When Weinstein and his team of attorneys found out that the Times was investigating him, they began a drive to stop Kantor and Twohey and salvage his reputation. Dean Baquet, the executive editor of the newspaper, cautioned the reporters and their editors. He expected Weinstein to begin a campaign of bullying and intimidation. Soon after, the lawyer Lanny Davis, a specialist in reputation management, contacted Kantor for an off-the-record conversation. During the meeting, Davis conceded unspecified wrongdoing on Weinstein’s part, admitted that Rose McGowan received a settlement, and indicated that he might be willing to talk with the reporters.

Meanwhile, David Boies, a longtime attorney for Weinstein’s production company, struck a deal with a private investigative firm called Black Cube with the goal of putting a stop to the reporters’ investigation. The reporters also discovered that attorney Lisa Bloom, Gloria Allred’s daughter and a self-professed feminist, was doing work for Weinstein. Twohey eventually obtained a memo that Bloom sent to Weinstein in which she outlined a plan to discredit Rose McGowan and other victims of his abuse; she also worked with the Black Cube operatives that Boies had retained to follow and spy on the reporters.