Kid Cudi Describes Diddy "Like Marvel Supervillain" Then Called Out By Young Thug As A "RAT"
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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 wanna 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, 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 overruled. 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 going to 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 Steele, Sean Combs' 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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As always, full show notes are available at rottenmangopodcast.com. 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 Cudi 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 Cassie Ventura testifying, 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 and public. 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? Judge is not there? The judge is there.

And the judge is listening to the arguments about the dog, presumably Kid Cudi's dog. Something happened to Kid Cudi's dog. Defense attorney Brian Steele argues, I think that if the government is going to do this, they say that the witness's 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. Muscati 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. Steele's face.

So like we're trying to get a vibe as the press, okay? Because 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 so in the dark. But Brian Steele 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 two 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, 'cause 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 field. I agree, Your Honor. Unfortunately, the dog is no longer with us. And there are literal consequences

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 to 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 Brian Steele, the court reporter would not be able to hear what he is saying. And maybe it's because Brian 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, so you're saying, 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 like 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. Like, oh, okay. Like 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? 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's energy recently is that he's been trying to interact with the jury more and I don't want to 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 does it.

disagrees 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, okay. 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. Like, I'm struggling just like you guys. I'm experiencing the same struggle. Is what it felt like to us. Right, right. It's like a building report. Yes. Like body language. Yeah. And like, he's like high into his hands, which I agree it's cold, but I don't know if it's that cold. Yeah.

I mean, there's one part and like look, I'm also honking in the courtroom. There are times where I'm like trying to wait for the least important parts where there really aren't any where I can like 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 like 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. 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 going to 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 jurors. And do I blame him for that? Probably not, because I'm sure a lot of defendants try to do that. Lights, camera, innovation.

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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 this."

That song was released in 2023. Another one is called Dennis Hook Me Up With Some Of That Whiskey. So these are like netizen 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.

Now, side note, screenshots show, old screenshots, allegedly show that he tweeted around this time when he released this song, "Do you guys wanna know whose 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 IndieCud, 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 TikTok 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 Cudi 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 going to take the stand and he's going to 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...

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 this 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 2 Chainz were featured on it. That song has 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. Huddy. Side note. Spaced out like Cudi? Yeah, 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, and

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, RIP Huddy. Now Huddy is apparently a friend of Diddy's that passed away. So,

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 Stefan 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 worked 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's like come here. Yeah. He was like probably at the top of the fence 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 his business assets? Yeah, because a lot of it was his tequila and alcohol brand interests that he had. And now he's being hired by Diddy. Stefan Casella is being hired by Diddy to make sure that he does not lose money

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 U.S. 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. Mm-hmm.

Wow. 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. That includes his residences, like his $61 million L.A. 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 going to be up for grabs. The government's going to 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. Wow. 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 are 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 the hiring of Stefan Casella, people are wondering maybe he didn't take it because if you take the plea deal, it likely would have resulted in asset forfeitures. Right.

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 judge is. 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 amazing.

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 artists going crazy on their canvases. And I will say they did do Kid Cudi a little dirty. Now, Kid Cudi's-

It sounds almost like when whoever's sitting there is a little more high stake for him or for the media, he's like a statue because he has to really watch everything. Because likely maybe he will want to show some reactions. So he put more emphasis on his own body language is.

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 Cudi. Like these are strong interpersonal relationships where I do think personal assistants. 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 scenes.

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. Hmm.

So it's very interesting. Yeah. 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 oh so she's like he found out about us and he probably was

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 address 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 to reference going back to Cassie's testimony, 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 like 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 cross-reference...

with Cassie's testimony about that night. And she was likely stressed and scared because she was at Sean's house. She describes him as irate. He had just found out at a freak off.

about the fact that she was dating Scott Muscati. Through her text message in the middle of a freakout. 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 used 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 press pew.

Which I don't know what demeanor I'm expecting from him. And this is not like me critiquing his demeanor or like 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. Maybe it's when he writes, he like tilts his head sometimes and it has like 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 going to be an episode on her. And it was probably the most...

Interesting testimony. A lot happens in that testimony, but this is, 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 John, 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's 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 Miscutty, 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. 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. Yeah. 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 would 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? Calm.

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 walks 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 Christmas time. 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 cuddy 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 uh what do you move 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. Like, 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. 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 that.

try harder because he's kid cuddy i don't know i'm just saying as a normal person with lapd they're they're no like i can totally you can totally see that yeah okay 100 okay yeah 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 Cudi's dog was basically never the same. Kid Cudi 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, okay, 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. Muscati, 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 arrive 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 and the family

Can you generally describe Miss 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 kind of stopped at some point when I responded to him and I told him I didn't want to talk. 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 630 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 charring 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. Muscati, what's a Molotov cocktail to your understanding?

It's, uh, 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! Overruled.

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 LA.

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,

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. Yes. That 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. Did he take it though? I don't think so. Right.

Right, right, right. So he must remember that like, you give me the water. I'm not drinking that. I am not drinking that. Or 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's trying to blow up his car, it's already, it's a crazy threat, right? He's coming after him. Allegedly blew up his car.

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? No.

Because 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 Cudi 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 were 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. Yeah.

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 100%. 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 it? I mean, yeah, 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 and 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 on to Twitter same day, very quickly tweets and then deletes. Damn, Cudi a rat, lol. He very instantly deletes that tweet because likely, uh,

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 Sean 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 Sean 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, shit's 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 going to have years and decades to fight these motherfuckers. I'm going to 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 that 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 women 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...

Wow. 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 witness's words and it's unfair and every witness walks away like, "What the hell was that?" probably, right?

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 like 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. He's just trying to get somewhere. Like he's trying to get to the destination.

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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 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 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 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 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 cuddy responds yes miss ventura was not frank with you true true she played you those 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 trying 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.

Yeah, we were truly just friends at the time. Mr. Combs wasn't around you and Ms. Ventura when you were with her, right? 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? Exercise 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 going to 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, 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, they 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 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 sigh, like,

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. Steele, I just want to... The judge stops him. You can't say anything. Mr. Steele is going to ask you a question and you can answer. I just want to clarify something from earlier. You're going to have a chance on redirect. Okay, cool. Brian Steele 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 want to 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. 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. No one. Ms. 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. Ms. 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 was in 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 we all dumb?

Sometimes like... 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. But 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 steals 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 would just move a couch to the other side.

That will keep you up at night. 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. Yeah.

What do you mean? And then you come from this person. They're not mad. They are calm. Yeah. That's like 10 times more scary. What is so hard to understand about that? Brian Steele is like, no, this is nothing. Okay. 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 ever any type of sexual abuse. Is that true?

No. You spent time with her freely, right? Right. And Ms. 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 is 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 Brian 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 Brian 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 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. A.K.A., 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. Mm-hmm.

Let me pull up a whole history, a catalog. 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 obviously,

I mean, I think even with this rule, essay trials, I mean, even this trial,

Even with the rule in place a lot of trials become about victims morality more than the actual essay charges We're talking about yeah, 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, 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, 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? All right, 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 Ms. Ventura that she is being suffocated. These are my words by Mr. Combs, and she is spending all her time doing unconsensual 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, you know. Now, the thing is, Brian Steele likely knew that he's breaking the rule and he did it on purpose because...

What's said can not 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 cutties kind of confused, taken aback response. And it's already, it's in their head now. Yeah. Which also, so what? Like, what does that even mean? Anything? What does that even change? Right? Well,

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 Cuddy 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 so back and forth of like does this hurt the case does this

kind of help 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, you know, it's like, it's very confusing. Now, after Scott Muscati is off the stand, I have never seen, I mean, that's,

The majority of the... Also, that's his real name. Yes, Scott Muscati. 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 Maureen Comey brings up the 412 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 clearer.

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 victim's sexual activity outside of the charged 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 going to 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 consequences for damage is done and that's it, right? Well, there's nothing. They say, just tell him, don't do that. Are you going to 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. 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...

there 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 like, well, this is like literally just part of the work. So that was another whole, it was another situation with the judge involved? Yeah, so the judge was involved and they're like taking away pictures. Like some pictures were admitted that were not super sexual and like topless and stuff. But did they put all the picture up for the jurors? No, nobody were, they were debating it without the jurors present. Oh, they tried 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, you 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, but

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. Yeah. 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 going to say. The government knows that Kid Cudi is going to say Sean Combs killed people.

Now, I will say there is 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 going to 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.

Now, side note, the $3,500. So 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 you're going to, like, these are the people that we are bringing to plead our case, like case in chief, okay? If someone is a government witness, like Kid Cudi, Cassie, Don Richard's,

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 because 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 going to be better prepared for. So I think like Cassie Ventura was probably one of them because they knew that she was going to 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. It's called 3500. Yes. I mean, it's not like 3500 pieces of documentation. It's just called the, yeah. Okay. So it's 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. Ah.

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 going to say this and the government knows he's going to say this because it's in the government notes. 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? Yeah.

But that's the rest of the context for you. It wasn't Brian Steele being like, he had people killed. It was like, I just saw the 3500. You probably just saw the... I think a lot of it was probably like he saw it and started panicking. Not that I'm giving anybody an 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. They have 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.