Hey, folks, It's Friday, June twentieth, and the Diddy trial has resumed after being off for two days, and they seem to be trying to make up some time this morning with that. Welcome to this Diddy Trial Update edition of Amy and TJ. We continue to keep you updated and there's a lot to update folks about right now Robes. As we speak, testimony is underway. But one of the witnesses we've been waiting a long time to hear from, Brendan Paul, has already been up and down. This is
a key witness. I'm a little surprised they're done with him so quickly.
That's right.
Not only did he go through direct examination by the prosecution in less than ninety minutes correct, then the defense had their swing at him in cross examination and they were done much sooner than that.
It looked like maybe, I mean minutes.
They asked him a few questions minutes at the most.
That was very surprising. A reminder here, Brendan Paul has been waiting since Tuesday, maybe yes, to testify that he was ready. Wednesday, court was abruptly canceled because a juror got sick, had vertigo Thursday out for June tenth. He
comes back today. This is a guy who knew, who saw a lot, who was right next to him right up until twenty twenty four when everything came apart and they I don't know, I don't know what I was expecting, but I was expecting there to be a lot of grilling of this guy.
Yes, I thought he might be on the stand much much longer. He was actually named in at least three of the civil lawsuits, and in one of those lawsuits described as Diddy's drug mule, he was arrested and charged, but because he is now testifying on behalf of the prosecution, those charges were dropped. But something he said emphatically today on the stand that he was absolutely not a drug mule, even though he did carry some drugs.
You know what were some of the things he ended up explaining. Everybody's been calling him a drug mule. Listening to his testimony today, I said, Okay, I see why he takes offense to that, and I see why maybe I shouldn't be used. Before we get to all of that with him, one note, we need to button up his juror number seven. Yes, right, one juror had been dismissed number six for so inconsistent statements about where he actually lived, and they've been talking about during number seven.
It seems like all week we knew it was on the table that maybe another juror could get excused. Judge finally addressed it this morning.
Yes, so we did learn that it was the defense who was asking that this juror during number seven be removed. The allegation was that he may have talked about the case in some way to a work colleague. The judge said he investigated it and was not going to excuse the jurors or juror number seven remains on the jury, and we know that that sick juror must have showed
back up to court today much better. Vertigo issues resolved because there are no other alternate jurors being put on the jury, so just one alternate juror now has assumed that position.
Were you thrown off as well? I saw one update this morning. I can't remember which reporter in the room that said there was a delay this morning. They had to be in recess for a short time because not everybody in the jury had shown up yet. So it didn't I'll go but a few minutes. But when I saw that update, I said, Lord, here we go again. Yes, it's just been a week of jury issues.
Yes, so thankfully all the jurors are seated.
They have been listening intently to the testimony that's taking place today. Again, the prosecution has gone through Brendan Paul, and we'll talk about what he testified to. But they're already at the next I believe the second to last witness now will stand Homeland Security agent, and then there's only one more to go, and we're assuming at that point the prosecution is going to wrap their case.
Could it happen today at this rate? Who knows.
But it's only half a day, right, So maybe that's why they are getting through things very quickly, and a lot of folks think that they'll technically end up wrapping their case on Monday.
Speaking of juror issues, this is not a negative thing. But the reason they're only doing a half day to day is because one of the needs to attend a son's graduation, which again I compliment the federal government for allowing that, but it's we had no jury issues at scene for the first five weeks, and all of a sudden we talking about a juror every single day. But it's underway now. I can imagine this going pretty quickly as well. But Brendan Paul was the guy Robesen. He
was talked about so much. Yes, drug mule, it's just something that looks fun in a headline. But this how you could argue, this was a kid fresh out of college, happy as hell to be working for Sean Diddy Combs. And he was. He knew going in just how demanding this job was going to because folks warned him what he was going to have to do.
Yeah, and this is a smart kid.
He was a basketball player at Syracuse University. He had a wonderful resume and was I'm sure and talked about being very excited to work for Sean Diddy Combs.
What age at the time, Well.
He would have been fresh out of college for twenty two Yeah, because he's twenty six right now now, I believe. And right out of college he was working up to one hundred hours a week. But we all did that when we first got out of school, at least you and I did. He had a much better starting salary than you and I did, seventy five thousand, he said. He got a year to begin with, and then eventually worked his way up to one hundred K.
He tripled my starting salary exactly the same. I didn't have to do a lot of stuff he did.
But still I didn't have to carry drugs or do anything illegal. But I was working about ninety two one hundred hours a week for twenty two thousand dollars a year.
His carried a lot more.
Risk and punishment than mine, however, according to his testimony.
But he was He said he was happy to do it. He learned a lot from Sean ditty Combs. And what was the interview process? How does that work?
Right?
When you're going to interview for Sean? Didty Combs all right? They said he went to his house out in California and didn't meet with Diddy. Do I have this right? It was KK, Yes, that he met with the infamous KK, the chief of staff to Shawn Ditty Combs met with her and three days later he was working.
That's right.
He was told that if he had a girlfriend, he should break up with her and he should say goodbye to his family. So they told him right off the bat, like you cannot have any other distractions. You can't have any other personal distractions. That is intimidating. I don't know that as much as I was excited about my career, and I didn't I wasn't afraid of the hours with a low salary. But if you told me you can't have a personal life at all, that's that's a lot to ask.
See, that's the uh wow. It was one of our quotes this week. Right, your success in life is before thirty is the thing you say yes to. After thirty is the stuff you say based on things you say no to. But right out of college, I can't imagine. Look, we were doing in a different role. We're not comparing ourselves to this kid. But we go into a job,
a new career, we're taking off after college. He is going and trying to he's trying to make a name for himself, and it's just desperate to get into this industry. And he's getting into the industry working under someone who is considered an icon at this point the industry, considered a genius in the industry, very successful in this industry. He was willing to do whatever.
It reminds me, don't laugh at me about the movie Devilwaar's Prada, where it's supposedly based loosely on anawintour's career in life. But if you were an assistant and you wanted to get into the fashion industry, if you're an assistant you want to get into the music industry, whatever it is, you meet with this person who is considered the mogul, the top of their game, who has made
or broken potential artists. So yeah, you will go through the abuse and the punishment and the long hours and the no.
Personal life to get ahead.
However, when someone starts asking you to do something illegal, that is a completely different situation.
And he certainly describes that.
Okay, we go buy that for a second. Again, I'm trying to been hearing about Brendon Paul. Now hearing his own testimony, his own words, you think about some of the things differently. But I can't imagine. Yes, everybody would love to say that absolutely I would never do something like that, But when you're twenty three years old and your dream is coming true next to someone that you look up to this much, this accomplished, that's at the top of the game. Yes, I could say I wouldn't
do anything illegal. I can say that's sitting here now right. But at twenty three, if I don't know, Bernard Shaw at CNN told me, hey, man, you can work for me, but you gotta do that. I'm not sure if I would have ever said no to somebody I idolized like that.
And perhaps that's part of the reasoning why the FEDS were willing to drop charges against him to hear what really happened, because they understood the reasoning perhaps behind why someone his age, or why so many of these purported victims might have done what they did in order to have a larger goal met, or to do something that
they couldn't have done without Ditty. So there's an understanding perhaps, and that's why there have been so many immunity deals as they try to build their case against Ditty.
I should make clear Bernie Shaw was never accused of anything. Loved Bernard Shaw. I just looked up to him, and I'm not saying I would have done anything legal, But point being is, just put yourself in that position as a young twenty two year old trying to make it somewhere, and this guy says, yes, come on and be on my team. That lets you, gives you more insight into his where his.
Head was some of the other interesting parts of his testimony, And again a lot of this was just reinforcing what we had other we had already heard from other assistants. But he said he went once three days without sleep, got a couple of naps in, but he had to take adderall and he said on rare occasions he would
also take cocaine to try and stay awake. He said, before he worked for Diddy, the most he had ever done The only drug he'd ever done was smoke some weed, So this was not something he had ever been used to up until this position.
Did he say we were talking about loyalty earlier, We'll get into that him being arrested, were talking about loyalty. He didn't tell it was Ditty's drugs. He also said he did drugs with.
Diddy, Yes, to prove to prove loyalty.
Did you see what drug was that? Do you know?
I don't. I don't know if he specified what drug it was.
He said that he didn't think he had the full effect when he took it, but he did it to prove, like literally.
Did he the presumption was it?
Did he said, Hey, do this with me and I'll trust you because we will have both done this together. Yes, but he also mentioned does lots of other assistants have mentioned that he got fired. The funny thing is he's lost count, he said two or three times. Usually if you get fired, you remember that pretty pretty like specifically.
I remember the one time I got fired.
I remember the one time I got fired too, Babe. It's so funny. I think it happened at the same time. It was the only time, the only time I've ever been fired in my life.
But yes, I just thought it was funny that he said he's been fired two or three times.
You lost count. That's interesting.
And one of them was really messed up. Was this the fanny pack? Yeah, lululemen fanny pack.
Got the Lululemon fanny pack before they went out on it was a walk.
It was a walk, so he didn't bring the fanny pack. This It still it stood out to me for the yes, ridiculousness of firing somebody for not bringing a bag, but the specificity of a Lulu Limon fanny pack. Did he needed that fanny pack so bad and he was so mad he didn't have it he fired.
Can you imagine the moment when he asked for the fanny pack and Brendan Paul realized he didn't have it.
That had to be horrific.
He knew what was going And.
Then here's the other interesting part about that testimony. Part of the testimony, he said that other employees told him, don't worry about it, just lay low for a few days, and eventually that's exactly what happened.
Oh it's KK, he said. Did he in that interaction after he found out he didn't have the bag, he didn't look at him and say you're fired? He said, did? He told him go call KK and tell her that you're fired, is what he told him to do. And the chief, his dad tells him, just lay low, it's gonna be fine. And sure enough, he said, a few days later, KK was the one that called Brendan Paul and said set up a free golf, set up a hotel room. And it was never brought up again. That's wild,
that kind of it's a tough way to live. It's a tough way.
To operate in always on edge.
Yeah, you're at the whim of someone else's mood that you can never predict. And that is a really talk about anxiety inducing when you never know what to expect, what's going to happen, and what thing you're gonna do that's going to set him off or make him happy. And that's what all of these folks have been testifying to.
And to think that the guy, he's already his behavior is what it is. But is he high right now? What is he high on? If he's not high, he might not be in a good mood. If he's high on the wrong thing, Like where is to try to predict that? This is incredible? But the drugs. We've been hearing a lot about the drugs. This went in line with a lot of what people were saying, but he got into some more specifics about which drugs they used. He got into more specifics about what he was required
to do and to purchase. They had a drug dealers on standby with they had names. They had so many people to text who could sometimes bring the drugs to the house. Sometimes he would go pick up packages and the stuff was already paid for. Others, times he would go and spend a few hundred dollars and have to buy the drugs another time. He said, at least once every two months, they would just get a new supply weed. They would get a pound of it forty every two months.
And he said that he definitely had to buy thousands of dollars worth of drugs. And when he asked, was asked which ones marijuana, cocaine, pink cocaine, ecstasy, and ketamine is what he said, and like, yes, it's so bizarre to feel like we now know the names of the dealers of Ditty's dealer's guido. We've heard that one several times, one stop, baby girl and ov so even he remembered the names of the folks that were just basically on speed dial.
At this point.
You could reel off names of drug dealers for Diddy. I can reel off mail escorts.
We have this information, yes, And you also can reel off what was in that Gucci pouch? Can you not toiletries? Lights, candles in sense, condoms, liquor soup? He like chicken noodle soup. We know that astroglide, the baby oil, we know is carried in a separate water cooler or a little lunch cooler sort of apparatus.
But yeah, it's bizarre the details.
That we now have come to know, and every single depending on you know, We're talking about over a decade, different different girls, different assistants.
They all say the same things.
Speaking of different girls there, he did mention Jane, So Jane the last Jane Doe to testify against Ditty on the stand that would have been the one who was dating Ditty at the time that Brendan Paul was working there. He talked about these hotel nights and he well, he mentioned about her specifically. He said he would usually talk to her before the freak offs, but he said he would pretty much always end up talking to her after,
not once did he. Ever, He said there was never a hint of her not wanting to be there, being hesitant in any way, needing help in any way, and being anything other than an enthusiastic participant.
I know, I mean, and that is damning as hell to the prosecution. He said that Jane, from his perspective what he witnessed, was not forced into spending nights in those hotel rooms, and asked by the defense if Jane was ever sorry or not a willing participant, Paul didn't just say no, He.
Said absolutely not.
I thought that was interesting, and he also denied that anything he did for Diddy amounted to being.
Part of a criminal enterprise.
So that is putting it into perspective for jurors from the defense's standpoint, but he certainly seemed to have done a lot of good for the defense. I don't know how much good he did for the prosecution. Again, no legal expert here, but it seemed like the defense had some wins with Brendan Paul's cross examination with some.
Direct questions to him that he answered. And this is a if you've seen the pictures, he's out there, he's twenty seven.
You said he'll be twenty seven at the end of the year.
He looks like a fresh kid out of college still in a lot of ways. And we mentioned him being a Syracuse basketball player. I want to put this in some context. They said that was a part of the reason he got the gig is because he could help. Did he with his workouts, with his nutrition and some of that stuff. This was a guy who was at the end of the bench at Syracuse. I am not this is not an insult, but some context for him. In two years, he got into sixteen games. In two years,
he played a total of seventeen minutes. In two years, he made exactly one shot in a game in two years. He rode the end of the bench. That's fine. He contributed in the locker room and all kinds of other ways. I'm not knocking or taking away from that. What I'm saying is, when you the context there, he's kind of a or what kind of a scrawny kid. You don't He's not an imposing figure, and he's been described as having a babyface up there.
On the stat He absolutely does have a babyface, yes, one hundred percent. So he doesn't look like some deviant criminal who's you know, doing all of Comb's nasty bidding for like just this, Like it's just he doesn't fit the image at all of who you would expect to be doing Ditty's dirty deed, so to speak.
And some of the dirty cleanup he mentioned gloves.
I mean.
Gloves for your job. That's that's tough.
He needed gloves to clean up after his boss in a hotel room. He did it for sanitary reasons, of course, it makes sense. But that was just another one of the details that came out. And this makes sense ro but he confirmed all those freak offs everything we heard about. Uh, they stopped.
That was interesting.
They stop and not another one after cass even too Refine filed her lawsuit.
Yeah that, but yes, according to what he was able to witness, he said that the freak off stopped.
However, didn't am I am I crazy here?
But didn't Jane testify to having one or maybe a smaller version of one after the lawsuit and later in the summer before he was arrested.
Am I okay?
Now?
Was that a freak off? Or was that just a see a modified hotel night?
See there you go? But and I believe that was in Was that the one in Turks? Yes, we're piecing all that. I cannot believe we have all this information, but yes, he said he was not asked at all to set up again. Now he stopped working for Ditty pretty early as well, because he got arrested in early twenty twenty four. Correct, I do believe, but he said, yes, all the hotel nights, all that it.
Was from his experience.
But I just did want to mention that Jane absolutely testified to at least participating in a smaller version of a freak off in the summer before he was arrested.
I want you make a good point here. Does a freak golf need to include a certain number of people. And I'm not saying that jokingly. I'm thinking back now, was a freak golf just ditty in the corner and watching someone have sex with his girlfriend? What else was included in?
Right? My best best guess would be that after the casie lost, so he realized he couldn't involve all these people. It couldn't be the production it had been because of the heat that was on him, or at least the eyes that were on him. And so, yes, what we heard Jane testified to might have been a smaller willing participants, just a few people. Didn't want to involve a lot
of folks because didn't need any extra scrutiny. But he may have modified what he did and who he involved in terms of what the production value was.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This again. Like we said, folks, they're moving along. We're keeping an eye on what's happening. We're telling you this stuff in real time. They're taking a short break right now as we speak. But they are only going to be in court until one o'clock today. So Rogues Prosecution has one witness up there, a investigator with is.
It homelands home insecurity homeland security.
Investigator up there, and I believe they have one more to call and that's going to be it. And this last one is going to be I think some kind of investigator or something else like that. And then what But all, y'all the jury, uh, they mentioned this morning the judge is going is working on the jury instructions with the defense team and the prosecution. He essentially told them today we are going to start exchanging notes and get these instructions ready, which are complicated. I have set
through listening to jury instructions before. I have no idea how these people figure this out. I have no idea. So that just lets us know another indication the end is near.
Yeah, they are getting ready to wrap up, and we're going to continue, of course, to keep our eye on that Manhattan lower that Lower Manhattan courtroom, and we will bring you any updates if they're warranted. But we appreciate you uh taking time to listen to the latest updates on the Didy trial and again keep checking back our feed because we may have more updates for you as they are warranted.
But in the meantime, y'all enjoy your weekend.