On day three of testimony, Combs's ex-girlfriend -- due to give birth in weeks according to her lawyer -- testifies that the record label executive used recordings of sexual performances that he directed her in as leverage to keep her from leaving him. She said she feared her mother seeing them and the ruin of her career. In court the jury watched stills from the videos behind privacy screens.If you want to read NBC's coverage of the trial, check out our newsletter, “Diddy On Trial”: NBCNews.com/Diddy
Chapter 1: What is the Sean Combs trial about?
This is On Trial, a special series from Dateline True Crime Weekly, bringing you daily coverage from the Sean Combs trial. I'm Andrea Canning. Today is May 14th. In this episode, we're going to be talking about some graphic details and harrowing subject matter. Sean Combs has pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering and sex trafficking.
Yesterday, the woman identified as victim number one in the federal indictment took to the witness stand to tell her story.
Chapter 2: Who is Cassie Ventura and what is her role in the trial?
The bombshell court testimony is Sean Combs' former girlfriend accuses him of abusive and explicit acts. Cassie Ventura.
Today, Cassie Ventura returned for more questioning by the prosecution. NBC News correspondent Chloe Malas was in the courtroom when Cassie walked up the aisle past Combs, the man she says she once loved. Chloe joins us now from just outside of the courthouse under a tent. It is raining to tell us what came out in Cassie's testimony today and what video and images were shown to the jury as well.
Hey, Chloe. Hey, Andrea. Today, it seemed like it was a lot of the prosecution showing Cassie photos, videos, text messages, you know, really getting her to explain how this all fits in. And especially that video in the hallway of her and Sean Combs, such a centerpiece to all of this.
Chapter 3: What new evidence was presented during Cassie's testimony?
You know, Andrea, the prosecution is really laying out this off and on dynamic, this control that he had over her to keep her in the relationship.
So take us through how this all works. So the prosecution, are they putting things up on a screen? Are they going up to the stand and showing her these things? How are they doing it and what are they showing her?
Chapter 4: How did the prosecution use videos and photos in the case?
Emily Johnson, one of the prosecutors, is saying on occasion, may I approach the witness? And she's walking up to Cassie, and she's handing her USB drives. She's handing her different disks. And this is data that they extracted from devices that she handed over to investigators. And what we're all seeing, media, public, and the jurors are text exchanges.
We saw some photos of some of the male escorts that engaged in these freak-offs that Cassie would be the one to normally hire. Why is the prosecution showing these images from the freak-offs, and how do they fit into their strategy? Because it's one thing to talk about the freak-offs, it's another thing to actually visualize it.
There was more today about how Cassie says Sean Combs used recordings of the freak-offs against her, you know, that it would give him leverage, which is a scary thing if you don't want something like that to get out.
She described an incident on an airplane in which videos that she thought were deleted, Combs was actually showing off videos. explicit video from a freak-off to his friends. And she said that it was horrifying for her and that she felt trapped.
She also talked about another shocking moment where she was doing an appearance at a nightclub in Atlantic City and that someone came up to her, a DJ, and said that he had seen her in a freak-off video. And that's when she called Combs and he claimed that he didn't know how the videos got out. Yeah.
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Chapter 5: What leverage did Sean Combs allegedly use against Cassie Ventura?
The defense has conceded at this point that there was violence in the relationship. Sean Combs has never been charged with domestic violence or assault.
And that's the thing. Some of the well-known journalists in the courthouse today turned around at a recess and several said, why is this not around the corner? Meaning, why is this not playing out in state court, right, where you would see claims of domestic abuse? But here you have racketeering.
Chapter 6: What incidents did Cassie describe regarding the videos?
We don't know what the defense is going to lay out, but we do know, based on Tenny Garagos' opening statements for Sean Combs, that they are going to say that there was violence on both sides.
Before the lunch break, the prosecution showed Cassie some texts where her words seemed loving toward Combs. You know, this is classic with victims of sexual assault, sexual abuse, alleged victims.
You're so right. I mean, it's really deja vu for me because— Just last week, I was right around the corner in state court sitting in the Harvey Weinstein criminal retrial, and it's the same thing.
And in this case, it was a Father's Day text message that Cassie had sent to Combs calling him a, quote, extraordinary man and thanking him for always showing me love and happiness the way it's supposed to be.
Chapter 7: What has the defense said about violence in the relationship?
Yeah, it's very complicated, these types of cases. When we come back, is there any evidence that the video of these freak-offs will ever be shown to the public? How did that decision come about to, do we know, to not show the jurors actual video of the freak-offs versus still images?
So we're not sure if they are going to show videos of the freak-offs. That actually could happen. Perhaps they're just laying the groundwork. The jurors have seen seven still images from those freak-offs, but they're going to great lengths to protect these images. They have these privacy screens on all of the jurors' monitors. Wow. So that no one can see.
But this is something that journalists are fighting for so that we can all accurately report what's going on. Because right now, I mean, there's a lot that we're not seeing. But what I will say as to why the public and why the media isn't able to see it is because they're worried that these images, that these videos of these escorts and victims could wind up on social media.
Has the defense raised many objections while Cassie has been on the stand or given some hint of how they might cross-examine her?
I have to tell you, there was a really explosive moment this morning before Cassie took the stand. Prosecutors saying that they had not received all of the defense's exhibits. They said that they had only received four exhibits and that the deadline was in April and that they wanted the rest of it this morning.
Combs' team saying, well, technically, under the law, we don't have to give you any of this because if we do, you might use this to prepare Cassie's answers. And so the judge said, look, why was this not brought up before today? Why are we talking about this as Cassie's about to take the stand for the second day and the jury is about to walk into this room?
And although maybe the prosecutors did have a strong argument, they were denied. And so Combs' team did not have to produce any of their exhibits this morning. But when cross-examination happens, they're going to have to. Chloe, do we know who the next witness might be? We don't, but it might be this very famous musician who once dated Cassie. His name is Kid Cudi.
You might know one of his hit songs, Day and Night. He might take the stand very soon to testify about something that Cassie was talking about today, which is, did Sean Combs blow up his car because he was furious that Cassie was dating him?
Chloe, we will see more Cassie tomorrow. Do you think cross-examination will start, or could we possibly be looking at another full day with the prosecution?
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