positions by david miscavige. he says mike render was asked about rumors of abuse two years ago by the bbc when he was still spokesman for the church. he had been asked the same allegations and one of his responses was, i ll tell you what, if you come up with that again and show up with another one of those crap allegations, i m going to file a complaint. reporter: he s talking about this bbc interview in 2007, recorded by scientologists and posted on youtube just before mike render left the church. absolutely no. that s absolutely rubbish. rubbish, rubbish. not true. rubbish. reporter: but now that mike render is no longer working for david miscavige, he says he was lying during that interview. he wouldn t appear on camera but he told us that he was physically assaulted by david miscavige some 50 times. he lied to the bbc, he says, because he didn t want to lose his career and his church. that doesn t surprise jeff hawkins who says when he was in
spokesman at the time. he grabbed mike around the neck, swings around, and is choking him. he s holding his neck. and mike is grabbing the side of his chair and struggling like not knowing what was going on. and his face is turning red, and the veins are popping in his neck. and i m going, what in the hell is going on. reporter: steve hall was a writer for the church who left in 2004. he says he saw miscavige attack mike render again in november of 2003. he grabs mike, mike s head, with both his hands. throws mike off his feet because he s strong and he put his whole body into this. he smashed mike s head against this cherry wood wall. reporter: church of scientology spokesman tommy davis insisting all these former scientologists are liars, bitter former sea organization members who were demoted from their