← The Latest with Loren LoRosa
The Latest with Loren LoRosa
BONUS* DAWN RICHARDS SHAKEY TESTIMONY🥴 + CASSIES EX BESTFRIEND FINALLY SPEAKS OUT | Diddy Trial Updates
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Lauren LaRosa
You're listening to an iHeart podcast. I'm the home girl that knows a little bit about everything. And everybody exclusive know if you don't lie about that. Right. Lauren came in hot. Y' all know where we at. We're back here at the court today for the latest with Lauren, the Rosa. And today the latest is like, normally when I walk out, I'll be like, all right, boom, I feel like the prosecution took it. Boom. I feel like the defense took it today. Today, I don't have a strong opinion about either side. This is what I think deflated Diddy's legal team's setup of what they were trying to do. So Diddy legal team spent a lot of time on trying to debunk Dawn Richard's credibility because she couldn't remember certain timelines. There were missteps in what she said to prosecutors, and then to, you know, they're on the stand because of the timeline. And she was saying, yo, it's been a long time. But Carrie Morgan came on the stand and essentially did the same thing. She remembered very high level points. She remembers certain things, but because of the time period and how long ago this stuff was, she would say, that was so long ago, I don't remember. And the defense didn't lean in on it. Like, they defense didn't even acknowledge the fact that she was saying the same thing dawn was saying about not being able to remember it. But they did everything that they could do to basically, like, when D was on the stand, they dragged baby girl for not being able to remember certain dates. Right. But when Carrie Morgan got on the stand and they thought that this was going to prove a lot of the points they wanted to prove, they let her run. So let's just talk about what happened briefly. I to break it down for you, first witness up, Dawn Rashad. And Dawn's testimony was really heavily predicated on her civil lawsuit that she filed. So dawn talks a lot about witnessing an incident with Cassie or a couple incidents, but the first one that she went into that they spent a lot of time on was the egg from crying, the egg incident. Dawn alleged that they were at Diddy and Cassie's home in la. Cassie was downstairs in the kitchen making eggs for Diddy, letting them cool, and he got upset because they were taking so long. In her lawsuit, dawn alleges that she came down, that Diddy came downstairs, he was upset. He went to go hit Cassie with the frying pan. Cassie fell to the ground in a fetal position on the stand. She also alleged the Same thing, however, where they were allegedly all at a New York, like, city festival. And the festival, she says, was when they were supposed to be announcing the Diddy Dirty Money group and that it was her, Ms. Harper, who is her other band member, Diddy and Cassie. And they were in this place, this home in New York, and Cassie and Diddy were arguing about something. Diddy got upset, allegedly hit Cassie in the face. She says that her and Kiara Harper were allegedly in the bathroom doing her makeup, getting ready to go. Cassie comes in and Cassie's, like, quiet, but she's obviously upset. She's crying, she's trying to fix her makeup, her face is swelling. She ends up having to wear glasses to the event that they went to. They get to this event, they're there, they make it through it, they wear glasses. She's asked about, you know, would she ever say anything in any of these instances? And she says, you know, she would say things. She would go to Cassie and say, allegedly, you need to leave him. But she says that, you know, eventually with her and back up a bit because she knew Cassie wasn't ready to leave him. So she would do things like they would all wear glasses together so that Cassie wouldn't feel embarrassed. Or, you know, like, she talked about Cassie still having dreams and wanted to fulfill her music dreams and her modeling dreams and all these different things and offered to, like, write for her. Like, so it gave that she was, you know, trying to silently support her. Dawn also talked about that day after the alleged egg accident incident happened. And she says that after that incident, the day after, if y' all recall, even in her lawsuit, she says that the day after Diddy came into a room, a recording studio that her and Kiera, her and her band member Ms. Harper, were allegedly in and told them, like, that was just passion that y' all saw, nobody's hurt, and told them, like, y' all need to don't say nothing about what y' all saw because people who. People who talk about, you know, these type of things when it comes to me, go missing. So they let her go. They let her talk about all these different incidents. They also talked about an incident in LA that Dawn alleged happened with Diddy and Cassie. And she alleged, she alleged, when she was talking to the prosecution, that there were a lot of other people there. So they clarify, well, who were the other people there that worked for him? And she says that, you know, she alleged that security was there, she alleged that there were some assistance there. And then now the defense comes on, right? So this is Diddy's team. Diddy's teams come on. And he. They just basically go through event, event, event, event that she had named on face value. Not even going to lie on face value. It gave. They. They didn't hold back on dawn whatsoever. They cooked her. And the reason why I say that is because at face value, right, like just listening to it, there were so many times where she had recalled things that they would say, oh, well, that wasn't mentioned in your testimony to the prosecutors, which is a testimony where, you know, you're supposed to be telling the truth. Right. For instance, whether Dawn Rashard's testimony should honestly even be admitted. Because Diddy's team was trying to say, look, we can't just pull out all these random acts of violence that people are alleging and throw them on, you know, Diddy, because it doesn't prove what we're here to. To have a conversation about, which is the sex trafficking and, you know, all these other things. The prosecution was like, oh, no, it does. Because when you talk about these acts of alleged domestic violence and you have these witnesses giving these firsthand accounts, it shows how fearful they were. Especially dawn, who is alleging that not only did she see him get physical with Cassie, but she was threatened to. If you say something, this is what will happen. And that, what. That. That right there is what the prosecution is trying to. That's the biggest thing they're trying to prove is that Diddy has this nature about him allegedly, where it's like, if you say, I do this, I do what I want, and if anyone goes against that, or if you say something that goes against that, here is the consequence that will happen from that. Right? And that's what she was alleging. So the defense comes on and they specifically go right at that, that claim. They're like, look, you have these interviews with prosecutors, right? And she's like, yeah. Dawn is like, yeah. And they're like, you're supposed to be honest in these interviews with prosecutors, right? Like, it is like assumed and, you know, that you're supposed to be honest. And she's like, of course. So the defense attorney, who, Nicole Westmoreland, who is the attorney that, you know, a lot of people were kind of waiting to see how she cross examined. This was her first time actually getting up and. And cross examining with the witness, because we had heard that she was so good at strategy behind cross examination. She's like, okay, well, you know, you mentioned a couple things in your story here on the stand that don't reflect what you told the prosecutors in your interviews. And you met with them a few times. Correct. And dawn, you know, didn't. Didn't argue that she did meet with them a few times. There were like three to four times from the first interview until the. Until, you know, now when we are. When we're seeing dawn, where dawn did not mention at all the fact that she was threatened, allegedly by puff. And what Ms. Westmoreland did that I thought was very good was before she brought back up that threat and the fact that it wasn't mentioned in a lot of the interviews that dawn had with the prosecutors, she said, I want to make sure that I understand when Sean Combs allegedly threatened you. Right? What did you take that threat as? And dawn said, you know what? I took that threat. If I did something, he would allegedly kill me if I did something. She said, okay, so we have it established that you were at fear for your life. And dawn is like, yeah. So then she goes on the line of times that dawn did not mention this to the prosecutors, the government. And she's like, well, let's be clear. Sean Combs was not in the room when you did that interview. And she said, no. She said, none of us were in that room. Right? None of the lawyers. None of the attorneys were in the room. We did the interview. She said, no. And she said, well, I'm very confused as to. If you were in fear for your life, why wouldn't you bring that into the interview? Why wouldn't you tell the government that? Westmoreland then did the same thing with the fact that dawn had communication with Diddy. She established the fact that, you know, dawn was a part of Danity Kane and Danity Kane, you know, and Diddy and Dirty Money were these really big groups, and they were platinum, and they were successful. She, you know, was like, well, you. You went on to do things by yourself after that, and it just wasn't as successful. So you kind of see where she's going when she starts implying these things and saying these things, and she's like, you know, in 2011, you said you got away. You decided to just leave. Never, never say anything about anything you saw, because you were instructed to do so. And. And dawn is, like, agreeing, like, yes, I left in 2011. I was told by, you know, allegedly, Puff and a guy named Harf Pierre that was like, you know, executive that worked with Puff not to say anything about anything. So she said she. She listened to again because she was in fear for her life from that one incident that she had directly when she had that Threat thrown directly at her, allegedly, and then everything else that she had saw over time. So Wesmoreland, who is the defense attorney, is like, well, you say that you left in 2011, but there was communications with Sean after that. And at first, dawn is kind of like, she. And then she brings up the communications. She's like, okay. She's like, well, here's a text conversation. Because before that, the way that dawn was mentioning the conversations they were having was as if Diddy would reach out to her whenever she would have these high moments in her career, and she would make sure that, you know, she. Her temperament was right, like calling him bro, just trying to make sure she didn't make him upset and, you know, making sure the situation was diffused because she had dealt with him, you know, dealt with all this before, so she knew how to, you know, just not put flames to the situation. But Ms. Westmoreland came on, and she's like, look, you left in 2011. You were away. You had no ties. You had no reason to be in contact with them. Then they start bringing up these. These communications. So one of the communications that they brought up was from a year where dawn had reached out to allegedly work with Puff. Now, here's the thing. The defense didn't clarify what those communications were. All the defense said was, well, you reached out to him. Y' all had conversations, despite you saying he was only reaching out to you. And she's like, correct. Now, in. At the same time, every single time, there's a hole that Westmoreland grabs out. She mentions, okay, your story's changing. Your story's changing. It got to a point where dawn literally had to say, yes, my story is changing, but it's changing because the more I talk about this stuff, the more I remember I'm doing this testimony to the best of my ability, period. Now I say all that, and remember I told you, like, it. It was so weird today because it was like you felt one way until her from the other side. Because then the prosecution came back in, and the prosecution is now asking her questions again behind the defense. And they clarified. They clarified that the communication that dawn had with Diddy following her leaving in 2011 was number one, because she was trying to be a part of making the band. There was. There was, like, another making the band. Announced she had had some conversations about being a part of that, and she specifically was trying to, you know, work with Lorianne Gibson, who was going to be more so working with that. Not Puff. Thank you. Not Puff, Right? And she's like, okay, Diddy wasn't involved in it, though. He wasn't going to be a judge on that. The. The conversation, the relationship I was trying to build. This is dawn is Lorianne Gibson. So she said, you know, I had conversations, and I was told I needed to reach out to Diddy to make sure that it was okay that I did this. So she said that's one time that she reached out and he didn't reach out to her. She said the second time was because she was trying to do something for a friend, do something for Ms. Kina Harper, who was the other band member of Diddy Dirty Money. But neither side ever clarified what she was trying to do. But she just kept saying, I was just trying to help a friend. They. Then again, the defense leaned back into the whole, you know, there's holes in your story. Why are things changing? She's like, man, I'm remembering. The best I can remember the prosecution, when they came back in there, like, yo, what was the time on. On this stuff? How long ago was some of this stuff? So, again, pointing to the fact that this stuff was a long time ago, a lot of this stuff she may not remember. There was a big moment, too, though, where dawn couldn't speak to the fact that her attorneys had sent a. Allegedly sent a settlement offer to Diddy. She had no idea of it at all on the stand. There was a misquote in her lawsuit filing. So the. The civil lawsuit that Dawn Richard files. And I thought it was interesting how the civil lawsuits were coming into conversation so much here in this criminal federal court. So in the. In the lawsuit filing, the civil lawsuit filing, that Dawn Rashard has she mentioned an incident where she saw Cassie allegedly being drugged by her hair through grass. Diddy's legal team brought that up because, again, they're trying to just deflate her credibility. And they're like, do you remember telling prosecutors that that didn't happen that way? And she's like, darn it. She's. She was very honest about it. She was like, yes, I told the prosecutors that that was a misquote from my attorney. And they just left it at that. Like, they did everything they could to poke holes in Westmoreland, was really good at poking the holes. But again, when the prosecutors came in and doubled back behind it, they did everything they could to be like, okay, that hole was there, but here's why. And then they brought Carey Morgan on the stand, who was friends, very close friends with Cassie for a very, very long time. Who. The prosecution, you know, they let her Go. They let her tell her different stories and recount different things. And, you know, she really. I don't even think we needed it to be honest, because Cassie had already done her due diligence at telling her story about all the abuse that she suffered and things of that nature. And they had photos to accompany it. We've seen the video from the Intercontinental Hotel. So I, I don't think that the jury needs. Needed to be sold on domestic violence when it comes to Diddy. Right. But one thing that I thought was interesting with Carrie Morgan, and it was certain things that they both remembered that were key, right? Because like, Carrie Morgan remembered the. The. The hangar incident. You know, she remembered going to urgent care. They tried. They did try to trip Carrie Morgan up a bit. Did they hit the defense? Did. Did he seen. Because she had said that in her report to. In her interview with the prosecutors prior to coming to court, she said that she went to a hospital. On the stand, she said urgent care. And she said herself, like, yo, urgent care in hospital is like the same thing. There were small ways where they were trying to trip her up, but they couldn't really get her because she was honest about what she didn't know. She didn't second guess it. What she did know, she stuck straight to that. And if you asked her five different ways, she was. You know what I mean? She was saying the same thing. So it really made today, like, it made me feel indifferent about today in both testimonies. But at high level, that was a breakdown of today. Let me know how y' all are feeling. Cause I'm feeling like neither of those testimonies changed what I already knew. I already knew because I saw the videos and I saw photos and I heard Cassie's testimony that Diddy was extremely physically violent to her. One thing I did want to point out with Carey Morgan, the defense trying to use Kerry Morgan as a way to angle Cassie into, like, jealousy and anger and, you know, having a motive and, you know, all these things, I feel like even though she was very honest about her testimony, and I think that they thought because they've known, they haven't been friends for a while and there was like, a settlement that happened and, you know, Carrie Morgan, it's almost. It's almost as if they tried to pin Carrie Morgan in this corner of, like, we know you may have an issue with her still, so. So come here. Tell us all your goods, right? Carrie Morgan said what she had to say, but she kept it very honest. She said even with the $30,000 settlement that she received from Cassie, which when we heard about this before, the way the defense tried to angle that settlement was as if Cassie was admitting guilt to something that's admitting guilt to something she was involved in. Kerry Morgan got on a scene, and they instantly said, well, when Cassie came to you and she, you know, was trying to pay you for these things, you know, that. That you're alleging that happened, the things she did to you, Kerry Morgan stopped him. She said, she did to me. She didn't do those things to me. Diddy did those. Sean Combs did those things to me. Cassie was the middle person. Cassie just came to me and said, hey, here's how much he's willing to pay you. And they fell out. Because Cassie was downplaying the abuse, which, again, it's like, of course she was downplaying the abuse. She was a woman that was being abused. As we saw. You don't. There's no. You can't question that anymore. So of course she's downplaying it because she stayed there for all those years. Right. But that's why they stopped speaking. But I think I thought that that was such an interesting point when she made that clear, like, no, no, no, let's keep the main thing. The main thing. He came up with this number of $30,000, allegedly. He came to Cassie. Cassie then called her friend and said, yo, let's meet up. They meet up. She's like, hey, sign this NDA. You can't go nowhere. You can't talk about this. You can't this, you can't that. You're over. You're being dramatic. You're doing too much. This is what she alleges Cassie saying, like, she downplayed it, offered her the money. Carrie took the money and went about her business. But it was very clear that from. From. From what Kerry Morgan is saying, Cassie made it very clear that money was coming from Diddy for the things that he had done previous to that. Kerry Morgan also testified that when he walked into Cassie's apartment that day or Cassie's home that day, and that hanger incident when he allegedly hit her with a hanger that they keep going back to happened, he came in and said, who's she cheating on me with? The defense tried to make it seem like that incident happened because Diddy was trying to protect Cassie from Kerry Morgan and another woman because of the drugs that they were allegedly doing together, which Carrie Morgan didn't deny. She said that they were doing drugs together, but she said, not that day in that house. There were no drugs even there, according to what she said. I'm Lauren LaRosa. This is the latest. I'm about to get on out of here. Catch us tomorrow. Back here, same place, New York, for the trial of US versus strong. Com. You're listening to an iHeart podcast.