They secured whatever convictions they could get… these prosecutors...did a really nice job because of the very highly paid, talented criminal defense team that Weinstein hired."
Watters added that prosecutors also had to combat the "dangling cash" offered by Weinstein's defense team to many of his accusers, and praised the judicial process. The jury of seven men and five women handed down the verdict on Monday after five days of deliberating.
HARVEY WEINSTEIN FOUND GUILTY OF THIRD DEGREE RAPE, CRIMINAL SEX ACT
"You know, the #metoo movement, [there are] a lot of problems there, fake allegations, nobody really knows what's going on, but this is where these things should be settled," Watters said. " In the court of law, you have due process, people testifying, you have evidence, and then a jury ... they decide if there's criminal misconduct and how long they should serve it. That's the most important thing here."
Weinstein has maintained any sexual encounters were consensual. Sentencing was set for March 11.
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The producer now faces charges in Los Angeles, where authorities allege he raped one woman and sexually assaulted another on back-to-back nights during Oscars week in 2013.
Fox News' Joshua Nelson contributed to this report.
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