Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Closing Arguments Underway in Sex Trafficking Criminal Trial of Sean Diddy Combs; Trump Justice Department Sues All 15 Federal Judges in Maryland. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired June 26, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: After six weeks of testimony that often detailed graphic claims of violence, drug use and forced sex acts, prosecutors in the Sean Diddy Combs trial are making their final pitch to jurors. For the last several hours, the government has characterized Combs as the leader of a criminal enterprise who doesn't take no for an answer as part of its closing argument, telling jurors that he used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The defense, which did not call any witnesses while presenting its case, will give its closing argument tomorrow, followed by the government's rebuttal. Combs has pleaded not guilty to charges that could land him in prison for the rest of his life if he's convicted on the most serious of these counts.

Let's get more now on today's arguments from CNN's Kara Scannell. Kara, what is the biggest point the prosecution is trying to underline in closing?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So they are giving the jury a roadmap to try to get the jury to find Combs guilty of all five of those counts. So what the prosecutor has done in painstaking detail is walk the jury through all of the potential ways that they could find Combs guilty of the racketeering conspiracy charge and the sex trafficking charges at issue in the case.

So they have been putting text messages together with other evidence, bits of testimony to try to show the jury how they can satisfy each of these elements of racketeering conspiracy, looking at some of the drug transactions that took place with some of Combs' assistants getting him drugs, with his former girlfriend who testified under the pseudonym Jane, communicating with Combs' chief of staff, getting on a plane and bringing drugs to Combs at his request. Trying to say that that one act is enough to satisfy one of the two racketeering predicate acts that the jury must agree on unanimously in order to find Combs guilty of that.

So they've walked through other examples involving the arson, the cutting of the roof of Kid Cudi's car, the Molotov cocktail and that car being set on fire. Also kidnapping, examples there, and then sex trafficking. That is where the bulk of the prosecutor's argument has been, both walking the jury through the sex trafficking of Jane and the alleged sex trafficking of Cassie Ventura. Right now she's on the Cassie Ventura aspect of this. And the prosecution is selecting just a few of these examples to try to connect the dots for the jury, saying they don't have to find that every freak off or every hotel night was sex trafficking. They just have to find that one was.

And that would satisfy both the racketeering conspiracy element, but also the individual counts that Combs is facing, a sex trafficking count of Ventura and a sex trafficking count of Jane. So they're trying to make it as simple as possible for the jury to connect the dots and find a verdict of guilty -- guys.

SANCHEZ: And Kara, the prosecution's biggest vulnerability here, what would you say it is?

SCANNELL: So the prosecution seems to be signaling this already in their closing arguments, because what the defense team had done is that they went through text message after text message, showing the jury that at different points in time, Cassie Ventura and Jane both wanted to participate in freak offs, or at least their message to Combs was that they wanted to participate in freak offs. Because an element of the crime here is did Combs knowingly coerce them into participating in sex with male commercial sex actors? So that is a key piece of this.

And so what the prosecution is trying to get ahead of here is that they said the defense showed you some of these sexually explicit videos. And in one of them involving Jane, she looks like she's really enjoying herself. They said, don't be fooled. That is Jane high on drugs. And they said Jane testified that that freak off was one time that she took a drug she had never taken before and it had sent her into a different level.

[14:35:00]

They also pointed to some of the other videos involving Cassie Ventura and saying that even if she said that she wanted to participate in them, the times that she said she didn't, they said that is a crime, that is sex trafficking.

KEILAR: Kara Scannell, we will keep watching a big day there in the trial. Thank you so much for that.

And in an extraordinary move, the Trump administration is suing every single federal judge in Maryland, every single one of them.

We'll tell you why right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:40:00]

SANCHEZ: Now to a move that legal experts are calling extraordinary. The Justice Department is suing every federal judge in Maryland, 15 in all. This is all over an order signed by the chief judge in that district blocking the immediate deportation of migrants who are challenging their removals.

The order stipulates that a person cannot be removed from the U.S. until 4 p.m. on the second business day after a petition is filed. Among other reasons, it's to give the migrants time to attend court proceedings.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, though, says, quote, President Trump's executive authority has been undermined since the first hours of his presidency by an endless barrage of injunctions designed to halt his agenda.

Joining us now to discuss federal Judge Esther Salas, who sits on the bench in the District of New Jersey. Judge, thanks so much for being with us. I want to get to some of what the government is claiming here, but I do want to start with a broader decision to sue 15 federal judges.

Is there any kind of precedent for a move like this?

JUDGE ESTER SALAS, U.S. DISTRICT COURT, DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY: Well, listen, I really can't say too much about an active case, but, you know, some would say that this is unprecedented. The district -- the Department of Justice generally represents judges when we're sued in our official capacity. And now we have a situation in which we're being sued.

I think that I look at all of these calls for impeachment for judges just doing their jobs, suing judges for disagreeing with our opinions. And I'm brought back to Chief Justice Roberts when he talked about the illegitimate attacks against the judiciary, violence, intimidation. We've seen a lot of that lately, the spreading of disinformation and, of course, willfully defying court orders.

You know, Mr. Sanchez, there is a constitutional framework that has been working in this country for as long as this country's existed. And that's called an appeal, an emergent application to a higher court. So I would say to you that, unfortunately, I think that the judiciary in many ways is under attack.

And we are seeing that in the number of threats that are being lobbed against judges, pizzas being sent to judges' homes in the middle of the night, to their children's homes, pizzas being sent in my murdered son's name. These are acts of intimidation meant to chill judges and the third branch of government. We have a lot going on here.

But I will tell you that all Americans should be very concerned about the attacks against the third branch of government. You know, we have had a flat budget for over two years. Threats are going up. We're at 408 threats against judges. And we're only in June and the budget, you know, is going down. Threats are up. The budget's down. This is a dangerous place for the judiciary to be in the United States of America.

SANCHEZ: Yes, Judge, I should let our viewers know you suffered personal loss. Sorry? SALAS: I said very dangerous. I mean, I'm here to tell you, Mr. Sanchez, on what is going to be the eve of the anniversary of my only child's murder. My only child was murdered.

SANCHEZ: Yes. I was about to mention that we should let our viewers know that you suffered personal loss as a result of your work as a judge. And you've been outspoken with the need to protect members of the judiciary at just about every level.

I do wonder what you make of the administration's claims that judges are trying to undermine the president's agenda broadly with these nationwide injunctions. Do you see that argument as hindering the work of the judiciary?

SALAS: You know, Chief Justice Roberts talked about the spreading of disinformation, and I think that we need to think about when people in political power with large, powerful platforms refer to judges as monsters, refer to judges as unconstitutional, crazy leftist judges, people with power referring to us as deranged, really politicizing the justice system. You know, making, calling us corrupt, calling for the articles of impeachment for us doing our jobs. You know, I think this weakens the public's confidence.

[14:45:00]

And this is the type of spreading of information that is very troublesome, because if you keep calling judges rogues over and over and over again and you keep saying we're in the pocket of the other party or you keep calling us corrupt without any factual basis, you know, what you're doing is you're continuing to spread that out so the public begins to lose trust in the justice system. That is dangerous for democracy. That is dangerous for the rule of law.

And we are seeing that implemented now. We only need to look at the event today, speak up for justice. I ask all viewers to go back and look at a live webinar that is free on SpeakUpForJustice.law in which you will hear from a retired associate justice Kennedy from our United States Supreme Court. You will hear from judges from Poland and Venezuela. You will hear from a justice, Justice Goldstone from South Africa. And you will hear the dangers that exist and democracies that have been toppled because people didn't speak up for justice, because people didn't rally around the judiciary.

And we only need to look at that program. And I urge every single person watching this, go back and watch that video, because what we're seeing now is unprecedented. And I need to speak up as Daniel's mother, as the mother of a murdered son who was murdered because I am a federal judge. That is the only reason I do not have my son here today.

A disgruntled litigant came to my house nearly five years ago and killed my only child and nearly killed my husband. This is now a time for us to speak up, for us to rally together around democracy, to defend it.

And I am going to continue to speak up because, Mr. Sanchez, I must for democracy, for Daniel. I must.

SANCHEZ: Judge Esther Salas, we very much appreciate the message. Thank you so much for being with us. We leave our viewers before commercial break with an image of your son, Daniel.

We'll be right back.

[14:50:31]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Following some stunning news out of the southeast, there are reports of a fireball being seen in the sky. Look at the center of your screen right there.

The American Meteor Society says the fireball even caused the sonic boom.

KEILAR: CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is with us now. OK, Allison, what is that thing?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right, I was going to say, despite being a meteorologist, meteors aren't necessarily my usual forte. But this one, it was very interesting. So this was a fireball.

Now, a fireball is a little bit different than just a standard meteor in the sense that it is exceptionally bright, so bright that that's why so many people were able to see this in broad daylight. Thankfully, a lot of these areas that had the reports had clear blue skies, making it much easier to see. But that's the thing about these fireballs.

They can be seen over a very widespread area. We have reports from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and even Tennessee. All basically about two hours ago is when the majority of these reports were coming in.

And yes, as you mentioned, the American Meteor Society having more than 100 reports of people saying, hey, I saw that thing in the sky. And yes, even some reports of a sonic boom and fireballs can produce and generate sonic booms to go along with it.

So, again, I think what makes this one so different was just how bright it was and the that it happened over an area that had those clear blue skies, making it easy to see.

Had this happened, say, at night, also during clear skies, it would have lit up the sky for miles in so many places. So, again, just a very unique experience for those that got to see it.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly is. We like looking at the video. Alison, thank you so much for that report. We appreciate it.

And from fireballs to big stars. Right now, celebrities are just pouring into Venice, Italy for a three day wedding extravaganza that is estimated to cost up to $56 million, all in honor of Amazon CEO and multibillionaire Jeff Bezos and his bride to be Lauren Sanchez.

It's not no relation.

SANCHEZ: No, no relation, sadly. There is some consternation about this, though. The festivities are not being met with anything but love.

You're watching protests that have erupted along the historic Lagoon City, with many holding signs. Even you might have seen there a Bezos dummy getting thrown into the famous Venice Canal. It's floating there on top of an Amazon package holding fistfuls of dollars.

CNN senior international correspondent Melissa Bell is live in Venice with more details. Melissa, why are folks so angry?

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think there's really a number of things going on here, Boris, that has seen this varied group of protesters take this opportunity to make their voices heard. There are climate activists. Greenpeace is here.

There are also activists who are more local talking about the cost of housing in Venice, the disunification, as they call it, of this floating city, the fact that people simply can't afford to live here. And what they say is that it's become a sort of a backdrop for weddings and it's all about tourism. And for the ordinary Venetians, life is no longer possible.

All of these many different causes and those who are here to talk about the 1 percent not paying enough tax, that's been part also of the protests that we've seen over the last few days. All of these many causes really coalescing around this wedding. Why?

Because the world's press is paparazzi is here to watch these 200 or 250 guests. As we understand, everything's been really kept very quiet, as you'll imagine, not just to keep us at bay, but the protesters as well. We know that several of the Kardashians here, Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, Orlando Bloom, the guest list is pretty high caliber.

[14:55:00]

Some of the wealthiest and most famous people in the world gathered here to be at this wedding.

And so the protesters also taking this opportunity. And we heard one of them speaking to us earlier saying, look, thanks, Jeff Bezos, for organizing your wedding here. It's given us an opportunity to talk to the world about our causes. And it's not over, Boris. We expect a few more protests over the course of the weekend.

KEILAR: All right. And so, Melissa, is he doing anything to support the city as he's holding a huge wedding there?

BELL: I think the people around them have heard this message loud and clear. And what we've seen is several millions of dollars worth of donations being made specifically to Venetian cultural and architectural organizations. And what we understand from a little snippet of the invitation that was broadcast by ABC is the guests have been told not to bring gifts, but rather the donations will be made on their behalf to these very organizations.

So clearly a strong signal that they're sending that they're here to get married. They're here to celebrate for three days. But they're also all about giving back to the city that's hosting them -- Boris and Brianna.

KEILAR: In lieu of gifts, help Venice. That's kind of interesting.

SANCHEZ: I kind of want to protest not being invited. I feel like he, don't you think Jeff Bezos watches CNN NEWS CENTRAL?

KEILAR: I would protest --

SANCHEZ: He should at least invite Melissa.

KEILAR: I would protest not getting that assignment, but Melissa's the bomb. So I'm just going to be so excited that she is there. And we're so jealous of you, Melissa. Melissa Bell, thank you. I mean, right.

I mean, all right. Thank you.

So still ahead, a live report from Capitol Hill as senators are getting their first classified briefing about the U.S. strikes in Iran. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:00]