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Inflation Slows; President Trump in Middle East; Testimony Continues in Sean 'Diddy' Combs Trial. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired May 13, 2025 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Riveting testimony on day two of the criminal trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs, as his ex-girlfriend takes the stand and describes their relationship in detail. CNN's reporters are in the courtroom and covering the trial minute by minute.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, the art of wheeling and dealing, President Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia, hoping to nail down billions of dollars in deals with allies in the region. We're going to look at what the president is aiming to accomplish with this trip to the Middle East.

And, at Newark, a handful of air traffic controllers are keeping that air port open, at least -- only three as of last night, leading to more headaches, frustration and fear for some travelers.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Thank you so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us. I'm Boris Sanchez, alongside Brianna Keilar, in our nation's capital.

And just minutes from now, the prosecution's star witness in Sean "Diddy" Combs' federal sex trafficking trial is set to return to the witness stand. Cassie Ventura, Combs' ex-girlfriend, took the stand earlier today, testifying about how some of their arguments would turn violent over the course of their 10-year-plus relationship.

She told the jury -- quote -- "He would smash me in my head, knock me over, drag me, kick me, stomp me in the head if I was down."

KEILAR: Ventura said she suffered injuries from the alleged abuse, including knots on her forehead, busted lips and bruises all over her body.

Ventura also described how Diddy introduced her to sexual encounters known as freak-offs. She also testified that Combs had control over what she was doing over every minute of the day, including what she wore. CNN anchor and chief legal analyst Laura Coates is outside of court.

Laura, Cassie Ventura on the stand today, this is so pivotal, along with that video that they saw yesterday. She told the jury that Combs had control over what she was doing over every minute of the day. Why is this testimony so central to the case?

LAURA COATES, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: She is the linchpin, Brianna and Boris, between the government wanting to prove not who Sean "Diddy" Combs was to the public, but bridge the gap to who they say he is in this felony indictment.

They claim he is a racketeer, that he is a sexual trafficker, and that he is a violent man. Now, yesterday, the defense said, we will own the domestic violence, but we're not going to admit to the things that he has not done, and they say that is the substance of these felony charges.

Let me set the scene for you here. I cannot overstate how much everyone was waiting to hear from Cassie Ventura, their star witness. What would a woman who had spent better part of a decade with Sean "Diddy" Combs, who has alleged the violence and the control that she has, what would she say?

Well, a visibly pregnant Cassie appeared, walked down the aisle and took her position that witness stand. You could hear a pin drop waiting to see how she would react. This is the first time, I'm told, in six years that the two of them have been face-to-face since the death of the mother of Sean Diddy's children, Kim Porter.

Now how did she refer to him? Not as Diddy, not as Puff, but as Sean. And, throughout, she talked about, at 22 years old, she was first introduced to this freak-off concept, days-long, drug-fueled, nonconsensual commercial sex of men who were strangers and escorts, said that her stomach would drop, she was nervous, she was confused.

But she loved him. And she was a people pleaser, and she wanted to please him. But then she talked about, in terms of violence, she didn't know what no would turn into if she defied him, if she ignored him. She describes the control that he exerted on their relationship and ultimately her life, in a 10-album deal with the infamous Bad Boy Records, releasing one album, and then never again throughout the course of their relationship, except for an actual mixtape.

She said, Brianna, this was her first adult relationship. I was watching to see how the two would interact. How would the jury view Cassie Ventura while she sat oftentimes with her hands on her stomach, pressing different parts of her pregnant belly, as if there was movement within?

Everyone looking to see how Diddy would react. He was the most animated I have seen throughout this trial, leaning back from the table, almost pushed back, passing notes to his defense counsel, leaning in to have conversations.

[13:05:07] And when the jurors passed by her for the lunch break that just happened moments ago, her eyes were down. And when she passed Sean "Diddy" Combs, the man she says was her controller, her abuser, and, the prosecution says, a racketeer and sex trafficker, they did not even look at each other, like ships passing in the night.

Well, she will return to the witness stand, and we're going to see more and hear more of what is sure to be explosive testimony that is the linchpin of the prosecution's case.

SANCHEZ: Yes, no shortage of drama with the proceedings there.

There was also this back-and-forth about Cassie Ventura's husband being in the courtroom today. Tell us about that.

COATES: That was quite a moment. It's how we began the day.

You see, Sean "Diddy" Combs hired a personal trainer to work with Cassie while they were in a relationship. That is the man that she ultimately married and has two children with and the third one on the way. There was a moment when the defense said they don't want him as a part of her support system in the courtroom.

Why? Not got to punish her for having a support system, but because they might call him to testify about a number of things, one involving an alleged rape and the other involving text messages that were threatening in nature that he purportedly sent to Sean "Diddy" Combs.

They said, if they call him, he's like any other witness. He cannot sit and get a preview of testimony, buttressing his own testimony, being able to get a sneak peek and then form his opinions and statements.

Well, the prosecution said, this is part of her support system. Her brother, I'm told, is also present as well. They don't want to take that away from her, as she has rights under a victim -- under crime victims rights. The judge said, let's tailor this. While you're asking her questions about what could be things you would call the husband to testify about, well, then he can't be there. Other than that, he can be present.

This was quite a moment to watch her on that stand confronting the person she has accused of such violence, and quite a moment for Sean "Diddy" Combs to confront who is the substance of his accuser.

KEILAR: Is that right, he wasn't initially on the witness list for Combs, his attorneys, that they provided?

COATES: He...

KEILAR: Should he have been?

COATES: He was not initially there. They had more than 30 people who were enlisted as defense witnesses. And the prosecution said, essentially, we've been blindsided here. We're getting no notice of this. Had we known, we could have perhaps prepared differently. The judge admonished and cautioned and said, the prosecution has every

right to get notice, and in the future, going forward, they must have so. But the defense said, well, we would have given the notice had we been aware of the contents of -- as what would transpire in directs and otherwise. And so they will give future notice.

But, this time, the judge said they're allowed to have some constraints involved. But make no mistake, Brianna, Boris. The prosecution did not want to be blindsided. They wanted to have an advanced notice of every single thing happening in that courtroom. They want to control this, because why? The prosecution has the burden of proof.

They have got to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense is reactive. But, in this instance, they're trying to be proactive about what's going to come in and what they want to hear.

Now, there was one key moment as well. The judge said they're not allowed to ask Cassie Ventura, as the defense, ask her questions about prior bad acts. You have heard that phrase before, usually with respect to a defendant, what you can bring into the testimony.

Here, they wanted to see and talk about her propensity for violence. The judge said, you got to limit it. You can't just ask her questions about things that didn't happen related to the conduct at issue.

We have a lot more to go in this testimony. This is an eight-to-10- week trial. Her testimony will be likely for days. And when that cross comes, we will all brace ourselves.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly.

Laura Coates, thank you so much live for us from outside of court there in New York.

We're also following some breaking news out of Saudi Arabia, where just moments ago President Trump made a big announcement. He revealed he is ending U.S. sanctions on Syria. It's a major reversal in U.S. policy after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime back in December, surprise announcement coming as the president takes his first major foreign trip of his second term.

SANCHEZ: Yes, earlier in the day, Trump signed what the White House is calling a historic and transformative agreement, a Saudi pledge of $600 billion worth of investments in the United States.

Let's take you now live to Riyadh with CNN's Jeff Zeleny.

Jeff, what more is President Trump saying about all of this? He made a joke about $600 billion not being enough. He wants a trillion.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: He does want a trillion, Boris.

And we will see if the math adds up to that by the end of his weeklong trip here. It is unlikely that it will. But never mind the specific number. The White House is shining a light on the dealmaking that is under way here, the U.S. investment that is coming out of this trip.

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Some of it's already been announced, so the math and the accounting of it certainly is unlikely to reach a trillion. But, as the president was speaking just a short time ago to a Saudi-U.S. investment conference, really featuring some of the top CEOs of the world, as well as many Saudi leaders, he made a bit of a surprise announcement about a change in foreign policy on Syria.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at great peace.

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TRUMP: The sanctions were brutal and crippling and served as an important, really an important function, nevertheless, at the time, but now it's their time to shine.

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ZELENY: And we are learning that President Trump is also expected to meet briefly tomorrow morning here in Riyadh with the new Syrian leader. That would be the first such meeting between the U.S. and Syria.

This comes, of course, in the wake of other foreign policy headlines that the president also made. He said he is optimistic about nuclear talks with Iran. He also talked about the Abraham Accords, of course, which was a central piece to his foreign policy from his first term in office that was effectively blown up by the effects of 2023 in Gaza and Israel, the war that, of course, is ongoing.

But the president said he will give Saudi Arabia time effectively to reach the president's dream, in his words, of normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. But it is very notable that President Trump is not going to Israel on this stop. He, of course, has met with the prime minister, Netanyahu, several times, a couple times in the Oval Office.

But that is a key difference from his first foreign trip eight years ago during his first few months of his first term in office. He did stop in Israel directly after this. This time, he is not. That is notable. But the president is making his way across the Middle East. He will be attending a dinner of leaders here shortly as he continues his first foreign policy trip of the second term -- Boris and Brianna.

SANCHEZ: Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much for the update from Riyadh.

Let's dig deeper into this news with CNN political and global affairs analyst Barak Ravid. He's also a politics and foreign policy reporter for Axios.

Barak, great to see you, as always.

There are several new agreements being announced today, especially on military cooperation between the United States and Saudi Arabia. There's also a personal side to this, right, Trump's business ties and his family's business ties to these Middle Eastern powers. Walk us through what's at stake with his visit.

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think what we see in this visit today and we will see tomorrow, in the next few days is how Trump is putting all of his effort, capital and money both on the Gulf and the different Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar.

Those are the places. Those are the -- this is the go-to for Donald Trump, both on the economy, both on the military and both on diplomacy. And we saw it in his speech, the amount of news that Trump made in his speech and the fact that he was willing to give -- to make such a statement about lifting sanctions from Syria.

And he said, I'm doing it because Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman asked me to. And then he gave big policy headlines on Iran and on Gaza. I think this trip is just the beginning, but it's going to be even more and more interesting as we go by later this week.

SANCHEZ: There's no question, Barak, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is watching this, and some of this is designed so that he feels pressure from the United States. Is that right?

RAVID: Well, I don't know if it's -- if Trump designed it like that, if it's intentional, if it's part of a strategy, but it is definitely the result, OK?

Because Netanyahu finds himself on the outs. He looks at what's going on in Saudi Arabia, and he thinks to himself, I could have been there, because, for months, before October 7 and even after October 7, even more, the Biden administration and then the Trump administration told Netanyahu there is an opportunity with Saudi Arabia, in a sense.

Don't get bogged down with this war in Gaza. And Netanyahu, for domestic political reasons, decided to get bogged down in the war in Gaza. And while Netanyahu is stuck in Gaza, the rest of the region is continuing to move forward. And we see that in Saudi Arabia today. We will see that tomorrow with the meeting between Trump and the president of Syria, somebody -- someone that Netanyahu made every effort to tell Trump that he's not a good guy.

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Trump doesn't seem to care. We see the same thing with the direct talks with Iran. We see the same thing with Trump going and getting out a U.S. hostage above Netanyahu's head. I think we're seeing it. I don't know if it's intentional, but definitely the result is that Netanyahu finds himself more isolated than ever.

SANCHEZ: And specifically what you brought up, the release of Edan Alexander, the timing, of course, is notable, given that this release, as we're watching video of it, happened just as Trump was arriving in the Middle East.

And this development came about apparently because of a critical back channel, the leader of Arab Americans for Trump. Walk us through how this happened.

RAVID: So this is a fascinating story, I have to say.

So, something like two weeks ago, a Hamas official in the Hamas leadership outside of Gaza contacts Bishara Bahbah, the person who was the chair of Arab Americans for Trump. This is the guy who got Michigan for Trump, or at least says that he got Michigan for Trump, when he rallied Arab American voters to move from voting for Joe Biden to voting for Donald Trump.

And he gets this call from this Hamas official, and this Hamas official tells him, connect me to Steve Witkoff, the White House envoy. We want to discuss the hostages issue and the war in Gaza. And he contacts Steve Witkoff. At the beginning, Witkoff tells him, I don't even know who you are. How do I know you're legit?

It takes a few days for him to prove that he's legit. And then there are at least 20 messages being passed between Witkoff and the Hamas leadership in Qatar through this guy Bishara Bahbah. And it ended with this deal to release Edan Alexander, the last living American hostage in Gaza, for free.

Hamas released it -- released him only to be on Trump's good side and without getting anything in return.

SANCHEZ: It's fascinating, especially given what you brought up, the dynamic between Trump and Netanyahu, and in light of the way that he's treating MBS and doing what MBS asked on Syria just seemingly as a favor.

Barak Ravid, always appreciate your expertise. Thanks for joining us.

RAVID: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Some welcome and unexpected news in the face of President Trump's trade war. U.S. inflation is slowing to its lowest rate in more than four years. What is behind this trend? Will this hold? We will discuss.

KEILAR: Plus, Newark Airport facing more delays due to a shortage of air traffic controllers. And now CNN is learning just how bad the situation is.

We will have those details coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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SANCHEZ: A key inflation report out today offering some encouraging news for American consumers, the new numbers from April showing inflation slowing to an annual rate of 2.3 percent, the lowest since February 2021.

That's defying economists' expectations and President Trump's ongoing trade war.

KEILAR: The new data getting some mixed reaction in the financial markets. The Dow is down, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are both seeing small bumps up here.

Let's talk now with Aaron Klein. He's a former Treasury Department deputy assistant secretary and a senior fellows (sic) at the Brookings Institution.

What are you looking at when you see this inflation rate slowing, as we have also learned last week from the Fed that tariffs had so far led to a 0.3 percent increase in prices this year?

AARON KLEIN, FORMER U.S. DEPUTY ASSISTANT TREASURY SECRETARY: Yes.

So, look, the numbers are a little bit confusing. A lot of the inflation that's been driven over -- throughout the entire pandemic and post-pandemic has been heavily concentrated in housing, actually, in the value of housing and rent, et cetera.

And so, when you back that out, overall, inflation has been somewhat stable. The tariff news is good news, in the sense that it's doing less harm, the rolling back of it. But what you're finding...

KEILAR: The China -- on the China...

KLEIN: The China deal, the British deal.

What you're finding with markets reacting is a little more confusing, because, with inflation staying a little bit low, they think the Fed is not going to cut rates as much as it otherwise would have. And so markets are adjusting to that. Bond yields are up at about 4.5 percent for the 10-year.

But the overall picture of our economy is, it was going strong. Trump threw in this trade confusion. The economy ground to a halt in the first quarter. And now the question is, will the underlying momentum pick up or will the Trump tariff spat slow it down?

SANCHEZ: To that point, consumer prices rose 0.2 percentage points last month. Are we seeing any signs that the tariff impacts are going to show up in the CPI?

KLEIN: Not yet.

The problem with these tariff impacts is, they're on again, they're off again. It makes it -- it makes economists, businesspeople, forecasters that we're bouncing around the room trying to figure out what's happening here, as the contours keep changing by Trump's whims.

This is very good for keeping attention the president and very bad for the fundamental economy, because, at the end of the day, business loves certainty. It's difficult to make a forecast or a prediction, it's difficult to decide what to do for your business next year to build a plant, how much to order from overseas if you don't know what your cost structure is going to be.

And you don't know what the tariff is going to be. We have to call in every day to see what the new deal is.

KEILAR: And we don't know what it is, right?

Because the China one's a 90-day pause. You have the treasury secretary talking about other potential deals on the horizon with Asian countries, plural. So, with that in mind, with the whole objective of this being to rebalance trade with other countries, do you see that happening? And do you see that happening in a way that could be a net win for Americans, or no?

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KLEIN: So I don't see it as a net win for Americans overall, because the things that we're going to buy are going to have price increases.

I'm also dubious about the fact that this is part of a grand strategy, rather than a fly by the seat of pants and keep attention focused on me, trying to keep each country coming individually to see what they can get and for whose benefit. At the end of the day, if you really want to grow the economy, you would have a certain policy, even if that policy is going to be higher tariffs for a while to try and revitalize a manufacturing sector.

We can debate whether that's wise or not. But you have got to have a game plan and stick to it. And what I see with Trump is just flying left, right, center, as long as he keeps himself the main focus of attention.

KEILAR: That's really interesting.

Aaron Klein, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

And we do have some breaking news, Sean "Diddy" Combs' former girlfriend Cassie Ventura back on the witness stand in this trial now. We will have the latest from court next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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