ABC News/AP
Nafissatou Diallo's story began to seem shaky when hotel keycard records showed she went to clean another room before reporting a forced sexual encounter to her supervisor. Dominique Strauss-Kahn's globally-anticipated court appearance on charges of sexually assaulting a hotel chambermaid was postponed for three weeks Tuesday.
Prosecutors will continue working the case, which has been weakened by revelations about the maid and also complicated by new accusations against Strauss-Kahn in France.
"The investigation into this pending criminal case is continuing. We will have no further comment," said a terse statement from the DA's office announcing the Aug 1 status hearing was delayed to Aug. 23.
Strauss-Kahn's lawyers said hoped that by then, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance will have decided to dismiss the case.
"We are confident that when the investigation is completed, Mr Vance will move to dismiss all charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn," said defense lawyer Benjamin Brafman.
Prosecutors still want to meet with Tristane Banon, the French journalist who recounted - before the incident at the Sofitel - how Strauss-Khan attacked her in Paris in 2003.
The hotel maid who claims the randy French pol forced himself on her stands by her story.
In a risky PR campaign that could further undermine the prosecution's case by exposing new inconsistencies, Nafissatou Diallo has told her story to Newsweek and ABC News.
In a portion of the ABC interview aired Tuesday morning, she dismissed what looks like a major inconsistency in her story as just "a misunderstanding."
Diallo's story began to seem shaky when hotel keycard records showed she went to clean another room before reporting a forced sexual encounter to her supervisor.
She told ABC that wasn't what happened.
"I opened there for a second to pick up my stuff - that room was already clean," Diallo insisted in hesitant English. "I told them that."
Prompted by ABC's Robin Roberts, the teary-eyed, 32-year-old mother said, "I think it was a misunderstanding."
Diallo said she left her cleaning cart in the other room that Saturday May 14 as she went to check to see if Strauss-Kahn had checked out of his luxury suite - and was instead jumped by the naked Frenchman.
The full interview airs Tuesday night on ABC's "Nightline."
Frustrated prosecutors - who are already considering dismissing the case because Diallo lied to them about the case and her past - say her statements to the press only hurts the increasingly shaky case by offering up further inconsistencies.
Prosecutors, who initially saw Diallo as a strong witness, began backpedaling when they told Strauss-Kahn's lawyers last month that the alleged victim had lied to them repeatedly - including about being gang raped in her home country of Guinea.
Legal observers say that Diallo's lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, took a big gamble when he allowed her to speak publicly - one that could backfire.
"It's a Hail Mary pass," a defense lawyer not involved in the case said of the media blitz aimed at getting Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance's office not to drop the case.
Other observers say the interview could help by making Diallo appear sympathetic.
Thompson has a different focus.
"If they do bring this to trial, I believe Strauss-Kahn will be convicted," he said. "Since the evidence has not change and the victim has not wavered in her account regarding what Dominique Strauss-Kahn did to her in that hotel room - prosecutors should take the case to trail, win or lose."
Strauss-Kahn has pleaded not guilty and his lawyer say the encounter was consensual.
