Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - DIDDY SUCKS UP TO JUDGE, DEMANDS CHARGES BE THROWN OUT

Episode Date: June 25, 2025

In a stunning move, prosecutors in the federal criminal trial against disgraced rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs pulled back some key testimony today—specifically related to attempted kidnapping, arson, and aiding and abetting sex trafficking. This unexpected development comes just one day after Diddy addressed the court for the first time, telling Judge Arun Subramanian that he would not take the stand in his own defense. According to TMZ, in a letter issued to the judge, prosecutors stated that the government is following his instructions to “streamline” the jury instruction Joining Nancy Grace today: Philip Dubé- Former Court-Appointed Counsel, Los Angeles County Public Defenders: Criminal & Constitutional Law, Forensics & Mental Health Advocacy   Dr. Chloe Carmichael - Clinical Psychologist, Author: ‘Nervous Energy: Harness The Power of Your Anxiety”, Twitter: @DrChloe, drchloe.com   Brian Fitzgibbons- Director of Operations for USPA Nationwide Security, Leads a team of investigators specializing in locating missing persons,  www.uspasecurity.com, Instagram: @uspa_nationwide_security, former Marine and Iraq war veteran Dani Pinter - Senior Vice President and Director of Law Center, National Center on Sexual Exploitation, website: endsexualexploitation.org  Rob Shuter - Host: Naughty But Nice Podcast, can be found at robshuter.substack.com, Former publicist of Sean Combs, IG: @naughtygossip Tisa Tells - Pop Culture Investigator & Commentator and Host of 'Tisa Tells' on Youtube, Instagram & TikTok: @TisaTellss, Facebook: Tisa.Tells.3 Sydney Sumner - 'Crime Stories'  Investigative Reporter  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Diddy sucking up to the judge and demanding that charges be thrown out. This, Diddy's revenge ahead. The state is bracing for a Diddy Hollywood style closing argument. And Diddy, in the last hours, throws in the towel, putting up zero defense witnesses and refusing to take the stand. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories.

I wanna thank you for being with us. Itty bitty Diddy, cheapskate. He's ordering up a sex worker like he's ordering a pepperoni pizza from Papa John's, haggling about the fee for the sex worker. He even has an unpaid balance. His own cheapness is the reason why the feds have this little breadcrumb trail.

We've gotten our hands on a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice where the state is now streamlining charges. I think I know what they're up to. All charges are still being prosecuted. Sex trafficking, RICO, transporting prostitutes to engage in illegal sex acts. The three original charges remain. This, as the state is streamlining, how they're going to prove those charges as they wade into closing arguments. Welcome everybody. We are headed into a verdict

watch here at Crime Stories and joining us just outside the courthouse is investigative commentator Tisa Tells. She's the star of Tisa Tells on YouTube. Tisa, thank you for being with us. Tisa, first of all, Diddy sucks up to the judge. What did he say? Did he look like he was trying to stop be an extra in the green mile? We have been watching this man's physicality all for the last six weeks. We know the way he talks. We know the way he cocks his head.

Unfortunately, we know the way he looks when he's aroused. And we also know what he looks like when he is angry. He sat up there when he had to tell the judge and make the official announcement listen I'm not going to testify okay, and honestly when it comes to the Diddy team I have to see it to believe it he hopped up had his arms at the side I feel like he was an extra in the green mile and said hello. Hi your honor, and he's like hi Do you understand what's being sent to you? Yes, I do. And the judge tried to move on. And he said, and then he-

Wait a minute, Tisa, Tisa Tales, Tisa Tales, Tisa Tales, hold on. For some reason, you are completely covered with photos of Sean Combs laid up on the red carpet. Okay, I want to see Tisa Tales. And I want to see Tisa tells reenact the whole thing. I heard Green Mile. I saw nothing. OK, start over. Let me see the whole thing.

So Diddy jumps up, right? Because for some reason, he thinks shooting up is the best thing to do. He jumps up the whole court is like, what's going on? The judge says, hi, I just want to make sure that you understand that you are choosing not to testify. Yes. Yes. How are you doing, Your Honor? Yes. Yes, I do. And may I just say you're doing an excellent job. The judge looked at him like, okay, I appreciate that. Let's move on. It was such an awesome display of arrogance. And it lets you know maybe this is how he

got to the top. The fact that in his mind, he still thought he was running things and he still thought that he was putting a gold star on Judge Aaron's forehead by saying, I think you're doing an amazing job. Yeah. Thanks for that, buddy. Again, it was arrogance in his full display. And the way that Diddy is still trying to cosplay a character out of the green mile looking almost acting like he doesn't know where he is and you know a

big lovable oath that is being falsely convicted. Again, we see why Diddy only made it in music and never made it in acting. It was a mess. It was an absolute mess. Well, wait a minute, wait a minute. There was that episode in Monster Ball where he played, let's see what was it, a convicted felon behind bars. He was very convincing at that. Okay, hold on, I gotta go out to Rob Schueter.

Rob Schueter is joining me, a naughty but nice podcast. He's at robschueter.substat.com. I just read your article, re-read your article in the Hollywood Reporter, but for my purposes he was the PR guru for Sean Combs. No longer. Can you just see this playing out? I hate shooter. I don't know if you remember my old co-anchor Johnny Cochran. May he rest in peace. I never agreed with a thing he said, but I learned a lot from him. He had a way with people. You know, he'd walk into a room.

I saw him do this a million times. He'd take a few steps into the room and then stop and just wait, drink me in. And guess what? He was right. Everybody loves Cochran, okay? He did the same thing with Eto, Judge Eto during the OJ Simpson trial.

He'd walk in and go, Your Honor, you're looking very well today, your honor. Very handsome. I like your suit. I mean, it went, we were all like, please stop. But it worked. It was totally starstruck. He would do a back flip for Cochran.

It actually worked. Did it work this time? And have you ever seen Sean Combs turn on the charm when he has to? I have seen nothing but Puff turn on the charm. That's why he had a career for as long as he had one. This guy's charming. I've been saying it all along and it's very difficult to use that word

when all this awful, awful evidence is being presented. The Puff that I saw was charming. He was funny. He was witty. He almost too could pretend to be humble. It's a shocking thing to see. evidence is being presented. The puff that I saw was charming, he was funny, he was witty, he almost too could pretend to be humble. It's a shocking thing in Celebrity Nancy, but a compliment. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait I'm in the crime world. Don't say it unless you can prove it and you gotta prove it with hard evidence. So I wanna hear examples.

When did Sean Combs ever put on the Humble Act? Because I see him wearing his capes and his dope ropes and dripping in jewelry. I don't see the Humble Act. I've never seen the Humble Act. Please enlighten me. Yeah, well, you're not in those rooms. When he wanted a deal,

when he had to go up to Macy's and Bloomingdale's here in New York and try to get them to sell his clothing line. He acted pretty humble. It was not above him to turn up with goodies, baked goods, flowers, cakes, things to make people feel special. And it often works. I know we all like to think that we are above a compliment. I know we all like to think that when somebody flatters us,

we can see straight through it. Nine times out of 10, in my experience, we can't. Puffy can be charming, he knows what he's doing. It's all an act, but it's an act that he has perfected. You had me at baked goods. Okay, can I hear about that? Are you listening to this, Tisa Tales? I wanna hear about the baked goods.

Puff would often send baskets of muffins, of baked goods to people that he wanted to be friends with, people he wanted to be in business with. When Puffy wanted his fragrance collection, he desperately wanted his own fragrance, he got one. That was relentless how he pursued the Lord as he would turn up at their charity events, he would turn up at their benefits,

he would send notes to them. Puffy was the king of the follower. He loved sending notes in the trial. We heard how he would pick up the phone himself and call people that he wanted something from. He'd call them, my angel, my best friend, my dear savior. So Puffy plays this game really well and he's been playing it for a very long time.

You know what, Rob Schueter, you're the encyclopedia. It's amazing. Like you have no idea what I'm going to ask you guys. We don't use scripts. We don't have prepared questions. It all just happens just like in a trial and shooter always has an answer. You know why? Because he witnessed this for years. So Tisa tells I guess that Sean Combs is like one inch away from handing the judge a basket of muffins. Tell me again, what did he say to the judge? Did it work? Oh

dear Lord in heaven. Go ahead. I'm ready. I'm braced. Okay, it did not work at all. Actually, we had to actually laugh at Judge Aron's. I don't know how Diddy was not humiliated. Judge Aaron's reaction was like, literally, he looks for a second like, what is wrong with you? Then he realized the whole courtroom was looking at him. And then he just said, okay, I appreciate that. Anyway, moving on, it fell so flat. It even Diddy was even thrown up and may I just say, you're doing an excellent, I think you're, I think you're doing an excellent job,

Your Honor. What did he expect to happen? While he's standing there looking, trying to look like a three-year-old that got caught stealing cookies. And the judge looking at him like, what are you up to? Okay, let's just move on. And then Diddy's still sitting there.

And I swear you could feel the prosecution just grimacing like, oh, why did he do this? And he kept on moving after that. He kept saying, yes, your honor. No, your honor. I think I do. Let me ask again. He tried to reduce himself to the mental capacity of a three year old. And the whole time the judge was just looking at home, just so puzzled. I hear Rob Schutter saying, but you know what? I think this might be the limit of historic power. I think something about being in a federal courtroom under indictment for grand jury,

I don't think that little humble gracious diddy act is working. Philip DuBage joining me, veteran trial lawyer out of the LA jurisdiction. Philip, let's both take off our prosecutorial and defense hats and analyze what's happened. I think the state did a very wise thing, okay? Charges, the three charges of sex trafficking, RICO, right, and traveling sex workers across state lines for engaging in prostitution.

Those are the three charges Sean Combs is being tried on. RICO, one of those charges, requires predicate acts, which means felonies that have happened, two of them within 10 years, that shows a criminal enterprise. Do you agree so far, yes, no? Yes. Okay. What the state has done, they have jettisoned some of the charges that were gonna be used

as predicate acts. Some of the claims, they're not the three charges. For instance, and I'll tell you why I think it was a smart thing to debate, the Kid Cudi claim, it's very obvious that Sean Combs arranged the arson on Kid Cudi's car, right? But we don't have an eyewitness, we don't have fingerprints, and we don't have DNA. So it's weak. It's obvious he did it, circumstantially, but it's weak. And to go forward with that would hurt the state. And I'll tell you why.

Because once you go forward with a claim you can't totally prove, it taints the rest of your case. On Capricorn Clark, the kidnap, where she says he held her against her will on two occasions, right? Yes. The way he held her against her will on two occasions, right? Yes. The way he held her against his will, was it in a car, was it in a different room? A lot of people perceive kidnap is throwing you in the back of a car trunk, putting a sack over your head so you can't see, and taking you to a clandestine location. That's not

what happened. So if there's a credibility problem with Capricorn Clark, the kidnapping is weak, right? So the state is now relying on a more streamlined sex trafficking, RICO, prostitution charge. Now you explain it your way. Before we start throwing stones, I see what the state has done. I get it. Go ahead. Well, first of all, I think it was brilliant what they did because remember, all the predicated acts are defined under state law. So for example, if there were an attempted kidnap under California law, for example, they have to prove that there was a direct but ineffectual act toward its commission.

And you tried to explain the definition of that to 12 moon rocks sitting in the jury box, they're not gonna get it. Not to mention the fact that it's hard to prove. You don't have a direct or ineffectual act. And likewise with the arson, there is zero evidence that Diddy had a hand in that arson. So what direct but ineffectual act do they have on his part

that he committed an arson, namely the throwing of a Molotov cocktail at Kid Cudi's car? It's just not there. So why proceed on something that you cannot prove? You'll only confuse the jury and they may just throw their hands up in the air and say, you know what,

feds, you have overcharged this case. This is just swinging and swapping consensually. I agree. Now, you know what I think they should have done? Of course, it's so easy when you're Monday morning quarterbacking. They should not have included those as predicate acts to start with. Right. Because I was a fed for three years.

For one case, DeBay, one case, I would have rooms full of boxes full of documents. All right? So they knew what the evidence was and it always makes you look weak when you back off of something. Backing off of these is the smart thing to do because it tanks the rest of the case. But I wish they hadn't included it to start with. Here's another thing for you to think about because it was part of the original case it cannot be claimed now that it was character evidence. See what I mean? So all that has come in the arson, the kidnap, and more, bad acts. See, under other circumstances, that would not have been allowed. You see what I'm saying here?

So actually, the state has gotten this evidence in legally. Now they're going, hey, we're backing off these charges, but they've already gotten the damning evidence in. I may be going too DEFCON 4 in the law here, but this could actually help the state. Do you see where I'm going with this? They got that bad character evidence in legally because it was part of the predicate acts. But now they're jettisoned, but they've already gotten the damning evidence in. See what I'm saying? They got their cake and they ate it too. Of course. So now the defense is going to be entitled to a jury instruction

that they're only to receive that those prior predicate acts, not for their truth, but to show something other than... You know what? Do they really? Seriously? I would be screaming up and down in public. You really want a jury instruction on that? If I were the defense, I wouldn't touch that jury instruction with a 10-foot pole.

And I'll tell you why. Yeah, you go on and do that and remind the jury hey you know all that stuff about Kid Cuddy's arson his car being bombed that doesn't count. Don't listen to that. Forget you ever heard it. All that stuff about arson all the other state charges. Forget you ever heard it. It's re-ringing the bell. It's reminding the jury about what happened. And they're like, why don't they want us to remember that? Okay, hold on. Tisa Tell's joining us from outside the courthouse. Tisa, I want to hear also about Sean Combs's, it's the quickest case ever for the defense. And it gave Sean Combs a chance to stand up in court

and speak without taking the stand. It's called elocution. Was the jury there when he said I'm not taking the stand? The jury unfortunately missed his Green Mile 2 performance. The only people in the room were his adoring public. In his mind, the judge, who's his number one fan, and of course, his ever-present defense counsel. So thankfully, the jury was spared seeing that performance. He wants free clothing, free tickets to Fashion Week,

free everything, reduced prices for illegal sex workers, which, hello, is illegal. Yeah, there he is all laid up in a luxury SUV wearing two huge diamond earrings. Let me tell ya, that ain't cubic zirconia. Trying to cut a deal, it's like trying to bargain with a hooker, excuse me, sex worker. Rob Shooter, he wanted to get reduced prices

from sex workers. Did I just hear that? Man, I think this guy, he's a billionaire and he's haggling over the price of a cowboy from Cowboys and Angels. Yeah, we spoke about it on your show before anybody did. Diddy was incredibly cheap. He didn't want to pay for anything.

He didn't want to pay for dinners. He didn't want to pay for tickets when he went to concerts. He didn't want to pay for anything. He didn't want to pay for dinners. He didn't want to pay for tickets when he went to concerts. He didn't want to pay for clothing. He wanted everything for free. So I'm not at all surprised here, but he's even haggling,

trying to get down the price of a sex worker. This is who he is. He ain't going to change. His money is for him, not for anybody else. He holds onto it. You know, Tisa Tell's joining us outside the courthouse. She is the star of Tisa Tell's on YouTube, not for anybody else. He holds onto it. You know, Tisa Tell's joining us outside the courthouse. She is the star of Tisa Tell's on YouTube,

investigator and commentator. Tisa, you've been in the courtroom. I wanna hear about the Google DIs part two. As the defense was putting on their 10 minute case where they were basically reading text messages, he was looking over, trying to act like he was looking at Westmoreland, but he was looking over with this puppy dog slash innocent past Google.

Look on this googly eye look on his face that literally just had him look over. And the jury was just looking back. Now, here's the thing. The jury has completely changed from a couple of weeks ago. They were not making eye contact with him at all, which maybe juristics leaving might have been the best move that had a chilling effect on the jury. But the second thing that happened where the googly eyes really hit is they're trying to ignore the pound puppy eyes. And then all of a

sudden out the blue, the defense says, we rest our case. Half of the jury had their eyes glazed over from reading the text messages. The other half had a look of shock and it literally looked took 10 seconds for it to hit like, wait, what? What did they say? The jury was absolutely shocked. And it was a nice thing to say. I think in that moment, Diddy's team probably really questioned whether they did the right thing, not having any witnesses on the stand. I want to get back to, first of all, I got to talk about everything that you just said because I need to analyze it.

I want you to act out the Google DIs. When were the Google DIs and I'm very concerned that first the jurors won't look at Combs and now they are looking at him. That's bad for the state. For them to be making a lot of eye contact with a defendant? Oh no, that's not good unless it's a disgusted look. So first of all, tell me about the googly eyes and please act it out. The googly eyes. He sat there. He did that again. He's acting the green mouth too. Softened his shoulders almost like he wanted to melt, looked up,

was looking at his defense attorney. He's like, mommy, daddy, what's going on? What's going on is you are the devil and you're being held accountable. He looked over at the jury, kind of wanted to have a hang dog expression and was looking at the corner of his eyes. Of course he had to be very calculating about it because he's not allowed to look directly at the jury. So he was looking at his defense attorneys that happened to be at his sharp right, right by the jury. And we're just sitting there looking over, looking confused as if he wasn't

the reason. And we just didn't have to sit through a combined amount of what felt like 40 minutes of free call tapes for it literally combined over the last week. It was 40 minutes of hardcore triple X freak off tape. And now he's sitting there in that yellow sweater, just looking so confused. It was so baffling. But again, I will say one thing that man has no shame at all. And if he could take an inch, he did it again. The jury was not looking at him. They were looking straight.

They were some jurors were looking at the wall. Some were looking at the judge. Some people were looking at Esteban. I think she was standing up and talking. But again, it was a mixed bag. When they said the defense rest juror faces, the people that were going, okay, wait, I got to address the Google D eyes first. Then I'm going to get to were like. Okay, wait, can I, I gotta address the Google DIs first. Then I'm gonna get to the jurors going, what?

Okay, when did the Google DIs happen? When did that happen? The Google EIs happened as they stood up and mounted their 10 minute defense. When they started reading text messages, I think it was seven to 10 minutes, they started reading random text messages, you know, and everybody think it was seven to 10 minutes. They started reading random text messages, you know, and everybody thought it was just business as usual. All of a sudden

you saw his shoulder slump. You saw him start to look over at his defense team, who by the way, the person reading the messages was one row up. So you're looking the wrong way, sir. What's your first indication that here we go and seen action, right? He's slumped. He looked over. He looked over. He looked confused. And then he decided to swing his googly eyes to his immediate right. And the direct line of jury to his defense attorney looking over there. Again, it was a sight to see. It was pathetic. But hey, if your life's on the line,

desperate times call for desperate measures. Shooter, I told you this was gonna happen. When it comes right down to it, and the same thing happened with Scott Peterson, it always happens when the defendant is not gonna take the stand, they make a big show, like, oh, oh, they're holding me back. I want to, I really wanna tell the truth.

But in this case case he was doing that Look in front of the jury, I mean really this is a guy. I just saw beat the Mmm. I gave up cursing when I had the twins the crap out of Cassie Ventura the fat lip the eye plastic surgery, the bruises, hey, you know what, Control, can you pull up that picture, it's way back in there, of the bruises on her side? That's right over her kidney, for Pete's sake,

covered in bruises, and he's doing the puppy dog look at the jury, you know what, saving comes. I think he's making a really smart move, Nancy, and I fear it's going to work. I've seen it work. I've seen this happen many, many times, not just with Puffy, but with other celebrities that are on trial. We've got to remember, celebrities really, really powerful, maybe not to the experts, the people that we speak to, but people on a jury,

people in the world go nuts for celebrities. I've worked for a lot of celebrities who are not even that talented, but they're stars. They know how to get us to buy what they're selling. And that's what Diddy is doing today. He's selling his freedom as if it is a fragrance. He is out there promoting it. And I predict, Nancy, it's gonna work.

You know what? Always an uplifting note from Rob Shooter. Okay, back to Tisa Tales. Tisa, you told me about the Google DIs. Now, I wanna hear, when did the jury start making eye contact and what kind of eye contact? Is it disgusted eye contact or is it, oh no, you're not going to jail, comes contact?

So the eye contact was like, wait, did we just hear that? And the jury's defense, they weren't even though Diddy was trying to make that connection, the moment was this when Diddy was doing the googly eyes. The jury was looking left, right up down. They were determined not to give any type of eye contact or even acknowledge. Then all of a sudden, after seven minutes of boring text messages, which for the last three days has been business as usual, they finally said the defense rests. The people that have been, the jurors that have been paying attention was like, what? And they looked over very surprised. Like it, what did we

hear? Right. And they looked over and did he, uh, direction and to his defense team side direction. And then seven to 10 seconds later, the other jurors that I guess they had been, you know, going over their grocery lists in their mind were all of a sudden realized that something had happened and they were looking over. Everybody was looking over at the defense table in like very much either shock or we couldn't have heard this right. It wasn't until the judge said, okay, well, thanks so much. We'll see you tomorrow. That they literally got up and just very, still didn't believe what was happening, walked out of the room, very, very confused. And in that moment, I

can't just help but chuckle to myself and wonder, did the defense regret at that moment, or at least rethink, maybe we should have put on a few witnesses and maybe this isn't going to play out the way they thought it was. Sean comes with a Rolex on, I think that's what that is. I don't think it's a fake. In the back seat of a luxury SUV

wearing diamond earrings and a dope rope. This man knows what top shelf quality is. He's showing off his orthodontics too. I mean, look, he just opens his mouth ever so slightly so you can see all those beautiful veneers. The defense rests and the jury looking confused and perplexed when that was announced in open court. This, as we learned, the state is streamlining its case.

In order to prove Rico, you have to have underlying felonies, predicate acts. The state is no longer trying to go forward on arson. They're no longer trying to use kidnapping. They think the evidence was weak on those two and they're right. Am I convinced? Yeah, I think you did it, but it was weak.

So they're throwing it overboard with me an all-star panel to make sense of what we're learning now straight out to Dr. Chloe Carmichael joining us a renowned clinical psychologist author of nervous energy harness the power of your anxiety Dr. Chloe, thank you for being with us. I've got to hear your take on Sean Combs' homemade muffins and Google DIs in front of the jury. Yeah, I know, Nancy, it's unbelievable, right? I was thinking about what you shared earlier about how Johnny Cochran would, you know, walk in and maybe compliment the judge

similar to the way that Sean Combs did and it worked for Johnny Cochran. However, of course, the big difference is that Johnny Cochran wasn't entering the courtroom as an accused criminal and I thought it was a great example of Diddy Combs's just grandiosity there that even in that moment he thought he could charm the judge. Now abusers are often very good at pouring on the charm and about the googly eyes and whatnot. You know, when an abuser has done something wrong, he's usually very good at, you know, putting his tail between his legs and acting so

sorry, and that's probably worked very well for Sean Combs in the past. But the fact that he would attempt that, again, even complimenting the judge, that he wouldn't realize that that's an off note, I think it really suggests that there's a level of desperation there that he's feeling. Because I think we're looking at someone that's really an extreme narcissist. I mean, even as you mentioned earlier that he was trying to haggle about the price of the sex workers and things like that. I think that there's an element of grandiosity where he probably frankly in his mind thought that they should be paying to be in his presence for that type of interaction, believe it or

not. I think we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg of the narcissism here. Also joining us in addition to Dr. Chloe Carmichael is Danny Pinter. Joining us out of DC, she is a senior VP and Director of the Law Center at the National Center for On Sex Exploitation. Danny, thank you for being with us. I was forcing Tisa Tells to act out what she saw in court. There are no cameras in federal courtrooms. And I can just see Sean Combs making the puppy dog eyes, the Google D eyes at the jury,

acting all confused like, where am I? How did I get here? Will it be hard for jurors to reconcile what they're seeing in the courtroom with the Cassie Ventura beat down tape. Thank heaven that tape survived and it almost didn't or no one would believe it if they bought into Combs' Oscar winning performance

in the courtroom. Exactly, Nancy. This is gonna be the litmus test of, will the jury understand what sex trafficking is under the law as opposed to the Hollywood definition? That's the hallmark of this case. I mean, by the defense's lack of putting on a case at all, it says to me that this isn't even a trial of,

did did he do it? It's just a trial of, was it a crime? Will he be held accountable? Well, what do you make of the duality of his persona in court versus what we know to be true? We saw what we're going to believe him or our lying eyes on that on the Intercontinental beat down video. Well, I hope his behavior in the courtroom actually is helpful in the prosecution's case because their case is a case of violence together with these close personal relationships, right? And the whole defense was reading text messages of Diddy and the women being lovey-dovey to

each other. But then we saw with our own eyes how violent and scary he can be. So I hope that the jury is now having to contend that with themselves. Like we saw, we see Combs trying to manipulate us right now, but we saw how violent he could be with our own eyes. Also joining us at the courthouse is Lauren Conlon, star of Pop Crime TV.

Lauren, thank you for being with us. I understand that bribery was brought up. The defense demanded summary judgment, which is that that can't be thrown out in front of the judge. The judge didn't go along with it. Tell me about their argument regarding bribery. In terms of the bribery, they stated that nobody or the witnesses that testified about the bribery, this didn't meet the burden because they were not going to law

enforcement with evidence. Sean Combs did not prevent them or threaten them or bribe them from going to law enforcement. He only bribe them or he only paid them this money. They didn't say bribe, I said bribe, but they were only paid this money because of the fact that he was scared of reputational damage. Sydney Sumner joining us, investigative reporter from Crime Story. Sydney, the evidence regarding bribery was overwhelming. Of course the state's not throwing out that predicate at the underlying felony of bribery. That was very strong evidence, recap.

Absolutely, Nancy. When we saw it multiple times, especially in relation to that intercontinental hotel video, so first, when the security guard first intervened because Kathy called for help on that hotel phone, Cole tried to bribe that security guard to walk away and pretend he didn't see anything. So tried to hand him a five inch stack of cash. Then we saw paying for the actual security tape itself. And come on, obviously those security guards understood that they shouldn't take this to law enforcement

any further. Yes, it was said, hey, just let me know if law enforcement contacts you. It's okay. Tell them the truth. But it was definitely implied that he did not want the security guards to push this any further. And not only did he pay off those security guards, he doubled the money that they asked for. They initially just asked for 50K. He gave them 100K as padding.

So it wasn't, he had no qualms about paying somebody off to stay quiet. Brian Fitzgibbons is joining us, Director of Operations, USPA Nationwide Security, leading a team of investigators that work really globally. Brian Fitzgibbons' bribery, it's, you don't see it a lot because typically people are smart enough not to have witnesses. But in this case, there is a trail a mile wide about the bribery. Yeah, and bribery, as you know, is very hard to prove, right? Typically, this is a one-to-one transaction, no witnesses, very difficult to have a paper trail on. But I think what

you're going to see here, Nancy, you Nancy, if they remove that bribery, they remove some of these other charges, what the judge instructs the jury is going to be so important here. A past consensual act doesn't mean that Diddy could have coerced somebody into sex labor. A past transaction doesn't mean that he could have then pushed forced labor on one of these folks that were witnesses. So the judge's instructions to the jury on these other charges that the prosecution feels like they have more probative evidence for are going to be very important here.

Yeah, you're right. And the state is now focusing on those predicate acts, the underlying felonies that show Rico. They're relying on the strongest ones and getting rid of the weakest ones. And speaking of bribery, does the name Flores ring a bell to anybody? He took the stand and under oath, he described Sean Combs offering him hundreds of thousands of dollars. Listen. Flores tells the court Ventura said

she wanted to get her bag and leave, but before he could escort her to their room, Combs stopped him, displaying a stack of $100 bills that was four or five inches deep. Flores says he interpreted the offer as a bribe to forget what he saw. Flores declines Combs' money and escorts the couple back to the room.

So there's Flores and there is also Eddie Garcia. Eddie Garcia is the guard who was offered $100,000. Flores is the one that helped Cassie get out, but before he could go, Sean Combs flashed a stack of money at him. Listen to this also. We've got Christina Corum in on the bribery. There's no way out of the bribery because it's even in text. Thanks to Christina Corum. Listen.

Christina Corum keeps in touch with several staff members in the hours after the attack, including security guard D-Rock and assistant Eli Maroon. Coram keeps D-Rock updated on Combs' location and checks in on Maroon's progress, getting the footage from security. When Maroon tells Coram they aren't playing nice, Coram steps in herself to speak with Eddie Garcia. A photo of Garcia's driver's license on Coram's phone and call records between Coram, Garcia, and Combs corroborates Garcia's testimony about handing the footage over to Combs

in exchange for $100,000. So again as Sydney Sumner reminds us all jogging our memory, refreshing our recollection, Combs doubled his offer. So you know what when you think about it, DuBey, it's like sharks smelling blood. The media is going crazy claiming the state is dropping charges. What they're doing is refining their case. They're getting rid of Predicate Act's arson.

And they're getting rid of the Predicate Act of kidnapping on Capricorn Clark. And they're honing in on bribery. And here you've got Christina Corum making phone calls to make sure that all of the Intercontinental video was gone. Little did they know that there was a surreptitious bootleg copy. But I see what the state is doing because the bribery charge is really strong, DuMai. I don't know that I agree, to be honest with you. And again, it goes back to what I said earlier about the definition of state law out here in California.

They have to prove bribery under California law. And basically what they have to show is that people are being paid off to kind of modify the content of their testimony versus appearing in court at all. And if you don't have that, you don't have a bribery. So in theory, if I come up to you and I offer you money not to publish something,

that is not bribery. It's an act to spare or save my reputation, particularly in the R&B world. Who wants music that goes to fun? Bleh. Okay, you asked. Because I don't even know what you're saying. All right, okay, yeah, but not that.

That was non-responsive. Dr. Chloe Carmichael, did you just hear all that legal mumbo-jumbo? Bottom line, Sean Combs, 4 October, correct me if I'm wrong, Sidney, $100,000 to get rid of the Intercontinental video of the beat down, right? $100,000. And then had Christina Corum follow up and follow up and follow up, just like you heard Rob Schueter talking that Sean Combs is the king of follow up. Even calling one of these guards my angel for getting rid of the

damning evidence. I don't even know what Dupay's talking about. Look, I admit according to some sources, according to some court watchers, the kidnap charge was weak and the arson charge was weak. The bribery charge is not weak and to be a good trial lawyer and just like a good psychologist Dr. Chloe you have to make a hard assessment at what you're looking at before you can use it. If I got a weak arson and a weak kidnapping to hate with it and I'm gonna hone in on what's really strong. The bribery is strong. They're gonna have to have two pred-cadets to show Rico,

but the bribery is really strong. So all that legal mumbo jumbo, you think the jury is gonna understand anything DuBey just said? Well, I do agree, Nancy, that if we wanted to get DuBey's point across, we'd probably have to learn how to tighten it up a little bit. But I do see the point that how do we necessarily know that that was bribery as opposed to,

you know, just I want that footage and I'm going to pay you to give it to me. Do we know for sure that that in itself represents a criminal act of bribery? I think we'd have to ask somebody like Dubay if he could just tell us in simpler words maybe. Okay, hold on. Let me clarify for Dr. Chloe what the facts are. As a matter of fact, I'm going to rely on Sydney Sumner. Sydney, could you explain the bribery facts?

Well, Nancy, again, so tried to hand Israel Flores a stack of cash to just walk away and pretend Kathy Ventura didn't call for help. Israel Flores refused. He needed to do his job. And days later, when Combs becomes aware of the fact that there's security footage capturing that entire beating on camera, he immediately sends his staff into action to try and obtain the security footage. And yes, it is to protect his reputation, but it was clearly implied that he wanted to make sure this did

not go to law enforcement and he expected that the hotel staff would then delete all of this information. So not only did he want the video footage in his possession, he made sure that that security incident was deleted permanently and never made it to anyone else's eyes. And this went all the way up to hotel management. So a security guard, Eddie Garcia, told him no multiple times, eventually went to his manager and said, hey, this is what's going on, I need your advice.

The manager threw out that 50K number and Com staff immediately hopped on it and made sure that was taken care of. And Combs doubled that money and he gave 100k for Israel Flores. He expected Eddie Garcia to go back to the security guard that intervened and pay him off as well so that Israel Flores didn't come back out of the woodworks. And Israel Flores is actually the only guard that didn't receive any cuts whatsoever. The manager took more than the $50,000. Eddie Garcia took a cut for himself and he paid off the other guard that was on staff with him when all of this went down.

So, Israel Flores never saw a cent of that bribery money. As we head into a verdict watch here at Crime Stories, we stop and remember an American hero, Deputy Sheriff, Teresa King, Wyandotte County Sheriff's Office, just 44, shot in the line of duty after 13 years in law enforcement, leaving behind three children, Austin Bailey

and Rich. American hero, deputy sheriff, Teresa King. Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.