Live updates: Sean ‘Diddy' Combs trial continues with more ‘Mia' testimony

CNN

a day ago

Update:
Date: 10 min ago
Title: Combs' former assistant describes "tiptoeing" around the rapper
Content:
Mia testified that she emailed Sean 'Diddy' Combs a few times asking him to tell her what to do after he threatened her job if she didn't leave South Africa, where she had been with Cassie Ventura while Ventura shot a movie.
The fees to change her flight were expensive, she said, so she emailed him that she couldn't afford it herself. She paid for her flights to South Africa with her own money, she wrote in the email.
'I need to make sure I'm following your instructions correctly,' she wrote and also told him that Ventura was upset and didn't want her to leave early.
Combs, who didn't respond to the emails, had directed Mia to go with Ventura to South Africa, she testified.
She told Combs that she loved him more than once in the email.
'I want to stay with Cass, but I don't want to make him mad,' Mia testified. 'I'm tiptoeing: That's the way I would survive, so I didn't make him more mad or make him think that I thought what he was doing was wrong.'
'It didn't it matter what I wanted or what anyone else wanted, it matters what he wants and he was in charge,' Mia said.
Update:
Date: 14 min ago
Title: Jury sees messages of Combs threatening to "tell everything"
Content:
The jury saw messages between Sean 'Diddy' Combs and Mia, one of his former assistants, on October 31, 2015, when she was still in South Africa with Cassie Ventura.
'If you dont call me now f**k it all. And imma tell everything. And dont ever speak me again. You have 2 min. F**k her. Call my [house] now or never speak to me again. F**k abc and all lawyers. Let's go to war,' Combs wrote in the message.
Mia testified today that Combs was threatening to tell Ventura about the sexual assaults but with a different framing 'as though it was my fault or that I was, or that I had a part in it.' Mia said ABC had recently purchased the rights to a comedy show she had written. She said it was 'the most exciting thing that's ever happened in my life, and he's threatening to take that away.'
In the messages, Mia responded saying Ventura was busy and asking Combs to give her more time. 'I'm begging you,' she said in the messages.
'She just texted you - she said she just needs the time to change please just be nice on the phone please,' she wrote.
Combs then sent a series of more than 10 messages telling her to call him before sending a message saying, in part, 'I've come to the conclusion that it's best that we no longer have any dealings.'
Update:
Date: 11 min ago
Title: Combs' former assistant got threatening texts and calls for days as Diddy tried to get to Ventura
Content:
The jury saw a series of messages between Mia and Sean 'Diddy' Combs' chief of staff Kristina Khorram about Combs angrily demanding to speak to Mia so he could get to Cassie Ventura.
Khorram repeatedly texted and called Mia in the overnight hours while Mia and Ventura were asleep. Mia eventually answered Khorram on October 26, 2015, after she said she spoke to Combs on the phone.
'He doesn't sound in the right mind at the moment. Any reasoning should be in the a.m. your time,' Mia wrote.
Mia testified when she spoke to Combs before sending that message, Combs was 'Irate, forgetting what he was talking about, slurring quite a bit, saying irrational things.'
Mia said Combs was 'threatening my job, threatened to kill me, lots of threats, telling me he was on the phone with HR even though I knew that wasn't true.'
The repeated calls and texts through Khorram, who was being pressured by Combs, continued for days.
Update:
Date: 15 min ago
Title: Diddy taking Suge's advice and testifying 'is a risky proposition,' legal analyst says
Content:
Marion 'Suge' Knight, an imprisoned rap icon, who for decades had a relationship filled with animosity toward Sean 'Diddy' Combs, proposed that his nemesis take the stand in his own federal trial to 'humanize' him, he told CNN's Laura Coates in a brief phone interview.
And while the practice could do just that, 'it's a risky proposition,' Joey Jackson, CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney told CNN's Kate Bolduan, adding Combs would 'have a lot of explaining to do.'
Jackson points out that while the testimony coming out of Combs' trial has been graphic and telling of his alleged behavior, the jury needs to hear more in order to stand up the racketeering charges against the music mogul, since that is what he is being charged with.
'When you put a defendant on the stand, it just becomes about him,' Jackson said. 'The defense could make an argument saying, 'This guy's a horrible guy, but is he a racketeer? Was he engaged in a continuous course of conduct that makes him a criminal of an underboss? So that's going to be the problem, and that's why you may want to keep him off.'
Lisa Bonner, an attorney and former litigator, said Combs taking the stand is 'the most ridiculous thing that he can do.'
'It's just not a good idea. There's nothing good that can come of that,' Bonner told CNN, adding that 'the cross-examination would be brutal.'
Remember: Combs has pleaded not guilty to charges that include racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. If convicted on all counts, he could face up to life in prison.
Update:
Date: 40 min ago
Title: Combs' former assistant describes the moment she says Ventura learned Combs was cheating on her
Content:
Mia testified that Sean 'Diddy' Combs told her to go to South Africa with Cassie Ventura in October 2015 while Ventura was shooting a movie.
While they were there, Ventura found out Combs was cheating on her when she saw a video of him with another woman, Mia said.
'She was devastated,' Mia testified.
'They were on the phone, and then at one point, she didn't want to speak with him so she stopped answering his calls,' she said.
Mia testified that Combs tried to get her, another one of his employee, Kristina Khorram, and others to reach out to Ventura to get her on the phone. 'I was put in the middle,' she said.
Update:
Date: 35 min ago
Title: Former employee says she was "desperate" to keep a best friend dynamic with Combs
Content:
Assistant US Attorney Madison Smyser asked the former assistant testifying in Sean 'Diddy' Combs' federal criminal trial why she would write 'love you' in text messages to the music mogul, even after being sexually assaulted by him.
'Because it's just how we talked to each other. When the dynamic would shift to the best friend dynamic, you're just desperate to keep it there because you're safe,' Mia testified.
Update:
Date: 53 min ago
Title: Combs' former assistant is back on the stand
Content:
Mia, a former assistant to Sean 'Diddy' Combs who is using a pseudonym during this trial, is back on the stand.
The jury is entering now.
Update:
Date: 59 min ago
Title: Prosecutors want to show the jury charts of hotel and flight records
Content:
Prosecutors and defense attorneys are still discussing evidentiary issues before the jury is brought in for the day.
This includes summary charts that prosecutors want to use later at trial to show the jury hotel and flight records related to the case.
Update:
Date: 1 hr 17 min ago
Title: Judge discusses how he can help Combs' lawyers get more time with their client
Content:
Judge Arun Subramanian is on the bench, and he's working through some issues with the lawyers before the jury is brought in.
He is discussing how he can get Sean 'Diddy' Combs' lawyers more time with him to prepare outside of trial hours.
Defense attorneys have previously raised concerns that their team doesn't have enough time to discuss the trial with Combs given restrictions at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
Update:
Date: 58 min ago
Title: Anonymous "Diddy" employee will resume testimony this morning
Content:
A former employee of Sean 'Diddy' Combs is set to resume testimony this morning in his sex-trafficking trial.
Prosecutors called a witness identified as 'Mia,' a pseudonym being used in court to protect her identity, to the stand yesterday at the federal criminal trial.
Mia, a former assistant for Combs, described what she called a 'chaotic' and 'toxic' work environment, testifying that Combs committed acts of violence and sexual assault against her. If you or someone you know is struggling with intimate partner violence, there are resources available, including the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
Prosecutors called a witness identified as 'Mia,' a pseudonym being used in court to protect her identity, to the stand Thursday at the federal criminal trial for Sean 'Diddy' Combs. Mia, a former assistant for Sean 'Diddy' Combs, described what she called a 'chaotic' and 'toxic' work environment, testifying that Combs committed acts of violence and sexual assault against her. If you or someone you know is struggling with intimate partner violence, there are resources available, including the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
Update:
Date: 1 hr 25 min ago
Title: Suge Knight says Combs should take the stand to "humanize" himself
Content:
Imprisoned former rap mogul Marion 'Suge' Knight, who for decades shared an acrimonious relationship with Sean 'Diddy' Combs, said his longtime archrival should take the stand in his trial.
Speaking to CNN's Laura Coates from prison, where he's serving a 28-year sentence for a deadly hit-and-run in 2015, Knight said he believed Combs should 'humanize' himself.
'I feel if he do tell his truth, he really would walk,' Knight said. 'If Puffy goes up there and says, 'Hey … I did all the drugs, I wasn't in control of my life at the time, or myself' – he can humanize his old self and the jury might give him a shot.'
'But if they keep him sitting down, it's like he's scared to face the music,' Knight added. 'He should just have his faith in God, put up his pants and go up there and tell his truth.'
Some insight: Benjamin Chew, the co-lead counsel for actor Johnny Depp in his defamation trial, told CNN this week that the standard wisdom is for defendants not to testify – but added it may benefit Combs to defend himself and express remorse over the allegations that have been brought up during the prosecution's case.
Knight has resurfaced in headlines in recent weeks during Combs' trial, as several former staffers employed by Combs mentioned the men's rivalry.
One of Combs' former personal assistants, Capricorn Clark, said Combs once brought her to Central Park at night and brought up her former employment with Death Row Records.
'He told me that he didn't know that I had anything to do with Suge Knight, and if anything happened, he would have to kill me,' Clark said.
David James, another former assistant, recalled an instance when he and Combs' security guard ran into Knight at a diner. When Combs heard about it, he ordered James to drive them back to the diner, bringing three handguns with him – but Knight had left by the time they arrived, James testified.
Update:
Date: 1 hr 52 min ago
Title: Here's what happened yesterday in court
Content:
A former employee of Sean 'Diddy' Combs took center stage in his federal criminal trial yesterday and testified that he physically and sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions during the time she worked for him.
The employee, who is testifying under the pseudonym 'Mia,' is expected to return to the stand today to end the third week of testimony. The prosecution has said their case should last about five weeks.
Here's what we learned in testimony Thursday:
Ex-assistant describes alleged sexual assaults by Combs
A 'toxic' workplace
Ex-employee says she thought Combs was going to 'kill' Ventura
Stylist says he 'always' had concerns for Ventura's safety