Latest news with #credibility
News24
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- News24
‘You post the great times': Witness asked to defend Instagram posts in Sean Combs trial
Sean 'Diddy' Combs's lawyers questioned an accuser's credibility by highlighting her positive social media posts during his sexual assault trial in New York. Former assistant Mia testified about enduring personal abuse and witnessing alleged violence towards singer Cassie Ventura. 'Instagram is a place to show how great your life was, even if it's not true,' said Mia. The defence for Sean 'Diddy' Combs on Friday used upbeat social media posts to attack the credibility of one of the women accusing the music mogul of sexual assault during his federal trial in New York. 'Isn't it true that Mr Combs never had unwanted, nonconsensual forcible contact with you?' lawyer Brian Steel said to a former Bad Boys Records assistant testifying under the pseudonym Mia during questioning that included displays of her personal social media posts. The testimony came as US President Donald Trump pondered aloud whether he would offer 55-year-old Combs a pardon during a press conference at the White House Friday, saying, 'I don't know. I would certainly look at the facts.' The facts are still unfolding in a trial that is expected to last into summer, in a case that revolves around Combs' relationship with his former girlfriend, singer Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura. Earlier in the trial, Ventura detailed years of alleged abuse and coercive, drug-fuelled sex marathons with male prostitutes known as 'freak-offs.' READ | Cassie challenges defence's 'cherry-picking' tactics in intense Sean Combs trial This week, Mia described how her job between 2009 and 2017 became a nightmare as she worked to protect Ventura from Combs' fits of rage or care for her after the attacks, tending to 'busted lips,' 'bruises,' and 'a black eye.' Combs would tell Mia to 'go take care of her,' adding that 'we were not allowed' to go out until her injuries healed enough to conceal, Mia testified Thursday. She also testified that she personally endured abuses, including rapes, while working for Combs, recounting the painful and traumatic episodes with her head bowed. Instagram vs reality During cross-examination on Friday, Steel confronted Mia with her social media posts, in which she presented a much more positive image of her relationship with her boss. On a courtroom screen displaying Mia's Instagram posts, she called Combs 'an extraordinary cultural phenomenon' and shared affectionate messages on his birthdays. Steel asked how she could publish such posts about a man she now accuses of sexual assault. 'Of course, you post the great times,' Mia said. Instagram is a place to show how great your life was, even if it's not true. After Mia read her posts aloud, Steel questioned Mia's allegations, to which she replied twice, 'Everything I said in this courtroom is true.' 'Ask any abuse victim's advocate, and they could explain it to you much better than I could.' On Thursday, Mia testified that Combs subjected her to 'sporadic' instances of sexual violence, including at the artist's 40th birthday party at the Plaza Hotel in New York and his private residence in Los Angeles. 'I just froze, I didn't react, terrified and confused,' Mia said about one of the assaults. 'He was the boss or the king, compelling person,' she said. 'This is years and years before social media, Me Too, or any sort of example where someone had stood up successfully to someone in power such as him,' she added. After the court's proceedings, jurors will have to determine whether that Grammy-winning artist and producer has used his fame, wealth and influence in hip-hop to support a criminal enterprise and sexual trafficking.
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
ALEX BRUMMER: Reeves hasn't 'fixed the economic foundations' - she's presiding over a looming disaster that could be as bad as Greece
As the Chancellor lives it up with her fellow G7 finance ministers at the £350-a-night Rimrock Resort Hotel in Canada 's Rocky Mountains, her credibility at home is draining away. Rachel Reeves 's claims to have fixed the public finances are sounding increasingly delusional as the economic outlook becomes more grim with every passing day.
Washington Post
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
MSNBC in five words: ‘I could not agree more'
MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle was ripping President Donald Trump. 'Give me a break,' she said on April 30 regarding the president's attempts to blame worsening economic conditions on his predecessor, Joe Biden. Those efforts might work for a 'low-information voter in a news desert,' but not for everyone else. 'Losing that credibility hurts all of us,' argued Ruhle.
