P. Diddy Trial Gets ‘Uncomfortable’ and ‘Tense’ with Questioning of Danity Kane Singer

P. Diddy Trial Gets ‘Uncomfortable’ and ‘Tense’ with Questioning of Danity Kane Singer

are we’re back here with Elizabeth Milner who is our in court reporter for the Shaun Diddy Combmes criminal trial. Elizabeth, so good to see you. Um, so you were in court today, week two, continuation of Dawn Rashard’s testimony. She left the stand, Carrie Morgan on the stand. Before we get to the substance of what they had to say, what is the vibe like in court today? How does Shawn Combmes appear? Who’s there? uh paint the picture for us because unfortunately as we know there are no cameras, there are no audio uh recordings allowed in that courtroom. What did you see and what did you hear? Yeah, well the tone as far as this morning goes, a lot of people were kind of anticipating what would the rest of Don Rashard’s testimony look like and especially more so how would the cross-examination and how would Diddy’s defense attorneys kind of be able to pull apart essentially her credibility. As far as just everyone inside the courtroom today, it doesn’t look like there was that big kind of present for the defendant side that we’ve seen last week, especially when we came to day one and even day two of testimony in that we didn’t see any of Diddy’s children inside that courtroom, which I think is a little big and a little not big at the same time. We saw um images over this weekend that the twins um were in um during prom season. They were in their prom dresses and that sort. Not 100% sure where the sons are in this kind of picture as far as are they on the west coast again because the the twins are about to graduate. So it’s unclear why the family presence wasn’t so big as it has been for day one and day two. As far as Diddy himself though, it seems like that didn’t necessarily phase him that much. I assume that he, you know, looks forward to seeing his family inside that courtroom, but maybe understanding that they had other obligations. He didn’t seem too bothered by that or anything like that. So, as far as him being inside that courtroom, it was still the same old diddy that we’ve seen. Kind of in the same old um outfit that we’ve seen him in as well, too. He was wearing a tan sweater. He had a white undershirt. He had khakis on. When he comes into the courtroom, he hugs his attorneys. He chats with them. All those types of things. And so, a lot of people were just anticipating what would it look like once Don Rashard got back on the stand. And let me tell you something, Jesse, when I saw her on the stand today and even on Friday as well, too, she appeared like she just didn’t want to be there. You could tell that she was very uncomfortable, especially talking about her recollection of her time that she had worked with Diddy, her time after working with Diddy, especially during the cross-examination part. I thought that maybe she would get a little emotional because she just appeared maybe a little nervous, maybe a little intimidated, not necessarily sure, but she was very softspoken um while she was on that stand today answering some of the questions. A lot of those questions obviously had to do with the egg frying incident. And it had to do with why Don Rashard um even continued working with Diddy even afterwards or even wanting to work with Diddy afterwards. And so a lot of the anticipation or just the overall tone inside that courtroom especially when it came to that cross-examination. It was kind of woo it was a little rough to watch. It was a little like a lot of people especially us in the gallery in the press were just kind of like wow this is a little brutal and they kind of hit the points that they wanted to hit while um them being defense attorneys. And so I think that the prosecution really kind of had to tighten everything up as far as, you know, trying to get maybe back in the jury’s good graces after kind of seeing um that cross-examination go and all those holes that were poked into her testimony. And so that was just the overall essence and tone of today’s um especially this morning before Carrie Morgan got on the witness stand to go by because I know it’s so loud. So this Elizabeth um I want how is the jury responding to Dawn Rashard’s testimony and what were some of the highlights? I mentioned it briefly before you came on air kind of summarized some of the points, but what were some of the points that uh came out today from her testimony both on direct and cross-examination and what how was the jury responding to her testimony? Because let’s not forget she is a corroborating witness for Cassandra Ventura Fine. She helped to articulate some of the finer elements of racketeering. Um, what were some of the highlights from her testimony both on direct and cross and how was the jury responding? Well, absolutely. As far as being under direct, it was really just kind of ironing out the details as far as what happened with this whole egg skillet incident. That being the incident that happened in 2009, according to Don Rashard, where essentially Cassie was cooking Diddy breakfast, Diddy comes downstairs, gets upset about either the way that the breakfast was made or why it wasn’t being made fast enough, and essentially just an assault happened in the aftermath of that. Something that Don Rashard has even pointed out in her civil lawsuit, something that um definitely the defense was definitely talking about today. So, a lot of it had to do just with um under direct examination still while they were finishing that up just what was Cassie’s demeanor when this was going on. Um they were also asked uh or they being Don Rashard was also asked, you know, Cassie had a pretty quiet demeanor um and that Diddy wasn’t necessarily having that when it comes to um what kind of promoted this type of violence or what prompted this type of violence. um as far as why Diddy would essentially physically assault her and Cass or excuse me, Don would say Cassie would just be speaking up for herself or it would be something random that happened. Then there were um moments where they had talked about who witnessed these physical assaults and Don Rashard pointed out names such as Harve Pierre who used to be the president of Bad Boy. Uh Mia who we expect to be testifying as well too. She had worked for Diddy. Capricorn Clark had worked for Diddy as well too. And then she named other names like Drock and Bonds who both worked security for Diddy. So I can kind of see where the prosecution was kind of um painting that or amping that up as far as how the stock staff is involved in all of that sort. As far as um 2010, just the following year, she says she witnessed another incident where they were all at a festival together up in Central Park. They were about to bring out Diddy’s Dirty Money Group and that right before um this had happened or actually, excuse me, I am looking at the wrong incident. Sorry about that. But there was another incident in 2010 where um they were having a dinner with a bunch of celebrities and that Cassie and Diddy were kind of arguing a little bit secretly there and um Diddy punched her in the stomach according to Don Rashard there. She said that at that dinner um they had people like Harpierre again former president of Bad Boy, Drock Security, Kina Harper who used to work with um Diddy’s Dirty Money, Mia who also worked with Diddy and Bonds were all there um during this dinner. And so then we kind of saw an exhibit photo of what Harp Pierre looked like. Um and so then there was um another talk and this is kind of where I bring up the Central Park incident where there was an incident where um Diddy had um allegedly physically assaulted Cassie while they were getting ready for this festival and that um Cassie came into the bathroom and that Kina and Don kind of confided in her um or at least kind of um helped her during this moment. They all kind of put on sunglasses and then just kind of carried on like usual. Meanwhile, Cassie’s kind of nursing some injuries um just behind the scenes. Now, when it came to the cross-examination um and there was just a lot of testimony going on today, so I’m trying to get you guys all my notes going on and everything like that. But once it came to the cross-examination, that was done by Nicole West Morland. And this was the first time we’ve kind of really seen her in action when it comes to this specific trial. And so, first thing that Nicole West Morland’s going to be asking her is just about her lawsuit. the lawsuit that she had filed um just a few months ago against Diddy. And so she was asked about the demand letter that was um I guess set up by her attorneys. She was asked about how many times she spoke with federal prosecutors. And she said she couldn’t necessarily recall the amount of times that she had done it. But the defense kind of summed it up that she at least spoke with federal prosecutors eight different times. They brought back the egg skillet incident where on Friday the defense was pointing out, you said that Cassie was cooling the eggs and then did he comes downstairs and then he hits Cassie or did he hit her or did you see them him hit her? Did you see that he had threw something at her? Was he th like it was really just kind of that quick and that much questioning kind of being thrown at her essentially. And then they brought up how it kind of compared to what she had said in her lawsuit just about the whole ex incident and said that she didn’t see the h um the pan hit Cassie in the lawsuit. And then um when she was asked essentially why she brought the lawsuit about um the defense was really kind of pointing at her and I think this is something that you know anybody who had filed a civil claim against Diddy might be expecting this under the cross-examination is what was their motivation in filing the lawsuit against um the defense’s client essentially. And so while Don at times was trying to say that she wanted justice and that she wanted um to do the right thing essentially that the defense also pointed out well you did want compensation as well too and Don had to kind of own up and admit that she did want compensation for the time that she had worked on as an employee. Then the defense was asking her about her most recent communications with Diddy as going back as early or um as soon as like 2020 2021 where essentially um Don was reaching out to Diddy himself was trying to get in touch with people about this kind of whole making the ban. I believe it’s a reboot that they were trying to do where Diddy wasn’t necessarily going to be a judge but instead Don wanted to use that opportunity to work with um somebody else named Laurianne Gibson. And so the defense was really kind of hammering her just about the facts that she had talked about with federal prosecutors as far as the different meetings that she had had in 2024 um on March 18th of this year on um April 17th of this year. Again, just pointing out specifics in regards to this egg incident, but also at the same time going into specifics about whether or not she felt threatened um to working with Diddy and if she felt threatened, if she felt scared for her life, why did she continue reaching out to Diddy as late as 2020 or 2021. you know, as we ended cross or excuse me, as we ended direct examination on Friday, they were really kind of hitting on the point that after um Don Rashard and even her bandmate at the time, Kina Harper, allegedly witnessed this physical assault with the whole egg skillet thing, cuz that’s kind of how they were summing up this particular incident was the egg skillet incident. Um she was asked on Friday, um what did Diddy tell you, um the next day? And essentially Dawn had said that um Diddy essentially said um that people wind up missing when they question him and that type of thing and that was perceived as a death threat. So then when the defense had their chance to kind of cross-examine her, they were like, “Well, why did you feel threatened?” Um and yet you continue to want to work with him. And so the defense moments, Nicole West Morland really kind of hit it on the head. I think a lot of people were possibly wondering, did Don come off like a liar? did she kind of overmbellish some of the incidents, but to Don’s accord and to Dawn um on the witness stand, she was just saying, you know, she was trying to remember to the best of her ability. So, it was kind of tough to watch, but at the same time, I think Don Rashard held her own. She didn’t um you know, kind of get too frazzled necessarily. She didn’t get overly emotional, but you could tell that during the cross-examination, it was pretty tough. Um and we actually have a poll up right now on YouTube. Do you think the jury views Dawn Rashard as a credible witness? We’ll see what the results of those are. Um, I wish I had a little bit more time with you, Elizabeth, because I wanted to ask you a little bit more about Carrie Morgan. This is Cassandra Ventur’s former best friend uh on the stand, but I know we have to get you back into that courtroom. Thanks so much for giving us an update. Great reporting as always. Elizabeth Milner, everybody, thank you so much. Thanks, Jesse. Now, I’m back here with Afie Patterson. Afy, you want to hear something really interesting as we talk about the questions from YouTubers and we have polls up. So, we had a poll that said, “Has this trial changed your view of Shaun Diddy Combmes?” Ready for this? 56% say yes. 43% say no. Now, look, I’m an attorney, right? And I don’t care what the case is. I like the idea of I mean the idea is for the jury to go in clear eyes, clear minds, allow the evidence and the facts and the testimony to sway their opinion. To see that change 56% of, you know, not the jury, but the people watching this, their view has changed. That’s interesting. What do you take away from that? Well, what was it from the beginning? I think it’s pretty low. Um, I think it should be higher uh toward the negative side because I think for a long time uh he’s kept his reputation pretty good, pretty much intact. He’s a music mogul. He um is a self-made businessman. So, I would have expected uh it to be a little bit higher in the negative. Um can I also talk about um just this case in general? I think that uh there’s a a money issue here and uh like we were talking about uh Don Rishard and her civil case and we can talk about Cassie in her civil case. You know, in our justice system, you we are allowed to have compensation, but I think compensation is maybe the wrong word. I think that when you’ve suffered some serious guttural traumas, you are entitled to try to be made whole and financial compensation, if you will, uh that helps to make you whole. It doesn’t resolve everything, but you’re entitled to that. That’s what our legal system allows. Well, look, the defense is going to jump on that, right? The defense is going to jump on the $20 million settlement or purported $20 million settlement with Shawn Combmes, the $10 million settlement or expected $10 million settlement that she’s going to get with the LA Intercontinental Hotel. The idea is you only went after this. You only made you brought up these allegations for monetary purposes. I don’t know if it makes entire sense. Why do I say that? cover trials all the time where somebody testifies and they’re in the middle of active litigation against somebody and the argument is, well, you would you would benefit if there was a guilty verdict here, wouldn’t you not? Well, she filed her lawsuit, settled with Shawn Combmes, and then cooperated with the government. I don’t quite know what the incentive would be there, right? You know, you’re going to have to testify, put make your allegations public, have to I mean, if you look at people online, there’s a lot of people who are questioning her credibility, her authenticity. I don’t know if the defense did a significant job or not of saying that the fi financial motivation was a a reason for her to come forward, striking at her credibility. I don’t know if I saw that. What do you take away from it, M? No, no, I agree. I’m um merely focusing on uh Don Rishard’s part and they’re questioning her. Why are you coming forward? But I think just with respect to how people feel about him uh Diddy and how they view him, I think a lot of people are turned off by the money aspect. Um but if you know the problem is if you focus on uh this the civil suit first, you have people questioning, well why didn’t you go the criminal route? Now that she’s going the criminal route, you know, people are saying well oh okay now they pick apart uh issues like why did you stay? You should have left early. Uh you know so it’s like you really can’t win in uh situations like this. I think in uh intimate partner domestic violence situations. Well, the the way I think the prosecution tried to correct that, correct that. I don’t know if you know that’s the right terminology is they said, you know, she was in the middle of this very hard for her to get out. Maybe didn’t even recognize she was a victim or what was going on. Again, taking the allegations as true. And it wasn’t until later on that she went through therapy potentially for PTSD where she re recognizes to to recall traumatic episodes and recognizing what happened to her and then files the lawsuit. Now the defense could say this therapy is it actually recalling real memories of what happened or is it tainting it? Is it tainting your recollection of what happened? Is it a little bit of a dubious science? And I’m sure that’s going to come back and forth a little bit, but you know, it is a question. You you were part of this relationship for quite some time. Helped to set up these alleged freakoffs. The text messages would say you encourage them. It’s a it’s a it’s it’s a you wonder if it’s a question and a problem for the prosecution, but at the same time, the prosecution knew about these messages. They knew about the timeline. They still felt confident to go forward with this case and Cassandra Ventura as their star witness. Okay, we got a question from Last Plane Home. Can Diddy still take a plea deal? It sounds like they were all under the influence, which impairs a sane mind. Afy. Yeah. Is the deal still on the table at this point? Yeah. I mean, well, put this. I think you can always take one. You could always take one, right? Right. Right. You could always take one, but is it still on the table? It depends on how confident uh the prosecution feels about their case. And I think again what this is said to be an eightweek trial. So I think that you’re going to have a lot of people. And Jesse, you tell me are I I believe there’s supposed to be at least two more um alleged victims coming through. Well, but this is supposed to be an eightweek trial. There were supposed to be four. One of them can’t be found. Uh which is a problem. But but look, it’s also different, right? If it was before the trial started, before opening statements, before Cassandra Ventura had to take the stand, you prosecutor would say, “Listen, we we want to avoid this. We want to avoid the jury after seeing this. We want to avoid putting on alleged victims who have to recount what happened to them. Okay. We might be interested in you accepting a deal now. Now after she takes the stand. Now after Dawn Rashard takes the stand. I don’t know. Yeah. But you know just also, you know, you were talking about the PTSD therapy that Cassie got. I thought that her her testimony showed that yeah, she was a a willing participant uh very early on. I don’t think it was super super helpful for the prosecution, but um also to your point um I think you mentioned the fact that uh it was brought up that she may not know that she was a victim, but for me the line of delineation is when did it become coercion? clearly coercion and that is when she wanted to leave and he threatened her with the videos. I would love to see more of a timeline come out because I’m not seeing just a clear timeline and I think Yeah, go ahead. Oh, no, no. I I was going to say I I think this I think this all comes down to closing arguments. There’s a lot here. There is a lot here and I think the prosecution and the defense needs to crystallize it like you said with a timeline matching it up to the elements. I’m a lawyer and let me tell you explaining this to people what racketeering is, sex trafficking, how all these allegations match up to the elements. It’s complicated. It’s complex. Yeah, it is. So, got another question for you. Got a lot of questions coming in right now. Again, we’re waiting to go back uh into the courtroom. As soon as that begins, once again, we will give you real-time updates. Okay. Question from Poetic O. Can he use a mental health defense if he claims to be a sociopath or narcissist? You know, I don’t know if narcissism um is a a defense to these recar charges. You know, I don’t know if um you know, you being a sociopath is a proper defense. there are uh different types of mental health mental defect defenses that you can use and I don’t think these are uh either one of them and you know also the prosecution was talking about excuse me the defense I think they were um trying to hint at the fact that uh Diddy was under uh some type of force of of drug abuse or a state of drug induced violence whenever he would beat her. I think that’s a a poor argument because she was beaten for what nine or 10 years, you know. Um furthermore, how do you build a billion-dollar enterprise if you’re consistently um intoxicated, you know, or if you are, you know, you’re you’re very high functioning. So, I don’t think that that’s the best argument.

Danity Kane performer and singer Dawn Richard testified Monday morning in the sex trafficking trial against Sean “Diddy” Combs. The cross-examination of Richards often became tense and uncomfortable. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber — alongside Law&Crime’s Elizabeth Millner — breaks down the fiery testimony from the courthouse.

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Host:
Jesse Weber

Reporter:
Elizabeth Millner

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