Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial recap: ‘Mia,' former assistant, testifies that Combs threatened to kill her, used sexual assaults as blackmail and left her with PTSD
The trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs continued Friday in Manhattan federal court, where 'Mia' — a pseudonym for an alleged victim and former assistant to Combs — continued her testimony against him in the sex trafficking case for a second straight day.
She described a harrowing and 'toxic' work environment dominated by Combs's 'unpredictable and terrifying' behavior, telling the court that he physically and sexually assaulted her multiple times. She also said he threatened to tell his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura that they had slept together.
The 55-year-old hip-hop mogul is facing five criminal counts: one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Federal prosecutors say that for decades, Combs abused, threatened and coerced women to participate in marathon sexual encounters called "freak offs" and used his business empire, along with guns, kidnapping and arson, to conceal his crimes.
Combs has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
Here are some key takeaways from Thursday's testimony culled from various reporters and news organizations in the courtroom, including CNN, NBC News and the Washington Post.
The former personal assistant to Combs, who was referred to in court by the pseudonym 'Mia,' alleged that Combs sexually assaulted her multiple times throughout her employment, and threatened to tell Cassie Ventura, his longtime girlfriend, that they had slept together consensually.
In 2015, 'Mia' accompanied Ventura to South Africa for a film shoot. She said that while they were there, Ventura found out that Combs had been cheating on her, and stopped returning his calls.
Combs called 'Mia' repeatedly, the former assistant told the court. She told the court she woke up to 48 missed calls and messages from her boss, some of which were shown to the jury.
In one text exchange, Combs wrote 'Call me now' seven consecutive times.
'If you dont call me now f*** it all. And imma tell everything. And don't ever speak to me again. You have 2 min. F*** her,' Combs wrote to 'Mia' in a WhatsApp message on Oct. 31, 2015.
She said he also threatened to rip up a television deal that they had reached with ABC about an assistant like her working for a prominent figure like him. The show never aired.
When she did speak with Combs, he was 'irate' and 'irrational,' she told the court, demanding she return to the United States, threatening to kill her and report her to HR.
'Mia' recounted numerous instances of Combs's rage over seemingly innocuous mistakes.
She said that while they were on a chartered yacht in St. Barths on New Year's Eve in 2010, Combs became irate with her after she took too long to count the money in his safe.
'He told me, 'You better learn to walk on water like Jesus, b*tch. Get the f*** out of here,'' she recalled.
She said she eventually got a yacht crew member to take her to shore, but that the crew radioed saying Combs wanted her back on the boat, so she reluctantly returned.Combs then said he wanted her to go with him on a jet to Las Vegas, and threatened to fire her if she did not.
'I was just overwhelmed with fear that I would be in huge trouble, I would definitely be fired, and I didn't have a way out of it,' she testified. 'He would have destroyed my reputation. Yeah, I was scared of him.'
Big picture: Prosecutors have appeared to use testimony from former assistants to show a pattern of abuse, intimidation and threats employed by Combs — and part of what the government has alleged was a criminal enterprise.
Under direct examination, 'Mia' said that she eventually left her job in 2017 after Combs decided to shut down his film production company, where she had been serving as director of development and acquisition.
She told the court that she felt 'betrayed' by the decision, and subsequently hired an employment attorney to work out a severance package for her. After months of negotiations, they settled for $400,000.
'Mia' testified that she has since struggled to work due to post-traumatic stress she developed from working for Combs.
She told the court that she is easily 'triggered' by normal interactions, such as when someone asks 'Where are you?'
Under cross-examination from the defense, 'Mia' was asked about the positive experiences she had working for Combs.
She was presented with 2013 photos from Burning Man posted to social media, which show her smiling alongside Combs.
"You're standing right next to and leaning toward him, the man who terrorized you?" defense attorney Brian Steel asked.
"Yes," she replied.
The defense also asked "Mia" to read a message she wrote wishing Combs a happy birthday on what would have been the 6-year anniversary of a sexual assault she testified he committed against her.
"Legend, rapper, actor, entrepreneur, an extraterrestrial was born, happy bday thank you for showing me the path to Pluto and beyond," read the message.
'Mia' acknowledged that she often posted glowingly about Combs to Instagram, but said that all employees were expected to promote him and his brand on social media.
Big picture: The defense sought to minimize the former assistant's claims by showing the jury that she appeared to be happy at times in her employment even after the alleged abuse.
At the White House Friday, President Trump was asked if he would consider a pardon for Combs.
'Nobody's asked, but I know people are thinking about it,' Trump replied.
The president has used his pardon power numerous times since retaking office. Earlier this week, he pardoned the rapper NBA YoungBoy and reality stars Todd and Julie Chrisley.
'I haven't been watching it too closely though it's certainly been getting a lot of coverage,' Trump said of the Combs trial, 'I haven't seen, I haven't spoken to him in years. He used to really like me a lot. I think when I ran for politics, that relationship busted up, from what I read.'
'I don't know, I would certainly look at the facts,' the president added. 'If I think someone was mistreated, whether they like me or dislike me wouldn't have any impact.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
34 minutes ago
- CNN
The four reasons why Elon Musk trashes Trump's budget
CNN's Laura Coates talks with Axios reporter Marc Caputo about the real reasons behind Elon Musk's public criticism of President Trump's budget.
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The Trump administration just doubled the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Here's what that means
US tariffs on steel and aluminum doubled to 50% as of 12:01 am ET on Wednesday, a move cheered by the beleaguered American steel industry but worrisome to sectors that heavily use the metals, from car makers to can manufacturers. The jump in import taxes is the latest salvo in President Donald Trump's trade war, part of a broad range of tariffs he's levied since February. But the steel tariffs are especially significant to him and his political base, a symbol of once-iconic US manufacturing that has since fallen on hard times. The leap in tariffs likely won't hit American pocketbooks immediately – but experts say that higher prices on construction projects, car lots, appliances and elsewhere are all but inevitable from the higher duties. And while the tariffs could protect steel manufacturing jobs, they could hurt employment in much larger industries. But the administration said the tariffs are crucial to national security and the economy. 'Domestic steel and aluminum production is imperative for our defense-industrial base,' White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement to CNN. 'The Trump administration is committed to reshoring manufacturing that's critical for our national and economic security while unleashing a full suite of supply-side reforms – including rapid deregulation, tax cuts, and unleashing American energy – to continue delivering economic relief for the American people.' The American Iron and Steel Institute, an industry trade group, said that protecting the steel industry is crucial. 'We still consume more steel than we produce in America,' said Lourenco Goncalves, CEO of Cleveland Cliffs, one of the major US steelmakers, and the chairman of AISI. He said that raising the tariffs to 50% will only increase the cost of building a car by $300, which he characterized as minor in terms of the overall cost of a car. 'The average cost of a car is $48,000, with an added $300, it's $48,300. That's not going to be the decision-making factor for a person to buy or not buy a car,' he said at a press conference Tuesday. But the Aluminum Association, the trade group for that industry, said it worried that the broad universal tariff could hurt it more than it helps as it cuts off the supply of raw aluminum from Canada many finishing mills in the United States depend upon. Those mills account for most of the jobs in the US aluminum industry. Industries that use steel and aluminum also expressed concern. Can manufacturers warned that price hikes could even reach grocery store shelves. The Can Manufacturers Institute, a trade group for the industry, said domestic can makers import almost 80% of tin mill steel due to the cut in domestic production of that type of steel. It said the increase in tariffs will 'further increase the cost of canned goods,' such as food and drinks. But it is not clear when or if that increase of a few cents per can will be passed onto consumers. Experts also warn there are more jobs at risk at manufacturers that use steel and aluminum than would be protected by the tariffs. 'I think that's a really quintessentially damaging policy, there are (at least) 50 times more workers…in industries that use steel, like cars, than there are in the steel industry,' Larry Summers, director of the National Economic Council during the Obama administration, told CNN Monday. 'And so the net effect of this is going to be to destroy manufacturing jobs. The net effect of this is going to be to push up consumer prices.' Trump announced a 25% tariff on steel imports in February, part of a broader effort by the White House to revive America's Rust Belt and boost manufacturing jobs. He announced the doubling of the tariffs on Friday during a trip to a US Steel mill outside of Pittsburgh. 'If you don't have steel, you don't have a country,' he told a crowd filled with cheering steelworkers. 'You can't make a military. What are we going to do? Say, 'Let's go to China to get our steel for the army tanks and for the boats and ships.' A strong steel industry is not just a matter of dignity or prosperity and pride. It's above all, a matter of national security.' Spot steel prices have increased 20% or more, depending on the product, since the original 25% tariffs went into effect in March, said Philip Gibbs, steel analyst for KeyBank. He said that aluminum prices have also increased, but not by as much. Overall steel prices increased 6% just between March and April, according to the government's Producer Price Index, while aluminum prices increased 2%. 'They're not bashful about asking for price increases,' Gibbs said. 'If they feel like if they have a window to ask, they will.' The two industries have been benefiting from the previous 25% tariffs. But they've had other protections. Trump in 2018, during his previous administration, also announced 25% tariffs on steel and 10% tariffs on aluminum, although the following year he lifted them on Mexico and Canada. While the US is not the manufacturing-focused economy it once was, it still consumes tens of millions of tons of steel and aluminum a year. Studies of those 2018 tariffs found that for every steel job that was saved, there were 75 jobs lost elsewhere in manufacturing due to higher input costs. (The American Iron and Steel Institute challenges those studies.) Automakers mostly source their steel used at North American plants from domestic mills, and they have long-term purchase contracts that have, so far, protected them from price increases in the spot market. But the previous round of tariffs in 2018 and the price increases that followed eventually cost the companies billions of dollars, the automakers reported at that time. It also did little to increase steel production then, and it's not clear it will this time. For example, American producers have largely exited the market for the tin mill steel used for cans. That includes Cleveland Cliffs, but Goncalves said the company is not considering restarting that production even with the 50% tariffs. He also wouldn't comment on his company's pricing plans. And the tariffs could actually hurt some manufacturers they we designed to protect. The earlier 25% tariff on all imported aluminum could cost 100,000 American jobs, William Oplinger, the CEO of Alcoa, one of the largest US aluminum makers, warned in February. Asked if it had any new estimates given the doubling of the tariffs, Alcoa told CNN in a statement that it is 'evaluating the announcement.' Some of those jobs could be because of lost business. Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey said in February the company is preparing to package more of its products in plastic and glass as opposed to aluminum to avoid the higher input costs, and that was considering only the 25% tariff rate. But US aluminum mills in the United States get much of the aluminum they process from Canada, where the cost of energy needed to make the raw material is cheaper. The Aluminum Association is seeking a carve out for Canadian imports. 'We urge the administration to take a tailored approach that reserves high tariffs for bad actors—such as China—that flood the market and includes carve outs for proven partners—such as Canada,' said the trade group's statement. 'Doing so will ensure the US economy has the access to the aluminum it needs to grow, while we work with the administration to increase domestic production.' – CNN's Elisabeth Buchwald contributed to this report.
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
In China, AI-powered satire and propaganda fuel criticism of Trump tariffs
As President Trump imposed tariffs on China, AI-powered satire and propaganda videos have flooded Chinese social media platforms. Largely untouched by censors – and at times backed by state media – these clips mock Trump as a tariff-wielding figure and blame US trade policies for global instability. The message from Beijing: China's economy is resilient, and its global influence is expanding. CNN's Will Ripley has more.
