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This is On Trial, a special series from Dateline True Crime Weekly, bringing you daily coverage
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from the Sean Combs racketeering trial. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.
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I'm Andrea Canning, and it's Tuesday, June 24th. Just a heads up, in this episode, we're going to be talking about some graphic details and
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harrowing subject matter. Today at 1.30, after calling 34 witnesses over six weeks, federal prosecutors rested
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their case. After that, the defense put on their case. It took them only a half an hour.
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They called no witnesses. What the defense did do is argue something called Rule 29, which is pretty common in federal trials.
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They asked the judge to dismiss the case on the grounds that the prosecution's evidence isn't strong enough to merit a conviction.
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NBC News correspondent Chloe Malas was in the courthouse for all the back and forth.
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And again, rather than stand on the sidewalk in a heat wave, she is in an air conditioned office to give us the latest.
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Hey, Chloe. Hey, Andrea. That is right. The sweat is a real thing. It's like 100 degrees in New York City.
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So I'm very glad you are inside. Absolutely. Chloe, this morning, the defense continued to cross examine the prosecution's last witness, the Homeland Security agent we told you about yesterday.
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During this cross-examination, the defense pulled up more texts between Jane, pseudonym Jane, and Sean Combs.
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How are these different from the texts that we've already seen? The defense has now shifted from pointing out Jane's actions, right?
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That she initiated some of these hotel nights, that she was affectionate with some of the escorts, that she handled some of the logistics for their travel.
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Instead, they're asking the jury to look at Combs' state of mind, right? Because if someone is telling you, I love you, I had such a great night, but that's not really how they're feeling.
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Well, I'm not a mind reader, so how did I know you didn't want to do those things?
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How could I know you were upset if you didn't tell me? And that is something that we've heard a little bit during cross-examination, but really today, the defense, they were trying to hammer that point home.
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We should remind everyone Jane is Combs' former girlfriend. That's right. And the argument is that Jane was so positive about the sex that they were having at these hotel nights, at these freak-offs, with these escorts, that a reasonable person couldn't have known that she felt coerced or forced.
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So then, therefore, it doesn't meet the bar of sex trafficking. Chloe, you and I talked about showing these freak-off videos again and again and how that could possibly be overkill for the jury.
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The defense decided today to show five more freak-off videos. Why did they do that?
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And is the jury becoming numb to it, or do you think it's just cringy to them? I mean, it's a lot of sex.
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It's just my opinion that this is the defense's strategy to be like, we're not afraid of these videos, that these were filmed for personal enjoyment.
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These were not filmed to blackmail anybody or to force anybody to continue to participate in these drug-fueled sex parties.
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And that these were women who were consenting Like look at them Do they look passed out drugged beyond belief that they can make a decision Are they saying no Are they crying Is he beating them Is he
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yelling at them to continue? On the contrary, according to testimony, Jane and Cassie really
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were not vocal during the actual freak offs, Andrea, that they didn't want to do them.
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Anyone objecting came out later after the fact. Chloe, after the prosecution rested, as we mentioned at the top, the defense put forward its motion for acquittal, which, as we said, not out of the ordinary, but it's interesting, this Rule 29.
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Tell us what it is and how the judge decided on it. Yeah, so a Rule 29 motion is pretty standard in a federal trial such as this one.
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And it's where the defense is saying, look, judge, the prosecutors, the government, they did not meet their burden of proof.
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I sat in there for the Rule 29 today, and it was led by Alexandra Shapiro, one of Combs' attorneys.
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And she almost painstakingly went through all five counts. Remember, count one is Rico conspiracy.
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And if convicted, he faces life in prison. And the defense's argument is that the prosecution never showed that Combs agreed with others to commit any crime.
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The government has to prove that Combs agreed to participate in the conduct of the enterprise.
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And the defense is saying that the government never proved that he conspired with any other person, that there were one-off crimes committed, but that these individuals were not also knowingly participating in a criminal enterprise.
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enterprise. Yeah, the defense is arguing there was no conspiracy at all. Exactly. They're saying,
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okay, so he had some assistance by drugs from time to time. He was hiring these escorts and
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so were either Cassie or Jane, but his team, they really didn't know what was going on behind those
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closed doors. The defense pointed out some text messages today that had already been brought up
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throughout the course of the trial. And in one instance, Combs is saying to an escort,
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hey, you know, you better leave before the team comes. Other instances where he's trying to
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conceal the activity from KK, right? And KK confronts him, Christina Karam, his former chief
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of staff, saying, you need to be honest with me. You know, I don't need to go through your phone,
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but you need to be straightforward. And so, Alexandra Shapiro, one of Combs' attorneys,
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was really trying to say, look, he was trying to conceal his private sex life, his fetishes,
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which may have had some illegal activity in it, but he was trying to keep that separate from his
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business. The defense says that the staff was doing damage control, that they were cleaning up
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these hotel rooms, for instance, and maybe even booking the hotels in their name versus his,
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because he was this big star and they wouldn't want that to get out in the press, but not because
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they thought that he was doing anything grossly illegal and running a criminal enterprise.
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The prosecution is trying to say that Combs, you know, went to great lengths to conceal
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his alleged illegal enterprise. Did the defense say there wasn enough evidence for that either So under Rico conspiracy there are something called predicate crimes And if Combs has committed at least two illegal activities on that list then it meets the requirement to prove
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RICO conspiracy. And on that is obstruction of justice. And what the prosecution has argued is
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that one way that he tried to conceal his illegal enterprise was paying off those security guards
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from the Intercontinental Hotel so that that video of him beating Cassie in the hallway
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never got out. Remember Eddie Garcia, who testified Combs, showed up to his meeting with $100,000 in
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a brown paper bag, like something straight out of a movie, and called Eddie his angel.
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But the defense said that that's not bribery because there was no police involvement at
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any time, and that Cassie even said that she did not want Eddie Garcia or anyone going to
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the police. And Eddie also testified that he thought that the NDA he signed was ironclad and
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that he couldn't go to the police. But on cross-examination, the defense pointed out
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that the NDA did have a stipulation that said anyone who signs this, they are free to go to
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law enforcement if they need to. The judge said he's going to reserve his decision and I believe
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put it in writing. And we'll see that perhaps tomorrow. Okay, Chloe, when we come back,
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The defense's case was short. It was mostly love letters. Welcome back, everybody.
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Chloe, Combs formally declined to testify. This was a really fascinating part because it was the first time that we heard Combs in a very long time.
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He first told the judge really quickly. It sounded like he was really trying to rush these words out.
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I just want to tell you that I think that you're doing a really good job to the judge.
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Oh, wow. Yeah, I don't know if that's just to kind of flatter the judge. So that maybe, you know, but he also kind of took his time saying that it was his decision
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to not testify. He said, quote, that is totally my decision. You know, I'm making it.
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And then he kind of like laughed while I'm making it with my lawyers. And it just seemed like he really wanted to talk.
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And it has to be hard to sit there for six weeks and hear all these bad things about yourself
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and then not get a chance to address the jury. Yeah, really, really hard. But, you know, it was no surprise, as Danny told us yesterday,
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putting him on the stand would be too much of a risk. And Danny said, what, we'd be here for months?
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So most of the defense's case today was text messages. There wasn't anything new really about any of them,
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but surprisingly romantic note to close out this portion of the trial. This really reminded me of Weinstein's criminal retrial,
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retrial where they were showing love notes between some of the women and Weinstein. And you saw that
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today. Cassie Ventura in June of 2012, she writes, I am the luckiest woman in the world.
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And then in May of 2017, I thank God we grew together and not apart. No one understands me
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the way you do. You are my best friend. There isn't a person in the world that I love more than
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What significant about that in May of 2017 this is after Combs brutally beat her at the Intercontinental Hotel in 2016 So if you trying to prove forced fraud coercion and you trying to say that he trapped these
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women and blackmailed them, I think that this is very strong for the defense. How did Combs look today?
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You know, we're nearing the end here. It's been a lot. Also, you know, he's seeing these romantic messages.
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What was the vibe like in the courtroom with Sean Combs? When he arrived in the courtroom this morning, he was the only one at the defense table. He was sort of shuffling through papers in a folder. And at one point, he looked like he leaned back and let out a sigh. And during the Rule 29 motion, the jury wasn't in there, but I was staring at him and he was just continually rubbing his face and his head in his hands. I think he's just tired. It's arduous. It's a lot of information to listen to and have to sit there in that chair.
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And really, he's he really doesn't move much at all. He's very stoic. I think it just is a massive emotional toll on anyone.
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Yeah, well, including the jury, as far as, you know, just fatigue, I would think at this point.
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I think they're really tired. Right. And this heat is not helping anyone. But they will not be in court tomorrow because it's a charging conference.
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And that is strictly between the prosecutors, the defense team and the judge. And they're going to be going over what exactly are going to be the jury instructions and what sort of paperwork are they going to have to go through as they are deliberating.
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And because of all that paperwork, we are not going to subject our listeners to boring information about a charging conference, albeit very, very important, of course.
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Of course. So we're not going to put out an episode tomorrow, but we will return on Thursday to talk about closings.
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And I imagine that these closings are going to be very powerful with these highly skilled attorneys.
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Four hours for each side. And I thought I talked a lot. I don't see how anybody could talk for four hours on a subject.
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but Mark Agnifolo, who is Combs' lead attorney, who we really haven't seen much of at all
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during this trial because there are so many attorneys, he's going to be doing closings.
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And you're going to have the prosecutors kick things off in the morning. That would likely be
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Maureen Comey. Remember her father is James Comey, the former FBI director. So I think the jury could
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get the case Friday afternoon. That's what the judge has said. But you never know. This could
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also stretch into Monday. Yeah. Chloe, thank you. We look forward to our break tomorrow and we'll
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see everybody on Thursday. See you Thursday. Thanks for listening. If you want to read the
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latest developments and analysis from inside the courtroom, check out the NBC newsletter,
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Diddy on Trial. Go to NBCnews.com slash Diddy to find that. On Trial is produced by Frannie Kelly
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with help from the Dateline True Crime Weekly team. Our senior producers are Alison Orr and Liz Brown-Korloff.
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Original music by Jesse McGinty. Paul Ryan is executive producer. And Liz Cole is senior executive producer of Dateline.