← Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
VERDICT SHOCKER: Diddy Beats Major Charges But Still Locked Up | United States vs. Sean Combs Verdict
00:23:09
Loading summary
Transcript17 lines
- [00:00]
Ashley Banfield
Foreign hey, everybody, I'm Ashley Banfield and this is drop dead Serious. What a day. After weeks of graphic allegations, a parade of witnesses, and some of the most disturbing video evidence ever shown in federal court, we have a verdict in the trial of Sean Diddy Combs. And Combs won't be getting to sleep in his own bed tonight. Nope, not tomorrow night either. And not for a long time. As it turns out, he won't even find out when he's going to sleep in his own bed for another four months. And that's because the judge has set his sentencing date for October and he's stuck at the Manhattan federal lockup until that time. No bail granted. But you could call the verdict in his RICO and sex trafficking trial a bit of a win and that he will not have to spend his life in prison. No, not his life. Maybe a long time, but not life. Honestly, this was really a split decision. Guilty on some charges, not guilty on other charges. But one thing is for certain. Once Sean Diddy Combs is sentenced, he will officially become a convicted felon. The jury found him guilty on two of the five counts against him. Both of those charges for transportation across state lines to engage in prostitution, better known as the Man Act. M A N n Man Act. But on the headliner charges, the sex trafficking and the racketeering, the stuff that could have put him away for life, not guilty across the board on those. And right after those verdicts came down, one of News Nation's reporters wound up in an elevator with Sean Combs son Christian and Christian Combs girlfriend and Sean Combs son Justin and Justin Combs girlfriend and someone named Fahim and another one named Charlucci and other family members as well. And to say it was a wild elevator ride would be an understatement. Diddy's family and friends were jumping up and down in the elevator, so much so that our reporter, Tommy Cristaldi, News Nation genuinely thought the elevator was going to get stuck or snap. Christian Combs says that he was overjoyed. Charlucci banged on the elevator door and shouted, let's go. Someone else on the elevator shouted, diddy is free. They were wrong. He's not. They were talking about a huge Fourth of July party that they had planned to throw this week in Miami. And they were talking about it as though Diddy was going to be there, that he would just walk out of this courthouse, get on a private jet and head right back down to the Miami mansion that was raided, minus all of the lube and baby oil. That was taken out of there. Outside the courthouse, the crowd absolutely erupted, some of them angry, some of them celebratory. And in one of the more strange moments of the day, baby oil was sprayed into the air and onto a dancing Diddy supporter. And now the question that everybody's asking, what does the verdict actually mean? What does it mean for him? Right? We know what the words are. What are the consequences of this verdict, not just in terms of what Sean Combs is facing at sentencing, but also how the courtroom reacted, how the public is reacting, how the government is responding, and what we're hearing from the key witnesses as well as the legal teams on both sides. And then don't forget this. There's the fallout from all of it. Number one, is he ruined? Is he done? Is he Bill Cosby? Is he a punchline? Will he ever come back? You know, is he Robert Blake? Yeah, you, you beat the legal rap, but the moral rap, that's big and it's powerful, too. We don't know yet. And then what about the actual punishment? Could it be the max? Two terms in prison, 10 years each, maybe even consecutive for those two charges? Let me break this all down, okay? First, I want to show you what happened inside the courtroom when that verdict came down. And I will describe it as best as possible because you know me and how angry I get when I have to tell you that the feds won't allow cameras in the courtroom. They love the sketch artists, and that's frustrating af, but it is what it is. Combs sat still as the verdict was read, hands clasped in his lap. And when the jury cleared him of racketeering, he dropped his head into his hand. When they cleared him of the final sex trafficking charge, he gave a small, subtle fist bump. But when the guilty verdicts came down for transportation, to engage in prostitution, P. Diddy did not move as the judge polled the jury that is asking them one by one, is this your true verdict? Combs turned his head, watching each of them answer one by one. Before dismissing the jury, Judge Aaron Subramanian offered one final reminder, a quiet but powerful moment after such a high profile verdict. He told his jurors this, quote, there is an important reason to respect the privacy of your deliberations. But he made one thing clear. He said, quote, the choice of whether to speak to other people about this case and your personal views is up to you. What he emphasized, though, was this. They're free to speak about themselves, but they're not free to speak about each other or reveal how the deliberations unfolded behind closed doors or speak for other jurors who may decide to stay quiet. Right. Just fade back into the public. Right before being led out by the US Marshals, Sean Combs knelt down beside his chair and bowed his head like he was praying. When he stood up, he turned to the gallery and. And he clapped and he said, quote, thank you. Love you, Mom. I love you. I love you. I love you. And then the gallery clapped and the gallery cheered. His lawyers hugged, family members cried. And after Combs was gone, they chanted dream team. To the defense table. Attorney Tenny Garagos hugged Diddy's family with tears streaming down her face. And then his lead attorney, Mark Agnifolo, stood up and made a bold request of this judge. Release him. Release Sean Combs today. Let him walk out that courtroom door. Agnifolo told the judge, And I quote, Mr. Combs has been given his life by this jury, end quote. He said Combs had no access to his private jet, Combs would remain in Florida, and that multiple family members were willing to sign a $1 million bond. Side note, 1 million? Are you kidding me? That's like pennies to a billionaire, right? But Assistant U.S. attorney Maureen Comey stood up and she stood firm, and she made the government's position clear. She said prosecutors oppose Diddy's release on bail and pointed to what the jury saw during this trial. They saw extensive abuse. Right? They saw prolific drug use. He didn't. He didn't contend any of that. Right. He didn't fight that. They saw other evidence of illegal behavior. And the defense never contested it, especially that horrible video of beating the hell out of Cassie Ventura, kicking her while she's down and protecting herself. Comey told the court that Combs, quote, continued to commit a litany of crimes, end quote, even after he knew he was under federal investigation. You remember how shocked we all were that Jane started talking about these freak offs. And when we saw the dates, we're all like, hold it. This is after his mansions have been raided. This is after he knows he's under investigation. This is after he has hired expensive lawyers who know what's coming. And the allegation here is that he just continued to do this bad stuff. Basically, in their view, he just thinks he's above the law. He doesn't even care he's under investigation by the feds. I'm just going to go ahead and have myself a freak off. She argued that Sean Combs has no respect for the law and warned that if released, he would likely commit new crimes. Ms. Comey also confirmed that the government will seek a sentence of incarceration and reminded the court that Combs still faces up to 20 years in prison for the two convictions. Ten each. Right. And if you put them side by side, not concurrent, if you make them consecutive, it's 20 years. Right. That's the maximum that he is facing under the sentencing guidelines. I'll tell you what they're asking for. I'll tell you what the prosecution is actually asking for, which I'm shocked as of today, I can tell you what they're asking for. That may change by the end of the month. But in the end, the judge told both sides, please submit arguments to me. I'm going to take the day, make a final decision by the end of day, which he did. And as for those arguments, here goes. The defense, according to the letter that they submitted to the judge, said that even though Diddy faces a maximum of 10 years per count, under the federal guidelines, they say his exposure may be closer to 21 to 27 months total. That's a little over two years, max. Right. They argued that he's already put in a solid 10 months in custody. Right. No bail. He's been at the federal lockup in southern Manhattan. They said he's not a flight risk, that his risk of flight is low. I don't agree with that. Personally. I've seen it happen. I saw Roman Polanski, between conviction and sentencing fly the coop, and he never came back to America. He's a wealthy director. Did. He's a billionaire. Right. However, I will say this, the prosecution took a very different tack. Not surprisingly, their letter to the judge said, quote, accordingly, based only on the preliminary calculations. The preliminary calculations, the defendant's guidelines range is at least 51 to 63 months imprisonment, end quote. I did some math because I'm really bad at it. I got a calculator. It works out to more than five years for each count. And again, each count could run consecutively. So five years for one, five years for the other, 10 years total if they are back to back. Right. Let me just tell you something. There's a reason that we call judges, your honor. There's a reason that judges sit on a bench that's elevated above the rest of the courtroom. It's elevated above the witness stand, elevated above the jury, elevated above the well of the courtroom, elevated above defense table, prosecution's table, and elevated above the gallery. It's because they're more important than we are. To put it bluntly, it's because they have the power. We gave them the power. Because they show they've got judicial temperament. We trust them with the power, but we gave them the power. They have the power. And this judge has discretion. Discretion goes so far, right? There are guidelines and with the maximum of 10 years for each charge, it doesn't even matter what the prosecutors or the defense, you know, proffers. It doesn't really matter. The judge is allowed to do what she or he wants. If the judge despises, you know, what the jurist has seen throughout the trial and thinks that the prosecution is making a big mistake, you're not asking for enough. You think that, you don't think that I'm on, you know, I'm with you, you know, if the judge decides, the judge can do the maximum. This Judge can choose 10 and 10 and put them together like that, not like that. For those of you listening, I'm making fingers pointing to each other rather than on top of each other so as to indicate consecutive or concurrent. And this judge could make them consecutive. He could go to jail for 20 years. Could go to prison for 20 years. He's 55ish, 56ish. So, yeah, better part of his life. The defense asked the judge let him go. Release him today on the one million dollar bond. They'll co sign it with a family member. They'll restrict his travel to. You ready for this? His homes in California, Florida, New York, New Jersey. Isn't that sweet? They said his travel would be confined to his lawyer's offices and to the court and that he would submit to drug testing and that he would surrender his passport and that he would agree to pre trial supervision. But the government no way, strongly, strongly disagreed. They warned the court that Diddy is still dangerous and violent. And they included a personal plea from a man named Deontay Nash. He was a witness, right? He was a witness who watched Cassie Ventura, he testified, getting beaten until she needed plastic surgery on her face. Deontay wrote, quote, if he is released now, I have no doubt he will see it as yet another license to continue intimidating, threatening and harming people who challenge or expose him, end quote. Cassie Ventura's team also put forth a letter to the judge saying actually it was, it was Douglas Wigdor, her attorney, who, who told the judge, quote, Ms. Ventura believes that Mr. Combs is likely to pose a danger to the victims who testified in this case in including herself, end quote. Attorney Lisa Bloom said that she would also put together a letter to petition this court from her client, Dawn Richard, another witness who said that she's seen Diddy be violent. The judge scheduled a bail hearing for the end of day, 5pm and when 5pm rolled around, the judge denied Diddy Bale, meaning he will remain in custody before Diddy being sentenced. Outside the courthouse, his lawyer, Mark Agnifolo, addressed the crowd.
- [15:24]
Harvey Levin
Today's a great victory. It's a great victory for Sean Combs. It's a great victory for the jury system. You saw that the Southern district of New York prosecutors came at him with all that they had. They're not stopping. But one thing stands between all of us and a prison, and that is a jury of 12 citizens. And we had a wonderful jury. They listened to every word, and they got the situation right, or certainly right enough.
- [15:59]
Ashley Banfield
Also outside the courthouse, though, famous rapper Big Mike. And Big Mike had a warning for those who were celebrating Diddy's partial verdict as a big win. Big Mike said that he is, for one, happy that Diddy is stuck in jail, no bail, and that other rappers out there better watch out if they think the kind of behavior that Diddy has exhibited with women and drugs and staff members, if they think that's appropriate.
- [16:29]
Harvey Levin
I am happy that he got denied bail. I'm happy. That's why I sat here and watched everybody dance do the Diddy bop. I don't hear no music now. Where's the music at?
- [16:37]
Ashley Banfield
I hear music.
- [16:38]
Harvey Levin
I hear music saying. I hear music saying, n n n n.
- [16:44]
Ashley Banfield
But there's Big Mike with a clear moral message, right? And, hey, morals matter. You can skirt something legally but still have consequences socially, still have consequences morally. Earlier on my NewsNation show, I spoke with TMZ's Harvey Levin about the verdict and the aftermath. Here's our conversation. It's incredible. It doesn't matter who you ask. There seems to be shock one way or the other on Diddy about the verdict and then, of course, the bail.
- [17:19]
Harvey Levin
Yeah, I mean, look, I think a lot of people, myself included, misread the jury with what happened here. I think that we all thought it was bad news for Diddy just based on the way things laid out. It was the opposite. It was really the opposite. And, you know, when I heard about the one juror an hour in that the jury is complaining he's not following the instructions. I thought that had to be a holdout for not guilty. But it seems like it's the exact opposite, that this jury was unconvinced from the jump that the prosecution proved its case on the major issues. Ashley, I gotta tell you what Diddy was convicted of is equivalent to somebody in the San Fernando Valley transporting a sex worker to Beverly Hills to do a three way. And that would end up, if even prosecuted at all, as a misdemeanor case in the city attorney's office. That's what the prosecutors ended up with here. This is a spectacular loss for the prosecution.
- [18:30]
Ashley Banfield
But it's also shocking because one of the questions from this jury was if someone asks for the drugs and the defendant gives the drugs, is that distribution? Which is clearly. Yes, but that didn't seem to be enough.
- [18:44]
Harvey Levin
It didn't seem to be enough. And look, you know, we've talked about jury nullification. I don't know that that's the case. To me. Look, to me, this case in many respects was square peg, round hole that you try and somehow create a racketeering enterprise around this crazy criminal, nutty, jealous boyfriend who's committing all these random acts. I mean, you know, what I've always talked about is this wasn't organized crime. It was disorganized crime. And it was all this scattered stuff. And I think when the jury heard they're trying to show racketeering, that they looked at everything with a jaundiced eye. And the man act, I mean, you can't get around it that there was clear proof of the man act. But even with, you know, all of the sex trafficking charges, they're looking at freak off videos where they're seeing Cassie engaged in these sex acts and they're trying to figure out where is the lack of consent. And I understand she testified, but they've got these powerful images. And he is an abuser, he is criminal, the way he's acted. But they had to look at this case, and I think especially because of racketeering, it just kind of felt like they were out to get him.
- [20:06]
Ashley Banfield
Well, the racketeering, I'm just sort of gobsmacked because you, you saw the distribution question. So they clearly thought that he was distributing drugs and it just mattered if somebody asked for them first. So once they got that instruction, they should have been clear on drug distribution. They saw assault. They saw and heard from multiple witnesses. Bribery. They saw and heard from two witnesses that were there that Cassie got smacked around in the middle of a free coffin, was told to come out and finish strong in her escort, lost his erection. He was so upset about it. There's so much evidence that would have supported multiple predicate acts for racketeering, but they just couldn't come up with it. Well, but that's where I'm just sort.
- [20:46]
Harvey Levin
Of like, but what if I'm right on this, that he's. Look, I mean, Ashley, you have heard over the years about how difficult it is for prosecutors sometimes because of television shows like csi, that they just get it perfect and then all of a sudden it's imperfect in real life and it magnifies for the jury. What I would offer you is Tony Soprano and that. That's the image that people have of a racketeer. John Gotti is the image of what people have as a racketeer. And then you look at Diddy and you say, that's why I'm saying square peg, round hole, that they're looking at Diddy saying really new words. Well, it's the law. The law is racketeering.
- [21:30]
Ashley Banfield
They need to rewrite. They need a new law that deals with commercial and or elite sex trafficking because we're seeing elite sex traffickers all the time. Peter Nygaard's an elite sex trafficker. Epstein elite sex trafficker. And the allegation was, is that Diddy is an elite sex trafficker too. They're not making money, but they're getting their jollies, which is the value.
- [21:54]
Harvey Levin
But then it's a sex trafficking case. How is it a racketeering case, in other words? Well, look at Bad Boy.
- [21:59]
Ashley Banfield
Add up all the rest.
- [22:00]
Harvey Levin
Well, no, but Ashley, you look at Bad Boy records and you say this is a criminal enterprise where he's using it to further this criminal venture. This is not selling drugs. This is not doing hits on people. I mean, that's what people think of with racketeering.
- [22:17]
Ashley Banfield
And there it is. Sean Diddy Combs, once one of the most powerful men in music, was. Will not be going home from prison. Not anytime soon. After weeks of explosive testimony and graphic evidence and a defense that only partially saved him, the judge has made it clear Diddy stays behind bars for now. No private jets, no mansions, no studio sessions. Just a jail cell and the looming weight of what comes next. And for how many years. We'll be there for every twist, every motion, every explosive moment still to come. Thank you so much for listening. I am so appreciative of our. Our community. We have stuck through this all together. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. Remember, the truth isn't just serious, it's drop dead serious.