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- [00:02]
A
Seriously popular. The following episode explores a number of allegations regarding the artist Diddy. He denies all charges and has pled not guilty to sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
- [00:33]
B
Hey, I'm Kayla Brantley, reporter at large for the Daily Mail in Manhattan. And we have a quick update episode this week because on Thursday, prosecutors filed a new indictment accusing Diddy of sex trafficking two additional women. So originally he was accused of sex trafficking one woman, and now prosecutors have filed a new indictment. Also, there have been calls from people in Washington to release the Diddy files, to release the name of all those involved in Diddy's alleged. So we're speaking with senior political reporter at the Daily Mail, Charlie Spearing, who has been covering this story where Washington intersects with Hollywood. So thanks for being here, Charlie.
- [01:16]
A
Hi, Kayla. How are you?
- [01:17]
B
I'm good, I'm good. And I saw your report. It's like a crossing of both worlds. Now we have Ted Cruz jumping into the conversation of Diddy, and you are a political reporter, so this seemed like the perfect crossover. So we would love for you to talk about your latest reporting.
- [01:39]
A
Right. The election of Donald Trump has really brought into focus. How much can we find out about these cases, about the Jeffrey Epstein case, about the Diddy case? We know that he signed executive orders as soon as he became president to release all the details about the JFK assassination. That's still a couple months away, the full report and release. But it's something that he's sort of put in into motion. So that has a lot of Americans wondering, what else can we find out? If we have this president committed to transparency, who else can we get details on? And when can we expect that?
- [02:14]
B
Yeah. So now you have people like Ted Cruz who are calling on Donald Trump to release all the files related to Diddy's trial. So what needs to happen to get those files released?
- [02:26]
A
Well, the president has to take a personal interest in it and sign a similar executive order ordering the various departments in char charge of this prosecution to release the documents. Well, the interesting, it's one thing with the Jeffrey Epstein files, which is, you know, key on a lot of people's radars, but he's already been sort of, he is, you know, already his life is over. The case is pretty much over. So you can release those details. What's interesting about the Diddy trial is it has yet to take place. So it's probably unlikely that the Justice Department will release these details. But Ted Cruz is channeling all the Americans who feel just like the Epstein trial had A long list of clients, you know, the wealthy, the rich people on the East Coast. The Diddy files is perceived by Americans as a list of all the celebrities, all the compromised celebrities on the West Coast. And that's kind of what he's channeling here, the interest by people in, you know, across the country who are. Who believe that, you know, the people on the elites on both coasts are corrupt. And we just need to know the details and the truth. And that, that. That is sort of what Ted Cruz is channeling. He was approached by reporters about the Epstein files, and it was very interesting that he volunteered the information about the Diddy files, showing that he's very in tune with what the American people are talking about.
- [03:47]
B
And from your experience covering Trump, do you think this is something that he would be on board with?
- [03:52]
A
Well, it'll be interesting. I think first off, the list will have to be the Epstein files. This is something that a lot of people are talking about, including many of the people who talk on these podcasts that he really embraced during the election. The Ditty files, not so much. So if we see the release of the Epstein files, I think that, you know, people interested in the Diddy case could expect that that would be next. But I have to think that the release of those files would have to take place only after he's convicted of something, after the trial, because you wouldn't necessarily want to bust up that trial by releasing all the details ahead of time before his defense.
- [04:31]
B
What's interesting to me is that we have videos and flight logs of all the interactions between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. So I would think that unless Donald Trump knows for a fact that there's nothing very incriminating there, that he wouldn't want that to be released.
- [04:49]
A
Right. The people on the left, and including some of the reporters asking Republicans about these files are saying, if Donald Trump is really committed to transparency, why won't he release the Epstein files? And certainly those on the left think that Trump is compromised by the Epstein files, even though there's no evidence at this point suggesting that there's anything criminal. Trump has addressed these files, and, you know, he's open to the idea, but he still is sort of on the fence. He hasn't necessarily cited whether or not whether Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in jail or whether, as people allege, and he hasn't sided necessarily with the people who believe that he committed suicide. So he's kind of open to the idea, but he's certainly not sort of. It's not on the list of something that he is 100% going to engage with.
- [05:38]
B
At this point in your story, while Trump might not be the one saying, you know, release the Diddy trials, you have his pick for FBI Director, Kash Patel. You have Ted Cruz, as I mentioned before, and you have Elon Musk, who have all come out and have said, you know, release the Diddy files, release this list. Is there an actual list that exists, do you think?
- [06:03]
A
It's hard to say. But you have to imagine that there's details of all the people who, you know, may have attended these, you know, these notorious freak off parties. Whether or not there was, you know, each one, each opportunity, each person there committed these, you know, criminal acts is uncertain at this point. But there's a lot of speculation there. But what's interesting is what, you know, the, what Musk and Kash Patel and Ted Cruz are sort of channeling right now is that it's cool to be transparent and it's cool to have guns. Government officials calling for transparency. And at this point, it's good to be on the right side of transparency and sort of teasing details of these conspiracy theories saying, why can't we know? Why doesn't the government tell us? Because that's sort of the right place to be in order to gain in popularity and political power at this point.
- [06:56]
B
Also, it's Friday, January 31st. It's been 11 days of Trump's presidency and it feels like so many things have happened and he's signed a, a bunch of orders. And this seems like. Would you say that this is an order that is meaningful to people or just something that kind of is for, like, shock value?
- [07:18]
A
Yeah, it certainly would sort of distract a lot of people. If you release these lists, then it would definitely shift the narrative towards Donald Trump's being transparent over any other thing going on in the country today. It would really seize the headlines and take control. Very interesting that Trump sort of realized the value of going on the Joe Rogan podcast and vowing to release all the JFK files because this has been something that Rogan has been talking about for years and he's only grown in popularity. So for him to sort of cue in on that and get on board with that idea probably helped him a lot during the election. As I said earlier, it's cool to be transparent and release details of, you know, long, long questioned, you know, official narrative. So that'll be very interesting to see. As I said, you know, it's still a couple months away from having those files released, but it would be interesting to see whether he, he does release all the files or just another chunk as some people have speculated.
- [08:21]
B
Yeah, well, I absolutely love transparency. I'm sure you as a political reporter also our team transparency. So we'll definitely see how this goes. Thank you so much, Charlie. And also the reason for this update episode is because on Thursday, prosecutors filed a criminal indictment against Sean Diddy Combs, accusing him of sex trafficking three women. He was previously alleged to have trafficked one woman across state lines. But in the superseding indictment, which was obtained by DailyMail.com, it accuses him of trafficking two additional women. But despite these new accusations, no additional charges have been filed against him. In the indictment, prosecutors allege that Combs transported the three women, as well as professional sex workers across state lines. None of the women have been identified by name in this indictment, but one of the women is apparently Diddy's ex girlfriend, singer Cassie Ventura, who's the one who kicked this whole investigation off when she accused him of rape and physical abuse in her lawsuit that was filed in November 2023. And it is important to note that Diddy's team has completely denied all of the allegations. Diddy's team said in a statement that the latest indictment contains no new offenses and that the prosecution's theory remains flawed. His team went on to say that the government has added the ridiculous theory that two of Mr. Combs former girlfriends were not girlfriends at all, but were prostitutes. Mr. Combs is as committed as ever to fighting these charges and winning at trial. So thank you guys for listening into this quick update episode. We're always trying to bring you stuff as it's happening in real time. And thank you to Charlie Spearing in D.C. for coming to chat with us. So for now, that's it. And as we prepare for Diddy's trial in May, what other trials would you like us to cover? Let us know by email thetrialailymail.com or you can WhatsApp us at 447-7966-657512 and make sure to start your message with trial. Please share all your comments, suggestions and thoughts on the trial of Diddy on Apple or Spotify and follow us on TikTok@DailyMailCrime. Do follow the trial of Diddy as we will be here each week with fresh information, new insights and some expert guests.