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Judge Threatens to Remove Combs from Court for Gesturing Toward Jury; Trump Says Ukraine and Russia are Like Two Kids Fighting in a Park; Gauff Beats Boisson in Roland-Garros Semis, Advances to Final. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 05, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: There was breaking news in the trial of Sean Diddy Combs. The judge in the case has just warned Combs and his legal team that the music mogul could be removed from the courtroom after Combs was seen vigorously nodding his head in the direction of jurors during witness testimony.

Defense attorney Misty Marris is live just outside the courthouse where this moment just took place.

Misty, I wonder if you could describe the significance of this move by the judge. One, how unusual is it? But two, what effect might it have on the defense, on the trial?

[13:35:00]

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Right, Jim, it's very significant. And in fact, it is the most extreme course of action and curative action to remove the defendant from the courtroom. So there's a federal rule on this issue. And it says that if a defendant is disruptive in the courtroom after being warned, then one of the curative things that can happen is to actually remove the defendant from the courtroom if that conduct persists.

So here, now we're hearing the warning. And again, in the commentary from the judge directing at the defense team, he said, did I not make this loud and clear before that this disruptive conduct cannot continue? And if it does continue, then we may seek to remove him from the courtroom.

Now, the reason that this is so significant is that a defendant has the right to face their accusers. So it is truly the most extreme form of action that the judge will take. And the reason to do it is not really because the defendant is looking engaged, passing notes to their attorney, the other things that we've seen Combs do during the course of this trial.

It's really when it comes down to any interaction with the jury, that there is some way that he is trying to influence or intimidate those jurors. And so the nodding of the head directly at the jurors during the testimony was a bridge too far for this judge. And now the warning is out there. And the next step could be removal, which would be pretty devastating to the defense.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: And I do want to ask you about that, Misty, as a defense attorney. Walk us through just how impactful that is. If you have a client that isn't sitting there while all of this testimony is being heard about them, about their alleged actions.

MARRIS: It's absolutely impactful for so many reasons. First, if the defendant were to be removed in any case, and in this case in particular, you would automatically have a significant appellate issue about whether or not that was the appropriate way to handle the situation. So that's one piece of it. And you're thinking about any appellate issues from the defense perspective.

But from an optics perspective, if your client is not in the room during the trial, the jury will absolutely notice. And that could potentially be prejudicial to the defense of the case.

And when we're talking about the severity of the charges here, although that's not really a factor in making this type of determination, in any case, that defendant has the right to be there. But from the optics perspective and the jury looking at an empty defense table, it is likely that they will look at that negatively. And there will be question marks that will never be explained to them as to the why.

So from a defense perspective, it would be a catastrophe. And so my guess is that there's going to be a harsh conversation behind the scenes with the defense team about keeping the conduct in line.

SCIUTTO: Yes, you want to be in chambers for that conversation. Imagine the back and forth.

MARRIS: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Prior to that, as we understand it, the witness was a friend of Combs' ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, Bryana Bongolan, you said that that interaction did not go well for her. Tell us why.

MARRIS: It did not go well for the prosecution. And here's what always happens in trials. Right.

You get a defense defense loss when we're talking about Combs potentially being removed. But then you also get wins. So her cross- examination really exploited some significant credibility issues to the point where I don't even understand why prosecutors put her on the stand, because her story really relates to what we'll call the bank -- balcony incident, that she's dangled off a balcony.

Well, the defense was able to very effectively challenge her timeline and say, when you sent a picture of the injury that you got from this incident, Combs was actually on the East Coast, checked into a hotel, doing a concert in Newark, New Jersey. And so that really put a whole question mark over her testimony. Prosecutors wanted that in because they say it shows forced fraud and

coercion, that Cassie sees this conduct and sees that his violence and how far he will go. It feeds into that argument. I think prosecutors wanted it in because it's very mobbish. It's very Tony Soprano to dangle somebody over the balcony.

But due to these credibility issues, it was something that really came off as a problem for prosecutors. And the jury may look at this other prosecution witnesses and say, can I really believe what they said as well? So that was a win for the defense.

DEAN: All right. Some big developments coming out of that courthouse today. Misty Marris, thank you so much for walking us through some of it. We appreciate it.

Up next, President Trump shares new details about his call with President Vladimir Putin, including an interesting analogy that he shared with the Russian leader.

[13:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: President Trump is sharing new details about what he says was a more than two-hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

SCIUTTO: Trump told reporters that during the call, he compared the ongoing war -- which of course resulted from Russia's full-scale invasion -- to two children fighting in a park. Listen to his description.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart. And I gave that analogy to Putin yesterday. I said, President, maybe you're going to have to keep fighting and suffering a lot, because both sides are suffering, before you pull them apart, before they're able to be pulled apart.

And he actually told me, I mean, I made it very clear. He said, we have no choice but to attack, based on that. And it's probably not going to be pretty.

I don't like it. I said, don't do it. You shouldn't do it. You should stop it. But, again, there's a lot of hatred.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Joining us now, CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier. And I wonder, let's focus for a moment on Ukraine's reaction. How kindly will Ukrainians take to a war that they see as existential?

[13:45:02] They're fighting for the existence of their country from an ongoing Russian invasion to absorb Ukraine into Russia -- and they've lost many hundreds of thousands of people -- to being compared to two kids fighting in the playground.

KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I went straight to Telegram message boards where Ukrainians post news and react to it and there were a lot of heads exploding emojis, flames, angry faces. Just one gauge of how they just don't understand why Trump keeps siding with Putin.

That he doesn't seem to understand that their civilians are under constant attack. They have apps on their phones that go off several times a day, telling them to head to bomb shelters. And this has been going on and on and on. 7,000 people -- troops dying a week and that's just on the Russian side, according to the British Ministry of Defense.

And yet, Trump seems like he's stepping back like some sort of outsider or referee and said this is not about me. You guys, you've got to stop this. You're doing this because you hate each other.

DEAN: Right, and I think he said you have to let him fight it out for a while, which is what he said too.

I'm curious what you thought about the interaction with the German Chancellor, who would try to kind of pull it back when he had the opportunity there in the Oval Office, to try to find ways where he could speak to Trump on where they were united and how they were trying to bring this war to an end. But it was interesting to watch that dynamic play out.

DOZIER: Well, the existential threat right now that the Europeans and the Ukrainians fear is that Trump will just walk away, wash his hands of it and not just stop diplomatic efforts to end this conflict, but take away the intelligence, take away weaponry, the supplies that are at this point keeping Ukraine in the fight, and that Europe is not yet ready to replace. Their industry hasn't ramped up enough. Ukraine has this amazing defense industry, but they're pumping out drones.

Russia has been pumping out 1,500 new tanks a year. They've replenished much of their stocks of supplies that they'd gone through in the first year.

China is helping them. North Korea is helping them. They're now stockpiling while Ukraine is just barely keeping in the fight.

SCIUTTO: Ukraine did show with this massive drone strike over the weekend what they could do on their own, because they did it without U.S. intelligence. They deliberately did not inform the U.S. prior. They did it with Ukrainian-developed and manufactured drones and struck a strategic blow against Russia.

If the U.S. were to withdraw intelligence support and other kinds of support, where would Ukraine feel it most? And I'm thinking air defenses. That's what they always express concern about. DOZIER: The Patriot missile supplies, for instance, are running out. They would feel it most in defending their civilian areas. They have sent a lot of their radars to protect military installations. They don't have enough to protect civilian cities.

Ukraine is a massive country, so if the U.S. would withdraw its support, they could stay in the fight on the front lines for a time, but they would have to eventually give up some territory at the front lines and fall back to protecting some of those cities because they wouldn't have the U.S. eyes in the sky telling them where the Russian troop movements are and where the ballistic missiles, et cetera, are being fired from and aiming for.

SCIUTTO: It's so important because the intelligence is not just about offensive capabilities. It's about defensive capabilities, and I think folks sometimes forget that. Kimberly Dozier, thanks so much.

DOZIER: Jim and Jessica, thanks.

SCIUTTO: This just into CNN. American tennis great Coco Gauff is heading to the French Open finals. All the highlights from Roland- Garros coming up.

DEAN: Also, the fight between President Trump and Elon Musk has escalated, with Musk posting the president wouldn't have won the White House without him, a fight that could have big implications for the president's agenda. More on that straight ahead.

[13:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Happening at the French Open, Coco Gauff is on to the final after just moments ago taking out crowd favorite Lois Boisson, who was the lowest ranked player to make it to the semis at a major in 40 years. Gauff now looking to win her second singles Grand Slam. She's going to face off against top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka.

CNN's Patrick Snell is joining us now. Wow, what a matchup we have ahead of us, Patrick.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: I can't wait for this final. It should be an absolute classic. Coco Gauff showing all her class and her composure.

As you just said, just a short while ago, seeing off the French wildcard Lois Boisson on this Thursday. Boisson had been living the dream, I will say, by going so deep in this tournament in front of the fervent home fans there at Roland-Garros. But Gauff was at her brilliant best.

This was the end of the road, though, for the Cinderella tale that is Boisson. Gauff just too good. The American player advancing in two very easy sets to reach Saturday's final.

Where she will meet? It's going to be Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, who's eliminated the three-time defending champion from Poland, Iga Swiatek. This was an absolute blockbuster of contests. Thrill-o-minute semifinal that really did live up to its billing.

The world number one Sabalenka seeking a first-ever title at the French as she hopes to add to her two Australian Open wins and her U.S. Open triumph last year. Sabalenka won the Open on the breaker, dropped the second, then powered her way to a really impressive victory, taking the decider six games to love.

[13:55:00]

Swiatek's 26-match victory streak at the French now over. The Polish superstar denied a fifth Roland-Garros crown and a fourth straight. Aryna, absolutely delighted by her achievement.

And, you know, Coco Gauff eying up more history. She won the 2023 U.S. Open, now hoping to add a first-ever Grand Slam singles crown at Roland-Garros to her doubles triumph in Paris last year. Back to you, Jessica.

DEAN: All right, we'll see what happens. Patrick Snell, thanks so much.

Well, it is safe to say the bromance is over. The president now accusing Elon Musk of having, quote, Trump derangement syndrome.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END