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

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0:02 Another week of explosive testimony in 0:04 the Shaun Diddy Combmes federal sex 0:06 trafficking trial. Prosecutors calling 0:08 witnesses to try to corroborate Cassie 0:10 Ventura's testimony about abuse at the 0:13 hands of an often violent Diddy, a 0:16 former personal assistant going by the 0:18 name Mia, telling the jury about Diddy's 0:20 abuse of both Cassie and allegedly also 0:24 herself. It also corroborates Cassie 0:26 Ventur's testimony. We've heard from 0:28 several witnesses now that they've 0:30 personally seen that Combmes abused 0:34 Cassie. Today, Mia returning to the 0:36 stand as Diddy's defense team tries to 0:39 chip away at her testimony. 0:42 And witness after witness with bombshell 0:44 testimony this week and the Diddy trial. 0:47 Yeah. Joining us now to break it all 0:48 down is New York City trial attorney
0:50 David Schwarz and entertainment and 0:52 lifestyle reporter Jasmine Simpkins, who 0:54 has been covering the trial. Well, thank 0:57 you both for being here. David, let's go 0:59 let's go ahead and begin with you. What 1:01 are prosecutors trying to show with this 1:03 week's witnesses and basically former 1:06 staff members of Diddy's? Well, they're 1:08 trying to show that he's the most 1:10 horrible person in the entire world. 1:13 This is a despicable human being that's 1:15 involved with everything from just the 1:18 worst type of domestic abuse anyone can 1:22 imagine. He's involved with rape. He's 1:24 involved with just the the the horrible 1:27 sex acts. But the question 1:30 becomes, can they prove a racketeering 1:34 conspiracy case? That's the question. 1:36 They certainly have proven that he's a 1:38 horrible, despicable human being, but 1:41 I'm not sure they've made it there yet. 1:43 Well, David, a lot of people who are 1:45 courtroom observers who have been 1:46 reading the transcripts and those who 1:48 have been in the case in the courtroom 1:50 itself this week saw that around midweek 1:54 there was a pivot point where the 1:55 prosecutors started to prove their case 1:58 in the racketeering when they started 2:00 getting uh several different witnesses 2:01 on the stand. Did you not see that? 2:04 No, it's too loose right now. 2:06 Racketeering was meant for mob cases 2:09 where you had real connections between 2:12 parties, you know, committing uh acts in 2:15 furtherance of a crime which were part 2:17 of the whole racketeering scheme in the 2:20 first place. Here we have there's 2:23 certainly an enterprise there there 2:25 there is an organization. He certainly 2:28 has people doing things for him that are 2:31 criminal in nature. But the whole
2:34 conspiracy and whether or not this group 2:37 of people are working together uh to 2:40 form this criminal enterprise, I'm not 2:43 sure they've made it there yet. They've 2:45 certainly proven many underlying crimes 2:47 like rape and they've they've uh sexual 2:51 assault and abuse. Uh but I'm not sure
2:54 they've made it there yet. Uh the sex 2:56 trafficking is is certainly something 2:59 that they're close to proving and 3:01 certainly um bringing prostitutes over 3:04 state lines. That's something that they 3:06
have proven that crime. Jasmine, are you 3:10 there with us? Hi. Welcome. Hi. Let's 3:13 start with you. Um we're hearing from a 3:15 lot of former employees of Diddy this 3:18 week in court. Are you by any chance
3:21 surprised being that you've interviewed 3:22 Diddy many times that these people who 3:25 are making these claims and some who 3:27 have even said they've been sexually 3:28 assaulted by him then go on to work for 3:30 him for many years even up to eight 3:32 years. 3:34 Yeah, it's very shocking. Some of these
3:36 faces I've seen over the years. Uh 3:38 Capricorn Clark is someone who had 3:39 worked for him for a very very long 3:41 time. And so to hear her detail uh the 3:44 things that she went through during the 3:46
time that she worked for Diddy uh was 3:48 very shocking to be honest because she 3:50 always seemed like she was so excited. 3:53 Um always seemed like she was you know a 3:56 happy employee uh and and as the defense 4:00 pointed out continued to work for him 4:02 multiple times and they even showed 4:04
where she was asking to come back to be 4:07 employed. So if she was someone who was 4:09 so disgruntled, fearful, uh all the 4:12 things that she claimed, why she wanted 4:14 to continue to work for him. And so I 4:16 think we've been just as shocked hearing 4:18 these allegations from the stylist to 4:20 Mia who's also an assistant who's 4:22 testifying today. They said she'll be 4:24 back on Monday to finish her cross. So 4:26 very shocking to hear these allegations. 4:28 And Justin, you're very very immersed in 4:32 the entertainment world. What's the 4:33 scuttlebutt among the entertainment 4:36 industry folks that you're talking with 4:38 on any given day about how this trial is 4:42 developing and all the revelations that
4:44 we're learning from it? I think one of 4:46 the things that people have instantly 4:48 done, especially if they have a 4:49 celebrity status or if they know they've 4:51 attended a party of diddys or 4:53 acquaintance of his, they've tried their 4:55 best to distance themselves, especially 4:57 if they're asked by any of us 4:59 journalists. you know, over the last two 5:00 years it's come up. Have you been to a 5:02 freakoff? Have you been to a white 5:04 party? And a number of folks have said 5:06 no, they didn't know about this. I think 5:08 what we're realizing during this trial 5:10 is that this was some private behavior 5:12
that he had and only a circle of people 5:15 knew about um this dark underworld that 5:18 he was involved in and this lifestyle 5:20 that he was into. But a lot of his 5:23 friends and a lot of the people in the 5:24 entertainment industry, I think, are 5:26 just as shocked and just as tuned in to 5:28 this trial uh as all of us are, they're 5:31 interested to know, especially if 5:33 they've worked with him or have 5:34 partnered with him on projects. They're 5:36 trying to understand when was all of 5:38 this happening, you know, because you 5:40 would see him out and about working and 5:42 doing appearances. And while he seemed 5:45 like he was very serious and he was 5:46 about his work and we all know his black 5:49 excellence mantra, um I don't know that 5:51 anybody really knew that we were going 5:52 to be hearing about this type of 5:55 lifestyle to this degree. David, back to 5:57 you. Um especially today, we've been 6:00 hearing from Mia, the defense 6:02 cross-examining her, really trying to 6:04 show um kind of the opposite of what she 6:06 painted as far as Diddy on the stand, 6:09 accusing him of, you know, sexual 6:11 assault, abuse, and things like that. 6:13 but then going on to have make social 6:15 media posts that were very friendly 6:17 about him, referring to him as her best 6:19 friend. What do you think the defense's 6:21 strategy is with cross w with 6:23 crosswitnessing? Well, certainly the the 6:26 defense is consent, right? So, you know, 6:29 the these witnesses all consented to 6:33 this activity. They were part of it. 6:35 They were part and parcel with these
6:37 dark dark incidents and dark parties and 6:41 assault and and prostitution. Uh it was 6:44 a it was a very dark world and and all 6:47 the people that all the witnesses that 6:50 saw Ventura just being abused all these 6:53 years. Uh they were just bystanders 6:57 watching all of this happening. Yeah, 6:59 they're testifying now in court, but all 7:02 those years that they were just 7:03 bystanders watching this. So, I think
7:06 the tent was pretty wide open as to 7:08 people knowing of this behavior and 7:11 knowing what he was doing. But no police 7:13 reports were filed or else we would be 7:14 here on a rape case, right? We wouldn't
7:16 be here on an enterprise corruption 7:18 case, a racketeering conspiracy. 7:22 and and Jasmine, there were a couple of 7:24 names that got revealed during the 7:27 during the jury selection and it really 7:29
perked our interest. We heard Michael B. 7:31 Jordan. We heard Jay-Z when some 7:34 potential witnesses named those names 7:37 that were on a list. They weren't 7:38 supposed to at the time. This week, we 7:40
got a little bit of context to all of 7:42 that. Uh talk about that. So, Michael B. 7:46 Jordan specifically was someone whose 7:47 name came up. Uh, it came up during 7:49 testimony from Cassie. Um, she dropped
7:52 that bombshell that Diddy had accused 7:54 her at one point of starting up a 7:56 relationship with him, but she didn't 7:57 really go into detail. Deontay Nash, who 8:00 was her stylist, he explained that he 8:03
introduced Cassie to Michael B. Jordan 8:06 and that, you know, it was a lull in her 8:08 relationship with Diddy and thought that 8:09 the two of them should should hook up. 8:11 Interestingly enough, we were in in in 8:14 Los Angeles. We were in um in the 8:16 proximity of a party that did was 8:18 throwing in 2015 at Boa Steakhouse. It 8:21 was an afterparty for the BET Awards. 8:23 Michael B. Jordan is turned away. At the
8:26 time they told us that the party was at 8:28 capacity. A lot of paparazzi got photos 8:30 and videos and we were one of the people 8:32 that got that. And so a lot of the a lot 8:34 of the um uh details around some
8:37 interesting things that were happening 8:39 we're now getting more context to as 8:40 this trial is going on. Jay-Z obviously 8:43 is a great friend of of Shawn Combmes. 8:46 They've been friends for many, many
8:47 years growing up in New York City. So, 8:49 his name has come out, I think, because 8:50 a lot of people wonder, well, how much 8:52 did Jay know? You know, they seem like 8:54 they're confidants and they've been in 8:55 the music industry. Um, two highlevel 8:58 entertainers at this at in this uh 9:00 business. What does he know? Capricorn 9:03 brought his name up. Interesting indeed. 9:05 Get the backstory and all of that, 9:07 Jasmine, there. Thank you. Um, David, 9:09 really quickly, who won the week? Well, 9:12 again, innocent until proven guilty 9:14 beyond a reasonable doubt. So until the 9:16 prosecution does it, they they keep 9:19 losing the week, although they're 9:20 winning in the court of public opinion 9:22 and showing how horrible this