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This is On Trial, a special series from Dateline True Crime Weekly, bringing you daily coverage from the Sean Combs racketeering trial.
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He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. I'm Andrea Canning, and it's Thursday, June 12th.
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Just a heads up, in this episode, we're going to be talking about some graphic details and harrowing subject matter.
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It is day six on the witness stand for Jane, who is testifying under a pseudonym.
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She's the single mom who the prosecution says spent three years being forced into hotel nights by Combs.
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The defense says quite the opposite. She was a willing and sometimes eager participant.
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Today, the defense continued their cross-examination of Jane, confronting her with text messages, voicemails, and even voice notes she got from Combs during their relationship.
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We're going to play you two recordings the defense played earlier in the week so you can get a sense of what the jury is hearing.
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NBC News correspondent Chloe Malas is back, joining us from her spot on the sidewalk outside the courthouse.
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Hey, Chloe. Hey, Andrea. Let's start with these two messages that were played by Combs' attorney,
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Tenny Garagos, on Tuesday, actually. That was the day that the defense began their cross-examination of Jane.
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And I was surprised by how far they went into the complicated feelings Jane seems to have about Combs.
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this is a couple that didn't break up a couple years ago. This is a couple that were together as of just a few months ago.
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They were dating up until Combs' arrest. And on the stand, she has testified that she did these hotel nights with these male escorts
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because she didn't want Combs to feel judged for being what he was into sexually.
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So Tenny Garagos, who is one of Combs' attorneys, She's the one who's leading this cross-examination of Jane.
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And I remember I was like taking all these notes when she said this on Tuesday. She said you loved him right Jane testified yes Tenny Garagos then says currently And she says I do And also keep in mind that this is the first time that Jane is seeing Combs since they broke up
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so it's playing out almost like an X-rated soap opera. Yeah, no kidding. Chloe, that's the context for the voice note that we're about to play.
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You actually talked about it earlier in the week. You said this message was used by the defense to show that Combs wasn't, quote,
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holding a metaphorical gun to Jane's head before she engaged in these sexual performances with
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escorts. So let's take a listen to it. Hey, baby, we had a great time. Stay in the light.
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It's all good. Get your rest. You are the crack pipe. That's my new name for you, crack pipe.
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Should I call you CP? But yeah, I want you to stay in the light. You know what I'm saying?
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We had a very, very good time together. Like, so much, so much, so much, so much, so much fun.
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So much fun. Now go rest up. Get in your bag. Mwah, mwah, mwah. You know what I'm saying?
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Got your contract. Find a nice little spot. Put your mind at ease. And, um, yeah, I had a great time.
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And I really, really want you to get some rest. I didn't know about you throwing up and all that.
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That's when I was like, hold up a second. All right, get some rest, baby. Love. It's kind of hard to hear now, given all the information that we now know from this trial.
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Yes, I mean, bizarre nickname to call her his crack pipe. But what he's basically saying is that he was addicted to her love, addicted to her sex.
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And when he says in the voice note, get in your bag, we learned through Jane's testimony
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that that was something that he would say about, get back to work, like focus on your career, your dreams,
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get back into your routine. So that him being supportive And when it comes to you got your contract remember we talked about Jane testifying about this love contract that she would participate in these hotel nights as long as he
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paid her rent. And we know that he's still paying that $10,000 a month rent of her LA home to this
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day and her legal fees. Yeah. I mean, that's certainly an argument for the defense to make
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when you listen to that. So let's listen to another, this is a voice note that the defense played,
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and they played this to show Jane's initiative in all of this. So if you come in for 24 hours,
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yeah, you always wanted to set some s*** up. So now you got the opportunity. So set some s*** up for tomorrow night.
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That last vision we had, that was Don and ATL. So you put it together, baby. Okay, so Jane on the stand, she said that she heard that differently than the defense heard it.
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You know, I think that what's really interesting, Andrea, is that you're hearing a lot from the prosecution that these women, Cassie Ventura, Jane, you know, Mia, were forced to participate in things that they didn't want to.
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But when you're listening to this particular voice note, Combs is saying you've always wanted to set some up, meaning you've always wanted to set up one of these hotel nights.
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And now you have the opportunity to. And we have heard Jane testify that she would, on her own accord, hire some of these escorts, text them, call them, fly them in without Combs even knowing that it would be a surprise for him.
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She testified that she did that though because there was this undertone, this undercurrent that
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Combs wanted that. What was really going on is that she was actually trying to get out of this
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hotel night But again it her word versus his and it really muddies the waters here when it comes to sex trafficking Right And earlier this week the prosecution played messages he sent to Jane as well
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So both sides are choosing the ones they think show the version of Combs they want to show.
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I really don't know what's going on with you, but I just want to just give you a heads up that I'm about to really disappear on you.
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You feel me? I'm not going to be playing these games with you at all, at all. So I don't know if you think you're silent treating me, and you think I'm going to be, nah.
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You'll have a rude awakening. We've already heard Tenny Garagosantria say that there's thousands of voice notes.
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So obviously they're picking the ones that best fit them. Yeah. A lot of today's questions were about the end of their relationship.
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Chloe, you say that Combs seemed to get emotional at one point? So we're not exactly sure, because earlier in the morning I saw him blowing his nose.
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So I actually thought to myself that maybe he was sick. But today he was listening to her talk about a final phone conversation.
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And he was seen taking a handful of tissues, putting them up to his eye. Not sure if he was crying or what happened, but we'll definitely keep you posted on that.
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Chloe, are we done with Jane now? Yes. Prosecutors had always said that they needed to get her off the stand by Thursday.
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But really, the big question remains is who else is the prosecution planning to call before they hand things over to Combs' team to begin their defense?
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Okay. Thank you so much, Chloe. See you tomorrow. Thanks for listening to everyone else. We'll be back with a new episode tomorrow.
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If you want to read the latest developments and analysis from inside the courtroom, check out the NBC newsletter, Diddy on Trial.
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