← The Latest with Loren LoRosa
The Latest with Loren LoRosa
The Diddy Verdict Watch officially begins (plus a look inside of Jeff Bezos' wedding))
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Lauren LaRosa
This is an I heart podcast. I'm the homegirl that knows a little bit about everything. And everybody knows she don't lie about that. Right? Lauren came in hot. Hey, y' all, what's up? It's Lauren LaRosa. And this is the latest with Lauren LaRosa. Now, y' all know that this is your daily dig on all things pop culture, entertainment, news, exclusives, and those conversations that shake the room behind the scenes of the grind. Checking in with you guys. We have officially started our holiday break from the Breakfast Club. So you guys are still going to be seeing content, all the good things, but we are on this break. I've been telling you guys how excited I was because I've never worked a job corporate, business wise or especially entertainment where, you know, you, you actually get to enjoy the full break, the full week off there. I've never, ever, ever in life work the job like that. So it is very, very refreshing to just have the time. Although we are still working. And we'll get into that in the latest because literally right now as we speak, the jury in Sean Combs, Sean Diddy Combs's case, is being briefed on how they are to go about their deliberations when they are about to make a decision for whether Diddy will be found guilty or not guilty and what he will be found guilty and not guilty of. So work is never ending, stopping for us here at the Latest with Lauren LaRosa. But it is very refreshing to be able to wake up around, you know, seven, eight o' clock versus three, four o' clock. So if I'm checking in behind the scenes of the grind, if y' all can't tell or hear it in my voice, it's refreshed. You know, again, as I was mentioning as we're now going on into the latest, because everywhere I go, I was out this weekend celebrating a friend's birthday. And a lot of people, even people who are not entertainment, like enthusiasts, right? Like not people who sit and watch blogs and dot coms and entertainment news shows and nightly shows and all these things all the time, are very interested in what is about to happen in the case of Sean Diddy Combs. Again, we've discussed it openly here about, you know, there being such a tug of war for some people because, you know, people feel like he is on trial right now for what should be domestic violence, but instead he is facing a federal, you know, case for sex trafficking and, you know, other things that I really feel like people do not really understand the charges. I Think people don't understand the. The prosecutor's case. But I do think in being there and seeing how the prosecutors laid it out, I understand exactly what their case is. And I don't believe that Diddy is going to walk from this now. I do believe that, you know, some of the things that they have presented are not as strong as others, which is why we saw earlier in the week, last week, the government begin to step away from some theories because they wanted to make sure that what they were leaning in on was the strongest things that they had. So they wanted to get away from attempted anything. Because when you talk about attempt, you then have to go into attempt intention. And Diddy's team for the longest was arguing that the intention, like that the government did not do a good job at proving that a lot of these acts and these things that they are claiming Diddy knowingly conspired with other people to do them intentionally to commit a crime. So there's been a. A really big conversation about what is going to happen. I did NBC last Friday, NBC 4, New York. And you guys can check that out on the Embassy for New York's YouTube channel. It is also on Peacock. We do a series called the Case, which is all about Sean Diddy Combs's case. And, you know, we just do a breakdown for the week and on, and that's every Friday thing until the case is over. So this will be one of my last weeks doing it because there will potentially be a verdict this week. That is what's predicted. But one of the biggest things that they, you know, came out the gate swinging with on that show was what is everyone asking you right now? And when I go back to the weekend I just had, everyone wants to know what is about to happen. What do you think is going to happen? So let's get on into the latest because, you know, I love taking y' all to court. Love to take y' all to court. It is June 30th. As we are speaking right now, the jury is being briefed by the judge in this case. And what that looks like is he's going through every count. He's going through everything that has been alleged of Diddy. We're going to actually go through the charges because, again, I think at this point, because the stories and the testimonies have become so big, people forget the. The actual charges. So Diddy is facing several federal charges. He's facing a racketeering conspiracy. So prosecutors are basically saying that they're alleging that Diddy got together and used his businesses to function as, like, a criminal enterprise to engage in various sexual acts like sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, and a few other things. He's also facing a charge for sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion. And then he's also facing a charge for allegedly transporting to engage in prostitution. Now, it's important to note that he has pled not guilty all of this time, Even when his team did their whole request and asked for Rule 29, which was a dismissal of the charges, because they feel like the government did not do their job job of proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that these things happen, they still. In the. In that request, in the courtroom, in front of the judge, not in front of the jury, but in front of the judge, said that Diddy was just targeted by the government, that all of this. None of this happened. This was all targeting. This is just a man living his life and doing what he does sexually. And even the drugs were personal use. Like, they went through a ton of things. But that last day on Friday that I was just in court prior to the jury instruction, I think in the closing arguments, number one, the closing arguments were a show. Okay? The closing arguments were, when I tell y' all, they put on a show, they cut up in there. You know, you be out of show, and they'd be like, you, oh, you better go off. You cutting up in here. It was literally given that. So Mark Agnifilio, who is Diddy's lead defense attorney, baby, when I tell you he was reading those. He was reading the girls for filth, okay? All. And. And it put a bad taste in a lot of. You know, I was in one of the overflow rooms. It put a bad taste in the mouth of a lot of the people watching. So I. You know, again, the jury are regular people as well, too. So I don't know how they're interpreting it, but if I'm just talking from just, you know, people who are actually there and hearing it, people were like, what the hell is going on right now? He did everything but called them women. The women that decided to testify against Diddy. He did everything but call them a child of God. In his closing arguments, he made it very clear that they felt like these women were there because of their own personal gain. He made it very clear that, you know, Diddy and his team felt like these women wanted what happened to them, wanted these various sexual encounters. They made it very clear that the government was. Again, they used the word targeting. And he. And. And Mark. Agnes did. His attorney actually got in Trouble for this because he said that the government was targeting Sean Combs and what he was. Mark Agnil laid out a bunch of missteps or what he called missteps in the procuring of evidence by that the pro prosecution presented. So he went back to the Homeland Security investigators, their raid on Diddy's homes, right? And while they were cross examining those investigators who actually, you know, executed the warrants at the homes in Miami and la, and then also in Diddy's hotel room here in New York right before he was arrested were a few things that they pointed out that even when it was happening on the stand, I was in the actual courtroom for these testimonies. I was like, wait, how y' all mess up on that? So Mark Agnes pointed out the fact that pro. That prosecutors put witness on the stand from Homeland Security investigators from Homeland Security, Mark Adilio pointed out that Diddy, that the. The government put investigators from Homeland Security on the stand who testified that there were guns that they included in their evidence. They didn't even have recorded where they pulled the guns from. There was, you know, various things in their warrant that they, you know, documented that they received, but they couldn't even tell you where it was from. They didn't even picture it in the actual place before it was moved or taken or put around. And those small little things like that matter because depending on where you find it at, you know, you're trying to, if you're trying to point out ownership of these drugs and these guns and the money and these different things that you guys are finding, depending on where you find it at, you know, Diddy's team can argue, how do you even know that that is his? Like for instance, a lot of the guns that they're having conversations about were found in a security house. But there was a lot of back and forth about where they were found and how they were found. Were they locked up, were they not locked up? And you couldn't indefinitely answer that because some of the agents were saying on the stand that they, they couldn't tell you where they were originally found because where they were pictured and where they were documented was it was not where they were found. So things like that. And then they did, they pointed out a lot of inconsistencies in, you know, just different testimonies from various people that took the stand. Dawn, Richard, Cassie, Jane Doe and Mia. And their whole point was you're supposed to be able to trust the government, but you can't. And here's why. And then they broke down all of those things. And I thought that this was a very. It was. It was very subt. But I was like, I see the point that they're driving here. And if the jury really believes this narrative, they're doing well at continuing to paint it. So after saying that Diddy was targeted by the government, after showing all these different missteps in evidence, according to Diddy's team, right. Diddy's attorney, Mark Agnifilio, then comes in and he says, and then when they talk to you about the guns, they make it. They talk to you about this. This angry man with these guns, but they can't even provide for you correct information on where or how the guns were found. And I'm in my mind, like, okay, after you tell a jury, right, that this man is being targeted because he's a black, powerful man by the government and that they can't trust the government. And then you paint the picture of them painting Diddy as this angry black man who has all these guns and all this rage. You. You. You know, y' all know what argument he going for. Y' all know where he going with this. It's very much given. Y' all just. This is a takedown of the. You're trying to make him out to be this angry, overly aggressive black man. Now, here's the thing, though. It's like, it's hard to. To use that to his defense because you do have that Cassie tape, which the government has shown over and over and over again in this case. But Agnifilio got in a lot of trouble for that because the prosecution stood up to strike all of that conversation. And by striking it, they basically want the judge to come in and tell the jury, you can't consider that when you make your decision, because before this trial started, there was a conversation about that whole the government is not trustworthy, and they're just trying to take down a black man narrative. And it was ruled then that that wasn't allowed to enter into court unless there was substantial evidence that showed that Mark Agnifilio argued that the missteps in the prosecutor's evidence that they presented, some of what I just mentioned to you guys was exactly that. But the judge, ultimately, and he did a good job because he allowed, you know, Mark Agnefilidio to present his side for Diddy. He allowed the government to get their side out. He took some time to actually consider it. Like, we literally sat in silence for a good five to 10 minutes as he thought it through. And when he came back Then he took a little second, then we came back, and he said he basically told Mark Agnifilio, you know, you weren't supposed to do that. That was ruled before this even started. So I'm not going to allow that. So now I have to reinstruct the jury. And that's what he did. When the jury was brought back in, he told the jury, first thing, you are not allowed to consider that. That should not have been said to you. But here's my thing, and here's what I'm learning about watching this in real time. It's different when you reported on a case and you're not in the courtroom, but being in the courtroom, it's like, even if you strike that right from, like, wherever it's written down in the court records that is supposed to be struck in, you tell the jury that they're still human beings. They heard it. The narrative is now planted in their mind if they want to believe it. So I already know that Diddy's team, you threw that shot up on the board, and you didn't care about whether it landed or not. You didn't care about getting in trouble. Because once it's out there, it's out there. The government did a good job doing every Buttle, to quote to the. To the defense's closing arguments by bringing Comey on. Comey is the lead prosecutor in this case, and she is amazing at closing arguments. She didn't lead the pro. The closing arguments for the government the whole time, though. And a lot of people were trying to figure out why, because she's notoriously known for being really good at closing arguments. But when she came up, she did exactly what she needed to do. She had the. The jurors laughing. A lot of things that she brought up was very, like, common sense. Like, listen, they want to tell you that these women wanted what happened to them. Do you think a woman wants to be peed on by an escort? Do you think a woman wants to continue to have sex with a UTI and be in pain over and over and over again for hours? Do you think a woman wants to have her financial stability hung over her head to be beaten like the way she made it? So, okay, they're. They're saying all this, but if we just use our common sense here, what do y' all think? And she was very good at, because these. These closing arguments in this whole case, it gets long, it gets drawn out. And that's where I think a lot of the confusion comes in and in my opinion, will come in for the jury because it's so much. The government gives you so much information and so much testimony, and then you gotta, like, streamline it at the end, and it's confusing. The letter about streamlining confused the world. People thought that Diddy had charges dropped, and he didn't. That was just the government making it clear. Okay, we've given you a hundred things, and now we're streamlining it, and we're focusing in on a strong four to five, because this is what we need to make you understand exactly why we are here. But she did a really good job of taking, you know, the full defense closing argument and focusing on several key things and bringing them, like, when she landed the plane, like, she made it so matter of fact. So if we just use our common sense. We don't got to use all the court jargon, all the legalese terms. Let's just use our common sense as people here. And she used words like laughable and. And the jury was laughing. There were certain things that happened. Oh, my God, y' all. She said, let me tell y' all low riders. Listen, y' all know I love talking to you guys because I can talk to you guys like I'm talking to my. To my friends, because y' all know we a community here. So look, Comey says while she's in rebuttal, she says, look, they want to make it seem like, you know, this man didn't walk around with guns. And he's a. Because they actually said. Diddy's team said in their closing arguments, he's a hands to fist kind of guy. He's not walking around with guns. He has security for that. She said, yeah, he's a hands to fist kind of guy, but only with the women in his life. When I tell y' all, all of us were like, oh, clocked it. Like, she did an amazing job. She brought it home. So right now, the. The judge. It's been happening for hours. It's been happening for about three hours of the judge going through all of the. Here's the rules. Here's exactly what he's been charged with. Here's exactly what you need to consider. Here's your instruction, and here's this. Here's how this is going to go. So at this point, we are officially on jury. We're on verdict watch. So what I plan to do is, is just be in the area of the courthouse this week until that verdict comes in. I will be in and out of the courthouse. Because a lot of it, you're just sitting there But I do want to be in the area just in case the verdict comes down. I'm able to get there easily. Getting in that the courtroom, like the actual courtroom itself this week is going to be so challenging because people are literally lining up the night before. And I ain't sleeping outside no courthouse. Not happening. That do not go in my outfit. But I will bring you guys as much as I can. But all of this conversation and all the hype around this and the fluctuating of people caring and, you know, at one point, courthouse is packed, and then the next week no one's even there. And then the next, like, if you've been there every day and every week, you. I've really been able to see how people only care about certain things at certain points. And it's made me think after this ruling comes down, right? No matter whether Diddy is going to walk free, which, again, I don't believe will happen, or if he will be spending time in jail, what, what, what does this look like now? Like, like what's next? Is this the end of Diddy's, like, media storm? Do people care after this? I really want to know what you guys think, because I was thinking about it, right? Like, this is ending for him, right? Court is about to end for Diddy. He will get the verdict, and we will have to see what happens next. But at the same time, there are so many other things beginning for other people. The world is still going on. Jeff Bezos got married this weekend in Venice and 50 million dollar wedding, right? And the world is out here protesting about it. Like people are moving on from things. They are. Right now people care because they want to know the verdict. But when people move on, what does that look like? And when I say $50 million for Jeff Bezos, I mean $50 million wedding for Jeff Bezos. I mean, the people popped up out. You had Kim Kardashian there, Khloe Kylie, Kris Jenner and her boyfriend, Corey Gamble, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Brady, Orlando Bloom, minus Katy Perry, because y' all know they're not together anymore. Ivanka Trump, like, there were so many people there at one point, it felt like the world was stopping for this Diddy trial. That doesn't feel like that anymore at all. People are literally out here protesting this fifty million dollar wedding. They don't. They're not. They don't. The freak people don't care anymore. As much I want to know, what do you guys think happens next? Will people still stay invested in Sean Diddy Combs? And what happens next for him. Or will they not? We're on verdict watch. I will keep you guys updated every single day. I'm going to be getting some content from outside of the courthouse as well, too. And, you know, just getting out there on the streets and seeing how people feel and and what they're caring about, if they even anymore at this point. I'm Lauren LaRosa. This is the latest with Lauren LaRosa, your daily dig on all things pop culture, entertainment, news, and the conversations that shake the room. At the end of the day, there's always a lot to talk about. And y' all know I am so grateful, Lowriders. Whenever y' all are here with me to talk about it, I'm the home girl that knows a bit about everything and everybody. And I will see you guys in my next. This is an iHeart podcast.