Cassie Ventura says Diddy had blackmail material on her ... namely, videos from their "freak-offs" ... and she says that made her feel trapped.
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00:00I want to start with Cassie's testimony, and this involves these freak-off videos,
00:06and she said something on this stand, which I think is really important, could be central to
00:12this case, but here's what she said, and this came up several times. Essentially, this is a summary
00:19that Cassie begged Combs to delete explicit videos. These are the freak-off videos. She said
00:26he used the threat of releasing the videos to shame her, including while she was seeing
00:33someone else. She actually describes an incident. She says, one time I was dating someone else,
00:41and he threatened to release the freak-off videos, and then she says I'd have to answer to my mother,
00:47and she was horrified by it. So there apparently, at least according to Cassie, were these repeated
00:54threats to release these freak-off videos. We talked about this yesterday. The problem is
01:01you need to connect these threats to the allegation against Diddy, the charge against Diddy. For
01:10example, if Diddy said, I will release these freak-off videos unless you participate in a
01:19freak-off tomorrow. And just that statement alone, that's extortion. And that proves force and coercion,
01:29which are the elements of the crime for which he's charged. And if the jury believed it, he's guilty.
01:37We don't see that here. She is not connecting this. And let me read you a kind of an interesting
01:44passage. So they were at the Cannes Film Festival. And at the Cannes Film Festival, they're there,
01:51and Diddy accuses her of stealing drugs, threw her off his boat, and then showed her these freak-off
01:59videos and threatened to release them. So she says, on a commercial flight, I traded my seat to get away,
02:07but he traded to get next to me. So he's sitting next to her. What did he show you? She says,
02:12freak-off videos. He played them for me on one of his laptops. He said he'd release them.
02:18How did you feel? Trapped. When you landed in New York, what did you do? She says,
02:24we went to dinner. Then he wanted to have a freak-off, so we had a freak-off. Why did you do it?
02:30She says, to make him not threaten me. The problem with this, in terms of connecting him
02:37to the crime, is that you have to show that he said, I'll release the tape unless you do a freak-off.
02:46She never says that the threat to release is connected to doing a freak-off. If anything,
02:54it's to not steal drugs, which he alleged are doing. But that's not the crime that he's being
03:01prosecuted for. So we keep going back to this circle. You have to complete the circle. And
03:08initially, we thought, okay, well, that's where she's going. But it just didn't happen. And that's
03:15the problem. There was something else. And I found this kind of interesting as well. She talks about
03:22Combs coming to her house one day, raping her on her living room floor. And she says,
03:27did you ever have sex with him again? She says, yes, voluntarily. We had a good night. I went back
03:32to his house. The prosecutor says, can you explain why you did that after he raped you? And she said,
03:37we've been together 10 years. So again, this is what the defense is going to seize on. But this is an
03:44interesting development in today's testimony. They brought something else up about her 39th birthday,
03:50which was- 29th birthday. And it doesn't feel great. As Cassie described, that she was out
03:56at a restaurant celebrating her 29th birthday, the Blind Dragon. And she said that he showed up,
04:05Sean did, and dragged her out of the, not physically dragged her, but pulled her out of
04:10the restaurant to go do a freak off, which she made it clear was not what she wanted to do for her
04:17birthday. Made it clear to the jury today when she was testifying. But she's, you know, that again,
04:24maybe it's not force, but the woman's out celebrating her birthday. And now you, this person who she
04:31clearly has described as menacing to her in her life, right? That she is doing things she doesn't
04:38want to do. And now he shows up and says, we got to go do a freak off. And look, because of the power
04:43dynamic, maybe you don't have to grab somebody and pull them. Right. That, you know, because of the power
04:49dynamic, a jury could ultimately say the word force doesn't necessarily mean physical force.
04:55Now, the other thing that happened today that I think is really important, that we have all seen
05:00the Cassie beating video from 2016 at the Intercontinental Hotel. The prosecution yesterday,
05:08late yesterday, they introduced into evidence the actual, because that one was shot off a cell phone.
05:15Right. They introduced, and I'm surprised because I thought this was destroyed. This is the actual
05:21hard drive. Hard drive. Version. This is not shot off of a monitor. This is off the hard drive from
05:27the hotel. And it shows, and there's no editing here. There's no speeding up of Diddy. This is-
05:33Well, it's sped up on the other one. Yes, on the other one, it's sped up. And in real time,
05:37he comes around the corner. She had no idea. She's putting on her shoes, getting ready to leave.
05:42And he just basically- When this attack happens.
05:45Yeah, he comes around the corner and just brutalizes her.
05:48Now- Takes her stuff and then leaves, which we've seen. Now-
05:51I think you had a really interesting take on this, because the defense, what we were told
05:56from our sources was they felt this was a better tape for them because he wasn't moving as fast,
06:03was bigger in the other one, so he looked less menacing.
06:06Yeah.
06:07Your take was interesting.
06:08I think when you see it in real time and you know that this is exactly how she experienced
06:14it, I think it's more powerful. More powerful-
06:17For the prosecution.
06:18For the prosecution, that what he did was-
06:21Because she's not arguing-
06:22He's not charged with it, but-
06:23And remember, they're saying that they were not fighting over the freak-off. They were fighting
06:27over a cell phone that she had seen where he was involved with another woman.
06:31But she's very calm in this. There's no fight going on that you see.
06:36And the fact that he comes back multiple times, still just in his towel, for some reason has not
06:42put on any clothes, but comes back, leaves with her bags. When he comes back the third time,
06:49this is when he starts wrestling with her for the phone. And when he also smashes the flower vase
06:56there, or is it a lamp?
06:58Now, I will say one other thing that I think is interesting here. The defense is going to say
07:02this was over the cell phone.
07:04And there he walks back with the phone.
07:06And I'm wondering, was that his phone?
07:09That's what I- We have not heard that yet.
07:12We haven't heard it yet.
07:12Whether that is her phone or his phone that he leaves with.
07:14But I'm guessing it was his phone. Because that's the defense's argument, that they were
07:19arguing over something that she saw on his phone.
07:22Right.
07:22So that kind of makes sense.
07:24Yeah, but then you get to the point where he's got the phone in his hand, and he's going
07:28to walk to the other end of the lobby there, and he turns around and he starts screaming
07:33at her, and then he comes back at her again. So if it's about a phone, she's already seen
07:37what's ever there, and now he has-
07:39And now he has it.
07:39So why is he still-
07:41So at this point, he's just terrorizing her, it appears.
07:43Well, and I guess the question is, if that's the case, that is a domestic violence case,
07:49which is a state case. What the prosecution has to do is they have to tie any of this to
07:55these freak-offs in order to convict him on the charges.
07:59There was a freak-off going on. This is, what we're watching here is around 11 o'clock in
08:04the morning, and Cassie has said that there was a freak-off going on at the hotel.
08:10Two sessions.
08:11Right. And they were basically an intermission.
08:13Well, we don't know. See, here's the thing.
08:14That's what she has said. Now, the security guard shows up, and he's testified already.
08:18I want to disagree with you on something. It was unclear to me, and I think this is so relevant,
08:24when she said there were two sessions of a freak-off, and that after the first, she said,
08:30I want to leave to go to a premiere, and that's when he started assaulting her.
08:35That's her version of it.
08:36That's her version.
08:36She was trying to leave.
08:37But she never said whether that assault was inside the room, because it could have been in
08:42the room, or was it what we're seeing now in the hallway? If it was in the hallway,
08:46they may have him dead to rights, but-
08:50You're saying whether the alleged assault over her leaving-
08:55Was it in the room? Is it what we're seeing in the hallway?
08:57Or was it in the hallway?
08:58Right.
08:58And I think that makes a huge difference, and she never connected the dots on that.
09:03It makes a huge difference in connecting it to the freak-offs, which is part of the-
09:06The case.
09:07Is the case.
09:08Is the case.
09:08Whereas if it's just an argument between boyfriend and girlfriend, that's a domestic-
09:13And maybe a domestic violence case, which is a state case and not a federal case.
09:16Demetria Davis out of Atlanta, Georgia.
09:19I can only imagine the amount of emotions and sadness it took Cassie to take the stand
09:25on yesterday to relive some of the horrible moments and memories.
09:30Her testimony of his temper, his control, his forced freak-offs all describe that of a monster
09:36and not a man.
09:38There are women all over the world that are being abused at the hands of a narcissistic
09:43man, but yesterday paved the way for women to come out, to stand up for themselves, to
09:49speak out.
09:51Yesterday's testimony put the coffin, the nail in the coffin, but I'm sure there is so much
09:56more to surface.
09:57I always thought, and because the security guard testified, that 30 days after that incident
10:03in the hallway, he went back and looked, and the original wasn't there.
10:08I know what you're thinking.
10:10I've been thinking of it all morning.
10:11Is it possible, because Diddy tried to pay him off, according to the guard.
10:14Did Diddy pay somebody off to get the hard drive, put it in his safe?
10:19Because all we've heard is that the hotel is defunct, the video is long since gone, yet
10:24these are videos straight from the hard drive.
10:27So did he put it in his safe, and was that seized in the raid?
10:32If he did that, that's a different level of narcissism.
10:36I know.
10:37Why wouldn't you destroy it?
10:38If you paid for it, destroy it.
10:40That's the point of buying it.
10:41That's why I raised this.