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Sean "Diddy" Combs Sentencing Hearing is Underway; Prosecutors Are Seeking A Sentence Of More Than 11 Years; Sean Combs Expected To Address Judge At Sentencing Hearing; Senate Voting Again On Bill To Reopen Government. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired October 03, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: But of course, the pressure ratcheting up on Secretary Kennedy as a result of this approval.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": All right, Meg Tirrell, thank you for that. A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Sean "Diddy" Combs is inside a Manhattan courthouse right now, facing years behind bars. He is expected to address the judge who will soon decide his fate. We are following the latest from inside the courtroom. Plus, the Senate may be in session, but the government remains shut down. We're monitoring Capitol Hill as lawmakers are set to hold a vote on competing bills that could reopen the government. They are not expected to pass. Meantime, President Trump ramping up his threats of mass layoffs. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

Happening right now in Manhattan Court is about to resume after a brief lunch break in the sentencing of music mogul, Sean "Diddy" Combs. The judge is weighing a punishment of up to 20 years for Combs' conviction on two federal felony charges of transportation to engage in prostitution. Before the lunch break, Combs' defense played a documentary-style video highlighting his charity work and his time with his family.

As it played, Combs reportedly broke down in tears. We also heard from some of his children this afternoon who were pleading for leniency from the judge. Let's go live outside the courthouse right now with CNN's Laura Coates. Laura, how is the judge going to weigh all that testimony as he makes this sentencing decision?

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: This is a very difficult prospect for a judge to balance on the one hand, what the jury found, convictions on felony counts involving transportation to engage in prostitution, the acquittal of the far more serious that could have led him to life in prison, and balance the words of not only Sean "Diddy" Combs through a three-page letter and his statements later on today, but also the words of his family, his counsel, letters that have been sent in to suggest that this is a reformed and changed man who deserves a second chance. He'll balance that against the words of people like Cassie Ventura, the prosecution's star witness, and her family and others who talked about their consistent and sustained fear of Sean "Diddy" Combs and the abuse that they -- what was afflicted upon them over the course of a better part of a decade. All of that's going to be balanced, but there is a guideline in place, the five to seven-year period of a guideline of sorts that the judge seemed to manage expectations to suggest he sees a reason to do an upward or a lower departure from that.

So far, we have no idea what he will do. We are now in limbo, but we are all waiting to hear from the person who did not take the stand in his own defense, but will take to the podium today in defense of a second chance. And that is Sean "Diddy" Combs.

SANCHEZ: Laura Coates, keep us posted, live outside the courthouse for us in Manhattan. Thank you so much. With us now to get some analysis to CNN Legal Analyst and Former Federal Prosecutor Elliot Williams. Elliot, obviously a high-stake sentencing resting now in the judge's hands. The defense wants 14 months, essentially time served. Prosecution wants 11 years. The judge said that he doesn't see a reason to stray from that probation assessment --

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST AND FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Right.

SANCHEZ: -- that should be somewhere in the vicinity of 70 to 87 months.

WILLIAMS: Right.

SANCHEZ: That's like six, seven years, right?

WILLIAMS: It's pretty remarkable to be -- to see such a stark divide between the two sides.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

WILLIAMS: Now, they often don't disagree. Here's why -- Sean Combs was only convicted of two prostitution offenses. Trafficking -- transporting people. He was charged with a whole bunch of other stuff. The prosecution is seeking to hold him accountable for things -- some things that either he wasn't convicted of or just are in his background that make the crime much worse.

Usually you see a difference, but not by a factor of 10, which is what we saw here. But I do think in all likelihood, the judge got a recommendation from the Probation Department, which is an unbiased entity in the middle that did say somewhere between five to seven years.

KEILAR: So, he sent this four-page letter to the judge.

WILLIAMS: Yeah.

KEILAR: Right? And he apologizes, he asks for mercy. He says, the trial has gotten all this attention and your Honor, may be inclined to make an example out of me. I'd ask your Honor, to make an example of what a person can do if afforded a second chance. Is he remorseful enough? And considering that we didn't really get that picture during the trial because we didn't hear from him, does the judge have that impression?

WILLIAMS: I don't know what the judge thinks. Is he remorseful? Yes. Is he remorseful enough in the eyes of the law? Ah, I don't know about that, Brianna. Because of the fact that he has never said I transported people against the law and I am sorry. He did not say those words. Now what he said was, I've hurt people. I've done bad things. I'm sorry for the man that I was, but he did not admit to the offense.

Now, there's a reason for that. If he admits to the offense, he can't go and appeal it later on. But for this idea of actually accepting responsibility in the eyes of the law, you really have to say, I'm sorry for the very thing that I was convicted of, that quite frankly, he was fighting until the day of the end of trial.

[14:05:00]

So yeah, contrition, yes, sorrow, but not acceptance and responsibility legally.

SANCHEZ: How about this attempt from the defense to sort of humanize him?

WILLIAMS: Yeah.

SANCHEZ: Having this documentary-style footage, his kids and, and that sort of thing. Does that actually go a long way with the judge?

WILLIAMS: It does and it should. That is a big part of sentencing where you are rounding out the picture of who the defendant is. He says that he -- number one, he is a family man. Number two, he launched many careers. Number three, he mentored and supported people. Number four, he's been behaved very well in prison. Defendants do that all the time. Now that is set against a really bad record, not just of the two prostitution offenses he was convicted of, but all of these allegations of beating somebody up on a video who was a romantic partner of his.

Those are all things that the judge can consider. So yes, it absolutely humanizes him to write these letters and hear these things, but this is a big record and judges can bring a lot more in at sentencing than they could at trial.

KEILAR: That's the thing is, if I'm the judge and someone's showing me that video --

WILLIAMS: Yeah.

KEILAR: There was a lot of video in the trial --

(CROSSTALK) WILLIAMS: (Inaudible).

KEILAR: Oh, yeah. And it looked really bad, really, really bad for him. The video from the hotel.

WILLIAMS: Yeah.

KEILAR: The video of the freak-offs. And if I'm seeing that video, I'm seeing the -- well, there's a whole side that is not in this video.

WILLIAMS: You know, it's not that anything goes at sentencing, it's not that it's this lawless state. But prosecutors and the judge can bring in a lot more than just the conviction, including videos of someone misbehaving, including acts that were similar to the ones that he was convicted of, but not the same ones. So, there's a really long runway the judge has to consider the very things that you're talking about, that even if he wasn't convicted of them, make him seem much more worse and much more dangerous as an individual deserving of more jail time. It's rough.

SANCHEZ: Any predictions? I mean, I think we can speculate, but I just wondered.

WILLIAMS: No, I really do think somewhere -- the judge can't get himself in trouble if he follows the recommendations under the guidelines that the Probation Department suggests. If he goes really high up above that, then that -- then it creates a potential problem for appeal.

SANCHEZ: That's where I was going. You mean, get himself in trouble in the sense that it makes it less likely that an appeal will actually succeed.

WILLIAMS: Yeah. If the -- there are federal sentencing guidelines based on the nature of the offense, the nature of the person's background, the nature of what they did, and they calculate. And it's literally two months here, one month there, a couple points off here and it's really a math -- a big complex math problem, right? If in fact the judge stays within that sentencing guidelines recommendation, it's probably not going to be thrown out on appeal.

KEILAR: Defense attorneys indicating that Combs intends to address the court, so that, we are awaiting. Court is expected to resume here after a lunch break. So we'll bring that to you, as we learn about it. Elliot Williams, thank you so much.

WILLIAMS: Thank you.

KEILAR: Really appreciate it. And still to come, the federal government remaining shut down. Congress deadlocked over Obamacare subsidies. Democrats are expected to once again block a short-term funding bill brought by Republicans this afternoon.

SANCHEZ: And later, a new ultimatum, President Trump telling Hamas to accept his peace plan by this Sunday or face hell. That and much more coming your way.' (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:12:57]

KEILAR: We are watching the sentencing hearing for Sean "Diddy" Combs, which has lasted several hours so far. The judge is weighing if the convicted rap mogul should get the 11-plus-years behind bars that the prosecution is seeking while his lawyers are asking that Combs serve 14 months, which is essentially the time that he's already served, just a little bit more. While we're waiting, we're going to turn to CNN Entertainment Reporter Lisa Respers France to talk about this. Lisa, let's take a step back because this is really a moment in American culture. Talk to us about what we're seeing here and what this moment means.

LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: It's absolutely a moment and his defense team wants to remind people of who Sean "Diddy" Combs is beyond the crimes that he was accused of. They made reference to his starting his record label in their remarks, and said that, Mr. Combs starting his own record label as a black young male back then was almost kind of jokable, but he had the audacity to do it anyway. And they wanted to tie this to his influence to the African-American culture, which is very true.

In addition to what we have heard about him in the courtroom, which has been extremely negative, he has had a major impact on the culture. And so, this is of course an attempt to paint him beyond that horrific video that has been seen around the world of him beating on Cassie Ventura. And so, they want to remind people of who he is beyond that actually.

KEILAR: In her statement to the judge, Cassie Ventura wrote, if there is one thing I have learned from this experience, it is that victims and survivors will never be safe. I wonder what you think about her saying that. And is Hollywood taking abuse more seriously as a result of this case?

RESPERS FRANCE: I think we see, especially from this case, that there's still a lot of victim shaming that happens. And had we not broken that video, had CNN not broken that video, which showed what happened and what she alleged had happened in that hotel, it would still be her word against his word.

[14:15:00]

So that video was very powerful. And what she has been trying to get across and was trying to get across in her letter is that she's fearful that if Combs gets out anytime soon that he's going to seek retribution against her. I think the industry still does definitely have a problem with blaming the victim because even now, even people who have seen that video, still say, oh, well, she could have left if it was that bad. But literally that video shows us what happened when she attempted to leave.

KEILAR: How much support does he have and how are his fans responding right now? RESPERS FRANCE: Yeah, the fans have always been divided. There are some people who are going to support him regardless. It's interesting that this is happening on the 30th anniversary of the acquittal of O.J. Simpson because there is as much conversation today as there was 30 years ago about the fairness in the court system when it comes to black defendants. And so, there are plenty of people who say, oh, they just merely went after Sean "Puffy" Combs because he was so wealthy and he had so much power.

And so, there are always going to be people who are going to support a celebrity, especially a celebrity whose art that they have loved. I mean, the Sean's, his music was literally the soundtrack to many people's lives. And so he has a lot of support, but there are also people who say, what he did was horrific. So it just comes down to how much you feel that he's guilty or not. He of course was found guilty on the lesser charges.

And so, people are just waiting now, as we all are, to see what the determination is and how much time he's going to get. And if it is going to be viewed as serious enough that it would dissuade other people from having this type of activity, this type of action. Because unfortunately, misogyny and violence against women has been around in Hollywood since day one. And so, we just have to wait and see. And I think that's kind of the posture that fans on both sides are taking there. Everyone is really, really interested in what's going to happen and what the judge is going to determine.

KEILAR: Yeah, we are waiting to see what happens. And we are expecting that he may be addressing the courtroom soon. So we'll be looking for that. Lisa, thank you so much.

RESPERS FRANCE: Thank you.

KEILAR: The federal government remaining shut down for a third day. And while the Senate is in session right now, an agreement between Republicans and Democrats remains unlikely. We'll have the latest next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:22:04]

KEILAR: Right now, we are monitoring the Sean "Diddy" Combs sentencing there in New York. You're looking at live pictures of the courthouse. We have reporters inside the courtroom. They've just come back from a lunch break and we are expecting Combs to address the judge here during that sentencing hearing. We're going to let you know what he says as soon as we know it.

In the meantime, happening right now on Capitol Hill, the Senate is holding this vote on funding the government and ending the shutdown.

SANCHEZ: It is not likely to succeed. And if the Democratic bill can't get 60 votes, the standoff doesn't end. The blame game drags into next week as thousands of federal workers' jobs hang in the balance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: If this shutdown continues, as we've said, layoffs are an unfortunate consequence of that. And Russ Vought has been in contact with our cabinet secretaries at their respective agencies to discuss that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Marc Short served as the former Chief of Staff to Vice President Mike Pence. He was White House legislative Affairs Director during the first Trump administration and he's currently the Board Chair of Advancing American Freedom. Marc, thanks so much for being with us.

MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: Boris, thanks for having me.

SANCHEZ: Part of the pessimism for this vote, this upcoming vote or the vote that's happening now is that the two sides aren't really sitting in a room trying to hammer out some grand agreement. Is that something you would like to see or are they simply too far apart to come to any kind of agreement?

SHORT: I don't think they're actually that far apart, Boris. I think one of the things that's really different about this shutdown is, often shutdowns are over what the top line funding is. There's really not disagreement on that. In fact, this is a vote the Democrats have supported only six months ago. I think this is really a manufactured shutdown because I think the Democrat base wants to see their leadership fight President Trump's agenda more. And I think that's what is really driving it.

And I say that as somebody who's been a Republican staff on the Hill, when I feel like Republicans pushed shutdowns in many cases, back in 2013, I think Republicans felt that the base wanted them to stand up to Obama and felt like Obama was steamrolling stuff. And I think they walked into a shutdown that was less about what's our end game. It was more, we just need to stand up and show resistance.

KEILAR: They really -- yeah. Sorry, go ahead.

SHORT: I think there's been, obviously, conversation about the Obamacare subsidies And I think that will be the way it ends, is that there'll be basically a concession that we're going to have a vote on that. I think Republicans have signaled that there's a lot who want to pass the subsidy extension anyhow. I think Democrats will champion that as their way out of this. But I don't think that's really what's the driver right now. I think the driver is more about Democrat base resistance.

KEILAR: Well, their base definitely wants them to fight, right? But if you talk to Democrats, they also -- there are a lot of them who feel that they don't like what Trump is doing with the government, even compared to the last shot at this several months ago. They think what he is done is extraordinary even since then. And they're also in a political pickle to sort of go along with him continuing to do that. [14:25:00]

This Washington Post poll, I mean, I wonder what you think of it because it shows that a lot of people are blaming Republicans --

SHORT: Yeah.

KEILAR: -- in the White House more than Democrats. And Democrats are looking at that going, all right, we're going to keep going.

SHORT: Right. Look again, I think this has been a Democrat-forced shutdown clearly. I think some of the polling though, for a lot of voters, it is a muscle memory because I think typically over the last decade or so, these have been Republican-forced shutdowns. And so you see a shutdown, I think it's sort of just like, "Hey, I'm so tired of Congress. It's all on Congress." I think there's obviously a lot of drama around the Trump White House that gets mixed in this too. So for a lot of voters, I don't think it's as clear. I think for them, it's just like, here goes Washington being dysfunctional again.

I think to give an example of how dysfunctional this is, it was two years ago today that House Republicans replaced Kevin McCarthy on exactly this vote, on exactly this vote because they were upset that they said, we're extending funding at Biden levels and we should be cutting it. And yet now, almost every Republican is in favor of this bill. And whereas there's every Democrat was in favor before, now every Democrat's opposed to it. And that just shows you, I think, for a lot of voters, why they have cynicism about the way it is working right now.

SANCHEZ: It's a really illustrative point. I have just heard from our producers that we have fresh sound from Leader Jeffries moments ago. He's responding to claims that this is a -- this shutdown is an ineffective way to bring up the issue of the Obamacare subsidies. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES, (D) HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: The notion that there's time to wait, think about this, that Republicans spent all year focused on their one big ugly bill, so they could permanently extend massive tax breaks for the wealthy, the well off, and the well connected. These tax breaks for the wealthy and the well off, they were scheduled to expire on December 31st. But they spent months of obsessed with rewarding their billionaire donors with massive tax breaks, but now claim that the Affordable Care Act tax credits which expire at the same time as those tax breaks for their wealthy friends, no, they can't be bothered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: You mentioned a moment ago that there were some Republicans that have expressed an openness to bringing the Obamacare subsidies extension up for a vote. Democrats are skeptical of that in part, because so many Republicans, including Roger Marshall who you spoke to in the last hour, they kind of want Obamacare to be dysfunctional. They want the ACA to be dysfunctional. They don't see it as a positive piece of legislation and they're fine if it doesn't get funded.

SHORT: Well, look, Boris, I don't think it is either --

(LAUGH)

SHORT: But I'm just trying to give you an honest assessment where I think it is.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

SHORT: I think Democrats were very straight when they passed Obamacare, as they bought off insurance companies by saying we're going to put subsidies in the bill. And here we are, years later and no surprise that actually when you have government-run healthcare, it actually doesn't lower costs. It increased costs. And so insurance payments have basically doubled over the course of Obamacare. And so now, you have the situation where there's going to be a continued extension of them. I don't think that's good policy.

I think Republicans should be advancing free market reforms to healthcare. But instead, I think what you're going to see is a lot of Republicans are nervous about the exact polling you referenced. I think that same polling has been shared with the president. I don't think president is actually going to make this a fight. He's in a (ph) give a willingness to Republicans to go along with this and Republicans in battleground districts want to have this extended too. And so, I think that is going to happen. It's just a matter of should that be part of a shutdown or should that be happening later this fall.

KEILAR: Everyone thinks you should address costs, right? And they were an issue before Obamacare. I remember, I was up on the Hill during its passage.

SHORT: Of course.

KEILAR: There was all this talk about bending the cost curve and in the end, like, it couldn't be done. And Democrats and Republicans, I think really both should do some searching on how they should make that happen because that is the trickiest thing to do with all of the stakeholders. We just have to be really honest about that. That is a problem for Democrats and Republicans to look at.

SHORT: Of course, it is. I agree with you.

KEILAR: But since --

SHORT: I don't think we've really tried the free market side though. We just keep adding more and more government involved in our healthcare and we are surprised to see that government prices have increased.

KEILAR: Yeah, there isn't a single payer system though, at least. I will say, well, there is TRICARE, et cetera, but wasn't created for Obamacare.

SHORT: We're getting closer.

KEILAR: You are a boss. Since you're here, we should ask you about this. Pence -- former Vice President Pence said this about the shutdown earlier this week. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, (R) FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: But I think what's different about this time is that, now, the argument is not over one party wanting to spend more and another party wanting to cut spending, which were always debates that I welcomed. But rather it's now the difference between the Republican Party that wants to add $2 trillion to the national debt and the Democratic Party that wants to add $3 trillion to the national debt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: A (Inaudible) on both your Houses. I don't know, what do you think about what he said?

(LAUGH)

SHORT: I think it's better said than I said it. I mean, I was trying to make the same point that, you know, this was a bill that two years ago a lot of Republicans were uncomfortable with.