NY Criminal Defense Attorney David Schwartz Talking About The Diddy Trial ⁨@PIX11News⁩

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Another week of explosive testimony in
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the Shaun Diddy Combmes federal sex
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trafficking trial. Prosecutors calling
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witnesses to try to corroborate Cassie
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Ventura's testimony about abuse at the
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hands of an often violent Diddy, a
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former personal assistant going by the
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name Mia, telling the jury about Diddy's
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abuse of both Cassie and allegedly also
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herself. It also corroborates Cassie
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Ventur's testimony. We've heard from
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several witnesses now that they've
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personally seen that Combmes abused
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Cassie. Today, Mia returning to the
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stand as Diddy's defense team tries to
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chip away at her testimony.
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And witness after witness with bombshell
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testimony this week and the Diddy trial.
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Yeah. Joining us now to break it all
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down is New York City trial attorney
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David Schwarz and entertainment and
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lifestyle reporter Jasmine Simpkins, who
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has been covering the trial. Well, thank
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you both for being here. David, let's go
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let's go ahead and begin with you. What
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are prosecutors trying to show with this
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week's witnesses and basically former
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staff members of Diddy's? Well, they're
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trying to show that he's the most
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horrible person in the entire world.
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This is a despicable human being that's
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involved with everything from just the
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worst type of domestic abuse anyone can
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imagine. He's involved with rape. He's
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involved with just the the the horrible
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sex acts. But the question
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becomes, can they prove a racketeering
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conspiracy case? That's the question.
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They certainly have proven that he's a
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horrible, despicable human being, but
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I'm not sure they've made it there yet.
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Well, David, a lot of people who are
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courtroom observers who have been
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reading the transcripts and those who
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have been in the case in the courtroom
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itself this week saw that around midweek
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there was a pivot point where the
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prosecutors started to prove their case
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in the racketeering when they started
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getting uh several different witnesses
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on the stand. Did you not see that?
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No, it's too loose right now.
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Racketeering was meant for mob cases
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where you had real connections between
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parties, you know, committing uh acts in
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furtherance of a crime which were part
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of the whole racketeering scheme in the
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first place. Here we have there's
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certainly an enterprise there there
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there is an organization. He certainly
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has people doing things for him that are
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criminal in nature. But the whole
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conspiracy and whether or not this group
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of people are working together uh to
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form this criminal enterprise, I'm not
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sure they've made it there yet. They've
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certainly proven many underlying crimes
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like rape and they've they've uh sexual
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assault and abuse. Uh but I'm not sure
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they've made it there yet. Uh the sex
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trafficking is is certainly something
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that they're close to proving and
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certainly um bringing prostitutes over
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state lines. That's something that they
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have proven that crime. Jasmine, are you
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there with us? Hi. Welcome. Hi. Let's
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start with you. Um we're hearing from a
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lot of former employees of Diddy this
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week in court. Are you by any chance
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surprised being that you've interviewed
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Diddy many times that these people who
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are making these claims and some who
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have even said they've been sexually
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assaulted by him then go on to work for
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him for many years even up to eight
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years.
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Yeah, it's very shocking. Some of these
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faces I've seen over the years. Uh
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Capricorn Clark is someone who had
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worked for him for a very very long
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time. And so to hear her detail uh the
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things that she went through during the
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time that she worked for Diddy uh was
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very shocking to be honest because she
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always seemed like she was so excited.
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Um always seemed like she was you know a
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happy employee uh and and as the defense
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pointed out continued to work for him
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multiple times and they even showed
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where she was asking to come back to be
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employed. So if she was someone who was
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so disgruntled, fearful, uh all the
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things that she claimed, why she wanted
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to continue to work for him. And so I
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think we've been just as shocked hearing
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these allegations from the stylist to
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Mia who's also an assistant who's
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testifying today. They said she'll be
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back on Monday to finish her cross. So
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very shocking to hear these allegations.
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And Justin, you're very very immersed in
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the entertainment world. What's the
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scuttlebutt among the entertainment
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industry folks that you're talking with
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on any given day about how this trial is
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developing and all the revelations that
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we're learning from it? I think one of
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the things that people have instantly
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done, especially if they have a
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celebrity status or if they know they've
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attended a party of diddys or
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acquaintance of his, they've tried their
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best to distance themselves, especially
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if they're asked by any of us
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journalists. you know, over the last two
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years it's come up. Have you been to a
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freakoff? Have you been to a white
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party? And a number of folks have said
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no, they didn't know about this. I think
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what we're realizing during this trial
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is that this was some private behavior
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that he had and only a circle of people
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knew about um this dark underworld that
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he was involved in and this lifestyle
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that he was into. But a lot of his
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friends and a lot of the people in the
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entertainment industry, I think, are
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just as shocked and just as tuned in to
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this trial uh as all of us are, they're
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interested to know, especially if
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they've worked with him or have
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partnered with him on projects. They're
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trying to understand when was all of
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this happening, you know, because you
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would see him out and about working and
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doing appearances. And while he seemed
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like he was very serious and he was
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about his work and we all know his black
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excellence mantra, um I don't know that
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anybody really knew that we were going
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to be hearing about this type of
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lifestyle to this degree. David, back to
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you. Um especially today, we've been
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hearing from Mia, the defense
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cross-examining her, really trying to
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show um kind of the opposite of what she
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painted as far as Diddy on the stand,
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accusing him of, you know, sexual
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assault, abuse, and things like that.
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but then going on to have make social
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media posts that were very friendly
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about him, referring to him as her best
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friend. What do you think the defense's
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strategy is with cross w with
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crosswitnessing? Well, certainly the the
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defense is consent, right? So, you know,
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the these witnesses all consented to
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this activity. They were part of it.
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They were part and parcel with these
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dark dark incidents and dark parties and
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assault and and prostitution. Uh it was
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a it was a very dark world and and all
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the people that all the witnesses that
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saw Ventura just being abused all these
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years. Uh they were just bystanders
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watching all of this happening. Yeah,
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they're testifying now in court, but all
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those years that they were just
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bystanders watching this. So, I think
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the tent was pretty wide open as to
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people knowing of this behavior and
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knowing what he was doing. But no police
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reports were filed or else we would be
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here on a rape case, right? We wouldn't
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be here on an enterprise corruption
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case, a racketeering conspiracy.
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and and Jasmine, there were a couple of
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names that got revealed during the
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during the jury selection and it really
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perked our interest. We heard Michael B.
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Jordan. We heard Jay-Z when some
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potential witnesses named those names
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that were on a list. They weren't
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supposed to at the time. This week, we
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got a little bit of context to all of
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that. Uh talk about that. So, Michael B.
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Jordan specifically was someone whose
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name came up. Uh, it came up during
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testimony from Cassie. Um, she dropped
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that bombshell that Diddy had accused
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her at one point of starting up a
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relationship with him, but she didn't
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really go into detail. Deontay Nash, who
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was her stylist, he explained that he
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introduced Cassie to Michael B. Jordan
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and that, you know, it was a lull in her
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relationship with Diddy and thought that
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the two of them should should hook up.
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Interestingly enough, we were in in in
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Los Angeles. We were in um in the
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proximity of a party that did was
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throwing in 2015 at Boa Steakhouse. It
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was an afterparty for the BET Awards.
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Michael B. Jordan is turned away. At the
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time they told us that the party was at
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capacity. A lot of paparazzi got photos
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and videos and we were one of the people
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that got that. And so a lot of the a lot
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of the um uh details around some
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interesting things that were happening
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we're now getting more context to as
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this trial is going on. Jay-Z obviously
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is a great friend of of Shawn Combmes.
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They've been friends for many, many
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years growing up in New York City. So,
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his name has come out, I think, because
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a lot of people wonder, well, how much
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did Jay know? You know, they seem like
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they're confidants and they've been in
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the music industry. Um, two highlevel
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entertainers at this at in this uh
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business. What does he know? Capricorn
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brought his name up. Interesting indeed.
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Get the backstory and all of that,
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Jasmine, there. Thank you. Um, David,
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really quickly, who won the week? Well,
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again, innocent until proven guilty
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beyond a reasonable doubt. So until the
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prosecution does it, they they keep
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losing the week, although they're
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winning in the court of public opinion
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and showing how horrible this