Sean Combs: "You joined the #MeToo money grab."

0:01This is On Trial, a special series from Dateline True Crime Weekly, bringing you daily coverage from the Sean Combs racketeering trial. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. I'm Andrea Canning, and it's Monday, June 2nd. Just a heads up, in this episode, we're going to be talking about some graphic details and harrowing subject matter. The fourth week of testimony began with the continued cross-examination of the prosecution's witness, called victim number four in filings. She is going by Mia on the stand, which is not her real name. Brian Steele is handling cross for the defense.

0:38He recently helped rap superstar Young Thug avoid jail time in a state RICO case in Georgia. NBC News correspondent Chloe Malas was in the courtroom today as the prosecution repeatedly objected to Steele's questioning. And the judge called Steele's tone on the line. Chloe is outside now to tell us how the jury reacted today. Hey, Chloe. Hey, Andrea. So Mia alleges that she was raped by Sean Combs and abused in the workplace. What is the thrust of defense attorney Brian Steele's cross of her? The crux is he's saying you continued to reach out to this man years after you no longer worked for him and you said that you loved him.

1:21So how could you say that if this was your rapist? Why would you choose to stay in contact with him and why didn't you tell anyone? Did he outright call her a liar since Sean Combs is denying this rape allegation? He didn't say you're a liar, but he did say you're lying about being sexually assaulted, aren't you? Brian Steele wanted to know who Mia told about this sexual assault, if anyone, right? Which is what defense attorneys are always looking for when they're cross-examining. Who knew about this? I'm just looking at my notes right now. He says, how is it that at all these events, these weddings, these birthday parties, these trips that she went on with family and friends, that there are no emails from you to them about what you claim happened while you worked for Diddy?

2:09And she just says that she was never really outside of his grip and that she never would have repeated these things because she had this confidentiality agreement with him. On Friday, the defense used Mia's Instagram account to try to discredit her, you know, saying, look at the praise that she was heaping on Combs. And we touched on this. And also that was the material that was in the binders on the chairs. Today, they entered some private text between Combs and Mia. As recently as July 2022, she reaches out about the bad boy documentary that she had taken part in. And she says, you know, wow, this is top 10 on Netflix right now.

2:50And he writes back, love, love, love. And she writes back, and I love, love, love you. She actually said that you'll have to ask a psychologist or a therapist to figure all this out. Because these text messages show her proactively reaching out to Diddy over the years. It's not the other way around. And the defense said she waited months to tell federal prosecutors about the sexual assault? So she met with prosecutors over 25 times. And Brian Steele pointed out that during the months of March and April and May, she never told prosecutors until June about these assaults. And she says, well, I was waiting until I had hired a lawyer to represent me during this criminal trial.

3:34But then Steele said, but you did have an attorney by the time you had your second meeting with prosecutors. And she really just kept saying over and over, Andrea, that she just didn't remember. I also want to point out she made no eye contact. She had her head completely down. I mean, it must hurt her neck. I mean, she literally just stares at the floor the entire time. Her hair is covering her eyes. It's very sad to watch. But at the same time, though, there are a lot of questions today through this cross-examination. That's a lot of pressure to be up there in such a high-profile trial and to be going against a powerful defense team.

4:09How did she handle it? I mean, she seems nervous, but she does seem strong at the same time. She's not crying. She has a strong tone. At times, she almost kind of, like, laughed out of sarcasm when she was reading some of these text messages. Last week, Mia testified that she felt like she had a moral obligation to come forward. This week, the defense asked Mia why she didn't feel that same responsibility to warn Cassie Ventura about combs. This is a woman that Mia considered to be her close friend. Why would she let her friend stay with him? So when asked why she just did not speak out, whether it was to Cassie, who she called a sister, or to her own family and friends, she said, because I was terrified and brainwashed.

4:58She also said, it's been a long process. I'm still untangling these things. I'm in therapy. There's a lot of support I'm given that I didn't have or knew what to do with before. So again, Steele went after her, hammering her over and over. You didn't tell anybody. You didn't warn Cassie. You were posting all of these loving things on social media. You're emailing him. You're talking to him years after you left this monster and you're able to now live a free life. And you're messaging him as recently as 2023, like weeks before Cassie filed her civil lawsuit. So it's sort of like what's changed?

5:34Is this revisionist history? Or is this a trauma victim who's just figuring out what really happened to her? What did it feel like to be there in court, Chloe, to feel this tension going on? Such serious subject matter. It's in moments like that that I'm thinking, I need to write this down for the podcast, right? And then Maureen Comey, who's one of the lead New York prosecutors, she's the daughter of James Comey. at one point when the jury wasn't in the room, and she said Steele was yelling at Mia, that he was harassing her, and she was worried, because all eyes all over the world are watching this case right now, that this will keep other victims from coming forward to tell their truth.

6:16She's worried that Steele's being too aggressive. And then you have Brian Steele, who's coming off the heels of this major win with Young Thug out of Atlanta, and you can see he's frustrated. How did the judge handle that then? Did the judge tell Brian Steele to tone it down? I mean, he was actually quite deferential to Steele. He told Maureen Comey, I don't see what you're saying. I don't see him yelling. I mean, I can agree that the tone is on the line and Steele, you need to be mindful of that. But there was no like sanctioning him or anything like that. But, you know, Comey wanted to put this on the record because she feels strongly in her position.

6:58It was a very fiery moment. Friday, some of the jurors, you said, were seen smirking during Brian Steele's cross-examination of Mia. How were they reacting today? Well, let me tell you, there is one juror, and she, like I said, no poker face. She's furrowing her brow. She's looking at Mia in what seems to be in a skeptical way. All the reporters are talking about it. And pretty much everybody else is just taking notes and has a really straight face. It's really just this one juror. When we come back, we heard the phrase Me Too multiple times today, but not in the way you might think.

7:47Coincidentally, less than a block away from the federal courthouse where Combs is on trial, former movie producer Harvey Weinstein is standing trial for a second time on sex crimes charges, which he has pleaded not guilty to. It was allegations against him that kick-started the Me Too movement. You're covering that trial as well, Chloe. I'll be in the courtroom tomorrow in the morning, and we could see a verdict in Weinstein as early as tomorrow afternoon. I would expect this week for sure. Do you see any differences in the way the women accusing Combs of assault have been treated by the public, the media, versus the women who accused Weinstein of assault back in 2017 during the heart of the Me Too movement.

8:28Absolutely. You don't see any protesters or people standing in solidarity with these women coming forward like you did in the throes of the Me Too movement when Harvey's trial was starting and I was there covering that trial in 2020. I mean, the silence has really been deafening, and I'm not quite sure why. And also on the other side of that, no one seems to be supporting Sean Combs either. Both sides, you're not seeing a whole lot of noise. Right, and perhaps there are people that want to, but they're reserving that until a verdict. So interestingly, Brian Steele did reference the Me Too movement today.

9:12He seemed to be using it as a way to undermine Mia's testimony. Yeah, I mean, he was saying you say that the Me Too movement had a major bearing on you realizing that you were a victim of abuse. But that was 2017. And you didn't come out with these allegations of sexual assault until June of 2024, long after Cassie filed her civil suit in November 2023. even more than two months after you were already meeting with prosecutors. How does that all add up? Chloe, at one point, the defense accused Mia of joining what they call the Me Too money grab. Yeah, so Steele asked Mia if she was planning to sue Diddy in the wake of this trial.

9:57So she said no on the record, and nothing's going to prevent her from suing him later. Neither means that she's not trustworthy, right, or that her story isn't true. But they are saying that a lot of this is motivated by money. That got an objection from the prosecution, that Me Too money grab line? Oh, it did. And it was one of many things that they objected on today. On Redirect, the prosecution brought up some points that are almost accepted wisdom around the behavior of abuse and assault victims. Tell us about that. One of the prosecutors said, what did you worry about if you told that he sexually assaulted you?

10:33And she said that I wouldn't be believed. I would be fired. I would be labeled a crazy person that was making everything up. Then she was asked, why did you try to keep the person that abused you happy? And she said, because when he was happy, I was safe. But that does not answer the question that Steele brought up multiple times as to why did you continue to reach out to him as recently as 2023? Do you think that this could possibly backfire with some of the jurors that's going after Mia and trying to discredit her when she is, you know, vulnerable? She says she's a victim of sexual assault. Absolutely.

11:13There's a generational divide with these jurors. So several of them are over the age of 60. And there are several that look to be, you know, under 35. So how are they going to view social media? How are they going to view this correspondence? You know, what are they going to think of the way Brian Steele is handling his cross-examination? I think it's still a little too soon to tell. I think we're really going to see this either all come together or completely fall apart for Diddy's team when they put on their defense. What can we expect tomorrow? potentially a hotel custodian who might be talking about cleaning up or seeing the aftermath of those freak-offs.

11:57And later this week, we could actually hear from another Jane Doe testifying under a pseudonym who claims that she was subjected to physical and sexual abuse. All right. Thank you, Chloe. I know you're pulling double duty again tomorrow with Harvey Weinstein and Sean Combs, two high-profile trials, so we thank you so much for your time and look forward to another update tomorrow. See you tomorrow. And thanks to everyone for listening. If you want to read the latest developments and analysis from inside the courtroom, check out the NBC newsletter, Diddy On Trial. Go to NBCnews.com slash Diddy to find that.

12:33On Trial is produced by Frannie Kelly with help from the Dateline True Crime Weekly team. Our senior producers are Alison Orr and Liz Brown-Kurloff. Original music by Jesse McGinty. Paul Ryan is executive producer and Liz Cole is senior executive producer of Dateline.