The Megyn Kelly Show - May 16, 2025


Diddy Trial Deep Dive： ＂Mob Boss＂ Background, Issues of Consent, Prosecution and Defense Strategies


Episode Stats

Length

48 minutes

Words per Minute

168.39304

Word Count

8,226

Sentence Count

604

Misogynist Sentences

36

Hate Speech Sentences

6


Summary

In this special Friday edition of The Megyn Kelly Show, host Meghan breaks down the latest developments in the Puff and Steph Diddy trial and gives her thoughts on what she's seeing from the prosecution and the star witness.


Transcript

00:00:00.620 Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, live on Sirius XM Channel 111 every weekday at New East.
00:00:11.700 Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show and a special Friday, more casual edition of what's happening in the P. Diddy trial.
00:00:21.740 We're actually supposed to be off today, but I've been following this case pretty closely and there's been a lot I've wanted to say.
00:00:26.540 And we've been trying to sandwich it into other shows and finally I just wanted to take a chunk of time to just cover what we've seen this week because there's been a lot of developments and I got a lot of thoughts on this.
00:00:39.800 So coming in sort of on a day off, it was supposed to be a day off. Thank you to my team for accommodating me on my need to get this off my chest.
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00:01:44.580 I'm horrified by this case.
00:01:47.340 And the more I look at it, the more I think the case is getting stronger by the day against Diddy for sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
00:01:57.680 Those are the claims against him.
00:01:59.660 I do not predict he's definitely going to get convicted.
00:02:03.060 But I'm more and more believing it's likely.
00:02:07.160 And that's because watching, for example, the cross-examination of the star witness has been, I think, kind of underwhelming.
00:02:17.120 I thought that they'd have more.
00:02:18.620 And I thought that they'd be a little bit more skilled.
00:02:20.340 But instead, they seem to be all over the board.
00:02:22.760 The defense counsel, I'm trying to just score points with her.
00:02:25.260 And they're clearly, I get it, trying to prove that she consented to some of this behavior.
00:02:31.020 Okay?
00:02:32.640 Okay?
00:02:34.040 You need to prove that she consented to all of it.
00:02:36.960 That's the truth.
00:02:39.740 I mean, more accurately stated, the prosecution needs to prove that there were at least some of these sexual encounters, so-called freak-offs, that were not consensual on her part.
00:02:51.180 And I think they're doing it, I have to tell you.
00:02:55.820 So let's just take a step back, okay?
00:02:57.400 Because what's interesting about this case, and the reason we're all paying such close attention, is because this is one of the most famous men in the world.
00:03:05.260 Sean Combs, Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, whatever, is one of the biggest celebrities in America, in the world.
00:03:14.280 And his star was on the rise.
00:03:16.780 He formed Bad Boy Records.
00:03:18.500 Of course, he was very famous for his relationship with J-Lo and being involved in shooting a woman in the face.
00:03:25.320 He allegedly had another person take the fall for him.
00:03:28.840 The woman who got shot in the face says, it was Sean Combs.
00:03:32.840 I saw him.
00:03:34.260 And that he paid this other guy to take the fall for him and actually serve time for him.
00:03:38.800 That's not at issue in this case.
00:03:40.380 I'm just saying he's been infamous for a long time.
00:03:42.660 And we've seen him at the award shows, you know, behaving badly and being a bully and just kind of a douchebag.
00:03:50.660 And we knew that he was a douchebag.
00:03:52.360 I knew he was a douchebag.
00:03:53.660 In my opinion, that's what he was.
00:03:56.220 But it's so far beyond that.
00:03:58.200 This is just so far beyond that.
00:04:00.000 This is not the Johnny Depp case, guys.
00:04:03.320 This is not like, oh, you know, you've got this controversial guy and this lunatic woman and, you know, she's trying to make a buck off of him or she's not taking responsibility for her piece of it.
00:04:15.220 This is not that.
00:04:16.280 It's also not Epstein or R. Kelly, where you're talking about underage girls.
00:04:24.280 You know, the women involved in P. Diddy's web were of age.
00:04:28.440 They're adults.
00:04:29.640 But that doesn't mean they're incapable of being sex trafficked in the meaning of the law or part of what essentially amounted to a criminal conspiracy of control and coercion over them.
00:04:44.280 And that's really at heart what the government is alleging against this guy.
00:04:49.080 But P. Diddy's apex of his fame almost was was right when he was brought down.
00:04:56.900 I mean, the news reports about him talk about how in 2023 he'd been nominated, I think, for his first solo Grammy Artist of the Year, whatever it was like he was moving up in the awards ceremony world.
00:05:09.120 He was getting more and more recognition.
00:05:10.300 He was releasing an album and he was sort of everywhere in the media and he knew everyone, everyone.
00:05:18.500 You know, I remember that video of him going through the names of the people who came to his parties.
00:05:22.540 It was a who's who of the Oscars and the Grammy Awards.
00:05:27.100 I think I should have said Grammys, not Emmys.
00:05:31.560 That's TV.
00:05:33.140 And he was extremely well connected.
00:05:37.360 You know, Ashton Kutcher at all of his parties and Oprah, of course.
00:05:41.880 OK, that's he's the one who listed her as coming to his 50th birthday party.
00:05:46.120 Everyone wanted to be near him, his extreme wealth and his infamous party life.
00:05:56.520 You know, we had seen these videos of Justin Bieber being handed over to him at age 15.
00:06:01.980 Great job.
00:06:03.140 Great job.
00:06:04.580 And for for his weekend with Diddy Camp.
00:06:07.180 I mean, we don't know, but it certainly looks like Justin Bieber is still suffering the fallout from whatever happened to him as he was coming up the ranks of the music world.
00:06:18.300 It really doesn't seem worth it.
00:06:20.640 I mean, I'd love to hear more from his camp about what's real because it's clear he's suffering.
00:06:27.120 We just don't know from what and what mother out there would give her 15 year old boy over to a grown man.
00:06:33.180 Who's in the rap industry for a weekend with Diddy Camp without other adult supervision.
00:06:40.320 That's insane.
00:06:42.480 Then there was Usher going on with Howard Stern talking about how he was living with Diddy for almost a year and how he would never, never let his young sons at his age then go and do that kind of thing.
00:06:56.440 Like these are guys who are indebted to Diddy professionally saying, you know, this is Usher at least saying this is insane.
00:07:05.180 I believe I believe this guy has been abusing people severely for a long, long time.
00:07:13.500 And I don't think the government's wrong that he behaved like a mob boss.
00:07:18.580 Like the rules did not apply to him.
00:07:22.360 And let's face it, they didn't seem to.
00:07:26.100 Where were like the repeated police interventions on his behavior?
00:07:30.560 He was too rich.
00:07:32.800 He was too connected.
00:07:34.220 He was too powerful.
00:07:35.620 Look how the government opened its case here.
00:07:38.480 And by the way, before I get to that.
00:07:39.700 So he's, you know, reaming back up to the apex of his fame in 2023.
00:07:44.300 And that's when his ex-girlfriend of 11 years, Cassie Ventura, dropped her civil suit against him.
00:07:51.380 And it was settled within 24 hours for $20 million.
00:07:55.520 And that's really what got people interested.
00:07:57.900 Then more and more started to come forward.
00:07:59.500 Some were just money grabs because they're like, shit, if she can get paid, maybe I can get paid.
00:08:02.840 And some were probably much more serious than that.
00:08:05.420 Some of the more serious ones have withstood motions to dismiss and are in civil litigation right now.
00:08:12.540 So she brings that case and the feds get interested.
00:08:15.920 And before we know it, there's a federal raid on his homes.
00:08:18.720 And Bob's your uncle.
00:08:20.500 We're in criminal court.
00:08:22.860 But, you know, Diddy was behaving with impunity for a long, long time.
00:08:30.200 And the way the government opened its case kind of proved how he operated.
00:08:36.100 Their first witness was not Cassie or another alleged sex trafficking victim of his or a sex worker.
00:08:44.620 It was an LAPD guy who had been, prior to joining the LAPD, working security at the Hotel Intercontinental out in L.A.
00:08:54.460 and was there when that terrible beating we all saw on camera took place.
00:09:02.640 That security guard was the one who got called and who went up to see what the hell was going on.
00:09:08.760 Here's the tape for those of you who have forgotten.
00:09:12.580 He's walking down the hall.
00:09:14.320 Sorry, she's walking down the hall.
00:09:16.680 Standby.
00:09:17.120 Now he's coming in a towel, running, running after her.
00:09:22.880 She's trying to get in the elevator.
00:09:24.600 He grabs her by the head.
00:09:25.640 He whips her down to the floor.
00:09:26.820 He kicks her.
00:09:28.280 Kicks her in the head.
00:09:30.100 She's down.
00:09:30.840 She stays down.
00:09:31.560 She's testified.
00:09:32.300 He kicks her again.
00:09:34.160 She testified she stayed down because she thought it would minimize her injuries.
00:09:37.320 And he's literally dragging her down the hallway and back into the hotel room.
00:09:42.840 There are a number of reasons the prosecution started with that.
00:09:45.320 And with this witness, who is a third party, not alleged to be a victim of Diddy's, not a friend of Diddy's, not a friend of Cassie's, not a sex worker, no one directly involved in this case.
00:09:55.740 This is an LAPD guy who said not only was he there and saw the visible injuries on Cassie, but said that Diddy offered him a bribe.
00:10:06.060 He offered him $100,000 wrapped in a wad.
00:10:09.800 First of all, who the hell's walking around with $100,000 cash on them?
00:10:12.720 So, um, wrapped in a wad and that he declined it and he was smart enough to take out his cell phone and videotape the videotape that was on the security cameras.
00:10:23.820 He was going home for the weekend and he was very wise to do it because he said when he came back on Monday, the hotel tape had disappeared.
00:10:33.200 And the testimony was that Diddy did find some security agent willing to delete it.
00:10:40.020 Love to hear more about that.
00:10:42.240 But this one, their first witness said, I rejected the bribe and I videotaped what was on that camera.
00:10:50.880 And it was only leaked to CNN, you know, recently when we hadn't seen that tape.
00:10:55.360 And it, it tells you so much, there's no doubt he's a physical abuser, zero doubt that he is a physical abuser of women.
00:11:03.780 That's not his first rodeo.
00:11:06.060 That guy's been around the block.
00:11:07.460 That's, that's not how you beat a woman when you're just trying it out for the first time.
00:11:12.580 Bullshit.
00:11:13.020 But there's no question in my mind that this is part of a pattern of abuse that probably went on for years and probably spanned across multiple individuals.
00:11:23.400 And part of the thing we don't know right now is who else is the government calling?
00:11:27.180 They don't have to tell us right now.
00:11:28.240 So we, we don't know.
00:11:29.140 We know a couple of people.
00:11:30.120 We know Cassie.
00:11:31.360 We know they have another female, Jane Doe, who we believe is going to take the stand and say he did this similar behavior to her.
00:11:38.200 However, there's a third witness who absconded.
00:11:42.800 She, she decided not to testify and she left the jurisdiction, according to reports.
00:11:47.040 We don't know exactly who that was or why, but I'm sure that she's terrified.
00:11:51.280 Of course, she's, they're all terrified.
00:11:54.020 Because what's not going to come into this trial, probably, are all the other reports around Sean Combs.
00:12:00.100 He denies all of this, just to be clear.
00:12:02.020 He denies the allegations, the abuse.
00:12:04.600 No, he's admitted that against Cassie in that video because he had to, but he denies sex trafficking and he denies racketeering and he denies the prostitution charges and he denies being a serial abuser.
00:12:16.820 But I mean, there are stories, again, about him firebombing Kid Cudi's car because Kid Cudi was dating Cassie.
00:12:26.260 Right.
00:12:26.800 I mean, who does that?
00:12:29.100 Right.
00:12:29.560 He denies everything.
00:12:30.400 Um, and there are lots of other allegations about, um, Biggie Smalls and what, if anything, Sean Combs did to him.
00:12:39.220 He was part of his record label.
00:12:40.960 He was part of Sean Combs' Bad Boys record label.
00:12:44.860 Uh, what's he going to say?
00:12:46.880 What, what's he, he's no fan of Diddy.
00:12:48.620 That seems clear.
00:12:50.200 What, what happened with him?
00:12:51.820 What, what happened, um, in the past with some of these big rapper battles like Tupac Shakur?
00:12:59.260 There are all sorts of questions about what Diddy has done, to whom, when, how extensively involved, none of which this trial is going to get into.
00:13:07.920 Okay.
00:13:08.540 It's too big.
00:13:09.220 They've decided, sort of Al Capone-like, to focus on the few charges they think they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt, and the rest is just sort of noise.
00:13:19.900 But, you know, it shouldn't be for the press, the public.
00:13:24.320 We should know.
00:13:25.380 Before, why don't we choose more carefully who we're going to lionize?
00:13:28.940 Why don't we choose more carefully who we're going to put up on these pedestals?
00:13:42.620 Jeffrey Epstein was lionized even after he had pleaded guilty to this act of prostitution with a 14-year-old.
00:13:49.500 I mean, still, Katie Couric's going to his house for dinner.
00:13:53.860 Why?
00:13:54.760 Not to mention Prince Andrew.
00:13:57.260 We're so obsessed with people who attain great wealth and have the trappings of it all around them.
00:14:04.900 It's like some sort of magic elixir to other people, even if they're wealthy, too.
00:14:09.420 Like, you must know something.
00:14:11.200 You must be someone.
00:14:12.500 Instead of having, like, a healthy disdain for that and questioning, you know, how'd you get it?
00:14:20.380 You know, like, I'd like to know more.
00:14:22.800 If I sit next to Tom Brady at a dinner, I'm going to know exactly how he got his money, and I'm fine with that.
00:14:27.280 But, like, an Epstein and a P. Diddy or a Weinstein about whom there's always been a rumor mill of bad behavior, I mean, it just makes you wonder.
00:14:36.800 Like, before you actually get in business with this person or in bed with this person, how much more would you need to know?
00:14:44.460 How much due diligence should you be doing?
00:14:47.100 And lionizing them, yeah, same rule.
00:14:50.600 So, Diddy, after the Cassie lawsuit, gets hit with a bunch of lawsuits, and then ultimately the raids, and then this criminal case.
00:14:58.580 And the feds, Al Capone style, have not charged everything under the sun.
00:15:02.800 They've charged three main charges, racketeering, sex trafficking, and the transport of a prostitute.
00:15:14.420 And I'll tell you, I don't know about the racketeering charge.
00:15:17.080 It's pretty sweeping.
00:15:18.860 And I'll tell you what the general elements are, just so you can understand.
00:15:24.960 It's, I mean, it's a lot.
00:15:25.940 But, um, and, and you can tell, you know, you can ask yourself whether you think he's, they've, they've proved their case.
00:15:33.380 It's going to be probably an uphill battle on the racketeering.
00:15:36.900 That's the toughest one.
00:15:38.660 But the other two are looking good.
00:15:41.300 Racketeering, uh, okay.
00:15:44.300 That he has, with others, and just because no one else has been charged, which normally in a RICO case, you would have others charged.
00:15:52.480 It's, it's really, it was, it was a statute that designed to get mob bosses trying to get at criminal behavior.
00:15:57.920 That's like an, a web of criminal behavior that you can't necessarily prove like the one thing or the statute of limitations expired on the other thing.
00:16:04.860 But you're just showing this bad guy who's operating what's clearly an enterprise that over and over engages in criminal problems or criminal acts.
00:16:11.140 So they've used it against many non-mob bosses since it was created, and they've used it against people like Epstein, they were going to, um, for this kind of behavior.
00:16:23.860 So what they're saying is that the defendant and others, known and unknown, being persons employed by and associated with his enterprise, um, engaged in, and in a way that affects interstate commerce, uh, they conspired together and they engaged in an effort to violate the racketeering laws of the United States.
00:16:41.640 And what they say is that we mean that, um, they committed multiple acts involving, by the way, under the law, I think you just need to multiple acts involving kidnapping, um, stand by reading through their indictment, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and more.
00:17:05.220 The general, uh, the, the general, uh, list at the front of the complaint says, uh, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice too.
00:17:11.940 So among others, now the kidnapping and, um, stand by, I'm just looking at my, my list here, kidnapping, arson, that's probably going to be the Kid Cudi stuff.
00:17:25.820 We'll see.
00:17:27.760 That's, she, she testified to this, like they got this from Cassie when she took the stand.
00:17:35.280 That videotape she testified was her running out of a freak off.
00:17:40.940 She'd had enough.
00:17:41.800 She was escaping and that he ran after her, dragged her back and forced her to continue.
00:17:47.480 Now that's kidnapping right there.
00:17:50.180 And it's assault.
00:17:51.500 And just because the state prosecutor in California did not bring charges against Diddy, which he should have.
00:17:59.820 But again, that tape, that tape was kept secret for some 10 years.
00:18:04.100 Um, so the statute of limitations may have expired.
00:18:06.400 So it's not being charged as an individual act, but that her showing us that and saying, I was escaping a freak off and dragged back in there to continue is kidnapping.
00:18:16.460 And on top of it, it meets the other, it meets the other elements as well.
00:18:22.500 It's a person in a room with a sex prostitute, which she testified to someone being paid to be there to engage in sex acts.
00:18:32.720 And she's testifying.
00:18:34.700 She was there under coercion.
00:18:37.100 And that's sex trafficking.
00:18:39.060 And there was testimony that he did this with her across state lines and outside of the country, too, like down in Turks and Caicos or some one of those tropical islands not owned by the United States.
00:18:48.820 So that is the second count, sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, saying that from at least 2009 up until 2018, he in and affecting interstate and foreign commerce, knowingly recruited, enticed, harbored, transported, provided, obtained, advertised, maintained, patronized and solicited by any means.
00:19:10.080 It's a person knowing and in reckless disregard of the fact that means of force, threats of force, fraud and coercion would be used, what they're trying to say to force that person to engage in a commercial sex act.
00:19:20.840 What they're saying is in interstate commerce, he transported, would be enough, a person through means of force, fraud or coercion into a commercial sex act.
00:19:36.280 Okay, well, where was the force, fraud or coercion?
00:19:39.820 The prostitutes are going to testify that they did it willingly.
00:19:43.020 Now, the first guy said I was there willingly, they're paying me, but he also took a picture of my license and seemed to be threatening me that if I spoke or didn't behave as he wanted me to, he was going to, you can hurt me.
00:19:53.900 There would be retribution.
00:19:55.280 So that's evidence of some force or coercion.
00:19:57.700 But it's really coming down right now to Cassie, who is showing us the tape.
00:20:03.120 I tried to escape, he grabbed me by the hair and dragged me down the hallway back into one of the freak offs.
00:20:08.660 That would be coercion to go back into this room and engage in a commercial sex act.
00:20:14.920 She's not the one getting paid, the lover is.
00:20:18.140 And she testified to that.
00:20:20.880 So you don't, and then you also have to prove that he knew, Sean knew that the victim was engaging in this act as a result of force, fraud or coercion.
00:20:30.100 Well, the defense is offering emails of her saying, I want to do the freak offs.
00:20:34.860 I'm into it.
00:20:35.780 Can't wait to freak off.
00:20:36.940 It's all from 2009.
00:20:38.620 So far, 2010, there was some testimony, some email correspondence.
00:20:43.360 They're not sharing all the email language with us before that 2016 one that resulted in the beating that we saw in the hallway.
00:20:50.220 But even if they have an email suggesting she wanted to do that one and she's disputing that, seems pretty clear on the tape she was done with the freak off.
00:21:01.520 Seems pretty clear the consent had been withdrawn.
00:21:05.340 And by the way, as a legal matter, a woman can withdraw her consent to a sex act literally in the middle of sex.
00:21:12.320 The first two minutes can be consensual.
00:21:15.460 And if she says, I'm done, get off of me, the next minute would be rape if he doesn't listen.
00:21:20.620 That's the law.
00:21:21.960 So you can certainly participate voluntarily in one of these freak offs, which she said some of them last four days.
00:21:28.400 And maybe on day one, you're good.
00:21:30.480 But by the time you're on day four, you're saying, I want to get out of here.
00:21:34.460 Let me go.
00:21:35.620 And if he chases you down the hallway and grabs you and pulls you back into the room where the commercial sex worker is there on the clock for money, you're effed.
00:21:47.380 You're effed.
00:21:48.620 You are going to be charged likely with sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion.
00:21:52.820 That's count two of this indictment.
00:21:56.480 Now, maybe the jury will be persuaded.
00:21:58.440 Maybe the defense has one of these emails or texts for every single freak off.
00:22:02.780 She said there were hundreds.
00:22:03.840 So I doubt it.
00:22:04.580 But she's doing more of a narrative explanation of what happened, saying in the beginning of our relationship, by the way, there was a 17 year age difference.
00:22:13.240 She was 19 when it started.
00:22:15.640 He threw a 21st birthday party and invited Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.
00:22:21.180 She was an ingenue.
00:22:22.740 She was as green and doe eyed as they came.
00:22:26.700 And this older, much more successful, more sophisticated, bully, criminal thug took advantage of this young girl.
00:22:36.220 So beautiful, so beautiful, everything in front of her and lured her her into his world through promises of making her in the music industry, re.
00:22:47.280 Remaking her, you know, making her over, teaching her how to dress and how to be in a way that would be enticing for others.
00:22:55.940 Of course, that would be extremely alluring for any young woman.
00:23:00.880 But there was a price to be paid.
00:23:02.300 And in the beginning, he wooed her.
00:23:04.600 My God, this is a pattern.
00:23:05.780 I mean, you guys have seen it.
00:23:06.660 You've heard it just on this case, this show enough to know.
00:23:09.340 It is a pattern of abusers to love bomb the women at the beginning.
00:23:14.360 If it's if those are the roles, the gender roles, men versus women, it can happen the other way.
00:23:19.400 But it's this kind of abuse, domestic abuse with a love bombing is generally men on women.
00:23:25.480 And then once he obtains control over her, comes the abuse.
00:23:30.280 It can be verbal.
00:23:31.660 It can be financial.
00:23:33.400 And it can be physical.
00:23:34.680 And she testified that he beat her many times.
00:23:37.460 And the second witness of the case was a sex worker, not the one who was in that room for the 2016 Intercontinental Hotel incident, freak off slash beating, but a different one, a different sex worker, the one who said, I had to show my license.
00:23:54.140 And he said he heard Diddy slapping her behind closed doors, that they had an argument.
00:24:00.280 I think that he threw a bottle at her and then they went behind closed doors and he heard him slapping her.
00:24:06.280 And he heard her saying, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
00:24:09.080 And then he expressed his concern directly to her.
00:24:11.600 He sounds like this guy was kind of falling in love with Cassie.
00:24:14.700 And he worried about her.
00:24:17.040 He says, this is the hired sex worker.
00:24:19.180 But he was hired so often he felt like he was getting to know them.
00:24:23.140 And she and he would kind of side text from time to time.
00:24:26.140 And he felt that she was in danger in Diddy's world.
00:24:30.400 This is a third party.
00:24:32.120 Again, yes, he was involved, not like the security guard.
00:24:34.480 He was involved in their relationship and their freak offs.
00:24:36.880 But he's setting the stage in the prosecution with those first two witnesses is setting the stage that this was not a purely voluntary thing.
00:24:45.700 That Cassie did feel coerced and feel like she had no other choice and understood very well that there would be a high price to pay if she did not do what he wanted.
00:24:55.540 And it really doesn't matter, again, if that coercion began mid freak off, pre freak off, or if in the beginning of their relationship when she was very young, 2008, 7, 9, when they're showing her her loving texts toward Diddy, that she was genuinely in love with him and possibly wanted to do these things.
00:25:18.380 And she was explaining that she did love him, that she felt there was actual tender love between the two of them, and she felt he loved her too, though he was dating other women, he was hiding her, he wouldn't bring her out in public, she didn't like that, he was spending all the holidays with Kim Porter, the mother of some of his other children.
00:25:36.920 There are many, many baby mamas in his world, and he wasn't treating her in any way like an equal or a partner, but this poor lost girl who now had been hooked by this guy had been repeatedly, I mean, it's a form of sexual abuse what he was doing to her, whether she knew it or not.
00:25:56.940 It is not love to take a 17 years younger, 19, 20, 21 year old girl, and have some sex worker come into your private home or hotel room and urinate down her mouth to the point she's gagging.
00:26:17.660 You fucking cretin, Sean Combs.
00:26:21.620 That's what the evidence was.
00:26:23.000 That's one of the many reasons I think he's a disgusting, perverted criminal, it's my opinion.
00:26:29.800 And she was fooled into believing it was, because she was young, I don't know what her background was, but I guarantee you it wasn't great.
00:26:36.820 And she testified that even now, even up until the recent, you know, past couple years, she's had suicidal ideations, she's married now to what appears to be a nice man, by all accounts.
00:26:49.580 They've got a child, and she's, I think they've got two children, and she's about to give birth to number three, that's why they had to rush her onto the stand, because the prosecution understands she is the star witness, and, you know, she's got two weeks to go, this baby could come at any time.
00:27:01.960 And everybody understood, once the baby's here, all bets are off, she might not testify.
00:27:07.520 So they were right to put her on the stand, but even now, with her life ironed out, and a good man, by all accounts, in her life, she's still having suicidal ideations, or at least was up until recently.
00:27:18.320 She was very tearful on the stand, she's very soft-spoken, this is not some strong, fierce, badass woman.
00:27:25.880 Even in the text messages, you can tell, she's very sweet.
00:27:28.660 Even the defense counsel seemed to be conceding that in the cross-examination of her, and their answer to it is to have Diddy sitting there in a sweater.
00:27:39.560 For a listening audience, I have a gray sweatshirt on today, but, like, you know, in a sort of a wool sweater like this, with this little polo collar and a Bible.
00:27:48.860 His hair is gray now, and he's wearing reading glasses.
00:27:51.240 Oh, he's basically Grandpa.
00:27:52.960 No, actually, he's not Grandpa.
00:27:55.160 He only called himself Pop-Pop in his texts with her, because he found out that was her endearing term for her Grandpa, like it was for me and mine.
00:28:05.620 What a sick effer.
00:28:07.580 He found out she called her grandfather Pop-Pop, and then he insisted she call him that.
00:28:13.960 The guy who was forcing her to do it with unknown sex workers, etc.
00:28:19.260 So he called her BG, baby girl, and she called him Pop-Pop, per his request.
00:28:27.880 I'm just so—it's so foul.
00:28:30.460 So the defense yesterday got their hands on her Thursday for the first time, and they were all over the map.
00:28:41.380 They were scoring some points in terms of she loved him.
00:28:45.040 She was definitely requesting at least a couple of these freak-offs, and it's in writing.
00:28:50.620 Now, she was saying those are just words by that point.
00:28:53.460 She was denying that she actually wanted them.
00:28:57.120 And it's hard, because if you look at the overall narrative of her first two days on the stand, she was talking about the coercion and the control he had over her and how she didn't want to be doing it.
00:29:06.720 And she knew she'd pay a price if she didn't, and she was afraid of him, and he would physically threaten her.
00:29:12.020 So it's—okay, you can pull out, like, in the course of hundreds of these things, one or two where she's trying to please him.
00:29:18.020 And she also testified that some of the time she knew she had to, and so she'd volunteer to do it, like, three days in advance—that's the 2016 one, she said—of an awards ceremony she was supposed to appear at, because she knew she'd have to take drugs to get through it, and that sometimes she would be physically hurt.
00:29:36.560 And she wanted to look nice at her movie premiere or at the premiere of, you know, an album, an awards show.
00:29:44.620 So she would try to convince him to get it done, like, three days before so she could recover from these things.
00:29:52.340 I mean, this is sick.
00:29:54.140 This is a depraved individual.
00:29:57.480 And just keep in mind, she's not the only one.
00:29:59.120 We're going to have more women come forward, we believe, and take the stand and say he did this with them, too.
00:30:03.720 And as far as the racketeering goes, there's been testimony that his staff was facilitating it.
00:30:12.080 They would set up the rooms, they would deconstruct the rooms, they would clean the rooms, they would bring in fresh linens from all the blood and human fluids and baby oil that were all over the beds of these hotels.
00:30:25.840 It's absolutely disgusting.
00:30:28.560 Yes, he was obsessed with baby oil.
00:30:30.020 I know we're all kind of joking about baby oil now.
00:30:31.860 It's just sick, like he wanted to heat it up.
00:30:34.360 He wanted her putting it on sex workers, the sex workers putting it on her.
00:30:37.820 He wanted her to watch him with female sex workers, too, made her do that.
00:30:44.660 And the defense is trying to say it's all consensual.
00:30:47.860 We've got these emails showing some of them were at her request or she was at least open minded or seemed to anticipate, seemed to be anticipating it with favor.
00:30:56.400 And therefore, this wasn't coercive.
00:30:59.520 As for the beatdown we've seen on tape, they seem to want to suggest he was angry about his phone, something had happened to his phone, and not that she left the freak off.
00:31:11.460 Now, they're not going to get that in evidence in any meaningful way unless he testifies.
00:31:14.980 And if he testifies, all bets are off.
00:31:17.660 It would be a disaster.
00:31:18.720 I think it will be.
00:31:22.540 I think it'll seal his fate beyond doubt.
00:31:25.060 And he's just arrogant enough to think he might be able to get away with it.
00:31:28.120 But unless they can convince the jury through some other means that that's what he was angry about when he beat her, I think they're going to accept Cassie's testimony because she was quick to, you know, own it when she didn't know something.
00:31:41.460 She wasn't an argumentative witness.
00:31:42.980 Even the judge at one point said to the defense, look, you've got a very cooperative witness.
00:31:46.680 Like, come on, because they were saying, oh, we might need to hold her over to Monday.
00:31:51.160 We don't know when we're going to be done with her.
00:31:52.320 And he was like, you're going to finish up with her on Friday.
00:31:54.460 That's it.
00:31:55.440 This was the schedule.
00:31:56.220 You knew this was the schedule.
00:31:58.100 Get it over with.
00:31:59.160 And the baby's about to pop, for God's sake.
00:32:01.720 And by the way, think of the poor stress that this woman's under.
00:32:04.640 For all my female listeners who have had kids, remember yourself in the last two weeks of your pregnancy?
00:32:10.040 Remember what an enormous whale you were and how even emotionally vulnerable you become?
00:32:14.640 It's like somebody could stick a pin in you and you feel like you'd pop.
00:32:17.180 You'd be like a Veruca Salt.
00:32:18.820 No, Violet Beauregard type.
00:32:20.880 Juicy everywhere.
00:32:22.740 Rolling around on the Wonka floor like a blueberry.
00:32:25.400 You just, you're totally not yourself.
00:32:28.960 You're spicy and you're maybe kind of emotional and you just, you don't feel like yourself.
00:32:36.580 You're excited.
00:32:37.340 You're nervous.
00:32:38.160 Even if it's your third kid.
00:32:39.360 I've had three kids.
00:32:40.360 It's a big, very big deal to squeeze another human being out of your body.
00:32:43.440 And I, I mean, it's quite a testament to this woman's strength on some level to be doing this at all.
00:32:51.020 The other woman's going under Jane Doe.
00:32:53.380 Like this woman is like there with her real name.
00:32:56.100 And you know, the stress hormones that are running through her body.
00:33:00.660 I'm sure this was calculated by her on whether she wants to do this.
00:33:05.640 You know, am I going to hurt my baby?
00:33:07.220 Am I going to endanger my pregnancy?
00:33:08.740 But things don't get any more emotionally relaxed in the first four weeks of motherhood after you have your baby either.
00:33:17.980 So Claire is very important to her to take the stand and do this.
00:33:21.800 And there's no picture whatsoever being painted of her as a villain.
00:33:26.820 That's why I say it's not like Amber Heard.
00:33:29.100 Even the defense seems to be conceding this is a sweet lady.
00:33:32.140 Their best defense is she was into it.
00:33:36.460 And I'm sorry, but that, that hotel videotape is just absolutely freaking devastating to their case.
00:33:44.440 Because what we know more than anything is she was not into it that day.
00:33:50.140 All she wanted was to get away from him.
00:33:53.820 And he came out there like a criminal thug, beat the shit out of her, and dragged her back to his room in which he was sitting naked prior to putting on that towel.
00:34:06.420 I, I just think that's going to be enough for most of you, most of these jurors.
00:34:10.400 Look at her getting out of there.
00:34:12.220 The listening audience were showing the tape again.
00:34:14.340 He's running, running.
00:34:16.520 He's just holding the towel together.
00:34:17.820 He didn't even have the time to like fold it on properly.
00:34:21.900 Grabbed her like a rag doll.
00:34:24.260 Kicked her in the head.
00:34:26.560 Grabbing her stuff.
00:34:27.420 This isn't public, basically.
00:34:28.880 It's a public hotel.
00:34:29.780 Kicked her again.
00:34:30.440 The anger.
00:34:32.100 So these kicks.
00:34:34.000 He's incredibly angry.
00:34:35.580 Oh, and by the way, he tried, they tried to establish through Cassie when she was on the stand that he was upset because they took bad drugs the night before.
00:34:43.880 He was on a bad drug trip.
00:34:45.160 I don't give a shit, and neither will the jury.
00:34:49.520 She testified that he was violent with her many times.
00:34:51.420 As I said, she's already gotten sex worker testimony that he heard him abuse.
00:34:54.440 How many bad drug trips did he have?
00:34:56.480 And is that really a defense to coercion?
00:34:59.220 I don't think so.
00:35:00.340 I guess that's it.
00:35:05.020 That's where we are right now.
00:35:06.840 This thing's supposed to go eight weeks.
00:35:09.520 We're in week one.
00:35:10.940 Week one.
00:35:13.760 I'm looking at the sex trafficking count.
00:35:15.740 All right.
00:35:18.400 Interstate and foreign commerce, there was testimony that they crossed state lines and even country lines that he transported or provided or obtained or patronized or solicited any person to engage in a commercial sex act.
00:35:35.100 Again, by use of force, threats of force, fraud, and coercion.
00:35:39.620 So she's the one being forced.
00:35:43.380 The sex worker is the one who makes it commercial.
00:35:45.960 He definitely transported and provided and so on prostitutes into these rooms.
00:35:52.660 I think the jury's going to accept that.
00:35:55.000 And then the last piece of that second count is that he did it knowingly and in reckless disregard of the fact that it was by force, fraud, and coercion.
00:36:04.100 And that's one of the things they're going to argue.
00:36:05.480 He didn't know.
00:36:05.980 If she didn't want to be there, he didn't know because she was sending him emails saying, I want to do it.
00:36:10.780 Well, he knew at the Intercontinental.
00:36:12.680 Well, she had her clothes on and she was running and he beat the shit out of her and dragged her back there.
00:36:17.380 He knew.
00:36:18.040 That's just how are they going to get around that?
00:36:19.600 There's a reason the prosecution opened its case with that videotape.
00:36:24.300 And I don't know what else we're going to see on these videotapes or what else the jury is going to see.
00:36:28.620 You know, the prosecution has held its cards close to the vest.
00:36:32.460 The one unknown dynamic here is not totally wowed by the strength of the lawyering on either side.
00:36:42.680 Believe it or not, you have James Comey's daughter as the lead prosecutor and you have Mark Garagos' daughter as one of the lead defense attorneys.
00:36:52.460 Isn't that crazy?
00:36:53.740 And the other defense attorneys, it's actually very interesting.
00:36:56.460 It's Mark Agnifilo.
00:36:57.380 And Mark Agnifilo is the guy who defended Keith Raniere in that NXIVM sex cult case from Albany, New York, you know, my hometown.
00:37:07.280 And I think if you remember, I've shown you my interview of him when I was in NBC on the NXIVM case and how he was going to defend these claims by these women who got branded as part of a Keith Raniere sex cult with his initials.
00:37:22.280 And Agnifilo said to me, oh, same defense he's bringing here.
00:37:29.480 Look, this is a New York jury, he said.
00:37:31.780 We don't do, you know, disempowered women.
00:37:35.280 There's no cult.
00:37:36.520 You're not forced to do anything.
00:37:38.500 These women got the brand because they wanted it.
00:37:40.740 They had sex with Keith Raniere because they wanted to.
00:37:43.340 No one made them do anything.
00:37:44.940 And that is literally what they said.
00:37:47.520 This is going to be the defense here.
00:37:49.700 These women were there of their own volition.
00:37:51.400 Nobody forced them.
00:37:53.540 Sean Combs didn't force them.
00:37:54.840 I've got emails.
00:37:55.560 I got texts showing, I can't wait for the freak off.
00:38:00.000 Let's do it this Friday.
00:38:03.180 There's no, there's no force.
00:38:04.760 It's like he tries to spin like a girl power moment out of all of this.
00:38:10.880 Like, no, it's impossible for a strong woman to be abused or something.
00:38:15.560 And that's the other defense, of course, that this is all just a weird sex life.
00:38:18.740 But I do think we have to bear in mind there's something dangerous about not understanding that domestic violence can absolutely be a part of sex trafficking.
00:38:33.260 And a racketeering case like this, where you're saying it's a criminal enterprise in which you force multiple women into your weird sex web.
00:38:42.440 That involves other criminal acts potentially, like kidnapping, like assault, like drugs.
00:38:49.200 And there's been some testimony to that effect as well.
00:38:51.360 Well, just because domestic violence is a thing that happens outside of the sex trafficking arena, happens in people's private homes every day in this country far too many times.
00:39:06.380 So just because it isn't a thing, it is a thing that's independent of potential criminal charges involving racketeering or sex trafficking, doesn't mean that racketeering and sex trafficking will never involve domestic violence.
00:39:19.000 Or just because a freaky sex life can happen and does happen every day in this country in non-criminal settings, doesn't mean that it can't cross over to being a part of a criminal enterprise like racketeering or something you would see on camera or hear testimony about in a sex trafficking case.
00:39:40.880 So we have to be aware that this is the only defense that's available to Sean Combs.
00:39:49.480 She wanted it is really what he's saying.
00:39:52.180 We're both freaks in the bedroom.
00:39:54.940 Everyone was there of their own volition.
00:39:58.260 There was no coercion of anyone in these rooms.
00:40:01.720 Now, frankly, I don't know how he's going to get, you know, past the prostitution counts.
00:40:07.260 That's going to be transportation to engage in prostitution.
00:40:10.880 Uh, which doesn't really require too much.
00:40:13.200 He knowingly transported individuals in interstate or foreign commerce with the intent that they engage in prostitution.
00:40:18.380 It doesn't require fraud, coercion or force.
00:40:22.420 He knowingly transported individuals in interstate and foreign commerce with the intent that they engage in prostitution.
00:40:27.840 Well, we've already had testimony to that effect and there's going to be more.
00:40:30.780 My understanding is.
00:40:31.840 And Cassie, but two witnesses have already testified to that.
00:40:34.840 Now that's got a lower penalty.
00:40:36.740 But the sex trafficking.
00:40:38.880 The one that I read you before, sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, that that alone could be 15 years.
00:40:43.960 And you add the RICO in there.
00:40:45.540 Now we're talking potential life in prison on all these counts.
00:40:47.560 But I'm just saying he's looking at some very serious prison time on all of these.
00:40:51.960 And it's no defense like she wanted it to the transportation to engage in prostitution count.
00:40:58.020 Now, you just have to keep in mind, she wanted it has to apply across the board.
00:41:06.480 And I just don't know how they're going to get there.
00:41:08.980 There's just too many of them.
00:41:10.480 And the tape is too brutal.
00:41:11.860 And the testimony of the sex worker about the fight and him slapping her behind closed doors.
00:41:15.940 And even one of her text messages says, when we both want the freak offs, I love them.
00:41:22.260 Well, what does that mean?
00:41:24.260 So what I see is two.
00:41:27.680 OK.
00:41:29.080 Lawyers on the prosecution and the defense side squaring off against one another and each building the planning the seeds for their garden.
00:41:39.360 In closing argument.
00:41:40.400 And you're going to have the prosecution get up there and they are just going to go element by element on each of these charges.
00:41:45.380 That's what they're doing.
00:41:46.480 They're they're eliciting testimony to prove each of the elements they need to prove.
00:41:50.180 And they will go through them piecemeal on, you know, kidnapping.
00:41:54.560 What was it?
00:41:55.280 Bribery.
00:41:55.760 That's another one of the predicate acts for the RICO count.
00:41:58.860 We've already had the testimony on that.
00:42:00.720 The security guard was offered $100,000 to get rid of the tape.
00:42:04.480 He said that under oath.
00:42:06.220 They really didn't dent that guy up at all.
00:42:08.260 He added more in the stand about he and Combs scuffling over, I think, his phone.
00:42:13.200 Maybe Combs had seen him videotape the videotape.
00:42:15.920 And they got in his grill about why he didn't put that in his report.
00:42:19.240 The guy's like, look, I didn't put every detail in the report.
00:42:21.100 But, you know.
00:42:23.060 Obviously, the beating happened.
00:42:25.480 The security guard we know is telling the truth on that.
00:42:27.780 We've all seen it.
00:42:29.280 So that's that guy's talking about bribery.
00:42:31.160 You got bribery there.
00:42:32.340 Looks like you got kidnapping right there on camera.
00:42:35.360 That's two.
00:42:35.960 All you need is two predicate acts for conspiracy under RICO.
00:42:39.960 And you generally have other defendants.
00:42:41.640 Again, it appears some have cut deals.
00:42:43.900 That's my belief.
00:42:45.220 I believe there are probably unindicted co-conspirators who are probably going to take the stand against Diddy and say, I arranged the room.
00:42:51.300 I provided the baby oil.
00:42:52.580 I paid the prostitutes.
00:42:53.780 I supplied the drugs.
00:42:55.280 I mean, why are we going eight weeks if we're not going to hear that?
00:42:58.360 So all of that is coming our way.
00:43:01.240 And I would say now when we are at week one, and I should offer the caveat that we're doing this Friday morning around 11.
00:43:08.440 And she's back on the witness stand getting crossed again right now.
00:43:12.100 The defense is still crossing.
00:43:14.000 And then the prosecution will do a redirect and then a recross, et cetera.
00:43:16.980 So maybe something dramatic will happen today before we go to, you know, air with this.
00:43:22.880 But right now I think the prosecution is getting it done.
00:43:25.280 They're not wowing me.
00:43:27.800 And the defense is not wowing me either.
00:43:29.560 They don't have, you know, what was her name?
00:43:34.040 Vasquez?
00:43:35.180 The lawyer who cross-examined Amber Heard?
00:43:36.960 Yeah, Camille Vasquez, she was a star.
00:43:41.580 They don't have that on team defense.
00:43:44.100 Not so far.
00:43:46.280 And they don't have a witness who can be made into a villain like Amber Heard pretty easily was.
00:43:52.380 You know, when she did fine on her cross, you remember?
00:43:54.700 I actually found her on her direct.
00:43:56.400 I found her direct kind of compelling.
00:43:57.560 And then she got on cross and it was just so clear.
00:44:00.100 Her whole story fell apart.
00:44:01.520 That's not happening to Cassie Ventura.
00:44:04.200 It's not happening.
00:44:05.540 So that's where we are.
00:44:06.720 After one week of the Diddy trial, I really think we need this.
00:44:12.160 We need this full airing of this man's behavior.
00:44:16.940 It was past time.
00:44:19.860 And it shouldn't stop at this criminal trial.
00:44:22.720 Like, this isn't my world.
00:44:24.780 I cover politics, you know, for the most part.
00:44:27.220 And, you know, massive cultural stories too.
00:44:29.160 But the people who cover the entertainment industry, the people who cover the music industry,
00:44:33.900 where the hell were you losers?
00:44:35.460 You know, that whole, I guess I touched this world a bit in my year at NBC.
00:44:41.240 But that whole world around these celebs is all about one thing, sucking up to them for ongoing access.
00:44:49.900 It's just all about kissing their round rumps so you can have ongoing access to Diddy.
00:44:57.900 And you might be invited to a Diddy party or have him swing by to promote his new record.
00:45:04.740 That's the name of the game.
00:45:05.940 You know, listen to the reason Billy Bush describes himself handling Donald Trump on that now infamous bus trip when Trump was the biggest star at the network and Billy Bush worked for Extra or Access Hollywood.
00:45:18.360 And he's like, of course, of course, that's my business.
00:45:24.140 That's like the whole game is ongoing access.
00:45:27.700 There's no one willing to take a serious look and do some real investigative reporting on these people.
00:45:33.700 And there must be because we have to figure out exactly how widespread his alleged criminal acts may possibly go.
00:45:43.800 Again, he denies it all.
00:45:46.100 He denies all of this and is outraged at the allegations being brought against him.
00:45:50.660 And in fairness to Diddy, some have clearly been made in the wake of Cassie's lawsuit that appear to be absolute bullshit, you know, money grubbers who've decided to try to get on the Diddy gravy train and shame on them because they undermine the legit claims being made against him or what appear to be.
00:46:09.080 So we have to proceed with an open mind toward his defense.
00:46:12.040 And look, maybe he's got some ace in the hole that we haven't yet seen.
00:46:15.140 And maybe he will take the stand and get in more evidence of consent and participation and what happened on that tape that we don't yet know about.
00:46:24.600 And I am open minded to that.
00:46:26.320 So anyway, thank you for listening.
00:46:28.560 I hope you have a great weekend and we'll pick back up the show on Monday.
00:46:33.920 Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show.
00:46:36.100 No BS, no agenda and no fear.
00:46:38.660 Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show.
00:47:08.660 Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show.
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