The New York judge presiding over Sean “Diddy” Combs’ trial is asking the defense to speed up their questioning of Cassie Ventura.
According to The New York Times, Judge Arun Subramanian asked the defense to finish cross-examination of Cassie, who is eight and a half months pregnant, on Friday, May 16, so that she can be done with her testimony ahead of the weekend.
Subramanian asked the defense to try to “streamline” the questioning as much as possible.
During court on Thursday, May 15, the defense reportedly pushed back, provoking a response from the judge.
“In what universe did you not understand that this was important?” Subramanian asked.
While Diddy’s defense team said it intends to finish by the end of the week, they couldn’t make any promises. Subramanian, however, reminded all parties that there had been discussions for weeks about how Cassie “needed to be off the stand by the end of the week.”
During Thursday’s cross-examination, the defense presented Cassie — who shares daughters Frankie, 5, and Sunny, 3, with husband Alex Fine — with long pages of material that she had to sift through during questioning.
Inside sources with the prosecution described to Us Weekly how “cross-examination is supposed to be the most exciting part,” with rapid-fire questions.
At one point, the defense stumbled over a question when they asked, “Would you say he was a high-functioning addict? Uh — withdrawn.”
Subramanian also appeared to get impatient at one point, telling the defense, “I don’t know what you were going to say, but you can rephrase anyway.”
For the first part of the day, Cassie seemed more bubbly and at times sillier than in previous courtroom appearances. At one point, she let out a laugh when she testified, “I would say [Diddy’s] had a big impact on fashion over the decades. People think he has good taste.”
On Tuesday, May 13, Cassie took the stand for the first time and described the start of her relationship with Diddy. During her testimony, Cassie alleged that the rap mogul had raped her. (He has denied allegations of rape.)
She also detailed alleged freak offs and an opioid addiction she developed in the relationship.
Cassie met Diddy around 2005 when she was 19 and later signed a 10-album record deal with his label. They officially began dating in 2007 and were on and off until 2018.
Following their breakup, Cassie accused Diddy of abuse that allegedly occurred during their relationship. In November 2023, she filed a lawsuit against the rapper where she alleged the music mogul raped and sexually abused her. One day after the singer filed her lawsuit, the exes settled out of court. Diddy denied all allegations in the suit. Cassie revealed on Wednesday, May 14, that the settlement was for $20 million.
In September 2024, Diddy was arrested on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has vehemently denied all allegations and pleaded not guilty.
“We are disappointed with the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs by the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” Diddy’s attorney Marc Agnifilo said in a statement at the time of his client’s arrest. “He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal. To his credit Mr. Combs has been nothing but cooperative with this investigation and he voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges. Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts. These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”
Since his arrest, Diddy has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. His four requests for bail were denied.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support. If you or someone you know is a human trafficking victim, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
