Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - DIDDY'S "OBAMA'S ECSTASY" HABIT LAUNCHES "OTHER WOMAN" DEFENSE

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

David James, Sean Combs' former personal assistant, took the witness stand today, followed by Cassie Ventura's mother, Regina Ventura, and male exotic dancer Sharay Hayes, whose nickname is "The Punisher." James testified about Combs' dietary preferences, recalling a time in London when Combs "was not happy" because the ketchup did not taste good. James said Combs instructed him to purchase food through Combs' company but to use cash for items such as baby oil, personal lubricant and condoms. Regina Ventura testified she documented her daughter Cassie's injuries, allegedly caused by Combs, and said Combs once demanded $20,000 in exchange for sex tapes featuring Cassie. Court continues Wednesday. Joining Nancy Grace today, Greg Morse - Criminal Defense Attorney of Morse Legal, Author of “The Untested” [found on Amazon] Scott Johnson - Forensic Psychologist [32 years specializing in addressing sexual predators], Author of "Physical Abusers & Sex Offenders: Forensic Considerations & Strategies" and "When 'I Love You' Turns Violent" Chris McDonough - Director at the Cold Case Foundation, Former Homicide Detective, Worked over 300 Homicides in 25 year career, Trained the first Native American Homicide Task Force; & Host of YouTube channel, "The Interview Room" Brett Brown - Executive Director of SASS Go (Surviving Assault Standing Strong) a nonprofit on a mission to eradicate abuse, trafficking and violence against women and girls globally; @sassgoglobal FB, Instagram, X, and TikTok Rob Shuter - Host: Naughty But Nice Podcast, Former Publicist of Sean Combs, and Author: "The 4 Word Answer;" IG: @naughtygossip Lauren Conlin - Podcaster, Reporter, Host- Co-Host of "PopCrimeTV" on YouTube, website: primetimecrimeshow.com, X- @Conlin_Lauren, IG: @LaurenEmilyConlin, YouTube: @PopCrimeTV Sydney Sumner - CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Sean Combs, a.k.a. Diddy's Obama ecstasy habit. This as he launches an other woman defense. And we learn that Louis Vuitton bag stuffed full of cocaine, ecstasy, horse trank, plan B birth control was also stuffed full of Viagra for Diddy. Plus, Cassie Ventura's mom turns state's witness. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. Straight out to the courthouse standing by Lauren Conlon, who has been in the courtroom throughout the day.

Lauren Conlon, investigative reporter and star of Pop Crime TV. Lauren, thank you for being with us. What happened in court today? It's been an eventful day so far. We finished up the direct examination of Diddy's former assistant, David James, and the cross. And we learned a lot about Diddy, a lot about what he had his assistants do. Something that David James spoke about was advancing room locations. And this includes anything from a green room at the Ellen Show to a hotel room. Now, what was interesting about this hotel room advancing is, you know, he said he got

snacks for Diddy. And by the way, Nancy, he testified that Diddy would request Jell-O and applesauce. Apparently, he put applesauce on his cheeseburgers. But he would also get things like baby oil, Astro Glide and condoms. And when he would pick up things like these, he would not expense them through Bad Boy. He would get cash as reimbursement. And he also said that he would set out

all Diddy's toiletries, which as you mentioned, included sometimes Viagra or Just For Men. We also heard that something that I found was very shocking. David James was forced to take two lie detector tests when things went missing. Jewelry at one point, a bracelet of Cassie's. And then we heard, we actually saw Diddy smile at one point when he, David James described being at a Diddy party and

doing something called Diddy bopping. I don't really know what that was, but it made Diddy laugh. And at this party, David James described that he was off. So he attended a New Year's Eve party. He stole an ecstasy pill from Diddy. He was having fun. The next day, Diddy called him into his office because apparently he took video of all his party. He saw David James and said, hey, were you on drugs or were you on ecstasy? And David James says, yes, I was. And apparently Diddy said to him, well, I'm going to keep this or I'm going to hold this just in case I need to. We also heard David James testify about an incident that he had with the chef, this chef that we're supposed to hear from. But David James said

that Diddy, you know, reprimanded him because David James had an altercation with the chef. And Diddy said something to him like, listen, if you touch a woman again, you're getting fired. But wait a minute. I've got another question about David James. David James, the assistant, described a horrible, horrible, toxic workplace. Ed, explain. Yeah, so the way that David James describes leaving Bad Boy or being Diddy's personal assistant was after the Suge Knight-Mel Diner incident, which I did not realize that he was there for this. He testified that he and a bodyguard, D-Rock, they were instructed to go pick up cheeseburgers and they go pick him up at Mel's diner. D-Rock has an exchange with Suge. He sees Suge and then D-Rock sees Suge pull out a gun and

hand it to someone else. And they go back to Diddy's house. Diddy instructs David James to get in the car. He says that Diddy had three guns across his lap and there's three people in the car. So he's putting things together in his head. And essentially, Suge had already left the premises. So nothing happened. But David James said after that, he was done. He said he went to H.R., he put in his notice and they actually offered him another position at Sean John or one of Diddy's other companies. And he said, no, thanks, I'm done.

And, you know, he went into a lot of this about how he was forced to work 24 hours at a time. He even described one assistant having to go to the hospital after being overworked because she was so dehydrated. So there was a lot of talk about this, But I have to also note that he did acknowledge that Diddy was a successful businessman. And when he was leaving the courtroom, he kind of gave him a head nod. Wow. So you're telling me David James acknowledged Combs or Combs nodded to James or both? No, James nodded to him. I mean, Diddy, like I said, when he was talking about Diddy bopping

and there was another incident where he brought up Diddy wanting Heinz ketchup when they went to London because the ketchup is different in London and Diddy got a kick out of that. They really seem to share these moments. There was another point when David James kind of

made a comment or Mark Agnifola said, oh, part of your job was to get Diddy to his appointments on time and have him be, you know, arriving in a timely fashion. And David James said something like he wasn't always timely. And Diddy just laughed it up, had a grand old time over there. Wait, are you telling me that Sean Combs was in London and threw a fit because he didn't have the right kind of ketchup? The ketchup in London wasn't correct? Well, yeah, I mean, essentially part of his job advancing these locations included making Diddy as comfortable as possible, which was getting him the ketchup he wanted. Okay. Moving on from David James, and I'll revisit him in a moment. What else happened on the stand? Who else did we see today? So we saw Cassie's mom, Regina Ventura, and it was very brief, Nancy. Regina described

the incident where Cassie sent her an email and she cc'd Capricorn Clark, which was one of Diddy's previous assistants. And this email described threats that Cassie was getting from Sean Combs and how Sean Combs was going to release these sex tapes of her and how he was going to hurt she and Kid Cudi. And Regina described that she was terrified and she had no idea about these sex tapes. And she was like, just very shocked, very terrified. And then apparently Bad Boy or Sean Combs made this demand of twenty thousand dollars to the Venturas who, you know, she kind of made it clear we didn't have that kind of money.

She said they had to remortgage their house or something along those lines to get them this money. And she went to the links to wire it to Bad Boy Records. They sent her an email with the wire instructions. And then about 30 to 45 days later, it was returned to her. And we also saw her confirm the pictures that she took of Cassie that had been actually circulating because now they've been released to the public. She confirmed she took those pictures on a Polaroid to document Cassie's bruising. And it was 2011 that she documented this. And she said that was the first that she heard of this abuse. And she also described an incident in 2016 in LA

when Sean Combs stole Cassie's phone and she called the police over this. This happened on around Cassie's 30th birthday. And she actually described having an altercation with Combs or Diddy in front of Cassie's building. And she said she lunged at him and she tried to hit him to get the phone back. He eventually gave the phone back,

but said that he then took off in Cassie's Jaguar. Okay, I'm sorry. Something got lost in the sauce. Who made the lunge at who? Cassie's mom said that she lunged at Combs trying to get this phone, trying to hit him. I mean, she was very upset the way she describes. And Cassie, by the way, was not present for this. She was upstairs in her apartment. So how originally, Lauren Cullen, how did Cassie Ventura's mother discover that there was a sex video of her daughter? It was Cassie's email on the BlackBerry where she said, you know, he's threatening to release these sex tapes.

And her mom said she was very confused by this, but she was also very worried for her daughter as well as the physical threats as well. So, you know, she kind of said we had no choice. We wanted to protect our daughter. So we sent this money that we didn't really have. And those are my words, paraphrasing. But yeah. Well, isn't it true, Lauren Conlon, that Cassie's mom had to mortgage their home to come up with twenty thousand dollars to keep the sex tape from going online? Yes. And there is a big discussion this morning before the jury came in about whether or not this, this was relevant and clearly it was. Okay. Lauren Conlon, I'm trying

to get my head wrapped around this. So Sean Combs is going to extort $20,000 from Cassie Ventura, his girlfriend's mother, to keep Cassie's sex tape from going viral. Just I'm saying it really slowly to make sure I understand what you're saying. Is that right? That's what it sounded like to all of us sitting there. I mean, that's what it came across as. Let me throw something at you really quickly. The other day you stated and a lot of people agreed with you that we're hearing a lot of bad stuff about Sean Combs. He's a vile person, blah, blah, blah.

But has the case proven its case? Well, doesn't this sound like extortion to you? It does. And little by little, Nancy, I do feel like we are seeing more evidence tying some of the indictment charges to what we're hearing. So, yeah, you're absolutely right. Lauren, what was the reaction, the vibe between Cassie's mother and Sean Combs? Did she just look daggers at him when she walked in that courtroom? She looked straight ahead. I mean, I was right on the end. And yeah, she just walked straight into her seat.

You know, she sat there. And before, you know, I mentioned that Diddy seemed to be very relaxed with David James, kind of laughing. He was just sitting right in his chair. I didn't really see him move at all. Very stoic. And like I said, Regina Ventura was very brief and no cross-examination by Mark Agnifola, which I thought was a good strategy. Well, he probably didn't want to ask a question and then get a bombshell answer from the victim's mother.

Are you kidding me? I'm surprised she didn't reach straight off that witness stand and strangle Sean Combs right there in front of the jury. Lauren Collin joining us from the courthouse. I can circle back to her in just one moment. Let's bring in the panel. Joining us, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now. So much evidence pouring from the witness

stand throughout the day in that Manhattan courtroom straight out to Sidney Sumner. But first, speaking of the assistant, listen to this. The government calls David James Combs, his former personal assistant to the stand. James says he started working for Combs in the hopes of breaking into the fashion industry. James recalls an interviewer in HR telling him, This is Mr. Combs' kingdom, and we're all here to serve in it. James mentions that Combs had a highly unusual rider for green rooms, music venues, and hotel rooms, and that staff constantly reminded him to stay in his lane if he asked too many questions. I wonder if that includes the night that Sean Combs was checked into that Intercontinental Hotel and the Cassie Ventura beatdown video occurred. Sydney Summer joining me, Crime Stories investigative reporter.

Sydney, following up on what Lauren Conlon is reporting. David James's statement, who basically worked in fear, just ungodly hours starting at, you know, four in the morning and going till 11 o'clock at night. Where did this statement come from? This is Mr. Combs' kingdom, and we're all here to serve in it. What? So David James testified that that was actually in his interview. So he had a meeting with someone from HR at Bad Boy, and she turned around, pointed to a photo of Sean Combs and said, this is Diddy's kingdom, and we are here to serve him, to're completely right. He worked crazy hours. He testified that he worked from 8 a.m. till 4 a.m. And then had to turn around and put out a call sheet for the rest of Combs' staff for the next day. So these were insane hours. He talks about another assistant actually being put in the hospital for dehydration. And Combs just had ridiculous requests. I mean, in that writer that David James mentioned, he needed things like applesauce and ketchup, jello, Fiji water, but he also wanted

an arsenal of skincare products always available to him, 40 plus skincare products. And that's not even considering the Louis Vuitton bag, his medicine bag that had up to 30 different prescriptions in it. And that apparently included things like normal things, Advil, Tylenol, all the way up to Percocet, Ecstasy, Viagra, weight loss pills, sperm count pills. It was just, I mean, he carried a pharmacy with him. Did you just say sperm count pills? I did, Nancy. And I don't really know exactly what that means or how it affects a man.

But apparently they were in there. In addition to Sidney Sumner joining us, investigative reporter Crime Stories, the former PR guru for Sean Combs, Rob Shooter, is with us. Star of Naughty But Nice podcast and author of a book, The Four Word Answer. So, Rob Shooter, was that part of your duties too, to stuff daddy's Louis Vuitton with Viagra, 40 different skincare products and sperm count pills. It's shocking. When I worked with Diddy, he had a rider like most celebrities with things that he wanted,

everything from vitamin water to orange juice to apples. This is what's so interesting about this to me, though, Nancy, is that most celebrities, when they visit a talk show, a big appearance, you send the rider to their producers. So I would send Diddy's rider out all the time. However, what Diddy had was a separate rider that he gave to his personal assistants so that the people at the show wouldn't know all these extra things that he demanded. So I'm shocked to know here that his personal assistant got a separate rider. Now that we know what's in that rider, it makes total sense. But I've never heard of another celebrity having two, two riders. So one rider goes to the host. So Jimmy Fallon's, let's pretend, staff.

And then the other writer is a secret writer. Yeah, absolutely. That's what I found out today. I had no idea there was a second writer. I would send out Puffy's writer all the time to Ellen, to Jimmy Fallon, to all the shows that he would appear on. And what would be on there? You can't just leave me hanging like that, shooter. Yeah, no, kind of normal things that they want in the dressing room. So they want to know what sort of water you want. Do you want coffee? Do you want tea? Do you want orange juice?

It's just really kind of simple things to make the experience a little bit nicer. And they ask for this for every single celebrity, not just big stars, but people on TV shows, comedians. So they send in their rider. Pretty normal. The dressing room's lovely. You walk in, there's a coffee table, there's a couch, and there's a little bar full of coffee and tea.

Or maybe if you want something stronger, that's there. Pretty normal. What's different with Didu? We found out today there was a second ride that only his assistant had. And we now know why, because what was in that ride was something Puffy would not want television show hosts or staff or producer to know about. OK, hold on. So you, Rob Sheeter, never had to stuff Diddy's Louis Vuitton bag with sperm count pills and Viagra, Fiji water and 40 different skin care potions? I didn't. I worked with Diddy and there were certainly odd requests.

There was stuff that he wanted. I remember- Okay, like what? What odd request? He was particular about the temperature of the room. And I think this is a power play, but he would often travel with a thermometer where he would take the temperature. So I've got Sean Combs whining that the ketchup in London is different.

It's different. And now you're telling me that he travels with a thermometer. You heard me right, Nancy. You heard me right. Very odd, very strange, but it wasn't as sinister as some of the things that we now find out he had on this private rider that only, only his inner circle saw, only his assistant. Back to Sidney Sonmer joining us in addition to Rob Sheeter. Sidney, I just want to make sure I understand this. on the stand under oath in fear of perjury, which is a felony state that Sean Combs demanded

$20,000 from her in exchange to not releasing her beloved daughter Cassie's sex tape online for it to go viral. And the mom and dad have to go take out a home equity loan. They don't have $20,000 laying around to try to save their daughter. Do I have that right, Sidney Sumner? Nancy, yeah, that's what we've heard on the stand today. And Regina Ventura's testimony was very, very quick. She wasn't even cross-examined.

So the defense just let her testimony stand unch, very quick. She wasn't even cross-examined. So the defense just let her testimony stand unchallenged. And I understand that these were two separate emails. So Cassie reached out to her mom to say, I'm afraid that he's going to release two explicit sex tapes of me, and I don't know what to do. So she reached out to her mom to say she felt that this threat was very, very real. And then Regina Ventura received another communication from Combs separately that was demanding he be reimbursed for how much money he invested in Kathy because she was now off with some other man. And that man was alleged as Kid Cudi. So he reached out to her, demands that she pay him $20,000. And judging from what Cassie told her in that email, she was very afraid

that her daughter was going to get hurt. So yes, they run out to a bank, they put out a loan on their home to get this $20,000. They wire it to a bad boy account. And a few days later, with no explanation, they get all of the money back. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We are live at the federal courthouse in Manhattan with the latest in the trial of Sean Combs, a.k.a. Diddy. Straight back out to Sidney Sumner. Now, when we are reviewing what Cassie Ventura's mother said on the stand,

and I want to show you right now photos that Cassie's mother, Regina Ventura, took of her daughter. There's the fat lip photo. Keep going. I want to see all the photos that the jury see. See that little mark at the bottom? States exhibit. You're seeing what the jury's seeing. That is the cut to the head where Cassie had to go and see a plastic surgeon and get it sewn up. There's a bruise to the head, bruising to the leg. All of these photos came in corroborated by Regina Ventura. more bruises on her back and hips. Cassie Ventura was flying home for Christmas. She sent her mom an email that Regina Ventura, the mom said, made her physically sick. The threats that have been made to me by Sean Puffy Combs are that he is going to release

two explicit tapes of me, said the email. He also said he will be having someone hurt me and Scott Muscuti physically. That's Kid Cudi. I was physically sick, testifies mom Regina Ventura. I did not understand a lot of it. The sex tapes threw me. This is verbatim what she just said on the stand. She testified Sean Combs demanded $20,000 to quote recoup money he had spent on Cassie. She and her husband take out a home equity loan. She said, says under oath verbatim,

we decided that's the only way we could get the money. I was scared for my daughter's safety. Regina Ventura used a Kodak digital cam to take photos of Cassie's bruised back, arm, leg. Quote, she was bruised and I wanted to memorialize it. To Sydney Sumner, the jury has just seen the photos that Mom Regina Ventura took of Cassie. Is that correct? Absolutely, Nancy. They are seeing those photos of Cassie over Christmas break 2011

at her parents' Connecticut home, covered in bruises after an assault from Sean Diddy Combs. Straight out to a special guest joining us, Brett Brown, director of SAS, Surviving Assault Standing Strong, a nonprofit dedicated to ending sex attacks and sex trafficking of women and girls. You know what? I know why the defense did not cross-examine the mom, Regina Ventura. And isn't it true, Brett Brown, that when the ladies that you minister to, that you help take care of, when all else fails, they call their mom. I've had so many murder victims the last thing they said

on this earth is mom, mother, mama. That's the last thing they say and here we see Cassie Ventura in such a state that she emails her mom that Combs is going to release sex tapes of her that will go viral. I mean, she must have been in the depths of despair, Brett. It is desperation. In moments of desperation, we go back to the person or people that we know will believe us, will love us, no matter what's being said about us or what's been done to us, the people who will accept us as is and possibly help. And that's where she went.

She went to the place where she was felt the safest and could let her guard down and say what happened. You know, when you look at this whole situation, I know why they didn't cross-examine Regina Ventura, because Combs is a predator who collects possessions. That's what he does, whether we're talking about Cassie or David James, and it even extended to some of her friends that he had to pay off. then eventually you get worried that something's going to get lost or that one of these people you own will make noise. And so the threat there was to isolate Cassie from her mom, potentially, to say, we're going to release this. And what mom wouldn't pay money? So I think it was a litmus test to see how desperate her mother would be to protect Cassie, because when we are desperate, we'll do all kinds of things. And then two, I think he took the money back without explanation because if she had paid him to not release those videos, her mother wouldn't be on the hook either. So this was another move.

You know, Greg Morris, let me follow up on what Brett Brown just said. Whether he took the money or didn't take the money, the extortion is complete. Under the law, the extortion claim has been made out because the mother sent the money. Whether he tore up the check, it doesn't matter then. She sent the money. Extortion for what? This is a sex trafficking trial, Nancy. You just said the words right before you came to me. He's also charged with extortion. Read the indictment.

I did last night, and the only evidence is paragraph four, which everybody keeps jumping on. Nope, that's not extortion under these charges. You said the thing that's never been said by an alleged victim in a sex trafficking case. Your voice is cracking just a little. He said that's not extortion under these charges. He flew home at Christmas. Can you tell me a sex trafficking these charges. He flew home at Christmas. Can you tell me a sex trafficking case where the victim flew home at Christmas 14 years before the trial and the police growth? Okay, so this case is built on gossip, anger, and exaggeration.

I thought last week was speculative testimony. Can we see the Cassie DeGiro beating photos? Yes, domestic violence. You think this is gossip, that cat lip? I made that all up? No, this is domestic violence, not sex trafficking. You're criminalizing partying in this case. That is ridiculous.

It is sex trafficking. The indictment also says sex trafficking. You said this is... No, it says it. Nancy, it says it. Come on, you've done this long enough. Are you telling me you've never had a sex trafficking case where the women were not beaten into submission

in order to perform sexually? No, women are... You haven't. You need to go back to law school, man. Oh, no, women don't get to fly home to their family and spend Christmas and then go back with the perpetrator. That doesn't generally happen in sex trafficking. And if you and you can tell me where people were convicted that that happened.

Tell me where people are flying on private jets and claiming to be sex trafficked. I pointed it out last week and I'll point it out again. When I did the story that you did of the young lady found in the closet of a sex offender naked, that's more in line with sexual based offenses. This is a horrible thing that happened to this lady. But these people that are testifying are angry. They're exaggerating. Listen to Dawn Richards testimony.

They're making it up. Cassie already said Diddy's an opioid addict. She was also. What is Dawn Richards say? I saw Diddy do every drug but opioids. Give me a break here. We have just received an urgent missive from the office of veteran defense attorney Mark Garagos. No doubt about it. He's a great lawyer. His daughter, Tinny Garagos, is one of the lead defense attorneys for Sean Combs.

And they want us to clarify a statement said yesterday that people were paid to wear free puffy T-shirts, $20 an hour. Wait, they're saying it's false that comes as public relations people paid anyone to wear the T-shirts. Well, who is paying them? Listen. Why do you why do you Why do you feel that way? So, these are all paid protesters. You can get $20 an hour if you wear a t-shirt. You gotta speak up.

She just got recruited, right? I refuse. You said no. It wasn't worth the $20? Um, no. But, like, he told me that it's for a bitty coin. So, I'm not really sure what that is. Yeah, they just tried to pay 20 to wear a

free puppy shirt stop i knew i could tell because the lady right there she just kept convincing me to wear to go wear a shirt and i'm like i'm that's what so that's so just 20 and you if you guys were if you need 20 all you have to do is wear a free puff shirt. And you said no. Yeah, I said no. Did they say how many hours? $20 an hour. And she told me she got paid like $60 yesterday for standing out in three hours.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. So Rob Sheeter, PR guru, they're concerned that it's been stated that Combs' PR team paid people to wear the T-shirts. I would think that the missive would say, he didn't do this. He's not guilty. Why are you saying this? But instead, it's like it's completely false. Mr. Combs' public relations people paid anyone to wear those T-shirts. Do you see the problem there, Shooter? Yeah, yeah. It's a really, really complicated, silly thing for them to do here. It tells us that of all the stuff we've heard, all the horror stories, all the testimony, all the facts, this is what they want to focus on. Whether or not a PR team paid somebody to wear a T-shirt, which is not that unusual in

the music business, maybe in the criminal justice system, but this is their priority. And I have to ask why, why is this, of all the things we've heard, why is this the most important? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A thing we heard yesterday, straight out to Scott Johnson, forensic psychologist, 32 years specializing in addressing sex predators, author of Physical Abusers and Sex Offenders, Forensic Considerations. Scott, question. I would think that denying the claims of sex trafficking would be paramount. Instead, it's about a missive about a T-shirt.

But another thing we learned is that Sean Combs would set up throngs of people at his public appearances and apparently is unhappy at the lack of attendees and supporters outside the courthouse. crowd or possibly a Luigi Mangione crowd of worshipers from our friends at Fox 5 in D.C. and WHAS 11. What does that tell you as a forensic psychologist? Well, he is very much appearing like a sexual sadist and violent man, obviously, but he's a narcissist and he needs the distraction. He needs the little things, the other people to come and say, oh, he wouldn't do this. We love him. Well, that's fine. You can love a rapist. You can love someone who extorts, even if they're famous. But in his mindset, he's a narcissistic. Number one, I'm the most important person, as you've already referenced. I am God, if you will. And that makes him even more dangerous because he just doesn't care. We are also learning a lot about the, quote, other woman defense that is emerging. And it's

all about a woman named Gina. But first, Sidney Sumner, I have to ask about Sean Combs. One of the favorite pills he would carry in his Louis Vuitton stuff is Viagra and horse trank and plan B birth control pills. Is Obama ecstasy? And I in no way am suggesting either former President Obama or his beautiful wife, Michelle, used ecstasy. What is Obama ecstasy? So David James testified that there were various pills, but one was in the form of a former president's face. The prosecutor had to ask him which former former president and he responded, President Obama. So James claims that Collins carried around ecstasy pills in the shape of Obama's face. Why? I could not tell you.

Okay, shooter. I'm calling in the expert. A Louis Vuitton bag. I can't get away from this. Stuff with Plan B birth control, horse trank, ecstasy, cocaine, Viagra. Needed a lot of Viagra. Sperm count pills and Obama ecstasy. What? When I heard that, my head exploded and I thought about it. And having worked with Puff, I know that he, even though he's a big star, he also is a big fan. There's people that get on his radar that he becomes obsessed with.

When I was working with him, it was Prince Harry and Prince William. After I left, it sounds like he moved on to President Obama. But he has these obsessions with people, people he wants to be like, people he respects, people he fears. And so I'm not surprised here that he didn't outgrow this. His crush, his man crush, changed from the princes to a president. But nevertheless, he has people

that he gets very, very obsessed with. Personal assistant. That describes breaking down in tears working for Sean Combs to an angry mother, the mother of alleged victim Cassie Ventura, this day has been explosive in a federal courthouse in Manhattan where Sean Combs being tried

on a multi-count federal indictment, including extortion and sex trafficking. We also heard proof of what was gossiped about, rumored months ago, a forced medical procedure on a female victim. Listen. The Gina both Cassie and best friend Kerry Morgan refer to is fashion and travel blogger Virginia Huynh. Gina says her relationship with Diddy began on Valentine's Day 2014 after a chance meeting in Miami, and she continued to see Combs for about five years, deeply in love with him despite his continued relationship with Cassie. After their breakup in 2019, Gina gave an emotional interview detailing physical abuse from Combs in two instances where he pressured

her into getting an abortion. He was like, you're going to get an abortion, right? And then I was like, um, I don't know. Uh, I don't know yet. And then, and me $50,000 to get rid of it. From our friends at Unwind with Tasha Kay, joining me, veteran detective Chris McDonough. He is the director of the Cold Case Foundation, former homicide detective, former vice detective. And you can see him now as the star of the interview room on YouTube. Chris, thank you for being with us. You know, so very often when you start a felony investigation, like you may start a homicide investigation, right?

But then it's a many headed hydra. You start and you slay the first head and then suddenly another head. Uh, for instance, extortion and then another head of the beast, uh, forcing someone to get an abortion and then another and another and another and another. Are you surprised that one person is allegedly responsible for so many evil and despicable acts? Not at all, Nancy. I mean, we're looking at a situation where this is a one man Rico case. And of course, it always comes back to that power, domination, and control over anybody in his environment. And if we look at this writer concept, right, they should just actually call it a riser concept.

Because everything in that bag pointed towards his power and control over any sexual activity around him. And so it's total emotional manipulation to everybody that comes into a circle. We also learn part of the psychopathy behind what Sean Combs allegedly would do. Now, this is critical to the trial strategy. And even though Greg Morse and I are sparring partners, I think he's going to agree with this. That hotel beat down video from the Intercontinental is the single most powerful evidence so far. It corroborates everything Cassie Ventura was saying. So somehow this has to be defeated.

Mark Geragos told me point blank that in this video, Cassie is actually the aggressor and she wasn't leaving a freak off. She wasn't trying to get away from a freak off. She was angry because Combs had gotten a text from another woman. Is that quote other woman, Gina? I want you to hear part of Sean Combs' psychopathy. Listen. He would always compare me to Cassie and tell me that I'm the bad one and she's a good one. And he was with both of you guys at the same time.

Yeah. That's where our friends at Unwind with Tasha Kay. Did you hear the trial strategy there, Greg Morse, pitting Gina, the so-called other woman, against Cassie Ventura? And this is what I think they're doing. And just don't argue with me. Just tell me if you think this makes sense. They've got to defeat that intercontinental hotel beatdown of Cassie. They've got to for any hope of winning.

Absolutely. Okay. And the way they are trying to do it, I think, is they're going to claim that Cassie Ventura started the whole thing because she was angry about a text and she was jealous about Gina. And therefore, what you think you're seeing is not what you're seeing. They're going to try to defeat that video. That's what this is all about. If that's their defense and how they're going to deal with that, it's not, to me, the right way to deal with it. It's simply, which they've talked about a little bit in opening, that video you're writing, I definitely agree with you, is the strongest piece of, you know, very visceral evidence that the jury's seen,

real conduct and vicious conduct by Sean Combs. This is just a simple thing of this is their evidence. This is a domestic battery. This should be in state court. This video, isolated, doesn't support all the other testimony you heard as far as, you know, controlling her so she stays in the freak offs. I don't know if you tell the jury somehow Cassie is somehow responsible for anything

in this video. You might as well just pack up because you've lost them. They're not going to listen to you. There's no credibility there. But they're trying their best to somehow spin that Intercontinental Hotel video and attorney Mark Agnifilo keeps hammering infidelity as a cause of jealousy on the part of Cassie Ventura. Listen. Attorney Mark Agnifilo returns to infidelity issues on Kerry Morgan's cross. Morgan says Combs was jealous of Michael B. Jordan, but says Cassie only flirted with Jordan because Combs continued to see a woman named Gina he met in 2014.

Morgan says Cassie viewed Gina as a problem who just wouldn't go away. Each time Cassie asked Combs to stop seeing her, Cassie would catch them together again. Cassie testified that a 2018 photo of Combs with Gina is what led her to finally break up with the mogul. We are live with the latest from the federal courthouse in Manhattan in the case of Sean Combs versus the U.S. government. Rob Shooter, we heard on the witness stand testimony that in one beating, and this came from Kerry Morgan, Ventura's former friend, Cassie fell on a brick of some sort and passed out, was actually passed out, got knocked out cold, right? That's serious. That is a concussion when you actually are passed out. But instead, focusing on that, they're angry that there are not Johnny Depp or Luigi Mangione

crowds outside the courthouse. Is that a tiny bit misplaced? Oh, it's absolutely foolish. It's really foolish behavior. But he also talks to the ego of the gentleman that is paying them. Puffy has a very, very fragile ego, and that will really hurt his feelings. Boo hoo. He'll be really upset about these reports, particularly if these reports are true.

A couple of days ago on your show, Nancy, you talked about how his private parts were allegedly very small. That will hurt Diddy. Crowd size will hurt Diddy. It was a Tootsie Roll. Let's be clear. Tootsie Roll. The size of a Tootsie Roll.

How about that, man? Tootsie Roll. He is obsessed with size. He's obsessed with being the biggest star in the world, having the biggest crowds in the world, having the biggest crowds in the world, having the most fans in the world. And none of that is true. And let's be clear once again for my aspiring partner, Mark Geragos. Sean Combs' PR team is not paying people to wear those T-shirts to say free puffy, but somebody is.

Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.