Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, there are folks. On this Monday, June second, today,
marking the beginning of the fourth full week of testimony
in the Ditty trial. Welcome to this episode of Amy
and TJ ANDDJ Holmes alongside my partner Amy robock Ropes.
We continue and been kind of amazed at just how interests,
how much interest there is in this trial. We started,
(00:22):
I guess the first week. We just want to give
a couple of updates and see how it went, and
there has been a pretty good response, so we're going
to continue to put these out as a one stop shot.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yes, we have been fascinated by this trial and have
been a little fascinated by how much all of you
listeners want to know the details of what's going on
in court. There aren't cameras in the courtroom, so we're
relying on some of the members of the media who
are there in that courtroom. And if you go through
all the different websites, you can kind of piece together
what's happening inside this rivening courtroom. I mean, one witness
(00:56):
after the next just keeps filling in details, jaw dropping
details that are really hard to believe. Except for all
of these witnesses seem to corroborate what the others have
been saying. It's a theme that is consistent.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
But yeah, it's just it's a lot. There are several
reporters in there, and look between the Washington Post and
CNN and the USA Today and the AP, and there
are a lot of folks in there who are given
us accounting of what's going on. But some of their
details can vary, and some of the details they want
to include in their coverage can vary. So that's where
Robot and I come in to try to help you
(01:32):
out because we do go through all of that stuff.
So this has been a spot where we have been
given out that information. So thank you all for listening.
We will continue here now with Mia Robes. Mia, testifying
under a pseudonym, had been on the stand for two
days last week, I guess a day and a half,
but they didn't finish up with her on Friday, so
she will be back up first thing this morning.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
It's been a little surprising how long she's been on
this stand, not only given her testimony with direct testimony
telling what happened. She claims that just to catch you up, Diddy,
she says, raped her she says she was sexually assaulted
by him, and she goes through psychological abuse that she
says she suffered underneath him. And she of course offered
corroborating testimony about what she saw him due to her
(02:18):
friend Cassie van Touura. Fine, so she's been corroborating a
lot of that testimony as well. But man, the cross
examination where Ditty's lawyers get to question her and question
her credibility, that has been relentless. She has been on
the stand for hours dealing with his attorneys really trying
to poke holes in her testimony and question whether or
(02:41):
not she actually suffered the way she claimed she did,
and that is continuing today.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, she was a right hand, folks. She was there
and she saw, She saw so much and had so
much access to his inner circle. She is definitely a
key prosecution witness. But she is also some one who
is I think there are essentially four victims that the
entire case is built on, and she is one of them,
(03:06):
and she is testifying up there to protect her identity.
But some of the things right, she is a victim
in that she has alleged years now of robes awful abuse,
physical sexual assaults and rapes she describes on repeated occasions.
That's one thing as a victim, but she was also
(03:29):
there as his right hand, so everything he did, she
saw so much. She saw so much of these things
we've been hearing about. She was a first hand witness
to it all. So she's key in that robes. After
Cassi even tour Refined filed her lawsuit, they got this
all going. She said she started hearing from Ditty and
(03:51):
his people because they knew immediately how much this woman knew.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, and she says she did not talk to Ditty
that he tried. He said, I just need to minutes
with you. I just want to make sure I'm remembering
everything correctly. But she did not pick up the phone.
She didn't talk to him. She spoke to his bodyguard,
the guy who she knew d Rock. I believe he
is being referred to by most witnesses, but she said
she spoke to him. She never spoke to Diddy because
(04:18):
she knew what he wanted.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
So she goes through her testimony. Look, we talked about
a little bit last week some of her testimonies she
gave on the stand that was during the prosecution, during
direct questioning. But a couple of the details wrope this
one incident. Again, some of this, some of it we
listen to and go, okay, that's in line with the
previous story. That's in line with the previous story. But
(04:41):
so much of why they're having to do this, the
prosecution is building a case. This isn't just for us
and for headlines and for news, right, we have to
this is really for an audience of twelve. The jurors
in there, so they are hearing, and it's reason that
the prosecution has to go through all this. According to
legal experts, they're building a case of racketeering. So you
have to show that he there was forced labor involved. No,
(05:01):
that's not a sexy headline. Necessarily want to hear about
freak calls and baby old But no, no, no, no, this
is where robes. They say, they're getting down into the meat,
and wow, this is so important to get so many
of these details, corroborating details from so many of these witnesses.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
That's right, And she even says, Mia says to date,
she can't get a job, She says she can't keep
a job because she's so triggered by everything. She suffered
under the hands of Ditty, and so, yeah, she testified
about so many instances, but somehow this was so interesting
to me. We've heard different versions of this from other
personal assistants. But she says she was suspended multiple times
(05:38):
without pay throughout her eight year employment with Ditty, and
she detailed a couple of those incidents. Once she said
she was suspended without pay because she laid out workout.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Clothes that he didn't like.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
That's how upset he could get about little, seemingly insignificant things.
And she also talked about being on a yacht in
Saint Bart's. She said she was tasked with count the
money in his safe and she said that he started
screaming at her because she was counting the money too
slowly and screened for her to get out of here.
She was on a yacht, so he told her you
(06:10):
better learn to walk on water like Jesus did. And
so she ended up having to run up trying to
get to safety, to get on a boat to get
to shore, and before she got to shore, he called
her back and made her go to Las Vegas because
he just abruptly ended the same Barts trip to go
to Vegas. She said, that's just how erratic and stressful
and uncertain every moment was. He could be in a
(06:31):
good mood one moment and then seemingly just get triggered
by something insignificant.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
She was the same one that was it the you
made me think of it talking about erratic behavior. I
think she testified he threw a computer at her head
because the WiFi went out.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yes, there, right, yes, So she had to duck several objects,
but for things that you wouldn't think would even be well,
they weren't her fault, and things that she couldn't control,
and somehow she would suffer all of the blame.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Now in court, we knew things were going to change
and things were going to switch, and she was reportedly
very historic composure, but she also at times was tearful
and recalling some things. But we knew there was going
to be a shift and a tone change when the
defense got it shot, and that's what they started with
the cross examination after lunch on Friday, but brothers before
(07:18):
they even started, the lawyers got into a fight around
the lunch break and reported it took at least a
half hour to get this worked out before the jury
came back in and what they were trying to do.
The defense wanted to put on a video that showed
her dancing at one of Diddy's birthday parties. Now, the
(07:38):
prosecution says, wait a minute, this wasn't entered into evidence.
We didn't know anything about this until now. Well, the
defense argued, well, we didn't know about it either. They say,
Internet sleuths are out there sending them stuff, and someone
out there grabbed this video and send it to them.
I guess they were just trying to show that, hey,
you're a sexual assault victim, then why are you dancing
(07:59):
so happily at this party? And they flat out said
she was putting on an act.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
On the stand, Yeah, they said that this was all
an act that she The video spoke clearly to the
love La fund she was having, how much she loved Diddy,
and they wanted jurors to see this video. Ultimately, the
judge ruled against showing the video, saying that it had
little relevance according to the judge, to the case and
(08:24):
so it was not admissible in court. But certainly the
defense went after Mia. They didn't have the video, but
they had Instagram posts, they had text and they used
them against her, saying, how could you say this about
Ditty years after you claim you were sexually assaulted by him?
Speaker 1 (08:39):
That was their first hour of was just nothing but
Instagram posts. They were just scrolling through her Instagram post.
Now one of them. We have a few here. One
of them she said this publicly about Diddy and I leave.
This was one that was years after she claimed the
sexual assaults and rape started. Quote you are the coolest
alien rockstar, Unicorn pizza slice and we fucking love you?
(09:03):
Is what a row and some They actually had her
read herself.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
So that is tough.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
That is tough, and it's effective as a defense attorney.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yes, yep, we'll give you a couple other ones, just
because they had her read these out loud in court
on the fifth anniversary of the initial sexual abuses. Is
according to the defense attorney, he says this to mea
you are saying to Sean Combs on your social media
And here's where he quotes Mia, thank you for being
the good kind of crazy and continuing to inspire me
every single day. So the defense attorney read that one,
(09:35):
and then this is the other one. He made me
a read about Combs on his birthday. This is what
Mia had to read. She had put this on social media.
Legend rapper, actor, entrepreneur, an extra terrestrial was born. Happy birthday,
thank you for showing me the path to Pluto and beyond.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Well, that's effective if you are saying I am terrif
of this person, I am scared of this person. I
can't stand this person's person. It's ruined my life and
all these things. And this is years. They have messages
from years after the alleged abuse started that she is
still publicly saying this, And I guess she had two
answers for it. One was, we work for Diddy, he's controlling.
(10:18):
We are expected to do this publicly. The other one was,
I'm a sexual abuse survivor. Go talk to my therapist.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yes, go talk to my therapist.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Try to understand why.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Yes, yes, because that is the big question. How could
you say one thing and then be feeling another. I
do think it's interesting because this has been something that's
been alleged about him, that he had an expectation of
praise and so even from having some people pointed out
to having his kids post all of this stuff on
Instagram about his birthday, she said his birthdays were something
that everyone who worked for him knew. You were expected
(10:49):
to praise him and talk about him on social media
on his birthday, especially.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Then she did repeatedly, But again she and again. According
to the observers in the courtroom, she was. She did
get stern at times and a little annoyed, but she
stayed composed the entire time, even when the defense attorneys
were coming after her. There was a key exchange that
it seemed like everybody was reporting about, and I'll just
give it to you the way it came about. The
defense attorney was questioning Mia and said to her quote,
(11:16):
isn't it true that mister Colmbs never had forcible sexual
misconduct with you? MIA's response, I have not lied to
anyone at all. The defense attorney, isn't it true that
it never happened as many times as you told this jury? Mia,
Everything I've said in this courtroom is true? The defense attorney,
What if you're not a victim of sexual assault? Then what?
(11:37):
She didn't get a chance to answer. Objection from the prosecution,
and the judge said, sustained. Hold up. You see where
they're trying to go here to suggest that there's at
least a question and that all you have to do
is put it in one juror's mind a question of
what her motivation was and that she had any incentive
to lie or to make any of this stuff up right?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Is it regret versus assault? Because at a certain point,
if you're looking at her social media accounts, and of
course she mentioned that Instagram is a place where you
always put your best foot forward, where everyone who's on
Instagram understands that you're actually painting a picture of your
happy life and you're not posting things about what's going
wrong in your life. However, like you say, they just
(12:17):
need one dur or to think, hmm, she loved him,
she idolized him, She wanted to do right by him.
Was it really assault? Was it consensual? Was it just regret?
I mean, these are all the doubts that they're trying
to put in juror's minds in terms of her testimony,
because she is one of the few who is claiming
he flat out raped her.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
That is what she said.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
She woke up to him on top of her saying
sh and she just let him do it because saying
no wasn't an option.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Okay, to all of that point, there the defense. This
is that's what they really harped on. But the defense
went after her again for another message she had sent,
I believe, sent to his chief of staff after she
learned that one of his companies she was working for
was going to be shutting down so she was going
to lose her job, and this is what she wrote,
I'm going to kill myself. My life is over. The
(13:19):
defense with her asked why wasn't it a relief? Shouldn't
it have been a relief to be getting out of
there if you were going to be getting away from
your abuser? And her response I thought was a good one.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
That's when she said, I'd guess you'd have to speak
to my therapist because she can't even explain why she
was acting or reacting the way she was, because perhaps
it took time to put it on into context. I
do think it is interesting that when he did try
to reach out to her when Cassie's lawsuit became public,
she did refuse to speak to him, and that is
(13:55):
telling when she had some space and time away from
all of it. But certainly that is a powerful exchange
for the jurors to hear, and she.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Held her own. If you will the way he was
coming after you again, doing his job, doing what he's
supposed to do. And look, there were also some reports
from observers in the courtroom. Yes they did have to
go after her, but there were times where the defense
attorneys were respectful, they were compassionate, evil at even at times,
and didn't really go after her like we have seen,
(14:24):
yes in some case.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I also thought one of her responses was also is
similar to asking, we'll have to ask my therapist. When
defense attorneys asked her how she could be around a
man who traumatized her so much, she just said, it's
called psychological abuse. I thought that was a very powerful
response to their questioning of her reaction to working for
(14:47):
and being around Demand for eight years, who she claims
did so many things to her that were so terrible
and so traumatizing. It's called psychological abuse. And that is
something we have heard from so many of the folks
who have taken the stand to testify. They all have
said similar things. They loved him because when he loved you,
it was the highest of highs. And then when he turned,
(15:11):
when they say he suddenly became dark and did horrific,
awful things, it was unexpected, but the moments of highs
were almost worth the low moments. It's hard to get
your head around, but that is what all of these
witnesses have testified to.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
She is. She mentioned it several times, made some reference
to being in therapy. I think it's clear she probably
has been, even for quite some time. Like she used
a couple of technical terms, it sounded like someone who
has been going through therapy. There was a along those
lines again with in terms of her having good answers,
(15:48):
good responses, good comebacks, to where you you can't really
question her after that. Hey, it's called psychological abuse. I mean,
what do you say after that? Correct, it's a real thing.
But there was another back and forth in which she
again messages up there when she showed a message, they
showed a message that says she loved Diddy with all
her heart. Again, this is the guy she said raped
(16:09):
her repeatedly, and she still wrote a message says she
loved him with all her heart. Defenses. He only asked
after she said, that's how I write to people in
my life. Now, I think that's fair. Some people you
get accustomed to writing stuff. Sometimes you just say best
or all my best or with love, or she was
(16:29):
trying to explain it that way. Does that mess up?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Well? You know, I think that even maybe someone you're
afraid of, you still want to keep in their good
graces because you know he had something over her.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Maybe he could blacklister her.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
All of the things that so many of these witnesses
have testified to that they were afraid of what Diddy
could do to them if he turned on them. And
so perhaps when you have somebody they say, keep your
friends close, keep your enemies closer. Maybe she was just
trying to keep it all good between them, and I
can understand that, like just wanting it to all stay
okay and stay go, and so saying you know, yes,
(17:02):
I love you with all my heart.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
So she tells the defense attorney that's how I write
to people in my life. He quickly equipped back, including
the person you're terrified of, And she quickly equipped back,
especially the person I'm terrified of. She seemed to be prepared.
I don't know how much of that is doing testimony prep.
I don't know how much of that is just natural instinct.
(17:26):
But she had answers when she knew she was going
to get questions about how could you say these wonderful
things about the person you say abused you.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
But that makes sense to me, especially the person I'm
terrified of.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
That speaks exactly to that.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Keeping somebody who you're afraid of in a good place
with you so that they don't do any more damage.
I can understand that. As a human being. I am
curious if the jurors ken as well.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
I think she did a good job of Even if
you are confused, you're wondering for a second, or how
could you do when you hear that response, I think
you can. As a human being, you can. You can
make sense of what of what she's saying. So she's
going to be back on the stand today. Miya will continue.
One other nugget that came out of this trial that
was out of DC in fact, and out of the
(18:12):
White House. We should probably be surprised this is the
first time we're hearing Trump time in on the Diddy trial.
But he didn't out of nowhere. He was asked, specifically
Robes a question, and given that Trump has been on
a bit of a pardon streak lately, we shouldn't be
surprised that he got this question.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Yes, they asked him if he would consider pardoning Diddy,
And the big headline here is that he didn't rule
it out. He said he had not looked at any
of the details of the case, but that he and
Sean Diddy Combs were friends a while back, years ago.
He said they hadn't talked recently. But he absolutely did
(18:50):
not say, if you read between the lines, he'd consider it.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Oh, he absolutely absolutely said he said, what was it?
He said he hasn't been asked, but he said, I
know they're thinking about it, and I think they're close
to asking his words, I'm not sure where he's getting that.
I asked you early. Is he just popping off at
the mouth on this, or if somebody actually asked him
he feels he's going to be asked soon. Now he
might just think, well, this thing is wrapping up, or
(19:16):
it's going to be a verdict soon. I don't know
what he was thinking, but I wonder if somebody's actually
in his ear already.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
And because this is a federal case, President Trump absolutely
could pardon Ditty if he's convicted, and he could also
take the like wipe away the charges if he wanted
to right now in the middle of the trial. If
he so chose he actually has the power to change
the course of this trial and the trial and certainly
(19:43):
change the course of Ditty's life.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
What's the one that gave Biden gave FAUSI what was that?
That was conditional? Like it goes back to a certain
like he hadn't been charged with anything, right, and he
pardoned them for stuff he ain't even been charged.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Just in case Trump wanted to indict him on any thing.
Biden tried to give him a blanket preemptive pardon, is
what they called it. I guess yes at that point.
So yes, the parting being the pardoning powers of the
president are extreme, extensive and completely at his choosing.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
So we shall see on that. You imagine another son
of New York, right that did he could that Trump
could possibly get out of trouble. We talk about Eric Adams.
Adams who was facing a federal indictment. His trial was
his trial was supposed to be what two months ago? Yes,
and Trump got him out of that when they dropped
the charges. But to think that Trump could step in,
I don't know about this one. I don't know if
(20:37):
he would do that.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
He loves making headlines though, just the idea that he
could is headline enough for him right now. We'll see
if that keeps him satiated.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
All right. But the other thing to keep an eye on.
Diddy's defense team continues to complain. I swear from the
very beginning, they've been complaining about the time they're getting
with their client. They continue to ask for more time,
they say, and they're not getting enough time to prepare.
They're getting those robes ninety minutes in the morning before
four trial starts, and then another two and a half
hours after the jury lead.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
So that's four hours a day they're getting with their
client to prep and deal with going into court and
coming out of court. So after they complained, the judge said, hey,
guess what, you guys are getting more time with your
client than almost anyone else. So no other federal prisoner
is getting this much time with his attorneys. So he
shut that argument down, or at least that complaint down
(21:24):
very quickly, and said, you're getting plenty of time.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Four hours is seemingly a lot.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
He's been trying to be accommodating throughout in his responses,
but he might have reached his limit. The latest thing
they say, we don't the room isn't big enough to
put all the exhibits in to show him, and that
was the latest complaint. But hey, his life was on
the line. That's one. I'm not gonna look this guy
go to prison the rest of his life. I get that. No, exactly,
take you time, whatever y'all need to do.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
We don't know how much longer.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
MIA's cross examination will go with defense attorneys today, but
there are four other witnesses that are slated to potentially
show up today. I can't imagine they squeeze all these in,
but you never know. Enrique Saw he's a radio and
podcast personality, tried to do a deep dive onto what
he could possibly be testifying to. It's unclear, but perhaps
just maybe the lifestyle. Maybe he understood that he was
(22:11):
in that world or knew some of the celebrities or
surrounding some of this. Who knows Eddie Garcia, who's a
security guard at the Intercontinental Hotel. He actually got immunity
for his testimony, so to what he may have seen
or participated in a hotel Custodian Frank Piazza, who is
a forensic video expert. So there are several other folks
(22:32):
slated to potentially take.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
The stand today, and we will of course keep you updated.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
On all of that Hotel Custodian.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
That could be some very disgusting testimony given what we've heard.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
All right, folks, we will continue to keep you updated here.
We do appreciate you continuing to listen, but thanks so much.
As always, for now, I'm TJ. Holmes alongside Amy Robock.
Will see you for the next update.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
The Kations, the GA