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taking over the helm of nbc nightly news a 75 year old broadcast it's a great responsibility good evening i'm tom yamas you have to go out there to bring people at home closer to the story wildfires continue to be a threat with that massive hurricane comes the massive response the best reporters in our business know how to listen and when you listen you get the truth for nbc For NBC News, on Tom Yamas.
That's what we do every night.
NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas.
Evenings on NBC. Hey everyone, it's Jenna Bush Hager from Today with Jenna and Friends.
Reminding you to check out my podcast, Open Book with Jenna.
In this week's episode, I sit down with Read with Jenna authors Chris Whitaker, Gene Kwok, Alison Espach, Ruman Alam, and Coco Mellors.
Live at the Read with Jenna Book Festival.
They open up about their writing process, what they're working on now, and how their own lives have shaped their stories.
You can listen to the full conversation now by searching Open Book with Jenna wherever you get your podcast. This is On Trial, a special series from Dateline True Crime Weekly bringing you daily coverage from the Sean Combs racketeering trial.
He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.
I'm Andrea Canning, and it's Thursday, June 26th.
Just a heads up, in this episode, we're going to be talking about some graphic details and harrowing subject matter.
Today, Prosecutor Kristi Slavik gave the government's closing argument in their case against Sean Combs, a man she said used violence and fear to get what he wanted out of his alleged victims, and a man whose inner circle treated him like a king, even if it meant committing crimes for him.
For more than four hours, she offered the jury a roadmap to the evidence the prosecution has presented over the last six weeks.
She recounted the dramatic stories We've all heard by now, Goodfellas -type moments of alleged bribery and arson.
She showed headshots of 27 men she said participated in the sexual performances Combs directed.
Prosecutors often assume that the jury is made up of regular people, and so in her closing, Slavic said Sean Combs is not like them.
Not like us, she said.
The defendant thought that his fame, wealth, and power put him above the law.
NBC News correspondent Chloe Melas was in the courtroom, and she is outside now to tell us what it was like to watch the prosecution conclude their case.
Hey, Chloe, can't believe we're here.
Hey, Andrea, I know.
Here we are. Yeah, it's been a long trial, long road.
So, Chloe, who is Kristi Slavik?
We know she's one of the federal prosecutors.
But how has she really played a role in this trial up to this point?
So it's an all -female prosecution team that consists of eight prosecutors, and they've each taken turns handling different parts of the trial so far, and Kristi Slavik, she is known for her work on public corruption and interstate criminal enterprise cases.
So she handled Derek Ferguson's testimony.
He was an executive at Combs' companies for almost most 20 years.
She was very measured.
She did seem relatable, but at times there was just so much information that she was throwing at everyone.
She had a PowerPoint and really going through each of the five charges, and she made some really good points.
How did she kick off her summation?
Some of the first things that she said right out of the gate was that Combs was more powerful because of his inner circle, a group of people who had a common purpose.
This is the conspiracy, Andrea.
She called it Combs's kingdom, that they were busy promoting and protecting him and his brand, fulfilling the defendant's desires.
And it was very powerful in how she was describing him.
And like you said, she tried to really hammer home the point that he is not like everyone else.
She said that there were two incidents that the jury has heard about that basically sum up Combs's criminal behavior that now infamous hotel hallway beating of Cassie Ventura in March of 2016 when Cassie testified that she was trying to leave a freak off and the incident in the summer of 2024 when Jane who is another one of Combs's former girlfriends who testified under a pseudonym testified that she got into an argument with Combs and he kicked down four doors in her home and then forced her to have a freak off so the prosecutor pointed out that these were eight Eight years apart, but strikingly
similar, and chapters from the same book.
Did they say who they're alleging was a part of this so -called conspiracy?
They did, and they actually showed their pictures during this presentation.
They showed KK, Christina Karam's face, Combs' former chief of staff.
Fahim, one of his security guards.
D -Rock, another security guard. Uncle Pauly, then a guy named Ruben.
These are individuals that the government claims were co -conspirators.
We did hear from a lot of assistants.
How did she weave in their testimony?
Soslavic called them Combs' small army of personal staff.
And remember, they did put six of them on the stand.
She didn't name them, but she didn't release them from responsibility.
She said that they did not know the full scope of what was going on, but they played an important role.
They were the foot soldiers.
They were young and eager.
They didn't blink an eye and did whatever it took to make him happy, even when it meant facilitating crimes.
Chloe, on Tuesday, we told us that Combs' team called his employees' involvement in his sex life damage control, that they didn't want his hotel nights to get into the press.
So they would, for example, book rooms and their names, clean up afterwards.
Did the prosecution talk about that today?
day. All celebrities who have crisis PR individuals and like that's Hollywood, right?
Cleaning up a mess before it gets out in the media.
But the prosecutors, they said that this damage control actually was criminal because it was a common purpose, which is really important in proving a group of people conspired together.
And she went on to say that he wasn't only trying to hide his activities from the press.
He was trying to hide some of them from police too.
So, you know, when you're talking about Eddie Garcia taking that $50 ,000 for him and then $50 ,000 for the other security guard and Combs is allegedly telling Eddie, you know, don't make any big purchases, she's saying, well, why would you say that?
Who would care about that?
Not the press. If any security guards were making big purchases, that would be a red flag for authorities.
So what What she is saying is that the defendant, being Sean Combs, his main concern was keeping that video out of law enforcement's hands.
Chloe, with Rico conspiracy, they have to prove that two crimes, at least two crimes took place.
Do you feel that they did that?
And did she hit that home today in her closing?
So up until this point, you know, when it comes to the Rico conspiracy, that's been a difficult one for me personally to wrap my head around until today.
Because when it comes to, let's say, the transportation of drugs across state lines, which we know that Jane Wright, she even testified that on more than one occasion, she flew from his California home with drugs on her.
It was a package. All the jurors have to find is that he was behind transporting drugs twice.
twice he's guilty of RICO.
I mean, it's pretty simple.
So you don't have to believe that he had anything to do with blowing up Kid Cudi's car.
You don't have to believe that he kidnapped Capricorn Clark.
You don't have to believe that he sex trafficked Cassie and Jane.
But if you believe that he, you know, bribed that security guard for the video of Cassie Ventura being being brutally beaten in 2016?
Check. That's one. And you believe that he forced Jane to transport drugs from California across state lines?
That's it. And Chloe, what about the kidnapping allegations?
So there are three examples of kidnapping that the prosecutors really dove into today.
And two have to do with Capricorn Clark, right?
The time in which she was allegedly kidnapped and taken by Combs to Kid Cudi's house.
The other time she was forced to undergo days of of a lie detector test. And then there was the other instance of Cassie Ventura after Combs stomped on her face.
He had her kidnapped is what the government is claiming and put at the London Hotel to recover and she couldn't leave. Right.
And so the government really laid all of that out.
But then the jury is going to really have to believe that that was kidnapping, not attempted kidnapping, full blown kidnapping.
So that's why I think Combs has a far greater risk of being convicted on the drug charges.
Right? To me, that's more low -hanging fruit.
Yeah. And of course, Sean Combs has denied all of these allegations.
Kristi Slavik told the jury, Chloe, she said, use your common sense.
She did, Andrea. And let's go back to Kid Cudi's car, right?
She says, I'm not saying that Combs personally cut that hole and dropped that Molotov cocktail inside.
He didn't even get his own soup.
We know that he outsourced people to do all sorts of things, including illegal activity.
Cassie Ventura testified that Combs threatened to go after her and Kid Cudi because he was so jealous of this relationship, but that it wouldn't be him and it would be while he was out of town.
So what Slavik said today is, well, then this is quite a coincidence.
What are the odds that he says he's going to blow up his car and then it blows up?
How did the prosecutor explain in her closings the sex trafficking allegations?
You know, we've heard so much about different hotel nights or freak -offs.
What's really the big picture point here the prosecutor tried to make?
So I thought that the prosecution did a good job, Andrea, of saying that, yes, there were some times that Jane and Cassie willingly participated in these hotel nights, these freak -offs.
but that it only takes one instance of coercion over the course of all of those years that makes it sex trafficking.
Slavik spoke a lot about how coercion came in several forms. Violence, lies, threats.
She talked about a freak -off with Jane, and that he sweet -talked her into flying to New York.
And the prosecutor pointed out that in that very moment, Jane was texting him that she didn't want to do a freak -off.
And he was replying, okay, we'll do dinner, a little shopping.
He's talking to Cowboys for Angels hiring an escort.
And the prosecutor talked about how Combs threatened to release videos of these freak -offs to force Jane to give in.
And we also heard this during Cassie Ventura's testimony as well.
How did Cassie come into the final moments of the prosecution's case here?
She returned to the sentence that she used over and over today, that he would not take no for an answer.
That at times failure to perform in these freak -offs would result in and serious harm, that violence was in Cassie's mind, whenever he proposed freak -offs.
And remember, we've seen all those photos of her bruises, the big cut on the side of her head.
So the jury has seen actual evidence of this domestic violence.
When we come back, the scene in the courtroom and outside the courthouse is getting more intense.
Chloe's gonna tell us what it's like to cover these last few days of the trial.
Why are more women than ever choosing Natural Cycles, the hormone -free, side -effect -free way to take control of your fertility?
Natural Cycles is a birth control app that uses your temperature to find your fertile window.
It is more than a basic cycle tracking app.
Natural Cycles is the only FDA -cleared and CE -marked birth control app and has helped millions prevent and plan for pregnancy naturally.
Save 15 % when you sign up today with code RADIO15.
Learn more at naturalcycles .com.
podcast. For almost a decade, gospel music and the sermons of Pastor Roy Whitehead made the Sunday morning service sore.
He was a good preacher.
You know, he had the way with the word. In the first week of May 2024, something happened that seemed almost impossible to believe.
The 64 -year -old pastor vanished.
For White County Sheriff Steve Page, Roy's case is personal.
Me and Roy are friends.
Sheriff Page says he will not rest until he finds Roy.
I believe somebody knows something.
They just haven't come forward yet.
Maybe you could be the key to solving his case.
Dateline, Missing in America.
Available wherever you get your podcasts.
Listen now. Welcome back everybody.
This morning before the jury came in, the judge had to tell someone to be quiet.
What was that all about, Chloe?
Things are strict in there.
Can't even have a mint in your mouth.
But yes, the judge did not want anybody leaving the courtroom during closing arguments.
He said it would be a distraction.
So once you had your seat, you literally couldn't get up.
Even if you had to pee for the life of you, there was an emergency.
You could not leave. Um, I even missed a television hit because I couldn't leave, leave the courtroom and I had no phone.
So I couldn't tell anybody that I couldn't leave. Um, but when, when Combs came in, he was wearing this light blue sweater and it almost felt like I was witnessing a bizarre family reunion.
He was looking out into the gallery and he saw all of these different family members and friends who I had never seen come to court before.
And it was clear that he was very happy to see many of them.
One was a little boy who looked about maybe 12 or 13, and you could see that Combs got a little emotional, and both of his twin daughters came in, and his other daughter, and I saw them, they had written a note on a piece of notebook paper, and they folded it up, and they gave it to Tenny Garagos, one of Combs' attorneys, and then she handed it to him, and I could see him reading these notes from his daughters, and then he turned around and he looked at them.
Obviously, trying to communicate with their dad while he's in prison is not easy.
And we also have heard him complain multiple times about having run out of minutes at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
Did Combs react at all to any of the prosecutors closing?
No, because he's been admonished by the judge to not show any sort of reaction at all.
Right. Because that happened in the past. But he did look at the jury multiple times.
How did the jury seem, Chloe?
It's been a long trial, as we said.
they got a break yesterday, but they must be ready to have this over with.
I think so. During the prosecutor's detailed closing arguments, some of the jurors looked like they were falling asleep, while others were intently listening and taking notes.
And some of the individuals in the courtroom looked really tired.
I mean, it's hours of this presentation.
Imagine sort of being in like a history lecture hall, right?
Or maybe it's like a law class, glass, right?
I mean, it's just, you can't move, right?
So, and it's freezing cold in there too.
Oh, what is going on outside the courthouse right now?
People are screaming.
Do you know who's standing over there?
What are they filming?
What are people freaking out about?
Oh, they're fighting.
All right. There's a fight that broke out.
Yeah. And how's the, I know you just referenced a fight happening outside.
How does the crowd crowd seem outside the courthouse?
Is it building? Is it the same?
Is it, you know? It's getting bigger, but it's also getting really hostile.
And I'm not really sure why.
I think that there are a lot of individuals competing to get into the main courtroom in the morning.
You know, there's a lot of people filming YouTube shows.
You know, we call them citizen journalists, right?
Where they're not with traditional media, but they have a lot of followers, let's say on Instagram or YouTube or TikTok, and they're competitive.
So, you know, I have security down here, but that's not just me.
All of the different outlets pretty much have security.
And that's the environment that I think we live in in this country now.
So it's not just specifically when it comes to Combs' trial.
Chloe, you're surrounded by reporters.
What are they saying about the prosecutor's closing?
Any conversations with anyone else?
Yeah. I mean, I'm sandwiched between ABC News and CBS and everyone can't be nicer.
And we all have become like this little kind of camp.
I think that the general consensus, but I'll speak for myself, is that the prosecution, although it was long, they hammered home the racketeering charge today.
Thank you, Chloe, for all of this.
Thanks, Andrea. We'll be back tomorrow.
and my fellow Dateline correspondent Blaine Alexander will be stepping in.
So she will be here.
Thanks for listening, everyone.
If you want to read the latest developments and analysis from inside the courtroom, check out the NBC newsletter Diddy on Trial.
Go to NBCnews .com slash Diddy to find that.
On Trial is produced by Frannie Kelly with help from the Dateline True Crime Weekly team.
Our senior producers are Alison Orr and Liz Brown Kurloff.
Original music by Jesse McGinty.
Paul Ryan is executive producer, and Liz Cole is senior executive producer of Dateline.
Friday night on Dateline.
A snake can be deadly, but capable of murder?
That takes a different kind of killer.
That was shot eight times.
It just shook our world.
Where is this going to take us next?
Dateline Friday at 9, 8 central, only on NBC.
