The Breakfast Club - Diddy trial checkin (new witness works both ways)

Episode Date: June 23, 2025

Loren is back with an update on the Diddy trial. The new witness from the government seems to work both ways. Brendan Paul set up a lot of the nuts and bolts of the operation, but that kinda works both ways for the prosecution and the defense.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart podcast. I'm the homegirl that knows a little bit about everything and everybody. You hear that exclusive? You know if you don't lie about that, right? Lauren came in hot. Hey guys, it's Lauren LaRosa back here again for another breakdown outside of the courthouse for Sean Diddy Combs' trial. You know, your girl love to take y'all to court. Love to take y'all to court.

Here on The Latest with Lauren LaRosa. Now this is your daily dig on all things culture, on all things entertainment news, exclusives, and the conversations that shake the room. Now we're doing a behind the scenes of the grind check-in. Back, back, back on the grind. Grinding. I would say today outside of this courtroom,

I'm feeling a bit undecided. And I think the undecided feeling comes because you guys know whenever I am here and I'm in court, after I hear the testimonies, after I see some of the things that are presented, all of the things that are presented, I like to then give y'all the information, but also I like to walk away with feeling like,

okay, if I was a juror today, just based on everything I've seen up until this point today Where would I land? leaving court today Brendan Paul has been on the stand. He has been Examined by the government by the prosecution He's also been examined by the defense which is did he seem and cross and recross and crisscross and all of the things We're strong combs like a lot of the other witnesses, right?

but what he's doing is, he's more so speaking directly to things that are trying to build a picture. And the picture that the government is trying to build with him is that this whole thing was a huge enterprise that wrapped around one man, his money, and his power. They were going through conversations and emails and text messages that alleged that, you know, Brendan Paul would, you know, who on the stand admitted

that he would be responsible for setting up hotel nights, which were the freak offs. That was the 2024, 2023 later down the line name of these freak off incidents. But he had testified, like he would be in charge of setting them up. He testified that he would also be in charge of breaking them down allegedly.

He says, he alleges that that direct command came from KK, who was Christina Caron, who is, you know, was one of Diddy's go-to head of operations in everything, right? Now, when he's talking to the government, he's talking about being in charge of these hotel or these King nights. He talks about it very casually. He says that, you know, he would have to come there, he would set things up, he would buy supplies for the actual night. So when he would buy the supplies, he would do it on his personal credit card or his personal, you know, from his personal money, his personal account. Then the government asked him, well, how did you, how were you compensated for that? He says we would get it back, you know, from

the team. If anybody's ever done an expense report, you know exactly what he described. He said that he would submit the receipts. He would have to talk about why he had to purchase these things, and then it would take a little minute, but he would then get the money back. He said that when he would have to submit these things, he alleges he would have to submit them via email. On the email would be KK, Christina Caron,

and a woman from a company named TriStar. When he was asked what was TriStar, he said the government is going, and their testimony with Brendan Paul is they are trying to establish the fact that all these things were happening. The money from this company was the backing, was the front money for all of these things that were happening. And not only that, but also there were employees who were involved in all these things at every level. And that wasn't just something that coincidentally

happened every now and then. As we've heard prior to and as the defense has tried to angle every now and then, things would be dropped off allegedly or hotels would need to be booked. But this was Mr. Combs personal time, is how the defense has been picturing this or setting this up. With Brendan Paul, they have him on the stand and he's like, no, this was my job duty. They even brought up a schedule of his, right? He would be giving up a schedule of his right He would be giving a written schedule of like what his day would look like he would then put the schedule in his notepad in His phone, so they brought up the notepad in his phone This is an alleged schedule set by KK. You know who was his head exec on Diddy's team. She's calling the shots

And in the schedule it actually had set up for hotel nights so the the government is establishing, this was not just a incidental, maybe he got close and trusted one assistant and allowed that assistant to do these things. Think this is something that went down that was a part of the job description, basically. So then the government is going through

different conversations with him and they then start to talk about, they bring in the drug use. So now once this is happening, once the government decides that they're gonna sit back and let the defense come in and do their thing, Brian stills on defense he stands up and he starts having a conversation with Brendan Paul. So the way that he starts is he's establishing the fact that Brendan Paul is a very smart individual. Brendan Paul is an individual who not only went to college but he played you know sports in college he

played for a very reputable well-known athlete while in college. At first, I'm trying to figure out where Brian still was going. Then I realized, I'm like, okay, this is him. He's setting up Brendan's character because he's about to use Brendan Paul as a way to get out of this whole enterprise conversation, right? At least one of the witnesses to do that. So he's establishing him as this character who is, you know, very, uh, makes great decisions, um, has a great work ethic, has, you know, been raised to be morally, like, sound,

and, you know, you're here to tell the truth, correct? And he's like, yes, they mention the fact that, you know, uh, Mr. Paul was given an immunity, uh, order, but even though he was given an immunity order but even though he was given an immunity order he's like you know I was going to tell the truth here regardless and Bryan still does a good job of establishing all of that character and then they get into the real things so then Bryan still is like asking about he acts about a ton of things he acts about you know the hotel nights and

these different things and he gets it in there that, again, did he seem as like, well that was his personal time, right? Trying to separate the two. But then they go to the day that Brendan Paul was arrested. Now this was a big deal, this was a big story because after the Cassie lawsuit dropped and then after the Cassie, Cassie lawsuit drops, things are crazy,

things are crazy, things are crazy. And then the Cassie video from CNN drops. If you guys remember, and I remember because we were reporting on it at the time at TMZ, if you remember, there was photos of Diddy and a man, they were traveling to the Bahamas with his family. The man was arrested. When the man was arrested, traveling to the Bahamas with his family. The man was arrested. When the man was arrested, all of the headlines that came out

alleged that he was did these drug mule. Because this man was arrested trying to get to Mr. Combs. And there was drugs in one of his bags that he had with him, right? So they bring this up. And they're having a conversation about it. And Brian still is like, you're not a drug mule, correct? Because that is how the government was painting it. It's like, you know, there's all these drugs,

there's all these things. Even down to right, I'm going back real quick, the government was so detailed today and making sure that they really had you understand how much of a job it was to be a Sean Combs assistant and having to involve yourself in things like Hotel Knights and Baby Oil and Astroglide. They showed a photo that Brendan Paul took. This photo had a cabinet where there was Baby Oil and Astroglide laid out and they asked him why did you take this photo and he says we had a new house manager and we would have to order everything that Mr. Combs needed from a house manager, right?

And they're like, and so then he's explaining it, I sent this photo because I wanted this house manager to see, here's exactly how things are supposed to be organized, right? And the government is like, okay, without even having to say at all anything, it's like, so this was a real part of your job. But anyway, now we're back,

we're on cross with the defense. And the defense is establishing that, you know, that whole drug mule allegation and narrative is a bunch of BS. Brian Steele's like, you're not a drug mule. He's like, no. And he's like, well, what is your definition of a drug mule? And he's like, to me, it's somebody who, you know,

like carries a ton of drugs, kilos, across state and things of that nature. And Brian Steele was like, well, how much did you actually have on you? And he said 0.7 ounces. And Brian Steele's like, oh, that's a personal use amount. And then they get into a conversation in the back and forth that Brendan Paul,

it then comes out that the day that Brendan Paul was arrested for having those drugs on him, and all of the headlines painted this as him smuggling drugs and allegedly for Diddy or smuggling drugs to wherever they were going to allegedly right he says that he got one of the best attorneys in the town which is why his case was dropped and whose drugs it was because he felt a sense of loyalty to Diddy but he said once he got in front of the judge and the judge saw okay it's 0.7 ounces they asked him you know how did this get here he says it was just in front of the judge and the judge saw okay, it's 0.7 ounces They asked him, you know, how did this get here? He says

It was just in his bag. He didn't remember it was in his bag It was dropped now for background they then clarify the him not understanding it was in his bag and where the drugs came from So they're like were these drugs given to you to specifically take somewhere for Diddy that day? Like because that's what is being alleged. That's what's being set up here. And he's like, no, there was basically it was something he had cleaned up from another hotel night or another King night. And he put it in his bag when he cleaned it up

and forgot it was in the bag and went to travel with it. And then he was arrested. And I'm like, okay. Cause at first I'm like, okay, he's a great summary witness for the, he's a great witness for the prosecution because it's very straight to the point. It's easy for you to understand exactly what they're trying to get to with him. He's naming all these names from the company.

He's talking about how things is paid for versus how they not like all of the things, right? So you get where he's going and you get it real fast. But then they put them on for the defense. They let the defense talk to him. I'm like, dang, he a good witness for them too. Because now it's looking more like, OK, drugs were used, but it's not this big illegal operation to smuggle drugs

and people the way that you guys are making it seem, allegedly. Right. They even get to the point of talking about the Love album that dropped because Brendan Paul was a part of the team that worked on the Love album. And he referenced it as a great, it was like the best time ever. Brian still says, you saw Mr. Combs do drugs a lot and he's like, you know, yeah. And he says, well, would you say, because you stayed up and you guys were up, y'all

in production for the album, you ain't sleeping, you're not sleeping things, you're in it. So you were right there, you witnessed it all. He's like, yeah. And he's like, would you say that Mr. Combs was able to highly function during this time? Because that was a crazy time. There was so much going on, you're dropping music. He was able to be up with y'all all night

after doing all these things. He was creatively overflowing as he was taking drugs, correct? And I'm like, oh, I see what they're doing. Again, they're trying to humanize all of this behavior. They're trying to, number one, you know, they're alleging that this is all because of drugs and you know not being able to make good decisions because of that, right? But now they're turning their drugs into something that like it's just casual This is just what he does and we can't sit here and prosecute him in because this is what he does

That's where the defense was going with Brian's Brian up Brian still with Brendan Paul. So he's like, I mean he couldn't really answer the question Because I mean how can you tell that? But he did admit, yeah, he was able to stay up with us. So, you know, it's gonna be, and then everything's over, right? Then it just ends with him. It's gonna be really interesting to see, you know, as this rest, and again, I keep saying it,

and the defense comes in, where they go with things, because these final couple of witnesses are, they're adding some color and some context, but it kind of opens it back up again where it's like, okay, you can kind of see both sides of the coin here. So the defense is going to be less than we hear in an account into the defense. Things are supposed we're supposed to rest today. It is Friday, June 20 of 2025, but they did not. And again, I said earlier on the breakfast club this morning that I didn't think that they would.

I didn't think that they would because they did lose a day this week in court. So it'll spill over until Monday and we should now start hearing more about who were the witnesses that the defense are about to call. I'm Lauren LaRosa. This is The Latest with Lauren LaRosa here with another exclusive update from outside of the trial of Sean Combs. You guys could be anywhere with anybody getting all this information, but y'all choose to be right here with me. So low riders I appreciate you guys and I will catch you in my next episode. This is an iHeart Podcast.