Harvey Levin recaps day two of Cassie’s testimony, highlighting the graphic allegations, questions about federal charges, and what key elements prosecutors still need to prove in the case against Diddy.
00:16So day two of the Cassie testimony was gripping.
00:21And the freak off videos took center stage at least at one point.
00:27And I got to say, I'm a little bit surprised at something that we talked about yesterday,
00:34which is the prosecution has to complete a circle.
00:38They have to show not just that Cassie engaged in these freak offs
00:45or other things that are relevant to the criminal charge,
00:49but that it was done with force or coercion related to the charge,
00:56which are generally these freak offs.
00:58That circle has not been completed in some of the testimony today.
01:05And I want to get into it.
01:06It involves the freak offs.
01:07Now this is important.
01:08Cassie feared, this is really, really critical.
01:11She feared that Diddy would release some of these freak off videos
01:18unless she did certain things.
01:20The question is, what certain things?
01:23She begged Combs to delete these videos.
01:26She said that he used the threat of releasing the videos to shame her,
01:31including while she was seeing someone else.
01:35See, the problem with that is the seeing someone else is not the criminal charge.
01:41Now, that sounds to me, if it's true, that it's extortion.
01:46I mean, that's a crime.
01:48And if he said that, that I'm going to release these videos,
01:52if you continue to see this guy, that's extortion.
01:57And he should be prosecuted for that.
02:00The problem is, this isn't an extortion case.
02:03That's a state crime.
02:05This is a federal prosecution.
02:08And we have to show, or the prosecution has to show,
02:12that he engaged in these criminal acts.
02:15And we're talking about the various freak offs,
02:17allegations of rape and everything else,
02:19with interstate commerce under force or coercion.
02:23So that's what the prosecution needs to show.
02:26So let's look at this.
02:29Ventura says at one point,
02:31they were at the Cannes Film Festival,
02:34and Diddy accused her of stealing drugs.
02:37And when he accused her, she says he threw her off his boat,
02:42and then showed her the...
02:43And then they get an airplane somehow to go home.
02:47So Cassie is asked by prosecutors,
02:51what happened at Cannes?
02:53She says,
02:55Sean accused me of taking drugs from his boat.
02:57He threw me off, but my passport was still in the boat.
03:00And the prosecutor says,
03:02and you were on the red carpet that same night?
03:04She says, yes.
03:05Did you attend the movie?
03:06Yes.
03:07How'd you get back to New York?
03:08She says, on a commercial flight,
03:10I traded my seat to get away, get away from him.
03:13But he traded to get next to me.
03:15Prosecutor, what did he show you?
03:18Cassie, freak off videos.
03:21He played them for me on one of his laptops.
03:24He said he'd release them.
03:27Now you would expect her to say, or prosecutors to ask,
03:32release them unless you did what?
03:35That wasn't asked.
03:37That wasn't asked.
03:38That wasn't asked.
03:39It wasn't that he would release the videos unless you participated in the next freak off.
03:46Nothing like that is said.
03:48The prosecutor just jumps to, how did you feel?
03:52She says, trapped.
03:54Prosecutor, when you landed in New York, what did you do?
03:58Cassie, we went to dinner.
04:00Then he wanted to have a freak off.
04:02So we had a freak off.
04:04So we had a freak off.
04:05Prosecutor, why did you do it?
04:07Cassie, did you make him not threaten me?
04:12You see, again, you know, if this is true, Diddy is beyond horrific.
04:19But she never says, Diddy threatened to release the videos unless I participated in that freak off.
04:31She had in her head that she feared he would threaten her.
04:35But there's no connection to that freak off.
04:39If there were, to me, it would be case closed.
04:42It would be case closed.
04:44Because it's force and coercion, I think.
04:47But that wasn't said.
04:49So the circle we're talking about was not completed.
04:53I want to give you another one.
04:55This was an exchange between the prosecutor and Cassie.
04:59What happened next?
05:01They're talking about, she said she was seeing her now husband, the man she's married to.
05:07And the prosecutor says, Well, what happened next?
05:10So this is when Sean knows she's seeing him.
05:13Cassie says, Sean came to my house and raped me on my living room floor.
05:20His eyes were black.
05:22It was like taking something from you.
05:25Prosecutor, you cried.
05:27What did Sean do?
05:28Cassie.
05:29He continued, finished.
05:31Then he got up and left.
05:33Prosecutor, did you ever have sex with him again?
05:37Cassie, yes, voluntarily.
05:40We had a good night.
05:41I went back to his house.
05:44Prosecutor, can you explain why you did that after he raped you?
05:49Cassie, we'd been together for 10 years.
05:53Well, look, if he raped her, it doesn't matter whether he is with her or not.
05:59That's rape.
06:00It is a state crime for which he could be prosecuted, assuming there's a statute of limitations that did not run.
06:07But this isn't a state case.
06:09It is a federal case involving sex workers who are transported for commercial purposes for these freak offs.
06:18That it require proof of force or coercion.
06:23So what I'm getting at is the prosecutor is pulling out of her a lot in terms of horrific behavior.
06:31She is pulling out, the prosecutor is pulling out of Cassie various crimes he's committed.
06:37But in terms of completing the circle, I just don't know that that's happening.
06:43I want to go on a little further.
06:46So this is just unbelievable.
06:50The prosecutor, what did Sean ask you to do on your 29th birthday?
06:55Cassie, a freak off.
06:57She says, he had me pulled out of the blind dragon, a restaurant, for a freak off.
07:03And then the prosecutor doesn't follow through.
07:10When they say pulled through, when Cassie says, he had me pulled out of the blind dragon.
07:18Well, maybe you're getting something there.
07:20Pulled out.
07:21What does that mean?
07:22Like physically taken out?
07:24Told, you've got to leave right now?
07:26Because that could show the elements of force and coercion.
07:29At least what I'm seeing in these transcripts, the prosecutor didn't button that up.
07:34I mean, that sounds like it's getting close to force and coercion.
07:37If she's going out of her 29th birthday party because he's forcing her to have a freak off.
07:43If that's the case, this may be as close as I've seen at least so far in the transcripts today.
07:49But it's not like delivered with a bow.
07:53Although it's getting there.
07:56She said she had repeatedly begged him to delete these videos.
08:01So these videos keep coming up.
08:03She also says one time she was dating somebody.
08:07Again, this is, I believe her ex, her now husband.
08:10And he threatened to release the freak off videos.
08:12So again, he did threaten her if you believe her.
08:16And I see no reason not to.
08:18But that's not the federal crime for which he's charged.
08:22So that's what I wanted to talk about with this.
08:24By the way, that doesn't mean it's over.
08:26There still is more testimony.
08:29And she is just painting a horrific picture of violence.
08:33She said this violence started after the first year.
08:36And so brutal.
08:37It was just beyond when you listen to her testimony.
08:42The things that she says he put her through.
08:45It is just, it's just hard to process how awful he was to her.
08:51Now, this is what I find really fascinating.
08:56So the prosecutors late, late yesterday showed Cassie a different video of that 2016 beating
09:06at the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City, Los Angeles.
09:10It was not the CNN video.
09:12This was a different video.
09:14Now, we were told by people that the video was not the original.
09:20That the original was destroyed.
09:23And as a matter of fact, the security guard, who was the one who actually recorded off his cell phone, testified yesterday that he found out 30 days after the incident happened, the hard drive was gone.
09:39And I think the intimation was, did he paid somebody off to destroy the hard drive?
09:44So we assumed whatever the prosecutors had was not the original, was not the hard drive.
09:50Well, we looked at it today.
09:53It's 15 minutes long, and it looks like the hard drive.
09:56It looks like the hard drive.
09:58It's got all the angles.
10:00And the only thing I can think of, and they haven't said it yet, and it's pretty amazing if this is true.
10:08What if did he did pay off somebody to get that hard drive?
10:15And he put it in his safe.
10:18And if he put it in his safe, when his home was raided, the feds got into the safe.
10:24We know they took videos.
10:26What if he kept that video, which is crazy, and the feds seized the original hard drive?
10:34But everything we're looking at looks like the original hard drive.
10:39Now, the final thing I want to say is that the defense has said that the CNN video made things look worse for Diddy than they actually are.
10:51He said it was sped up, that the way it was shot, he looked bigger and more ominous.
10:56I got to tell you, the people in my office, we've been talking about it.
11:01I think that the original, the one that was produced yesterday that Cassie's talked about, I think it's worse for Diddy.
11:09Because what it shows is Cassie is very calm.
11:13And Diddy, she's putting on her shoes, and she's about to get in the elevator.
11:16And Diddy comes out from nowhere and just attacks her.
11:21And to me, and to others in the office, it actually looks worse for him than the CNN video.
11:28Now, you know, and we've told you, that the defense is saying that this fight was not about going back to a freak-off.
11:36The fight was over a cell phone that Diddy had a cell phone.
11:41Cassie looked at it, and there was some other woman that was messaging him.
11:45And they got in a big fight, and that's what it was about.
11:47So it's a domestic violence issue involving the cell phone.
11:51And that would be a state crime with the statute of limitations.
11:54It's a run that has nothing to do with the federal case.
11:56Now, she testified that that particular day, they were having two sessions of a freak-off.
12:05And she said in between the first and second is when she was beaten.
12:09She does not say where she was beaten.
12:12Was it the beating we see in the hallway?
12:15Or was she beaten in the hotel room?
12:18If it's in the hallway, and it's done to get her back in the room, and they can prove that, it seems to me they've proved their, the prosecutors have proved their case.
12:29But the defense is saying it was over a cell phone and not connected to the freak-off.
12:35And if there was a beating, and if it happened in the room, we just haven't heard that yet.
12:41So the short story is that we need to hear more.
12:46And maybe the prosecutors are going to call the sex worker who was in that room to say,
12:52Yeah, I saw him beat Cassie in the room because she didn't want to participate in the second freak-off.
12:59If that's the case and the jury believes him, he's convicted.
13:04But we just don't know that yet.
13:06So bottom line here, too early to tell.
13:08There is more that everybody needs, especially the jury, needs to hear from Cassie.
13:13And we haven't even gotten to cross-examination, which I tell you, that is going to be a tightrope walk for the defense.
