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Kid Cudi's wearing a pair of blue jeans, a black leather jacket, and he likely smells a little bit like cigarettes and I only say that because prior to sitting on that witness stand at the very front of the courtroom Kid Cudi is seen getting out of his car in front of the federal courthouse.
It's pouring rain outside.
A guard is holding an umbrella for him.
He looks like he's walking out of a K -drama or some sort of superhero movie.
Kid Cudi is smoking a cigarette before walking into that courthouse, which have left a lot of netizens commenting all over the internet.
When you smoke a cigarette before walking into court to testify, you know you're about to take somebody down.
And now he's sitting in that courtroom.
And I will say, it does look like there's 90 ,000 other places Kid Cudi wants to be but he does sit up there rather casually like he looks like he might not want to be there but he doesn't look afraid.
He doesn't look intimidated.
He looks like he's making a pit stop on a road trip to the federal courthouse before the long weekend.
His destination is the Hamptons.
Prosecutor Johnson is in the middle of asking Kid Cudi a bunch of questions in front of the jurors.
Why were you concerned about your safety?
Kid Cudi is about to open his mouth and respond, but defense attorney Brian Steele, young thug's former attorney passionately scream, I don't wanna say scream, but he states into the mic, objection, your honor.
The judge is glancing over because I mean, I don't know, maybe he's thinking what I'm thinking which is I feel like that's a valid question.
Grounds, speculation, future dangerousness.
The judge does not agree.
That's overruled. And the prosecutor continues.
Prosecutor Johnson looks back up at Kid Cudi.
You just said you were concerned for your safety and Miss Ventura, Cassie's safety.
Why were you concerned about your safety?
Because I kind of...
Brian Steele stands up again.
Your Honor? Objection!
Can we approach? The objection is over -ruled.
Could you just ask the question again, Miss Johnson?
Sure. We were talking about when you broke off your relationship with Miss Ventura.
Do you remember that?
Yes. And that was around the end of the year 2011.
Is that right? Yes.
And you mentioned that you had safety concerns.
Yes. Why did you have safety concerns?
Because I knew that Sean Combs was vi - Brian Steele is more aggressive this third time.
Objection, your honor!
Can we approach? Now in the midst of this oddly heated exchange, there is a sidebar where Brian Steele asks the judge, may I?
Yes. Your honor, I'm gonna move for a mistrial.
This is Sean Combs' defense attorney.
He says your honor, I'm going to move for a mistrial.
The government knows that the answer is about to be that Mr. Combs has had other people killed.
This is an outrageous question.
I'm sorry, what? The minute that you read this sidebar because you don't hear this sidebar in court You get the transcript at the end of the day Brian Steel, Sean Combs's defense attorney, is saying that the government knows that Kid Cudi is going to tell the jurors That Sean Combs has other people killed Yeah, that's some crazy things.
The judge argues back because that's just not how it works He didn't say that Brian Steele argues, but he will say that He hasn't said that.
Well, he's about to say it.
I'm putting the court on notice.
This is where the judge draws his boundaries.
No, you don't get to put me on notice.
There's no grounds for any kind of application along those lines because no question that you're talking about has been asked and the answer has not been given.
Now, what is your objection to the question that was asked?
Why are you scared of Mr. Combs?
His answer is going to be because Mr. Combs is violent and he has had other people killed.
To which now the public is wondering, he has?
Did his attorney just snitch on him?
Like how does he know that that's what Kid Cudi is about to say?
I will say there's a bit more to the sidebar and the transcript on this matter but we will get to that all in this episode.
This is the testimony of Kid Cudi and all of the songs that were allegedly made from Kid Cudi about Diddy, and perhaps even a song that Diddy was on that referenced Kid Cudi.
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A few disclaimers before we get started.
There are mentions of physical assault, kidnapping, firearms. Many of the quotes and statements included have been shortened and condensed for brevity.
To cover ourselves legally, you know the drill.
Sean Combs is presumed innocent until proven guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt.
The burden of proof is the responsibility of the government.
And all of the crimes that he has been charged with are alleged.
So please do your own research any descriptions and observations because there's no cameras allowed in the federal courthouse any descriptions observations were seen by myself or two of my other researchers that are present in the main courtroom They should still not be used as definitive sources for determining how you feel about one party or another So with that being said, let's get started.
It's kid Cuddy day.
The courtroom is back to being packed So I'm just gonna give you guys an idea.
I will say the first week when the trial really kicked off with opening statements and then obviously Cassey Ventura testified.
Everybody was honestly shoving to get inside the main courtroom.
It was kind of crazy.
They only allow a certain number of people from the press in public in.
And I'm talking full grown adults.
I'm like I just saw you on TV giving me the morning news before I got here.
And now we're like two seconds away from a cafeteria food fight from elbowing each other to get inside.
That was the first week, and then things started dying down, and now, the day that everybody knows Kid Cudi is coming to testify, it is back to being fully jam -packed.
Officer Riz, he's the officer that runs the courtroom.
He is like, very strongly, like he just only loves his family, that's what he says all the time.
He's like, who's King Cudi?
Everybody's talking about King Cudi, and we're like, Officer Riz it is Kid Cudi.
He had no idea? No, he's just here to make sure everything in the courtroom goes smoothly.
I don't think he really cares about celebrity culture and celebrities and stuff like that.
The press pews are like listening intently because we have no further context to everything that's going on.
So we sit down, the attorneys are in there and they're passionately talking already.
The jurors are not here.
The defendant is here and everybody's very passionate and they're talking about a dog.
So all the press, they're opening up their journals, they're writing down, whose dog are we talking about?
Judges not there. The judge is there, and the judge is listening to the arguments about the dog, presumably Kid Cuddy's dog.
Something happened to Kid Cuddy's dog.
Defense attorney Brian Steele argues, I think that if the government is going to do this, they say that the witnesses' dog was put behind a closed door on or around December 22nd of 2011, I just want to make sure that they're not going to elicit testimony from him that the dog acted differently thereafter, somehow traumatized.
Prosecutor Johnson stands up.
Your Honor, Mr Miss Gutty will certainly testify about the location of the dog when he came home because that's relevant to his understanding of whether someone had been in his home or not because his dog had not been locked up when he left his home.
I do think his observations about his dog after are relevant to the effects of this break in on him.
The judge ponders for 0 .2 seconds.
He thinks on like 20 times speed I think.
The judge does say he's not going to testify about what the dog thought.
The prosecutor's like, he's not going to testify about what the dog thought.
Certainly not. He is not a dog psychic.
The press start giggling.
The judge clarifies, he's going to say that the visible demeanor of the dog was different than it was usually and given that it's his dog he would know what the dog usually acts like?
Correct. He will say after the break in the dog was jumpier and scared and more scared.
Brian Steele is not trying to agree with any of this though.
I will object. I don't see why We're getting into what a dog.
The judge though is seemingly in a good mood.
Let the record reflect the smirk on Mr. Steel's face." So like we're trying to get a vibe as a press.
Okay. Cause we don't know what the testimony is.
Kid Cudi hasn't testified yet.
So we don't know what we're talking about his dog.
We don't know what happened to his dog.
We're still in the dark, but Brian Steel is smirking.
The judge seems to be in good spirits.
We just go with the flow, honestly.
We just like when it seems like we should be giggling, we try to giggle.
I think that's the vibe.
but Brian Steele says, I can't imagine that this is something that should come into this trial.
It's, you know, it's afterwards.
Day 2 after the event.
The next year, the dog was never the same.
The dog urinated on the floor?
Why do we need all of that?
Now we traumatize the dog!
That's really what the government is doing here.
There are some dog lovers, potentially on the jury.
The judge says, I agree.
This is a very serious issue.
And he cracks a little smile and then the press are like, that's our cue to laugh.
It was kind of cute, it was kind of funny, I guess, because we don't know the context of anything that's going on.
These are just very serious high -paid, high -powered attorneys talking about a dog and dog psychics.
The judge asks, Miss Johnson, I think there is a fair point.
What are we talking about here?
Is he going to say that when he got home and he opened the door, he noticed that the dog was acting differently?
Or is he going to like, now even now my dog acts differently.
At a certain point, it becomes kind of a far afield.
I agree, Your Honor.
Unfortunately, the dog is no longer with us.
And there are literal ahh from the gallery because it's just none of us were expecting that, it feels out of context.
The way that this whole dog argument was being delivered it felt like a very light morning and then it got very depressing.
The judge says as long as the dog's behavior is in relation to the actual event he will allow those questions.
And after that I will say the energy persists should be a little bit more tense, I don't know if it's just there's more people in the courtroom and it feels like something more serious is going on even though every single day of the trial has been equally serious but there's just all these weird tension -breaking moments.
I will say there have been two court reporters that have pretty much consistently been in the room while they were covering the trial so it's two of them and they'll take turns and they'll swap out and then they'll go do the transcript and then they'll come back and it's like a whole operation they're incredible at their jobs but I do think like recently I don't know if the audio in the room was messing up because every single time one of the attorneys would talk, specifically Bryan Steele, the court reporter would not be able to hear what he is saying, and maybe it's because Bryan Steele was not using the microphone
correctly, but it's a lot of this tension of like, what did you just say?
And then the attorney has to repeat themselves and it's like a very serious matter that they're repeating themselves slowly and it's just like causing, yes.
So you're saying the court reporter would jump in?
Like, can you say that one more time?
Yes, and then I think it's because his voice is not one that we're used to hearing, that even we get a little jumpy, we're like, wait, who is talking right now?
Who's saying that? I see.
So it's just like adding a little bit, it's like an extra zing of tension nonstop throughout the day, of like, oh okay, we got to pause and they got to repeat themselves and it's just, it feels like a different day.
This is also the day that we see Sean Combs.
We see more of him than, I guess, we ever intended to.
he was like bending all the way over to whisper to his attorney and because he doesn't have pants, his pants were sliding down.
He doesn't have pants?
Or he doesn't have a belt.
I'm so sorry, his pants were sliding down and for once I do think that we might be thankful that there are no cameras in the courtroom.
So there's just a lot happening.
Now, I will say beyond that, the best way to describe Sean Combs' energy recently is that he's been trying to interact with the jury more.
And I don't wanna say this word, but I'm gonna say it.
I feel like he's pandering.
I don't know that's the best word that we can come up with and I don't know if he's intentionally pandering I think the perception is that because for so long he would glance at the jurors He would not at the jurors when they walk in he would sometimes glance at them and shake his head disapprovingly when a witness says something that he is trying to show them is not true or show them he Disagree's with it or if somebody says something slightly positive about him that he will agree and he'll kind of nod his head and maybe glance over at the jurors there is this one interesting moment and I'm telling
you everybody was getting sick in that courtroom everybody's sneezing it's freezing one juror in the front row starts rubbing their arms because they're cold everybody's rubbing their arms and what it feels like to us is that it feels like Sean Combs catches that and the rest of the day he keeps looking over at the jury and like very dramatically shaking like those cartoons where you're shivering and then you like rub your arms, he's like rubbing his arms basically mouthing, so cold, so cold.
He's like rubbing his hands together like he's starting a fire and then like blowing into his hands.
So you're saying he's looking at the jurors and then also trying to signal into them, hey, I'm cold, so cold, right?
Yeah, like oh, I relate to you.
I'm struggling just like you guys, I'm experiencing the same, is what it felt like to us.
It's like a building report.
Yes. Like body language.
Yeah, and he's high into his hands, which I agree, it's cold, but I don't know if it's that cold.
There's one part, and look, I'm also honking in the courtroom.
There are times where I'm trying to wait for the least important parts where there really aren't any, where I can quickly blow my nose into a tissue because it's more disturbance to leave the room.
I always try to find the best time to blow my nose when the judge is not on the bench or when there's the least amount of people.
But one thing I noticed, and this timing was interesting, this one time where, and I'm not saying he did this on purpose.
I think it's a hard time controlling it, but it was interesting.
Okay, so the jurors right before they walk in, it's pretty slow though.
Like the attorneys are talking, there's like a little dead moment where not much is happening.
They're not like aggressively talking about objections, they're just waiting for the jurors to walk in.
Sean Combs seems to just be sitting there and then the jurors walk in, they're seated, everybody is trying to get settled.
Sean Combs reaches over, grabs a tissue and just like noisily honks his nose, and I'm like, I don't know if it were me, I feel like I would have done that two minutes ago before they walked in.
It wasn't like a sneeze.
It was like, you kind of know when you're gonna blow your nose.
So it was just very interesting.
It felt like in conjunction, in addition to all the shivering and the rubbing his arms dramatically, it just felt like maybe he's just building rapport with Jurs, and do I blame him for that?
Probably not because I'm sure a lot of defendants try to do that.
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Now's the time to treat yourself and get your problem solved save $15 on your first order with code podcast15 at thirdlove .com But nevertheless, with Kid Cudi testifying, netizens are starting to dig deep into the Kid Cudi lore right now They are Psychoanalyzing all of Kid Cudi's songs trying to see if any of them were written about Diddy one Kid Cudi song is called Burn Baby Burn and the lyrics read burn baby burn truthfully and noted I'm back so please no more speculation about that.
I'm back they think I'm living life paranoid mother fuck that man they got me twisted they don't know that boy I'm just getting busy killing it.
I just want to watch it burn baby burn.
That song was released in 2023.
another one is called Dennis hooked me up with some of that whiskey.
So these are like Netizens and speculations before Kid Cudi is testifying.
So I think the minute that people found out he's testifying on what day the day before the internet is like let's try to dig up anything we can find.
Because so far all we know is Cassie's civil lawsuit stated that Sean Combs allegedly tried to blow up Kid Cudi's Porsche through a Molotov cocktail in there.
And then Cassie testified and she briefly also kind of mentioned it but it didn't go in depth.
And now people are like okay now that we know a general timeline.
Let's go through his music catalog.
Another one is Dennis Hooked Me Up With Some of That Whiskey.
It was released the same year his car was set on fire.
A few months after, actually, like two months later.
The lyrics read, they really want me dead.
Hate, not my fault, I'm intriguing.
Here I go with my second wind, bitch. You already know I'm going in.
I've been waiting, I've been waiting to shit on you.
Now, side note, screenshots show, old screenshots, allegedly showed that he tweeted around this time when he released this song.
Do you guys wanna know who's girl found me intriguing?
Wow. And then he deleted it.
And allegedly he said that he was hacked.
Even Kid Cudi's 2013, so this is a year after his car blows up, his 2013 album called Indicud, the album cover is just an explosion that's framed.
It's like the red flames of an explosion with the parental advisory in the corner.
And netizens are now wondering is that about Diddy allegedly trying to blow up his car because of Cassie and everybody's confused.
Are these songs about his car being set on fire?
Which, side note, nobody even knew up until like a few years ago.
I mean, how did they keep this under wraps for so long?
That's what some netizens are wondering and I think a lot of the reason that netizens have taken it upon themselves to search into Kid Cudi's lyrics is he's pretty well known for his artistry.
People will say that you can clearly see what type of era in life he is in by his music.
His creative process feels a lot more raw versus Manufactured like this sequence of lyrics will go tick -tock viral, which nothing's wrong with that But generally speaking his lyrics are known to have a much deeper meaning in March of 2012 So just two months after his car was allegedly set on fire kid cuddy tweets I hope they understand that I really understand that they don't understand But again, nobody at the time even knew that his car had been set on fire Nobody knew that any of this was happening.
So the day before he testifies, everybody's just trying to dig, go back to the Wayback Machine.
And now he's gonna take the stand and he's gonna tell us what happened.
However, I will say, I was lurking on some gossip blogs from the 2012 time period.
And I did see one post from 2012.
This is from April of 2012, three months after his car was set on fire.
This is a random gossip blog that reads, Kid Cudi about to die.
Sources close to the rapper are alleging that he definitely slept with bad boy artist and Diddy love interest Cassie and is now living in fear for his life.
Everyone kept it hush -hush in the industry but the rumors were bound to come out eventually.
News of the betrayal has been spreading like wildfire.
The good news for Cassie is while Diddy is allegedly very upset initially, the affair seems to have brought Diddy and Cassie closer.
So now I'm like what is happening?
And there is a rumor from the same gossip thread that Diddy's song from March 5th, 2012, again, just a few months after the car fire, is, well, it's not actually his song, but it's Red Cafe's song, which is an artist signed with bad boy.
And He French Montana and Two Chains were featured on it.
That song has Kid Cudi, Kid Cudi by name.
The lyrics for Diddy's verse read, sorry ass out here looking funny.
So I'm in my own world, spaced out Kid Cudi.
Hold the fuck up, R -I -P Huddie.
Side note. That's based on like Cudi?
Yes, so I think it seems like he's trying to take a reference at the fact that Kid Cudi is not as involved in the Hollywood life.
He kind of does his own thing.
I see. He likes to make his music, he has a lot of famous friends.
Like some of his closest friends are like Timothee Chalamet, Pete Davidson, but it seems like he keeps to himself.
He kind of has his own little world.
So it's like a somewhat of a dig.
Yeah. And then he says r .i .p.
Huddi. Now, Huddy is apparently a friend of Diddy's that passed away.
So people are just digging all of this up in 2012, and then now in 2025.
And it seems like maybe Sean Combs is, in fact, worried about all the things that these witnesses are going to say about him against him on the stand, because he has hired a man named Stephan Casella.
This is the newest addition to his legal team, but he's not going to show up to trial.
This guy is going to be behind the scenes.
I don't think we're ever really going to hear from this man.
He is the former deputy chief of the justice department's asset forfeiture and money laundering section He's probably the country's foremost expert in asset forfeiture and money laundering.
He's actually works for the other side He has worked with the feds for nearly 30 years until 2015 that is crazy.
So now he's gone fully private his own practice, and Diddy is like come here.
Yeah, he was like probably at the top of the Feds working for the other side.
He basically created all the laws that Diddy is now facing for the RICO charges.
Whoa. He recently started going private in 2015.
He opened up his own private firm.
Basically, this is the guy that wrote the legislature that is now putting Diddy at risk for his $400 million empire.
Because it's not just life in prison that Diddy is facing.
RICO charges means that the government can seize Diddy's assets.
So he's 400 million?
I thought he was a billionaire.
He was a billionaire and then a lot of that just started plummeting.
Like out his business assets?
Yeah. A lot of it was his like a tequila and alcohol brand interest that he had.
And now he's being hired by Diddy.
Stefan Cassella is being hired by Diddy to make sure that he does not lose whatever money he has now to give you an idea of how influential this man is he has a monthly reader like a money laundering and forfeiture digest publication 80 of the 90 US Attorney offices read the publication every single month this is the thing with Rico charge if he's convicted of that Rico charge his assets if the government can prove that it was used to commit a crime they can seize it.
So it's not just life in prison.
He's like, he could lose all of his money.
So essentially, if he's convicted, and let's say an assault takes place at a recording studio.
That means, not only could the studio be forfeited as an asset to the government, but the recording company that paid for said studio could also be up for forfeiture.
Basically, the prosecutors, if they get a guilty verdict, they're going to go after $400 million, and they're incentivized to devise too.
That includes his residences, like his $61 million LA mansion that he's been putting on the market for the past, I don't know, a year.
Multiple mansions in Miami worth tens of millions of dollars.
There's at least one painting that we know of, which is a $21 .1 million painting by Kerry James Marshall.
He has a private jet, an entire car dealership worth of luxury cars.
That's all gonna be up for grabs.
The government's gonna want that.
If he's convicted, as long as the government can establish a clear connection between each asset and the alleged criminal enterprise, it's the government's money.
That's why he's hired Casella.
So now I'm curious, what is Casella going to do?
His main thing is he has a very sophisticated asset tracing analysis.
That's what he's known for.
So he's going to go in there and, I mean, it's probably a lot smarter than the way that I'm explaining it and much more complicated, I'm sure.
But simply put, he's probably going to meticulously document all the quote clean assets that have no relation to any alleged criminal activity which means the government cannot seize those assets.
there are even speculations because people were wondering why did sean combs not take his plea deal so people thought maybe he didn't take it because he was so confident like he's a narcissist he thought he was going to beat the charges or maybe the government doesn't have evidence and he knows it.
Like there were lots of speculations.
But now with a hiring of Stephen Cassella, people are wondering, maybe he didn't take it because if you take the plea deal, it likely would have resulted in asset forfeitures.
The Money Laundering and Forfeiture Digest written by Cassella shows that 89 percent of RICO please include asset surrender.
So if you plead guilty, it includes asset surrender.
Wow. Which makes sense.
And if Sean Combs is convicted, it'll probably be a very intense fight to keep his assets from being seized by the feds.
And it seems like he's going to fight hard. Wow.
Okay. Before Kid Cudi walks into the courtroom, everybody's already turned looking at the door behind the pews.
Like we are physically turned 180 degrees, Sean comes included.
So I'm like looking at him through my peripheral.
He's staring at the back doors for a second, and then I think he realizes that he doesn't want to be doing that because suddenly he's the only one facing forward. He like refuses to look at the back now when Kid Cudi walks in Everybody's staring everybody's body is shifting as he's walking down the aisle Kid Cudi's eyes Just like many of the other witnesses are trained to the front He does not look at Diddy he goes straight to the very front where the judges I mean, there's got to be at least a few fans in the courtroom, right?
Like that's what I was thinking because that was a lot of people in the press the public the gallery I mean, hopefully not the jury because they're not supposed to know who he is now Sean Combs is a statue...
Like just a statue again.
He watches Kid Cudi when he's already in eyesight and then he watches him sit all the way down on the witness stand and it's a very intense look.
At some points during the direct Combs looks like he's just staring in a trance and all you hear are like the sketch artist going crazy on their canvases and I will say they did do Kid Cudi a little dirty.
Now, Kid Cudi's. Okay.
Now that you say Diddy is like a statue again.
Yes. It sounds almost like when whoever's sitting there is a little more high -stake for him or for the media, he's like statue because he has to really watch everything because likely maybe he would want to show some reactions.
So he put more emphasize on his own body languages.
When someone is more high stakes he's definitely more statuesque, especially if it's a personal relationship.
So I feel like there are other high stakes witnesses here and there, but it seems like the people, But what about like all the assistants that you mentioned?
Like that has came before?
statue, but nowhere near a statue. I would say Cassie, Don Richard, kid Cuddy, like these are strong interpersonal relationships where I do think personal assistance, I feel like Sean Combs looks at them a certain way.
It's like a different category for him.
These are people that have very complicated interpersonal weavings throughout his life and it feels like he's a lot more statuesque now but what's interesting is he's very statuesque during the direct during cross -examination because now the witnesses are getting their credibility is technically being attacked because that's the whole point of a cross -examination he's a lot more moving his eyeballs are moving around more he's looking towards his attorney and the jurors a lot more often he seems a lot more free usually.
So it's very interesting.
Now Kid Cudi's direct examination is handled by prosecutor Emily Johnson, the same one that did Cassie Ventura's and they immediately just get into the part that the jurors want to know.
Did there come a time when law enforcement responded to your home in December of 2011?
Yes. Why did law enforcement respond in 2011?
Because I had a break -in.
I'd like to start at the beginning of the break -in.
How did that day start?
Well I got a call from Cassie around 5 .30, 6 a .m., and she told me that Sean Combs had found out about us.
I was really confused, but she asked me to pick her up.
She sounded really stressed on the phone, nervous, scared, so I went to pick her up, and yeah.
Kid Cudi is explaining that even that phone call at 6 a .m., which already based on the time is probably disorienting, he tells prosecutor Johnson, yeah, he was definitely confused by the entirety of the phone call because he didn't even think that Cassie and Combs were still dating.
So she's like, he found out about us, and he probably was thinking something along the lines of like, why does it matter?
I thought you guys weren't together He says I didn't think that she was still dealing with him Because prior to all of this when Kid Cudi and Cassie start dating he says that he asked her about Sean Combs quote Like if they're still hanging out now Johnson is clarifying though because after the phone call he goes to pick her up So she's like why if you just found out that they're still dating and she told you they weren't dating Like why'd you go pick her up?
She wanted me to come pick her up and she was also worried that he would come to my house because he asked for my that dress and she gave it to him.
He goes to pick her up and he describes Cassie as being really, quote, very stressed, nervous, just scared, didn't know what Sean Combs would do.
Just a reference going back to Cassie's testimony.
So I do think it's interesting how each witness talks about the same incident from a different perspective.
I do wonder with the trial expected to be a full eight weeks, how the jurors are gonna piece it together because just even going through and cross -referencing the transcripts is a lot of work and so far we're only a small portion through the entirety of the trial.
Now we crossed reference with Cassie's testimony about that night and she was likely stressed and scared because she was at Shawn's house, she describes him as irate, he had just found out at a freak -off about the fact that she was dating Scott Mascutti.
Through her text message in the middle of a freak out.
Yes and she said he was just so angry she says he threatens to release freak off videos of her to hurt her relationship with Scott and as she's leaving his house She says quote he Sean kicked me in my back on the way out.
So I just had a big bruise on my back I fell to the floor and yeah, then I left She goes back to her hotel to get her burner phone to call Scott But the hotel room that she was staying in was trashed completely.
She said it was just torn up There was somebody peed all over the floor in the bathroom.
My clothes were everywhere the furniture was turned upside down, somebody pooped in the toilet and didn't flush it.
It was just gross. Presumably, she called Scott from this hotel sounding terrified.
He picks her up and the two of them go to another hotel, the Sunset Marquis.
Kid Cudi says he picked that hotel because he's to go there and he just thought it was a safe place where she would be off the radar.
At this point Sean Combs isn't even looking at Kid Cudi.
He's just taking notes in the courtroom.
Like he looks it's so disorienting because sometimes I look over at him and he has the demeanor of someone in the which I don't know what demeanor I'm expecting from him, and this is not like me critiquing his demeanor or trying to police someone's demeanor or psychoanalyze it.
It just always throws me off sometimes because he'll have his glasses on and he just looks like a member of the press, just like, let me write down my notes, because I don't get that feeling from the attorneys next to him.
And maybe it's when he writes, he tilts his head sometimes and it has a more relaxed demeanor, whereas attorneys are like scribbling, kind of like head down.
I mean, he has those moments too, but it's just interesting.
Now they get to the hotel and the only person that they really speak to aside from hotel staff, is a woman named Capricorn Clark.
And you have to remember this woman because in a day or two, there's gonna be an episode on her.
And it was probably the most interesting testimony, a lot happens in that testimony, but she's the one that accuses Sean Combs of kidnapping her by gunpoint.
So we'll get into that in the next episode but this is where things kind of get tricky.
Kid Cudi describes Capricorn Clark as being Cassie's close friend.
So there must be a very strong friendship element there or at least perceived to be, right?
But Kid Cudi even says she hung out with me and Cassie a lot.
However, Capricorn Clark is also Sean Combs' former assistant and now the director for his clothing brand, Sean Jon, the global director.
Meaning, she is ultimately on Diddy's payroll.
So now at the hotel, they're on the phone with Capricorn Clark and Kid Cudi says he hears Capricorn's voice over the phone and she sounds very scared.
Sounds like she's on the verge of tears and according to Kid Cudi, that's when she tells them, Capricorn tells them, that Sean Combs and the affiliates were in my house and she was in a car.
She was forced to go along with them over there.
This is what Kid Cudi is saying.
Now to give you some context to all of this and like we don't get as much context during Kid Cudi's testimony but now that Capricorn Clark has testified, which again, that episode should be up in like a day or two.
We get a fuller picture, Capricorn Clark was one of the only people in Cassie's life that knew that she was dating Scott Misscuddy aside from her family.
So they, Capricorn Clark calls them and she's like, hey, I'm at Kid Cudi's house.
Sean Combs and his affiliates are at Kid Cudi's house.
They're like inside his house.
I'm in the car - So she's calling secretly?
She's like, I'm in the car outside.
And they're in your house.
I'm giving you a heads up.
Well, she doesn't even know Kid Cudi's with Cassie.
She's like, Hey Cassie, they're inside Kid Cudi's house right now.
I'm outside in the car.
They forced me to come here.
I don't want to be here.
Now at that point, Kid Cudi says he kind of starts freaking out.
Prosecutor Johnson asks him after you spoke to Capricorn, what did you do next?
I got in my car and I went to my house.
Did anyone go with you when you went to your house after the phone call?
No. He gets into his Porsche 911 Cabriolet, kind of pertinent later.
Now, side note, Cabriolet is essentially just a convertible and his specifically has a soft top.
So it's more fabric than a hard shell convertible.
Again, pertinent later.
He gets into his car, it's nighttime in LA, he's driving to his house, he starts calling Sean Combs, he has his number.
Can you describe the conversation that you had with Mr. Combs on the drive to your home?
Yeah, I'm going to be very candid.
I said motherfucker you in my house and he was like, what's up.
I just want to talk to you I was like, I'm on my way over right now.
He was like, well, I'm here That is kind of crazy.
Yeah, I feel like I don't know if that's me I will probably call the cops or something because someone's like breaking into my house Yeah, like already with some crazy intent like I don't know if I would just go straight home and face them like that Yeah, I also don't know if I would start the phone call with motherfucker you in my house when they're in my house Yeah, that's kind of - yeah, but he's like driving he's on the phone.
When Mr. Combs said I'm over here waiting for you What was your understanding of where Mr. Combs was located at my house?
What was Mr. Combs tone of voice during the phone call - call.
When Kid Cudi gets home He says the outside looks the same as it typically does it looks normal.
So he doesn't do like a thorough check It's not until later He realizes that all of the security cameras that were on the outside of his house For example, the camera that would be angled towards the front door, because that makes the most sense.
You want to see who's coming at the door, coming and going, but someone had moved it to the opposite side.
Basically, probably pointing it at like the wall, like the building or something where it doesn't really capture anything of importance or relevance.
Kid Cudi walked into the house, and there is nobody there.
Nobody's in the house.
It's empty. So were they lying?
Is Capricorn Clark lying?
Is Sean Combs lying?
Was nobody inside the house?
he says that he notices two things.
First of all, it's December of 2011, so right around Christmastime.
And Kid Cudi had gone to Chanel, bought a bunch of Christmas gifts for his entire family, and they're all open.
There's no talk about if any of the gifts were stolen, so I don't think so.
And this is perhaps, perhaps an associate of Combs, perhaps a random person, unrelated, perhaps Combs himself.
It seems like this is their way of telling Kid Cudi, I was in your house.
But of course you can't do anything about it because it's not like they broke the furniture, it's not like they stole the goods.
It's like a, what do you - Just moved some shit around.
Yeah, and like we lived in LA for 10 years, imagine calling LAPD and saying, so they came in and they opened, unwrapped the Chanel bows.
They'd be like, hey, we don't care.
Yeah, yeah. They really wouldn't care.
You call the police about a break -in, they've opened your Christmas presents, no property damage, nobody was injured.
They didn't even steal said Christmas presents.
so the LAPD would act like they didn't see a thing.
Now the second thing that he noticed was he normally lets his dog roam the entire house.
His dog is now... Which side note?
Okay, maybe the LAPD did try harder because he's Kid Cudi.
I don't know. I'm just saying as a normal person with LAPD they're - No, like I can totally see them 100%.
Oh yeah. They would totally say...
They're gonna testify so we'll see, but it doesn't seem like the investigation really led anywhere And I can totally see them not caring at all.
So now he also notices that.
And the second thing that Kid Cuddy notices is that he normally lets his dog roam the entire house.
His dog is now locked away in the bathroom.
So this is like what the attorneys are all arguing about.
They didn't want this in the testimony.
The door is shut, and everything is not normal because that's not what happens.
Like, this is weird. Now the sad part is even afterwards, Kid Cuddy's dog was basically never the same.
Kid Cuddy does describe his dog as being very jittery and kind of on edge all the time afterwards.
Which I'm sure the defense attorneys really did not like that he said that.
After you got to your home, what did you do after that?
I got in the car, and that's when I called Sean Combs.
Why did you call Mr. Combs again?
Because I was looking for him.
Why were you looking for him?
Because I wanted to confront him.
I wanted to fight him, you know?
Did he answer? Yes.
Can you describe that conversation for the jury?
I can't remember my exact words, But I was kind of like asking him where he was, and he was like, I'm on my way.
I'm on my way. So at that point, I hung up and I thought to myself, I was like, OK, you're angry, you're angry.
Just think about this, you know?
And like I just thought like, I don't know who he has with him.
I don't know what his intentions are.
What were your concerns, if any, about going to your house that day?
I didn't really know what I was walking into, but I was so angry at first. Then once I thought about it, not really knowing if they had any weapons or if there was any type of situation like that, that's when I called the police.
Mr. Muscetti, what did you do after that phone call with Sean Combs?
I thought about the reality of the situation, not knowing what I was walking myself into, so I decided to call the police.
Kid Cudi says the police arrived at his house, they make a report, and he goes back to Cassie, who just seems really stressed out.
Now, since it's right around Christmas time, and I don't know if this was planned, I don't think that this was the original plan, Cassie had plans to go be with her family in Connecticut.
Kid Cudi ends up flying out with her, So perhaps it's like this event startled them, so he got tickets or he already was gonna go.
I don't know. He flies out with her, stays with her in the family.
Can you generally describe Ms. Ventura's demeanor when you were in Connecticut for the holidays with her family?
I think being around her family really did a lot for her at the time, she really needed it.
But while they're still there, Sean Combs is still reaching out to Kid Cudi texting him.
I mean, it wasn't every day.
It kinda stopped at some point when I responded to him and I told him I didn't wanna talk.
He his text messages were always along the lines of him wanting to speak just get to the bottom of it When you say get to the bottom of it, what are you talking about just figure out what's going on?
I guess he was in the dark about things and wanted to talk but at that point, you know post break -in I don't want to talk to him Did you respond to mr. Combs text?
Yeah, I told him, you know specifically told him you broke into my house You messed with my dog.
Like I don't want to talk to you This is December of 2011 they get back in January of 2012 So, like, weeks later, Cassie and Kid Cudi aren't even hanging out much anymore.
So, according to Cassie's testimony, she mentioned that she wanted to end things with Kid Cudi because it was just escalating to be too much and she felt like this was the safest way for all the parties involved.
Now, January 9th, 2012, Kid Cudi gets a call from his dog sitter at 6 .30 in the morning that someone just tried to blow up his car.
Now, to give you some context, Kid Cudi's not home.
He's at a friend's house about 45 minutes away, the dog sitter's at his house, She calls him from his residence and according to Kid Cudi, she told me my car was on fire in the driveway.
After you received this phone call from your dog sitter.
What did you do? I immediately went to my house Pictures of his car are admitted to evidence and it looks like someone sliced open the top of his soft top convertible, threw in a Molotov cocktail Visually, there's charring on the driver's seat.
There's smoke damage on the door.
There's trying on the roof Some say visually the car doesn't look that messed up, but it was bad enough that the car was totaled.
It was not salvageable.
Mr. Mascutti, what's a molotov cocktail to your understanding?
It's a, would you say, an explosive or something like that?
I guess it's a bottle with some type of inflammatory liquid inside and a cloth that you light on fire and it ignites.
Kid Cudi says that he actually saw the molotov cocktail when he got home, and it was just kind of burnt up.
What was your reaction to your car being set on fire?
He leans into the mic, what the fuck?
Objection, over rolled.
Kid Cudi goes on to testify that the last time that he saw Cassie Ventura was a few days after his car was lit on fire at the Soho house in L .A.
Which Cassie also confirmed in her testimony and it's going to be the three of them meeting.
Sean Combs, Kid Cudi and Cassie.
Kid Cudi says, I reached out to Sean Combs after my car caught on fire and you know, finally told him that we needed to meet up to talk.
You know, he had been wanting to talk to me, so after the fire, I was like, this is getting out of hand, I need to talk to him.
Why was it Mr. Combs you reached out to after the fire?
Because I knew he had something to do with it.
Objection. Objection is sustained.
The jury should disregard the witness's last answer.
Can you describe what happened when you arrived at the Soho House?
Yeah, I walked in and I met with D -Rock, Combs' security guard. He was escorting me into one of the meeting rooms in Soho House, and then I got into the meeting room And it was like one wall was all window and Sean Combs was standing there, staring out the window with his hands behind his back like a Marvel supervillain.
And the whole courtroom they're just giggling.
The jurors are giggling because it's so like out of nowhere, like we were so serious, like everything is so tense.
And then we are kind of I mean, you can picture him standing there looking like a Marvel supervillain.
And the only person not smiling, not giggling is Sean Combs.
He does not find this very funny at all, really.
Not even a little bit humorous.
Huh. Yeah, it was just me and him in the room, no security, nobody.
What happened when it was just you and Mr. Combs in the room at the Soho house?
We discussed, you know, pretty much the whole story about how me and Cassie first started to date, to what it was to how it ended.
And his whole point was, you know, we were homies.
You know, that was my girl.
I let him know that, you know, she told me that they were broken up and I took her word for it.
Yeah. What was Mr. Combs demeanor during the meeting?
Very calm. He kept offering me water, he offered me water twice.
Which I thought this part was so interesting because I don't think offering water to someone twice itself is intriguing or memorable in any way because this happened in 2012.
It is now 2025, but clearly it must have stood out to Kid Cudi enough that not only does he remember it, decade later, but he mentions it in the testimony.
And twice. Yes, and like again twice is not like it's it must have something about the two times must have been weird Yeah, but he can't maybe necessarily even articulate because I don't think I you know when you just have a feeling and you're like that Was weird, but I don't take it though.
I don't think so, right, right, right So he must remember that like you gave me the water.
I'm not drinking that.
I am not drinking that We're like, maybe he just kept saying you look thirsty drink some water and you're like, I'm not thirsty But like that's weird that you would even keep asking me if I want water when we're already talking and I'm not staying for a long time, I don't know or it's weird you think like even the way that he trying to blow up his car It's already it's a crazy threat, right?
He's coming after him allegedly Well, yeah, he claims. Yes.
Yes, but he showed up.
He still showed up with Diddy.
Yes Did he say that if he's nervous he's scared cuz that's a really brave move like going directly to Diddy He didn't say any of that.
He just said he needed like they needed to figure it out because it's escalating too much It's getting out of hand.
I also wonder if it's like, you know in the industry You can't really I guess I don't know it's like going into your enemy's home base What was your reaction to his demeanor?
It was very off -putting.
It was weird that he was so calm Eventually Cassie walks in and kid cut he says he was kind of upset to find out that she was going back to Sean Can you describe how the meeting with Mr. Combs ended at SoHo House?
Yeah, we stood up shook hands.
And as I was shaking his hand, I said, what are you gonna do about my car?
I made sure to ask him right when our hands were clasped together where he couldn't run away and I could look him square in His eyes and he looked right back at me with a very cold stare and said, I don't know what you're talking about I said okay took my hand from his and he said wait.
I thought we were cool.
Is there a problem?
I was like you said you didn't burn my car, right?
You said that's your word. He said, yeah I was like, that's it.
A few years later, Kid Cudi mentions he runs back into Sean Combs at the Soho house.
He was with his daughter and he pulled me to the side and basically apologized for everything.
He said, and I quote, man, I just want to apologize for everything and all that bullshit.
After I got the apology, I kind of found peace with it because I thought, you know, that was the last thing I was expecting to get from him.
Now, side note about this Soho house incident, Combs' defense attorneys didn't even want it to be included in front of the jurors in the testimony.
they argue that there's no evidence that proves that Sean Combs was behind the break -in in the house or the car incident.
Those investigations have led to nothing.
They haven't led back to Sean Combs.
When would attorneys arguing this right now?
Before the testimony.
Before Cuddy walked in.
So before and after, and I think it's still a point of contention.
Oh. Yeah, they're like still trying to file a motion to get it struck from the record. Now, Sean Combs is, they're saying there's nothing to prove that he was behind any of this.
So that, essentially, they don't want Kid Cudi to say out loud to the jurors on the stand that he met up with Sean Combs at Soho House a few days later after his car was lit on fire, because he thought Sean Combs did it.
The prosecutors are arguing, well that's what Kid Cudi thought.
He's not saying, oh I know he did it, or I was told he did it, or he did a hundred percent.
He's saying, I went to this meeting with Sean Combs, because I thought he did it.
That was my thought, my brain.
This whole debate between the attorneys is very intense.
I mean, the judge is trying to clarify.
Like how would you explain why he was going to the meeting in the first place?
Like he's asking the defense attorneys, how do you connect the dots without explaining what the reason was to have the meeting?
Like he's saying that's the connecting piece.
The jurors are gonna be like, okay, that's so random.
Like why are you suddenly going to a meeting with Sean Combs then?
A few days after your car explosion.
The defense attorney is like, how would you explain why he was doing the meeting in the first place?
How do you connect the dots without, I mean, yet, even though he had nothing to do with it.
I mean, just leave it at that.
Brian Steele is like, just leave it at that.
The car blew up and then he goes to a meeting with Sean Combs and the judge is confused.
The judge says, is he just like a person who could figure it out, like sleuth it out?
He's like, is he like a little detective?
Like Sean Combs? Yeah, like why is he meeting with Sean Combs after his car blew up?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because it's not like they're friends the whole press they're giggling because again like the logic is not logically and it's just becoming silly.
Yeah. So it is in the testimony, it was said in front of the jurors but after Kid Cudi's testimony...
which we're going to get into the cross...
there has been a lot of social media discourse and a few that I find very interesting and very notable are the comments made by young thug.
Famously one of Brian Steele's clients.
He goes onto Twitter same day, very quickly tweets and then deletes.
Damn, Cuddy a rat lol.
He very instantly deletes that tweet because, likely, that started a whole conversation, a pretty heated debate about Young Thug's own case, which, side note, there is no evidence at all that he cooperated with prosecutors, but he did take a plea deal, so some people are saying all people who take a plea deal are snitches.
Others are arguing that the only reason that Young Thug got away with his case, quote got away, is because it wasn't handled by the feds but rather the state.
So they were like, please shut up while you're lucky.
That's what the netizens are saying.
I'm not saying any of that.
I have said nothing.
Others are debating what qualifies as a rat.
Some argue, well no, because Kid Cudi only called the police later, and then he never told the police, Shawn Combs did it.
So he's not a rat. Right, okay.
But then some people are saying, well the fact that he's testifying right now is a rat.
And then others are arguing, yeah, well this is exactly what we mean by Shawn Combs was protected by the industry for decades because the minute that someone speaks out from the industry you're like you're a rat!
yeah that's crazy another musician that has spoken out against Kid Cudi is Kanye West which I mean, I have not really been following all of the atrocious things that have been going on in Kanye's life and the things that he's been saying but there are lots of connections here mainly Kanye West's rather unhinged outspoken support of Sean Combs if you guys do want us to do a deep dive on it we can try to do one Kanye even recorded a phone call that he had with Sean Combs while Sean was in jail and basically Sean is telling him Quote shits wicked wicked wicked when I get out there.
I want to see you fucking tear down the stadiums I need to see you back on that stage.
I'd be dreaming of that shit We're gonna have years and decades to fight these motherfuckers.
I'm gonna see you soon, man I got like 59 more days before trial.
This is two months before trial So I'll definitely be touching in to tap into your energy or something Give me some fucking life this shit is fucking sad puff daddy in jail fucking sad as a motherfucker.
The devil is a liar that is crazy, yeah and Kanye posted.
Yeah phone call. Yeah, and it does not seem like Sean Combs knew that he was being recorded.
Yeah Yeah, yeah Now Kanye has since tweeted and deleted quote I wish Cudi hadn't testified against Puff, we need not to be locked in white systems Praying for Puff and his family, praying for Puff daddy and the family Wow, so Kanye really supports Diddy.
Yeah. Yeah Side note Kanye and Kid Cudi, they were actually closely allied Now I feel like people who are a lot more musically inclined than I am can probably provide a lot more insight But from what we could tell Kanye and Kid Cudi have had a very interesting relationship Kid Cudi was briefly signed under Kanye's music label which is not so obviously labeled the good music label and Kanye even went on to call Kid Cudi quote the most influential artist of the past 10 years But then randomly Cudi announces that he's leaving good music Ultimately, it does seem somewhat cordial Cudi explains Kanye
and I were talking to each other on the phone and you know These are things that I've been wanting to talk to him about me starting my own direction and he got it because you know He's trying to start his new path and try new things as an artist and he was just like, man, I feel you as an Artist, it's cool.
Whatever. This is just from a business standpoint.
There's no beef. There's no problems with anybody on the label It's all love but the two end up having a very contentious falling out because Kim Kardashian Kanye West divorce Kim Kardashian starts dating Pete Davidson Kid Cudi remains close friends with Pete Davidson because he was already friends with him he does not cut Pete Davidson out of his life and Kanye is upset to which Kid Cudi even addresses Kanye publicly saying I'm not one of your kids I'm not Kim.
It doesn't matter if I'm friends with Pete or not friends with Pete None of this shit had anything to do with me If you can't be a grown man and deal with the fact that you lost your woman Like what do you want me to do?
That's not my fucking problem You need to own up to your shit Like every man in this life has I've lost woman too and I've had to own up to it I don't need that in my life I don't need it because at this point Kanye was doing his thing where he's like tweeting and Instagram storing like just bullshit, right Now another focus is a lot of netizens have been using Kid Cudi's cross Examination to start a new round of discourse about whether or not Cassie is a victim I think that discourse is likely kicked off by Brian Steele's cross examination I do think that when it comes to cross examinations originally,
I mean, I do think that Regardless of like if one thinks certain elements and like twisting of the words, because I do think that cross examinations are all twisting the witnesses' words and it's unfair and every witness walks away like, what the hell was that probably?
But I think in the act itself, I think Nicole Westmoreland really sells her cross well.
Mark Agnifilo, he will do the longest crosses in the history of what feels like forever and at every time that he says, one more thing.
and we'll get to that later.
You just hear at least three people in the courtroom sigh.
I feel like one of them's the judge, one of them's the juror, one of them is in the press, and then probably everybody else because it's like I don't know why, he's a filibuster.
And then Brian Steele had one cross, like a few crosses so far.
And then Brian Steele, his crosses have been like not, like they've been okay.
He has a showman stature, like the way he stands, the things he does.
But when it comes to especially this cross examination, he's just like to the point.
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So he goes up there and he's got this manila folder filled with post -it notes and he's got this very clean cut authoritative seriousness about him and he starts off I want to ask you some questions about your Porsche okay?
Yes, so if you remember it's January of 2022 Does that sound right?
Kid Cudi is like, 2012.
Which is an honest mistake, right?
But it's very interesting, because I'm like, did he do this on purpose?
Brian Steele looks directly up at Kid Cudi, almost in a, in a way where I feel like I would have been thrown off.
And he goes, what'd I say?
You said 2022. I apologize.
2012. Like, I don't know if saying the wrong year was intentional, likely not, but like his confrontation, right from the get -go, I think would have thrown me off.
Like the what I say.
It was like very intense.
I remember being like, what'd I say?
And it was kind of in like a Southern accent, but it didn't come off hostile.
It came off like very authoritative.
It was just like, what'd I say?
Answer the question.
Oh, okay. My bad. So it was just a little weird. I don't think Kid Cudi was thrown off, but if it were me, I think I would have been.
It just feels intense.
Now, the main focus of the cross examination is that there's no witness putting Sean Combs or any of his associates near Kid Cudi's house or car the day that his car was lit on fire, and, quote, you and Miss Ventura had been talking every day for about a year, is that true?
For the most part. And that's why it was surprising to you, or I think your word today before the honorable court and the jury, you were confused, very confused to hear that she was dating Sean Combs while dating you, right?
Basically trying to tell the jurors that Cassie is cheating.
Kid Cudi responds, yes.
Miss Ventura was not frank with you, true?
True. She played you, those are your words, right?
Yes. When she played you, she was convincing about that, right?
You had no clue? No clue.
You were with her a lot, right?
Uh -huh. True? Yes. He also points out that Combs was the one that actually asked Kid Cudi to help Cassie with her music, basically portraying Sean Combs was cheated on by Cassie after he tried to help her by introducing her to Kid Cudi, who is objectively a much larger musician than she is.
It seems like that's the point that they're to make during the cross.
When Sean Combs was with you at one event after one of your concerts in 2011, he actually asked you if you would do him a favor and do a song with Miss Ventura?
Is that true? Do you remember that?
Vaguely, yeah. You graciously agreed, right?
Right. You were in a studio doing your art with Miss Ventura, is that true?
Yes. And that's how you guys really became close, right?
We were cool before and this didn't hurt your relationship, right?
It was nice, you enjoyed the time with her, true?
Yeah, we were truly just friends at the time.
Mr. Combs wasn't around you and Miss Ventura when you were with her, right?
No. You two were locked in.
You two were focused on each other.
You had a great relationship is my point.
Is that true? Yes. And you did things like, you exercised together, right?
What? What does that mean?
Exercised together.
Kid Cudi looks genuinely confused.
Like it was so random.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the defense is trying to draw insinuations for the jurors that exercising as a couple you think of more inappropriate things because it was so random but later with Capricorn Clark it kind of makes a little bit more sense just keep it in mind but it was so weird like what do you mean?
Yeah you went hiking together?
No I don't remember going hiking.
Now a few more questions are asked and we're gonna get to this later a sidebar is called And there's so many sidebars during this entire testimony and each time Sean Combs is fully bent to the left like 90 -degree angle like at his hip he looks like he's about to snap in half because there are live notes on the Sidebars as well because the sidebars are included in the transcript unless they're sealed and which means that there's they have these monitors They have these giant monitors on all of the court tables for the defense the government like the people that work in the court, and you can see
every spoken word in real time, it's like a live feed of all the words.
A lot of the attorneys there will just stare at the screen during a witness testimony because they're mainly like reading the words that are being said.
Now, he's just reading the live feed on in front of Brian's seat, which is on the left of him.
Brian's in the little sidebar.
I mean, he hasn't been this intense since Cassie's testimony He's, like, breaking his back to read the live feed of the sidebars.
When the attorneys get back from the sidebar, Kid Cudi is the first to talk.
Oh, which side note?
Before they come back, there is this one moment where Combs does this thing where he looks in the general direction of the jurors, okay?
He lifts his shoulders up, brings them back down, like a big...
And he starts shaking his head, like, can you believe this?
Can you guys believe what's going on, right?
Like that was the vibe we got, it was very, like a little theatrical.
Kind of like... That's the vibe, they get back from the sidebar, and Kid Cudi is saying, Mr. Steel, I just want to - the judge stops him.
You can't say anything.
Mr. Steel is going to ask you a question, and you can answer.
I just want to clarify something from earlier, you're gonna have a chance on redirect.
Okay cool. Brian Steel asks Kid Cudi though, do you want to clarify something?
Yeah yeah, I don't think the date was 2011 when Sean Combs asked me to do a song with Cassie.
I think it was 2010.
Thank you. Now, by the time of December 22nd of 2011, that's when your house, remember when you talked to the ladies and gentlemen of the jury about the break in?
Yes, I wanna talk to you about some of that, okay?
You believe that you left your front door open.
When I say open I mean unlocked.
Is that fair to say?
Yes. And there was no forced entry into your home, true?
No. Am I correct? Yes.
And in the home, there was no damage to the home.
By damage, I mean there was no chairs turned over, glass broken, holes in the wall.
Things like that. True?
No. The only thing - I'm not belittling it, but the only things that were displayed differently is that there were some Christmas presents that were unwrapped, right?
Yes. And your dog was behind the door, right?
Locked in the bathroom, basically.
Yeah. And no other disturbances there, right?
No. Brian Still brings up that after the break in, Kid Cudi calls Combs and he's calm.
And Mr. Combs, he's calm, right, when you call him?
Yes. He didn't curse at you, did he?
No. He didn't threaten you, right?
No. He just said, we need to talk, basically.
Right? Yeah. Later after you got home, you called Mr. Combs again, because he's not at your house, right?
Right, and he answers the phone.
True? Yes. Again, he's calm.
Yes. And he tells you I'm coming to your house something to that effect right?
Yeah. There's no mention of a firearm, right?
No, no one threatened you with a firearm, right?
No You came to meet him, and you had no belief that he had a firearm know what miss Capricorn Clark didn't tell you that Right at that point.
I really didn't know maybe he would I couldn't call it Let's do it this way miss Capricorn Clark didn't tell you that right?
you know no but I took it she didn't tell you that he was armed with a firearm right no if it's not true just say it's not true you were in love with Miss Ventura right wait so he's asked like 20 questions about how this wasn't a scary situation correct yeah he's basically like not to belittle it but like why are you scared also how do you know it's mr. Combs he was calm like are Are we all dumb?
So it's like, okay, imagine I want him to go home, walk home one day, opens his door and all his gift is open and his dog is locked.
And that's it. What I feel like sometimes that's creepier.
That's creepy, exactly.
That's absolutely worse because now you don't know what else happened, if someone just steal some stuff.
Remember the question we were talking about back in the days, what would someone do in your house?
Oh yes. If someone can just do one thing in your house that will keep you up at night.
What would that be?
Someone will be like, I will just move a couch to the other side.
That would keep you up.
Because you didn't steal anything?
You didn't break anything?
What was the motive?
What does this couch mean?
What does unopening the Christmas presents mean?
Yes. Like it's so much worse.
What do you mean? And then you come from this person.
They're not mad. They're calm.
That's like 10 times more scary.
What is so hard to understand about that?
And Brian Steele is like, no. This is nothing, OK?
And you were in love with Miss Ventura, right?
Yeah. And she never told you as close as you were with her that there was any type of sexual abuse.
Is that true? No. You spent time with her freely, right?
Right. And Miss Ventura was free with you.
She was carefree as far as you could tell.
True? Yeah. Then Brian Steele brings up the Soho House meeting where Combs is standing there like a Marvel supervillain.
And Brian Steele says, Now Mr. Combs made it clear to you that he was also confused, true?
True. Just like you, he's similarly situated, he did not, to your knowledge, know that you were dating Ms. Ventura, right?
Yeah, true. And he wants to understand how did this happen, and you want to understand how did this happen, basically, right?
Yes. And Ms. Ventura was living two different lives, is that true?
Yes. He definitely didn't threaten you, true?
No. In fact, he was gracious.
I think your word was really calm.
Yeah, and you were professional as well.
True? Yes. And it was an understanding, a meeting that this was about a girl, a relationship, and both of you guys were played.
That's pretty much how it ended.
True? True. And the person who played you is the same person who played Sean.
It's Miss Ventura. True?
True, which is a crazy question to ask, but it was answered.
The worst moment though of the cross examination is Bryan Steele asks if Kid Cudi and Cassie Ventura were sexually intimate during their romance.
Kid Cudi looks taken aback on the stand.
He looks confused. He doesn't respond.
But before he can even get a chance to respond there is a very swift, very intense, objection!
Because Bryan Steele is not allowed to ask that question.
There is a very passionate sidebar Brian Steele tries to defend his questions I believe that it was discussed on direct and I'm exploring their relationship.
What is there to explore?
What's the relevance of the question that they were intimate?
Prosecutor Johnson is not having it.
This is I'm watching them in the sidebar.
I've never seen her this animated in my entire life She looks so passionate.
She's going in that sidebar and I know she's fighting.
Okay. I mean she's normally has a very calm outwardly demeanor, she is like fired up.
Your Honor, that is a direct violation of Rule 412.
So basically, that is the rape shield law, there's two parts to it.
First, Rule 412, it prohibits evidence that proves a victim in a case was engaged in any other intimate behavior, AKA, you can't be like, hey, you're accusing this person of SA, well, guess what, let me pull up every time that you've ever done anything sexual with anybody else in your life.
Let me pull up a whole history, a catalog.
It's because it's just shame.
It makes the jurors feel like perhaps if she did all those things, maybe she did this thing too.
And that's crazy. Second, it bars evidence to prove a victim's predisposition to certain intimate relationships, meaning their general attitude towards intimacy, their desires, their inclinations.
AKA, you can't be like, well, you're always going to bars and doing one night stands with strangers.
so maybe you did that with my client.
Like you can't do those things.
It's basically to make sure that the victims are not on trial, that they're not dragged through the mud and slut -shamed to hell and back, because I mean, I think even with this rule, essay trials, I mean, even this trial, even with the rules in place, a lot of trials become about victims' morality more than the actual essay charge itself.
We're talking about, you know, that is so interesting that there is such a law.
the only the only reason that we know so much about the freak -offs and even text messages and all of the intimate relations that Cassie and Sean Combs have had is when it comes to the defendant it's usually Admissible because because you know we have to yeah Or, you know the male escorts because it's all part of the sex trafficking.
It's related to that Yeah, but anything outside of that should not be Prosecutor Johnson argues that this is a direct violation of Rule 412, which the judge agrees, and the judge asks Brian Steele what other relevance to this does any of this line of questioning have. Like, what does it matter?
Alright, I note the objection.
No, I'm asking you a question.
What is the answer?
Judge? Yeah. I think it matters that there has been testimony from Miss Ventura that she is being suffocated.
These are my words by Mr. Combs, and she is spending all her time doing unconcentral sex, yet she is having intimate relations with this gentleman and it's all calm and consensual.
That's really where I'm going.
The judge states if that's the relevance, then the objection is sustained, AKA don't ask these questions.
Yeah, that's exactly the reason why this law exists.
Exactly. Just because she consents to some...
Now, the thing is Brian Steele likely knew that he's breaking the rule and he did it on purpose because What's said cannot be unheard. You can't unring the bell.
You can tell the jurors strike that from the record. Jurors disregard that question, but it's already been said they've already seen Kid Cudi's kind of confused, taken aback response and it's already, it's in their head now.
Which also, so what?
Like, what does that even mean, anything?
What does that even change, right?
well I thought okay I don't know if this is me because I was talking about it with my researchers and they were like we were all thinking maybe it's a good thing because she didn't do freak -offs with Kid Cudi so like if anything it shows like there is a difference in the pattern in which she might choose to have intimate relations which is not the way that is done in the freak -offs you know so I guess there was like that point but then people you know it's like it's still back and forth of like does this hurt the case does this kind of the case we don't know, I guess it really depends on each
of the jurors because we were debating like is this going to impact how the jurors feel about the case and the sex trafficking charge because of what they heard and then we're kind of going back and forth of well maybe some jurors think of it as like, this is bad Cassie was cheating on Sean Combs and sleeping with Kid Cudi allegedly according to this question that was asked that's what it felt like but then on the flip side it could be like well if they're not having freak -offs, which if they were it probably would have been brought up, then does that mean...
It's very confusing.
Now, after Scott Mascotti is off the stand, I have never seen, I mean that's the majority of...
That's his real name.
Yes, Scott Mascotti, and he is off the stand.
I have never seen Judge Arun this mad during the entirety of the trial.
He is pretty infuriated.
The jurors are no longer in the courtroom, and Marine Comey brings up the 4 -12 issue.
Prosecutor Comey says, All of us at the government table were frankly shocked at counsel asking the question that he asked about sexual activity with another person I do not think your honor's ruling from the bench could have been clear about the bounds of rule 412 Apparently we need to make them even clearer The rule itself is crystal clear that any evidence of any victims sexual activity outside of the charge conduct Must be noticed and the victim must have a right to be heard and the victim must have a right to be heard in a sealed proceeding it is frankly outrageous that this question was asked
in open court without notice to us, notice to the court or notice to the victim and so I would ask that the boundaries be made crystal clear from this point on that that question should not even be asked without raising the issue in the first instance.
Well I agree with you on that the judge says one the line was crystal clear and two that line was crossed mr. Steele I mean you knew what you were doing when you did it and you still did it anyway and that is unacceptable if there's any application for further relief I'll hear it from the government in this instance we should not have to run into this issue and that first question was out of bounds so is it gonna happen again Brian Steele stands up no the prosecutor prosecutor Comey states our only request is that the question and answer be struck from the record, otherwise at this time we are not asking
for further relief but we do want to make it very clear that any questions like that are totally out of bounds.
So there's no like consequences for damages done and that's it right well there's nothing they say just tell him don't do that are you gonna do that no you're not okay.
Yeah I mean I wonder if the government could because he was saying further applications from the government and he's open to hearing it.
But I don't think this is a situation where I don't know what the government could do, I don't know if they want to do that.
That is crazy. So the judge literally say you knew what you were doing?
And the way he was saying it was firm like everyone in the courtroom was like we were scared.
And that is crazy because again, that is a strategy that they're doing, which is dirty.
You're literally crossing lines.
Oh, it's been kind of dirty in the sense of there was a makeup artist that testified and like a lot of these testimonies I they're a lot of them kind of go over the same things that we've already gone over and I'm gonna try to group them in ways that make sense and I just didn't feel like this was as pertinent as some of the other testimonies but Myla Morales she is a makeup artist for Cassie who testified and said that she saw bruising on Cassie while she was doing her makeup what's crazy is the defense tried to admit pictures of Cassie like half naked photos for album covers because Myla Morales
did her makeup in it so they're like yeah we want to show this to the jurors to be like oh yeah this is the makeup that Myla Morales did but she's like topless because it's an album cover and it's Hollywood and the prosecutors are like are you insane why do you like you can just crop her face out and say she did the makeup and the defense were just Well, this is like literally just part of that was another hole.
It was at another. Yeah situation with the was judge involved Yes And the judge was involved in there like taking away pictures like some pictures were admitted that were not Supersexual and like topless and stuff but did they put all the picture up for it for the jurors?
No, nobody where they were debating it without the jurors They try to put it on there They tried to put it on and the government object to a bunch of them because they're like she's literally topless in one of them Wow.
And you're trying to say, Oh, I'm just showing this to the jury to show them that this is the makeup look that the witness did on Cassie.
It was just, I think, like even in the courtroom, when the defense were trying to argue their points, it was like I could just feel a lot of people wincing because it's like, we know what you're trying to do.
And that's interesting, because, like, you would think the court is about justice and the truth.
Meanwhile, a lot of it, these are subconscious human flaws, like you're trying to say, hey, look at this woman dressed this way, therefore, it has nothing to do with the case.
Yeah, it was kind of dirty.
Especially the pictures, I think it was kind of, a lot of people felt ick about it.
Now, side note, speaking of Brian Steele's kind of wild move for a mistrial comment in the sidebar, A lot of netizens were saying that Brian Steele just snitched on Diddy Sean Combs killed people and the defense team just admitted it because he was like I know what Kid Cudi is gonna say the government knows that Kid Cudi is gonna say Sean Combs killed people Now I will say there's a tad bit more to the transcripts basically in the sidebar Brian Steele explains that quote He called his friend.
Kid Cudi called his friend.
This is what's in the 3500 I'm gonna tell you what that is in a second.
I know the court read it He calls his friends who told him that Mr. Combs has had other people killed.
I believe that's going to be his answer on why he was scared.
Side note, the 3500.
Right now, it's the government's case in chief.
All of the witnesses are subpoenaed by the government or they are government witnesses like willingly coming to testify.
It's the government being like, here is what we think happened and we're going to prove it to you for the next six weeks.
We're going to bring people to testify for the next six weeks, and every single person they can cross -examine, but these are the people that we are bringing to plead our case, like case in chief, okay?
If someone is a government witness like Kidd, Cuddy, Cassie, Don Richard, all those meetings that the witness and the government have had prior to the trial, they are not available for discovery by the defense until after the direct testimony.
So a lot of the times the defense attorneys will get all of those government notes while the cross examination is happening So like some attorneys will be reading through the 3500 documents while someone's doing the cross and like, okay I don't think cuz I know some people were like, that's why Xavier Donaldson seemed like he was stalling for time That wasn't the vibe because he the next day was the same thing So that means they would have had the 35 documents all night came back the next day And then he was still doing like his correct.
Correct. Correct thing But I know that was like a speculation and I do think that happens sometimes now obviously there are witnesses that they're gonna be better prepared for so I think like Cassie Ventura was probably one of them because They knew that she was gonna testify She was one of the bigger witnesses in the case So they must have had a load of questions for her for the cross -examination But a lot of the times they just get the documents of whatever government meeting that they had during the cross -examination.
I see Yeah, 3500. Yes.
I mean it's not like 3500 pieces of documentation.
It's just called yeah.
Okay, so like the rule and He's saying you saw it in there He called his friend like he probably told the government in a government meeting prior to the testimony I called my friend and they said he's had people killed right?
So then they just got those notes Uh -huh, and then he's like God I'm freaking out like he's gonna say this and the government knows he's gonna say this because it's in the government he's already said this to the government before now it has been kind of taken out of context where everywhere I see on social media they're like did Brian Steele just snitch on his own client but that's the rest of the context for you okay I'm like it wasn't Brian Steele being like he had people killed it was like I just saw the 3500 you probably just saw the like I think a lot of it was probably like he saw it and started panicking
not that I'm giving anybody a excuse after the question that he asked, but I think it was like that.
So he's saying he knows that Kid Cudi called a friend and he's not actually admitting that his client killed someone or anything of that sort.
Nevertheless, I will say it was very startling to read in the transcript.
But with that, I think this is the perfect place to leave you, because the very next episode, which will hopefully be up in the next day or two, is going to be on the full testimony of Capricorn Clark.
she is the one that showed up at Kid Cudi's house during the break -in, she's the one that called them from the car, she is the one that has accused Sean Combs of kidnapping.
It was one of the more insane direct and cross examinations in the sense that I think you know we have a lot of people that are testifying.
They have been in contentious legal battles, Or, you know, even like Cassie and Don Richard, they've been in the public eye for so long.
And I think that they have so many scars as well.
They choose to, I think have a different way that they cope with it and when they testify it presents differently.
With Capricorn Clark, I don't think I've ever met someone who has no filter, is the feeling, and not that I personally met her, but it was like the most unfiltered testimony in the entire trial.
And a lot of, it seemed like a lot of people were emotionally moved by her testimony.
So there's a lot going on and that will be in the very next episode.
So with that, please stay safe and I will see you in the next one.
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