Transcript

New Diddy Lawsuit Has Image of “Tootsie Roll” & The TRUTH Behind Dawn Richard’s Brutal Testimony

From Rotten Mango · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 58 min · 23,291 words · 166 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "New Diddy Lawsuit Has Image of “Tootsie Roll” & The TRUTH Behind Dawn Richard’s Brutal Testimony", an episode of Rotten Mango published May 26, 2025 (1 h 58 min, about 23,291 words). It mentions 19 people, works and ideas, including Shan Diddy Combmes, Don Rashard, Cassie Ventura, Rotten Mango, Jane Doe's lawsuit.

What this episode is about

The ongoing Diddy lawsuit has revealed intriguing courtroom dynamics, including secretive note exchanges among the Combs family and mysterious interactions with fans that raise questions about their support for Sean Combs. Additionally, the dramatic testimony from Dawn Richard sheds light on the complexities of the case, driving interest and speculation about the proceedings.

Key takeaways

  • Courtroom note-passing: gossip, conspiracy, or secret snacks? The answers could turn this trial into a drama series.
  • Illuminati signs in the gallery? A sign of fan support or a coded message? Either way, it's unsettling.
  • Sean's 'truth' notebook: personal diary or legal strategy? Either way, it’s got us all asking, 'What’s the scoop?'
  • Jane Doe’s elevator encounter: often a meet-cute, but it spiraled into bizarre territory. Ride-sharing gone wrong?
  • Feeling woozy after a party? Just tired, or is it something more? Always trust your instincts, not good vibes.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Shan Diddy Combmes, Jane Doe, Jane Doe's lawsuit, Tootsie Roll
  2. – 20:00: Shan Diddy Combmes, Don Rashard, Officer Riz, Bad Boy Records
  3. – 30:00: Don Rashard, Shan Diddy Combmes, Kina Harper, Diddy Dirty Money
  4. – 40:00: Cassie Ventura, Don Rashard, Shan Diddy Combmes, Kina Harper
  5. – 50:00: Shan Diddy Combmes, Don Rashard, Harve Pierre
  6. – 1:00:00: Don Rashard
  7. – 1:10:00: Don Rashard, Harve Pierre, Shan Diddy Combmes, Kina Harper
  8. – 1:20:00: Shan Diddy Combmes, Cassie Ventura, Don Rashard, Diddy Dirty Money
  9. – 1:30:00: Don Rashard, Shan Diddy Combmes
  10. – 1:40:00: Shan Diddy Combmes, Carrie Morgan, Don Rashard
  11. – 1:50:00: Carrie Morgan, Shan Diddy Combmes, Michael B. Jordan, Cassie Ventura
  12. – 1:57:51: Shan Diddy Combmes, Carrie Morgan, Steve Harvey, Don Rashard

Notable quotes from "New Diddy Lawsuit Has Image of “Tootsie Roll” & The TRUTH Behind Dawn Richard’s Brutal Testimony"

  • Came in with the public and they were sitting in the two pews of the very back behind the defendant Shawn Combmes. And there are moments where after a recess, after a break…
    about Shan Diddy Combmes · at
  • Approximately maybe about like half of an adult pinky finger. Keep that in mind for reference. This is all from Jane Doe's perspective as detailed in a newly filed lawsuit…
    about Jane Doe's lawsuit · at
  • Grabs her by the neck, and screams at her, I'm going to suck the life out of you. The lawsuit reads, quote, Dependent Combmes released plaintiff Jane Doe's neck and then held…
    about Tootsie Roll · at
  • We would like to thank today's sponsors who have made it possible for Rotten Mango to support the Joyful Heart Foundation. They are working to transform society's response to SADV and.
    about Rotten Mango · at
  • Prosecutors do is they try to establish Don Rashard's connection to Shawn Combmes. Don Rashards was signed with Bad Boy Records, which is founded by Shawn Combmes from 2004 to…
    about Bad Boy Records · at
  • On the ground in front of us. Where did that incident take place? In his Los Angeles home. Don Rashard explains that they were recording for Diddy's Dirty Money, the group, in…
    about Don Rashard · at
  • Tells the jurors just to refresh their memory after she saw Cassie get abused by Combmes over eggs. He invited her and Kina Harper over the next day and told them that quote…
    about Kina Harper · at
  • Was a consequence. It was mean. It was mean. It was mean. She says that even the president of Bad Boy, Harve Pierre, once told her. Harve said, It gets dark and lonely. And Mr.…
    about Harve Pierre · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Shan Diddy Combmes — Person · Primary defendant / central referenced figure · 45 mentions · first at
    The episode centers on allegations and courtroom testimony involving Sean 'Diddy' Combs (name misspelled in transcript as 'Shawn Combmes'), including civil suits and witness accounts tied to his federal criminal trial.
  • Don Rashard — Person · Key witness / civil plaintiff referenced; testifying in court · 30 mentions · first at
    Described as a former Bad Boy artist and group member who filed a civil lawsuit and provides testimony about alleged violence toward Cassie Ventura and alleged threats by Combs.
  • Cassie Ventura — Person · Alleged victim in testimony; major referenced figure · 7 mentions · first at
    Presented as a key alleged victim connected to both civil litigation and the criminal case narrative; Don Richard describes multiple alleged violent incidents involving her.
    Sitting at the witness stand next to the judge where she is shown a picture of Cassie. Did you observe an incident between Mr. Combmes and Cassie? Yes, I did. Can you please…
  • Jane Doe — Person · Anonymous civil plaintiff referenced · 4 mentions · first at
    A pseudonymous plaintiff whose newly filed civil lawsuit is summarized, including alleged drugging/coercion and sexual assault claims; used to frame broader discussion of additional accusers.
    Doe's perspective as detailed in a newly filed lawsuit against Shawn Combmes by Jane Doe. So, this lawsuit drops, it's a civil lawsuit by Jane Doe against Shawn Combmes. And…
  • Carrie Morgan — Person · Referenced witness / associate of Cassie Ventura · 15 mentions · first at
    Introduced as Cassie's former best friend of 17 years whose testimony is discussed as part of the episode's chain connecting Combs to other celebrities.
    Former bandmate of Shawn Combmes, filed her own civil lawsuit and she will also be testifying. This is the testimony of Don Rashard and Cassie's former best friend of 17 years…
  • Kina Harper — Person · Referenced participant/witness-adjacent figure · 8 mentions · first at
    Identified as a member of Diddy – Dirty Money and present during an alleged LA home incident; also referenced for an Instagram statement disputing alignment with Don Richard's account.
  • Harve Pierre — Person · Referenced music executive · 3 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as the president of Bad Boy who allegedly reinforced a culture-of-fear message ('It gets dark and lonely') per Don Richard's testimony.
  • Michael B. Jordan — Person · Referenced celebrity in alleged connection chain · 4 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as part of an asserted connection chain: Combs → Michael B. Jordan → Lori Harvey → Steve Harvey, framed as an internet intrigue angle rather than core courtroom evidence.
    Don Rashard and Cassie's former best friend of 17 years, Carrie Morgan, and how all of this connects Shawn Combmes to Michael B. Jordan, therefore Lorie Harvey, and ultimately…
  • Steve Harvey — Person · Referenced celebrity; endpoint of connection chain · 4 mentions · first at
    Raised as the endpoint of a speculative/interest-driven connection chain discussed by the host as a topic the internet is intrigued by.
    It's just a bunch of internet rumors so far as well as a lot of AI generated content. However, Steve Harvey does make what I think a normal person would consider, rightfully…
  • Aubrey O'Day — Person · Referenced former band member / outspoken commentator · 4 mentions
    Mentioned as a Danity Kane member alleged to have received inappropriate communications and to have been fired/humiliated after rejecting advances, per the episode's recounting.
    Most outspoken about her Danny Kane days. Dwood Wood says about Aubrey, I remember Aubrey sharing with me that he had sent her all of these inappropriate pictures. I saw a lot…
  • Officer Riz — Person · Court officer / courtroom authority figure (as described) · 2 mentions · first at
    Controls courtroom decorum and is repeatedly referenced for enforcing rules and making remarks; provides color/context about courtroom environment rather than case facts.
    Better mood. He's making sure the public section knows, hey, no talking in the courtroom. He literally tells us, If you want to talk, go outside and tell your 122 followers.…
  • D. Woods — Person · Referenced former band member / documentary participant · 2 mentions · first at
    Cited as a former Danity Kane member who described alleged inappropriate/abusive dynamics in an HBO documentary, supporting the episode's broader narrative about Combs' conduct.
    About Shawn Combmes with a few of them participating in the HBO documentary The Fall of Diddy. D. Woods, for example, says in that HBO doc, From the outside, he was a mogul. He…

Books & papers

  • Jane Doe's lawsuit — Book · Primary recommendation · 2 mentions · first at
    Civil lawsuit filed by Jane Doe against Shawn Combmes, detailing allegations of abuse and misconduct.

Companies & orgs

  • Rotten Mango — Company · Host · 1 mention · first at
    Podcast hosting the discussion and providing context for the trial and allegations against Shawn Combmes.
  • Bad Boy Records — Company · Business focus · 1 mention · first at
    Record label founded by Shawn Combmes, mentioned in the context of Don Rashard's testimony about her experiences with Combmes.
  • Diddy Dirty Money — Company · Business focus · 3 mentions · first at
    Music group mentioned in the context of Don Rashard's testimony about her experiences with Shawn Combmes.
    Part of this massive girl group, Danity Kane. We've talked about them during our original four-part Diddy series. And then later she was signed to another group called Diddy…

Concepts & topics

  • Tootsie Roll — Concept · Key argument · 2 mentions · first at
    Used as a metaphor in Jane Doe's lawsuit against Shawn Combmes to describe his private parts, adding a vivid and memorable detail to the allegations.
  • Illuminati — Concept · Key argument · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of courtroom behavior, where two girls held up the Illuminati sign towards Shawn Combmes.
    Both hold up the Illuminati sign towards the defendant, Sean Combmes. He's turning back. He sees the Illuminati signs, like pure triangles, like in front of their face, like at…

Sponsors

  • Joyful Heart Foundation — Company · Sponsor · 1 mention · first at
    Organization supported by Rotten Mango, working to transform society's response to SADV and CA.
    We would like to thank today's sponsors who have made it possible for Rotten Mango to support the Joyful Heart Foundation. They are working to transform society's response to SADV and.

Full transcript with timestamps

Bada bing, bada boom. There's a few things in the courtroom that we do not have access to. Well, I would say there's a lot of things. I mean, clearly there's the obvious ones, but there's a few things that keep me up at night. I lay in bed and I think about if I could be a fly on that wall. If I could be a fly on that piece of paper. The first being I want to know what kind of notes the Combs are passing on a daily basis. Every time they're in court these days, they're passing a lot of notes. I don't know what's in them. Sometimes they produce giggles from each other.

Sometimes they're shaking their heads responding to each other's notes. I'm very curious about those notes. Another person's notes I'm curious about is the other day there were two girls in the public section of the courtroom. So they came in with the public and they were sitting in the two pews of the very back behind the defendant Shawn Combmes. And there are moments where after a recess, after a break, after lunch, we'll all walk into the courtroom at varying times. And often times there's not a lot of people in there yet, especially if you don't use the restroom during a break. Well, we see them. There's two girls. One of them has white nail polish on, distinct white nail polish. And they both hold up the Illuminati sign towards the defendant, Sean Combmes. He's turning back. He sees the Illuminati signs, like pure triangles, like in front of their face, like at their chest. So, they're not holding it up in

the air, but they're like holding it in front of their chest. Sean Combmes looks and we see him put his hand on his fist on his chest and mouth. Thank you. Which is something that he does for friends and family. So perhaps he thought these were two fans that showed up in support of him. I want to know what those girls are writing in their notes. Does it look like he knows them or no? Okay. And then the last thing that I really want to know is I want to know what's inside this neon blue notebook. Every morning we go to the courtroom, defendant Sean Combmes comes in, he's got this accordion file where he has all of his little court documents, court papers, and every single morning he pulls out this spiral neon blue highlighter blue notebook. And at the very front in capital letters, looks like it's written in Sharpie, like thick bold letters, it reads truth. And every day after court, he puts it back

in his little accordion file. He It's almost like he's tucking it into bed. He taps the sides of it, making sure it's all nice and comfy in there. And I just want to know if there is anything in that little notebook about Tootsie Rolls. The exact dimensions are 1 to 1 and 1/2 in in length. It's like a Tootsie Roll. It's a chocolate piece of candy. It's about half an inch in diameter. That's the typical size. If you don't have a Tootsie Roll conveniently near you, it is approximately maybe about like half of an adult pinky finger. Keep that in mind for reference. This is all from Jane Doe's perspective as detailed in a newly filed lawsuit against Shawn Combmes by Jane Doe. So, this lawsuit drops, it's a civil lawsuit by Jane Doe against Shawn Combmes. And this drops May 14th of 2025, which is just 2 days after opening statements. This is in the midst of his criminal federal trial. There is another

civil lawsuit filed. Now, this is a civil lawsuit. Just because it's a lawsuit doesn't mean it's necessarily factual. This could be completely true, partly true, or just flatout not true. But as detailed in Jane Doe's lawsuit, she states, "No, it all starts in an elevator." She's in one of those high-rise office building elevators in Manhattan with three of her friends and there happens to be a man in the same elevator with her and he's giving her like the full up and down look and he's asking any chance you guys want to come to a party tonight. They exchange numbers and apparently they end up building some sort of a friendship.

She'll end up at VIP sections with Shawn Combmes who will tell her, "You're very well manicured. You really keep yourself together. I like your nails. I like your toes." Now, in the lawsuit, she details a few odd experiences that she has, like being in a black SUV with a bunch of his bodyguards, like more bodyguards than there are people that they're protecting. And Shan Combmes would allegedly try to kiss her, she didn't really like it. But every time he would do stuff like this afterwards, when she clearly signaled that she did not want this, he would overload her with niceness, and she would feel like, "Okay, maybe that I was thinking too deep into it." and then she would agree to meet up with him once more until the very last time she sees Shawn Combmes.

Now, this is at a party. Shawn Combmes allegedly starts smoking marijuana, blowing the smoke back into Jane Doe's face as well as her friend's face. And after about 40 minutes, Jane's friend keeps asking her, "Do you feel weird?" Because I feel weird. Jane says, "I mean, I do notice that my legs and arms are really weak in the sense of like when I'm trying to walk down the stairs, I need to hold on to the banister." And so both Jane and her friend are talking to each other that neither of them have ever felt like this. They're like, "This is really bizarre." I mean, I get that maybe we're tired, but this isn't even just that. Because Jane feels so weird, they end up leaving the entire party with Shawn Combmes, and Jane states that she's just asking him, "Can you please take me home? I don't feel good right now." He keeps trying to detour back to his Upper East Side apartment. He's like, "I just need to grab something. I

need to stop by there first." Eventually, when the car is parked, he gets out, grabs Jane by the hand, and she details in her lawsuit, he says, "Come with me real quick." Jane is being dragged, and he says, quote, "I want to show you my bedroom." This is what she's alleging. Sean Combmes, according to that lawsuit, locks the door behind her to his bedroom, throws her onto the bed, grabs her by the neck, and screams at her, "I'm going to suck the life out of you." The lawsuit reads, quote, "Dependent Combmes released plaintiff Jane Doe's neck and then held her arm down while using his other hand to swiftly unbuckle his belt and pants before pulling out his bare skinned private parts, which appeared to be the length and girth of a large tootsie roll." The plaintiff went the extra mile to include a picture of a Tootsie Roll for reference and with a comment that said she thought his penis was an itty

bitty diddy. The lawsuit alleges that Shawn Combmes proceeded to essay her after that. Now, I will note that this document has not yet been reviewed by the county clerk, but this lawsuit is filed again May 14th, 2025, just 2 days after the opening statements in the federal court case against Shawn Combmes, which begs the question, how many more people are going to come out in court to testify against Diddy? Because Cassie also filed a civil lawsuit and she testified. And now with this episode, Don Rashard, who is a former bandmate of Shawn Combmes, filed her own civil lawsuit and she will also be testifying. This is the testimony of Don Rashard and Cassie's former best friend of 17 years, Carrie Morgan, and how all of this connects Shawn Combmes to Michael B. Jordan, therefore Lorie Harvey, and ultimately, as the internet has become the most intrigued by, this is Shawn Combmes's connection to Steve

Harvey. We would like to thank today's sponsors who have made it possible for Rotten Mango to support the Joyful Heart Foundation. They are working to transform society's response to SADV and CA. This episode's partnerships have also made it possible to support Rotten Mango's growing team. And we'd also like to thank you guys for your continued support. As always, full show notes are available by rotten mango.com. A few disclaimers. There are themes of DVSA and sex trafficking in today's episode. Please watch with caution if these are sensitive topics to you and this one's going to be a little bit heavier. Many of the quotes and statements included have been shortened and condensed and/or combined for brevity. Now, there are a lot of parts where I'm going to be reading like directly off the transcript, but I want to I want to convey to you the exact or at least try to convey to you, do my

best to convey to you the tone and the delivery in which the transcript and these words were said in the courtroom. So, my researchers and I have been in the courtroom pretty much every single day, like at least one of us has been in there every single day since the trial has started, if not two of us. And so when we read the transcript at the end of the day, it's hard to get a gauge of how words are delivered and the impact that it might have on the jury. So we're going to try to deliver at least the pacing, at least some of the tone that is how we perceived it in the courtroom.

Any descriptions or observations regarding Mr. Combmes, his legal team, the court, andor the public during the trial are personally noted by myself or my two researchers who are present in the courtroom. They should not be used as a definitive source to determine guilt or innocence. In fact, Shawn Combmes is innocent until proven guilty, and that burden lies on the government. So, with that being said, let's get started. There are microphones placed strategically all around the courtroom. The design is to be capture spoken words, all spoken words during the proceedings. There are microphones mounted on the ceilings, even where there are places where people aren't really supposed to talk, like the pews.

Nobody in the gallery is really supposed to be saying anything. only the front of the room, you're supposed to talk, but there's microphones everywhere. There's directional microphones on the desks of the defense, the prosecutors, the court staff. A few microphones are placed strategically on the exact defense table that Shawn Combmes is sitting on. And sometimes when the microphone is placed and pointed towards Shawn Combmes and let's say Brian Steel, who's on the left of him, Combmes will literally grab the mic and point it directly at the ceiling. So, it's like a long thin moldable black wire with a little mic at the top and he will point it so that it's erect and straight up towards the ceiling. And he's pretty intentional about it so it's nowhere near his mouth and the court stenographer will not be graced with hearing his little whispers in court. When you say there's microphone in the ceiling, what does

that look like? They look kind of like smoke detectors. But they're microphones. Yeah. How did you find out they're microphones? Oh, yeah. I ease drop a lot in court. I think a lot of people do. So, it was mentioned by people who work in the courtroom. Okay. So, like who's listening to the voice? The the court reporter, the stenographer has these like headphones that amplify all the spoken words from all of the multidirectional microphones inside the courtroom. So, the mic is for them to hear only. Yes. Wow. And then they will do the transcript in real time. Oh. And then actually, okay, speaking of in case this is information that might come up later. So as the stenographer is, I guess doing the transcript in real time, everyone that works in the court, so the defense table, the prosecutors, they have a live feed of all the words that are being spoken. They have a live feed of the transcript. Oh, the transcript.

Got it. Got it. Not the thing that you guys are talking about in the back. Okay. But that transcript for the public and the press, you know, it doesn't you don't get it live. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Wow. Now, Officer Riz, the man who controls the courtroom, literally my boss for this entire trial, he is making I mean, it's a very interesting day on Friday. I think anytime it's about to be the weekend, court seems to be in a better mood. He's making sure the public section knows, hey, no talking in the courtroom. He literally tells us, "If you want to talk, go outside and tell your 122 followers." And that gets a really good giggle out of every single person, including the people with 122 followers. It was a good joke. Now, outside the courthouse, everyone has just been live streaming. It has been very intense. The press pews don't have as much of a problem with the not talking rule. Our problem seems to be

sneaking caffeine into the courtroom. That's what I see press get in the most trouble for. Another thing I never really took into consideration, there are absolutely no glass bottles allowed in the courtroom because they could be used as projectiles, which makes absolute sense. I just really never gave it much thought until one of our researchers is chugging coffee from a glass bottle outside the courtroom because it's just not allowed. Now, the defense, they're sitting in their normal spot. And one person we haven't really talked in depth about is Raspberry Air.

That's what we call him. He looks like he might be the youngest guy on the defense team. Raspberry Air. What does that even mean? His name is Jason Driscoll and we call him Raspberry Air because we know nothing about this man. Only thing that we could find out about this guy is he's pretty young. He's an associate from Alexander Shapiro's law firm and he's sitting at the big boy table and we don't exactly know what he's doing yet, but he seems heavily involved. So, we don't know if he's like a dark horse that's going to come out swinging. So, we have created this whole plot in our heads where he is secretly part of the Driscoll family, the massive berry farmers. So, we call him the raspberry air. And every day raspberry air is getting a bit more involved and a bit busier and a bit more interactive with Shawn Combmes. So, it's becoming a daily mystery for the RM team of like, okay, what's his role going to be

throughout the rest of this trial, Combmes walks in and some days he's even more unassuming. Honestly, he is less impactful every day that he walks in. There there have been at least two days where the press and the public are seated first. He's escorted into the courtroom and since the judge is not on the bench, we are allowed to talk. Everybody's chitchatting. Everybody's like giggling at Officer Rizz's jokes. And by the time people look up, Shawn Combmes is already in his chair and nobody's even heard him walk in. Nobody even cared.

It seems like at this point, everyone just wants to get a general vibe of his energy levels and what color sweater he's wearing. But when he walks in, there's even less presence every single day. Like Officer Riz has more star power than him. So, it's been very interesting. And then his family members are also shrinking, right, in size. The pews are starting to get sparse. So the rows reserved for Comb's family and friends, he has two rows, so none of his family can sit in the pew directly behind him. It's a safety hazard.

They're reserved for government workers only. Safety concern. But the second pew behind him is usually filled with all of his family. Third pew is usually filled with all of his friends, representatives, whoever's on his approved list. So you have these two rows that were in the beginning of the trial completely jam-packed. The recent days, you could fully lay down in the pew and rest your head if you so wished. I mean, you can't, but you could if you really wanted to. I do think that all of his kids went back to California for the twins graduating high school as well as prom. Maybe they're still there. The two sons did eventually fly back. It's been a thing, but everybody in that courtroom, it could be because of this.

Everybody in that courtroom seems sick. Even Sean Combmes is asking his attorney for a tissue. He's like honking his nose throughout the day. Mark Agnil will take up crumpled up tissues and post-its and like do little air basketballs into the waste basket before the judge comes in. So, it seems like people having like a in a very light mood. It's like it's a very weird feeling. Some days it's there's so much tension and it feels so high stakes. And then some days you walk in and the attorneys are doing air balls with tissue paper into the waste basket and they're giggling and cackling and it's confusing. And it's very weird because I think you walk in and you know the subject matter at hand. You know the types of crimes that he's accused of doing and then everyone is like interactive in like a normal human way.

Even the prosecutors and it feels kind of strange. It feels very jolting. I will say they're doing air baskets into the waist basket. He's got impeccable aim. But the court officers, they're looking at him like, "Sir, please be a serious person." They're like the most serious people. They're the two court officers that escort Sean Combmes to the bathroom. I don't think I've seen either one of them really ever smile really. Yeah. And it's interesting that the energy seems so light considering the thing that we've noticed is it appears that when there is someone testifying that is not so closely related to Shawn Combmes, the defense and the defendant typically are in lighter spirits. If it's like a Homeland Security agent that's testifying, they might not be as tightly wound. But let's say it's Cassie or it's Don Rashard, someone that has worked with Shawn Combmes for decades.

Somebody that is filing a civil lawsuit against Shawn Combmes. Someone that has very interpersonal relationships with the defendant. Typically, I don't see them this relaxed. But you're saying Don Rashard is about to come on? Yes. So, why are they so relaxed? We don't know. Don Rashard walks in. She's wearing a three-piece suit with a pinstripe long winter coat. It looks like perfectly tailored. It looks like somebody tailored it onto her body. It's so well fitted. She walks in with four attorneys. They trail in and they sit directly in front of us. Like literally in the row in front of us where Cassy's attorney, her husband, her brother, and cousin had sat. So that's like the row reserve for them. Now Don, her face stone cold. She starts walking up towards the witness stand. Her eyes are trained to the front. She looks somber.

That's the word that I kept writing on my notes. Others say that she looks like she's ready for war, but it seems maybe the best way to describe it is like a combination of both. Like you're ready for war and maybe you're not necessarily motivated and riled up like propaganda. You just feel like this is life. This is war. And the way that Shawn Combmes is sitting honestly, he looks like a guest on Shark Tank. He leans back against his chair. His chair is pulled all the way back away from the table. His legs are crossed and his hands are in his lap. He looks like he's sitting there while there are people coming up to the witness stand to audition for him. That it feels like making the band his reality show where he finds artistic talent and creates bands out of them.

That is what it feels like. Don Rashard is asked to point out Shawn Combmes in the courtroom. Usually the prosecutors will say, "Can you identify him by a piece of clothing?" But before they can even get those words out, Don Rashard lifts her right arm and points directly at Shawn Combmes. The whole courtroom, you hear a lot of people shuffling in this moment, but not because they're doing other things. They're literally like, this is what it feels like. They're literally trying to look at what the hell is going on because it's a very tense moment. At no point has anyone physically pointed at him. A lot of the times the witnesses will kind of quick glance and then say, "He's the one in the gray sweater." M but this is like she's looking and she's pointing and it's so tense it feels like she's holding up her hand for a century.

It's probably no more than a few seconds if even that to the point where maybe Sean Combmes feels awkward because he goes to lift up both of his hands. Wilston is sarcastic. You got me like his elbows are bent at 90° and his hands are near his face, palms out. That's interesting. It's a very tense, odd moment. And when these types of tense, odd moments happen, typically people in the courtroom will try to chuckle. Not because it's really funny, but because it's so tense in there. I think everyone's just trying to find a way to release some anxiety, but at this point, nobody's laughing. The whole thing is just strange. US Attorney Steiner is the one that's going to be handling the direct examination. So during the direct examination, Steiner is asking Don Rashard a bunch of questions about just like establishing how she knows Shawn Combmes. The first thing that prosecutors do is they try to establish

Don Rashard's connection to Shawn Combmes. Don Rashards was signed with Bad Boy Records, which is founded by Shawn Combmes from 2004 to 2011. She was part of this massive girl group, Danity Kane. We've talked about them during our original four-part Diddy series. And then later she was signed to another group called Diddy Dirty Money. Diddy Dirty Money was literally just Sean Combmes, Diddy, Don Rashards, and a woman named Kina Harper, another artist. Now, I will say Danny Kane was probably the more well-known of the two groups.

The first album that they ever released, they debuted at like number one on the Billboard charts. Wo! Many members of Danny Kane have come forward to talk about Shawn Combmes with a few of them participating in the HBO documentary The Fall of Diddy. D. Woods, for example, says in that HBO doc, "From the outside, he was a mogul. He was this guy who could make your dreams come true, but there was this other side of him who might not be so safe." I remember this one time he like had the cameras there. So, they were all part of this reality show called Making the Band. And it's exactly what you imagine it to be, a reality show of all of Shawn Combmes's different bands, like girl groups, guy groups, and they're all just trying to do all these auditions and trying to market themselves. I remember this one time he like had the cameras there when we were like trying on clothes so he could watch us. He's going to point this

little camera at us for Diddy so he can judge our appearance. I called it like Jedi mind tricks. This happened so early on. He was going one by one just like critiquing our style. And when he got to me, it wasn't about the clothes. In the reality show, he would ask D. Woods, "What's your stomach looking like? Are you still a little thick?" I wonder, "What's your stomach looking like for real? Are you feeling a little thick?" She's 20, 21 at this point. She says, "I'm working out. I'm running. I always feel thick next to these skinny girls."

Yeah, you're like a burger away. She said, "I started questioning my faith. Like, why did I put this on myself? And I haven't even be been able to express any of that. And without the world victim blaming and shaming me and telling me I just need to be grateful because he gave me an opportunity. Aubrey OD another member a former member of Danny Kane has also been probably the most outspoken about her Danny Kane days. Dwood Wood says about Aubrey, "I remember Aubrey sharing with me that he had sent her all of these inappropriate pictures. I saw a lot of the things that he would email her, very sexual in nature, just like very overtly pornographic, like things he wanted to do with her, and she was just like, "What do I do?" I remember telling her, "Girl, put that in a folder. Send it to your mom. Save that." When those feelings were clearly not mutual between Ao Day and Shawn Combmes. Combmes

allegedly fired Aubry Day, humiliated her, calling her promiscuous and runchy for turning down his advances. Now, another person that has spoken out is Kina Harper, who was not part of Danny Dain, but rather Diddy Dirty Money. So, Diddy Dirty Money, like I said, is Shan Combmes, Don Rashard, and Kina Harper. Don Rashards filed a civil lawsuit against Shawn Combmes in 2024 after Cassie Ventura. Kina Harper goes on to Instagram to write, "I acknowledge the recent lawsuit filed by Don Rashard in which my name has been mentioned 33 times. While I fully respect Dawn's right to recount her experiences, I want to emphasize that her account reflects her personal perspective and should not be interpreted as a universal truth applicable to everyone involved. It's important to understand that while I was present in some of the same professional settings mentioned, many of the allegations and incidents described in

this lawsuit are not representative of my experiences, and some do not align with my own truth. We were not involved in nor were we aware of any behavior that could be considered abusive or unlawful. Sean Combmes will later be accused of paying off Kina Harper for that very Instagram statement. What? Don Rashard is in her three-piece suit sitting at the witness stand next to the judge where she is shown a picture of Cassie. Did you observe an incident between Mr. Combmes and Cassie? Yes, I did. Can you please describe that what you observe generally? I observed Cassie being attacked and when you say that Cassie was attacked, who was she attacked by? She was attacked by Shawn Combmes. Again, at a high level, what did you observe at that attack? And Don Mashard, her answers are softspoken, but very firm. He came down the stairs screaming, belligerent, asking where his food was and proceeded to hit her over

the head and then kick her and beat her on the ground in front of us. Where did that incident take place? In his Los Angeles home. Don Rashard explains that they were recording for Diddy's Dirty Money, the group, in Sean's LA home. So, it's like three floors. This house is massive. It's a mansion and it's the three of them. Sean Combmes, Don Rashard, and Kina Harper. He's got a studio at the residence at the very bottom level. And this is nighttime. Cassie is also there, but she's on the second level in the kitchen. Presumably during a break-in recording, Don and Kina go upstairs. And according to Don, they see Cassie cooking breakfast for dinner. Basically cooking breakfast. She was cooling eggs. That's what Don Rashard says. So now it's the three women on the second floor. Combmes is on the floor above the very top level. It's a three-f flooror home. And Don says she sees him. He came downstairs angry. And

he was saying, "Where the [ __ ] was his eggs?" Excuse my language. Don Rashard says that. Excuse my language. And he was telling Cassie that she never gets anything right. Where the is his food? And he proceeded to come over to her, took the skillet with the eggs in it, and tried to hit her over the head with it, and she fell to the ground. Can you describe the skillet? It was just It was a black skillet, just something you would cook eggs in, like a flat pan. Can you describe the material? Like I don't a regular pan, a skillet that you would see at any store. I don't You said that he attempted to hit her. Is that correct? Correct. Where did he attempt to hit her with the skillet? Over the head. And you testified also that Cassie dropped to the ground. Is that correct?

She fell to the ground. So, did the skillet hit her? It didn't seem like he hit her fully. It seemed like she was anticipating it by going down. When you said that she dropped to the ground specifically, can you describe what she did? She went into a fetal position. You could see she was literally trying to hide her face or her head. Miss Rashard, what happened after Cassie dropped to the ground in the fetal position. He started to punch her and kick her on their body and her head. Then he proceeded to take his arm around her neck and put his hand in her hair and dragged her upstairs to the first floor.

What, if anything, did you hear from upstairs? Glass breaking and yelling. Miss Rashard, how did you react to seeing and hearing this? I was scared for her and I was scared to do anything in fear of what that might mean for me, too. Did you do anything to intervene between Mr. Combmes and Cassie? No. Did you call for law enforcement assistance? No. Why not? I had never seen anything like that before, and I didn't even know what that would mean. I was scared of what that might mean for myself. He was punching his girlfriend. He was beating her up in front of us. And I was scared if I intervened or did anything that I might get worse. What, if anything, were you directed to do the next day? So Don Rashard is explaining after they see this whole incident, Shawn calls them and is like, "Hey, can you come back into the recording studio the next day?"

The next day, he locks the door behind them in that studio. What if anything did Mr. Combmes tell you and Kina in the locked recording studio? He said that what we saw was a like a passion and what lovers do in relationships. He said that Cassie was okay and that it would be in our best interest if we didn't say anything. He was trying to take us to the top and that where he comes from, people go missing. If they say things like that, if people talk, they go missing. And then he gave us flowers. So, she wasn't the only one being told that story. Kina Harper, she hasn't said anything. She's basically said, "That's not my truth." In maybe less words.

Interesting. When Mr. Combmes told you that people can end up missing, what did you understand him to be meaning? that people could die death. I don't know. It just seemed Cassie Mr. Agnif interrupts. I'm gonna object to this entire line, your honor, and move to strike it. Prosecutor Steiner is confused. Your honor, this is the defendant's statements that she is explaining her understanding of. The judge calls for a sidebar because this is getting a little bit The emotions are quickly ramping up. It seems like the defense, they're getting very passionate. They're getting riled up. Everybody seems really tense.

Even the way that the prosecutor, prosecutor Steiner, is responding to Agnifil's objection, it seems very emotionally impactful. Not like they're emotional and unprofessional, but it seems like, what do you mean objection? Like, get out of here. That's the vibe. Now, the judge calls for a sidebar, and when they get back, the jury is abruptly dismissed. So, we're sitting there and we we see the clock. We see that there's time left for the rest of the day, probably like a good 30, 40 minutes. Huh. And this judge, he does not like to let us out early because he's all about trying to get the trial finished like around the 4th of July. That's his thing. That's always been his thing. So, he likes to use every single He always has every 5 minutes. It adds up over the weeks. But he's just dismissing the jury. That's it. Sidebar and then dismiss. Don Rashard was on the stand for like 20 minutes, not even. And

there's still time on the clock, so none of this is making any sense right now. Everybody kind of walks away a little bit confused. Some would even say, I think, honestly, as Don Rashard is walking down the aisle and her attorneys are following her out from literally the pew in front of us, she looks confused. Yeah. Like she looks like she thought her testimony would be done Friday and she'd be home for the weekend cuz she doesn't live in New York City, right? And did you guys leave after that? So, we're kind of sticking around trying to figure out what's going on. And even if you do read the transcripts afterwards, you realize that the defense and the prosecutors are in disagreement because the defense is wondering what any of Dawn's testimony so far has to do with any of the charges that Combmes is actually charged with. That's what they're saying. They're saying, "What does this egg incident have anything to

do with sex trafficking, RICO charges, anything?" The prosecutors argue it is a few steps removed, your honor, but we allege that the entire course of conduct, the way that count two is charged, so count two is sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, is that all the abuse created a culture of coercion and a culture of fear. And I think Miss Ventura testified to that, that the violence was always in the back of her mind when she was told to do a freakoff. The judge is trying to clarify. I mean, I think what you're saying is that anything concerning Mr.

Combmes and violence is now in the case. No, your honor, why wouldn't it be? Now, he's not asking her as in like it should be. He's asking her to challenge her legal thought. Anything concerning Mr. Combmes and Miss Ventura and abusing Miss Ventura specifically, who is the victim alleged in count two? So, that's respect with count two, your honor. But Mark Agno argues it's not count 2. It's not sex trafficking. It's domestic violence that you guys are arguing. It's not sex trafficking. It's not one of the charged offenses. It's too far. It's just too far removed. What the government is trying to say is anytime Mr. Combmes does anything somewhat violent to Cassie Ventura that anyone who sees it, you know, remote in time the next day in a different place without Miss Ventura, they then can therefore add evidence to this trial about how afraid they were. It's unduly prejuditial and this is wholly

irrelevant. The judge is trying to kind of negotiate with both sides. I think the government's arguments is that they're saying that the freakoffs were a result of force, fraud, or coercion. So, if they can show that Mr. Combmes, as to Miss Ventura, imposed physical violence on her on a routine basis, then a jury can rationally infer that when these sex acts occurred, they also were a result of the same physical violence. So, why isn't that an inference that the jury could draw, could permissibly draw? And I always find these like back and forth between the attorneys so fascinating.

But Mark Agnif is saying I mean Miss Ventura first of all was on and off the stand and she didn't mention this in incident. So let's start with that. She didn't mention this incident. There's no testimony from her about almost being hit with a frying pan. She didn't say a word about it. So we know she was not afraid of that because she didn't mention it. So that's the first thing. The second thing is our position is that this is just a drop dead lie. This didn't happen. And the way we know it didn't happen is because Miss Ventura didn't talk about it. My point is, if the government's theory is when Cassie Ventura is subject to violence, that is something that's in her head that compels her to do something that the government is saying is illegal, we can't make that connection with this event because Cassie Ventura does not have this event in her head because she's testified this entire week and

didn't talk about it. So, it's already on dubious ground to start with. The prosecutors argue it's because there's so much violence in the past 11 years that Cassie does not remember every act and instance of violence. But the judge even mentions that some portions of the testimony from Don Rishards quote strikes me as a case built on gossip as opposed to what witnesses actually saw or did or communications that would otherwise be admissible. So he's not saying the egg incident but other questions that maybe the prosecutors were trying to get admitted into the testimony. He's not saying like Don is gossiping. He's just saying certain questions that the government is proposing and the way that they're trying to structure the testimony he feels is not to his liking in some regard. So with that, Don Mashard is more or less stuck in New York City for the weekend. She's got to come back Monday morning back to the courthouse.

So again, why did they call it off, dismissed it so early? Because there was so much sidebar. This is the whole argument that they were having. Uhhuh. So they don't want to continue. They want to think about it or no. If they were to have this whole argument and then go back to the testimony, it would have been time for the jurors to go home. So the jurors would have just sat around during a massive side. Oh, they dismissed everyone and they continue this discussion. Yes. Ah, okay. And this is in open court a lot of it. So you're just sitting and everyone's gone, the jurors are gone, the witness is gone, and you're just listening to them argue.

Okay. Yeah. Now, Monday morning, Don Rishards walks back in. She's in another perfectly tailored outfit. And this time, Shawn Combmes barely gives her the time of the day. He doesn't even really look up at her or watch her as she makes her way to the witness stand. He's either taking notes or whispering with his attorneys. He seems extra confident. So, that's Friday. This is Monday. He seems even more confident. Now, I will say I feel like him not even giving Don Rashard a glance while she's walking to the witness stand is intentional. It just feels intentional. It feels Yeah.

It just feels like something someone would do. And he's been staring down. Like you said, when Cassie walked in, he's like trailing her, right? Yes. But even on the last day of cross-examination, I recall he was not watching her each time. Watching who? Cassie. Because it's almost like a I really don't care about you type of feeling is the feeling it gives because most people are watching Don as she's walking. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Huh. He seems very confident. The cross-examination is going to happen soon. So, is that why once everybody is seated, he's leaned back up against his chair again, his shoulders are slightly up, his head is cocked to the side, and he will go from either staring at Dawn while she's talking to jotting down notes. Brian Steel is on the left side of him. He looks super stressed. And they are back to like leaned in super close. I feel like in the beginning they were leaned

in close, then they were separated, and now they're sitting so close if they both look at each other too quickly, I feel like they might exchange a kiss. Like that's how close they are. H Don tells the jurors just to refresh their memory after she saw Cassie get abused by Combmes over eggs. He invited her and Kina Harper over the next day and told them that quote that he the relationship that he had that was an incident of passion and Cassie was okay and that if we say anything we could go missing. When Mr. Combmes told you that you could go missing, what did you understand him to mean? That we could die. Miss Rashard, how did you react when Mr.

Combmes threatened you in this manner? I didn't react at all. I was shocked but also scared because it was our first time really getting started to record and that was my first time really being in a group with everybody and I couldn't believe that this would be the beginning of a journey for us. After the incident in Mr. Combmes's LA residence, were there other occasions where you observed acts of violence between Mr. Combmes and Miss Ventura? Yes. How frequently did you observe Mr. Combmes being violent with Miss Ventura? Frequently. Can you please describe for the jury what you observe? Generally, he would punch her, choke her, drag her, slap her in the mouth. Um, I saw him kick her, punch her in the stomach. And generally, based on your observations, what would prompt these acts of violence? It varied. It could be Cass speaking up for herself.

It could be um random, like we didn't even know where it came from. It could be she wanted to perform or she had an opinion about something. It just varied. At this point, Combmes is taking notes, and we wrote down he looks like he's taking as many notes as the press, but so are the jurors. They're a lot more captivated by Don Rashards on Monday than they were on Friday. Maybe because the testimony was so abruptly ended on Friday, it just it felt like something's about to happen. So, they're all scribbling down notes when she's describing the violence. Many of the jurors, they start taking notes down at the same time. And when you state that it happened sometimes when Miss Ventura would speak up for yourself herself, can you describe what you mean by that? Cass is like quiet. She would be quiet. She had a quiet demeanor. She was soft. And then when she would have these moments of like trying to be stick up for

herself, trying to be more for herself. He wasn't having that. He would hurt her for it. Did you ever observe Miss Ventura with injuries after these instances of abuse? Yes. We're on her body, her face, and when I say face, her eyes, her lips, her arms, her knees. How, if at all, would Miss Ventura attempt to cover up or hide these injuries with makeup, clothing, and sometimes sunglasses? So, they bring up another incident where Don, Kina, and Combmes, and Cassie were in his New York City house getting ready for a performance in Central Park. Don says that she and Kina were in the bathroom getting ready. They hear Shawn and Cassie arguing in the hallway and then they look outside the door. He punches her in the face with a closed fist and afterwards Cassie comes into the bathroom with them crying and he's walking away angry and she's just everything was uncomfortable. She says we were with her and it was really

quiet. You could see her you could see her upset like she was just hurt and she was embarrassed which the jurors are told to disregard the last sentence because Don Rashards cannot tell us how Cassie felt. But she did observe her eyes swelling and she just like Cassie started doing her makeup to try and hide it. She wore sunglasses that day. Don says so did she for quote solidarity. And at this point Sean Combmes is shaking his head. There are a lot of points during witness testimonies where he shakes his head or he'll look okay not with people like Don Rashard but more so maybe like his former PA's personal assistants. He'll kind of like look at them like now where are you making up this story? Like that's the vibe he gives when he looks like I've never heard this before. Can you believe it? But with this one, it's like shaking his head. How could you tell a lie like that? It's that feeling. And clearly he

probably wants the jury to see that. She says for a friend to be a support system for someone who needed it. I wanted her to feel supported. I She wanted to be with us. We wanted to have her back. In another instance, Don says that they were in a Mercedes Sprinter going back home. and Cassie and Combmes are arguing. He had just punched her in the stomach in front of all of these people in public and she was telling him that she was embarrassed in the car like on the way home. She's like, "That was very embarrassing that you hit me in front of all your friends." How did Mr. Combmes respond? He grabbed her by the neck and popped her in the mouth. He slapped her in the mouth and told her to shut the [ __ ] up like an open hand slap to the mouth. At one point, at this point, one of the jurors looks up mid taking notes.

So he's like writing down probably Mercedes Sprinter like quote popped her in the mouth. They peer up at Shawn Combmes eyebrows raised takes a second looks at his side profile and then goes back to finish writing up the notes. I guess they were trying to see his reaction. What did Miss Ventura respond after she was hit in the mouth? She looked outside the window and everyone was quiet for the rest of the ride. There's this really sad moment where after all that the prosecutor asks Don, "Miss Rashard, what what if anything would you discuss with Miss Ventura about her music career?" And Don, you can hear her smiling when she talks. She said, "Cass had big dreams.

She really love Objection overruled, which means Don can continue." She wanted to put out her album and I told her I would write for her. She wanted to do more modeling. She wanted to do well with her career and D, myself and Kina, we encouraged her to do that. We wanted to support her in any way that we could. But she says clearly Combmes didn't want it. He didn't like that we knew or we talked to and often times we'd we'd pay for it. Pay for what? Oh. Oh. Oh. Pay for being around Cassie. I see. What if anything do you recall Mr. Combmes telling you? Oh man. Um, stay the out of my relationship. You [ __ ] are here to work, not be part of my relationship.

You [ __ ] don't know real work. It's always you do this or else something bad will happen to you. It's always like that, a threat that if you didn't stay in line, there were there was a consequence. It was mean. It was mean. It was mean. She says that even the president of Bad Boy, Harve Pierre, once told her. Harve said, "It gets dark and lonely." And Mr. Combmes used to say this, too. It gets dark and lonely if you don't listen. It was very much like, "Y'all need to listen to him. Y'all don't want to deal with what happens if you don't." At this point, many of the jurors start taking notes. And I think it's it's so specific and it evokes a strong feeling. It gets dark and lonely if you don't listen. Like are does that mean you're iced out of Hollywood forever? She says clearly she's terrified of him because I had seen and witnessed brutality in a way that I I had to believe that if the person that

was supposedly in love with Cassie did what he did to her, what would he do to an employee? How did you respond to these threats? My thought was to be as kind as possible. Like I tried to please. I saw what if you spoke out. I saw what that looked like. So I would oftentimes approach Mr. Combmes like with softness and like, "Hey, how are you?" It was always very much like, "If I do this, like this, maybe I'll have a better chance than what the other option looks like." Did you continue to try and intervene in Mr. Combmes's relationship? No. I made the decision that it would be best for the safety of myself to not interfere because I don't think she was ready to do anything. From our perspective in that courtroom, it does seem like Don appears to have a harder time testifying to the fact that she didn't help Cassie in certain ways.

That's just the listener's perception. It just sounds like maybe she's more traumatized by that than actually witnessing the violence. Like it just sounds like she's beating herself up about it is the feeling. She does say I told her she should leave, but Cass looked torn. Like she she would listen, but you could I could see the fear. And again, Sean Combmes shakes his head lightly at that. And at the very end of the direct, she is asked, "Did you yourself file a civil lawsuit against Mr. Combmes?" "I did." "Are you aware of any details of any settlement negotiations with Mr. Combmes?" "No, I'm not." "Are you aware of how much money, if at all, has been requested to settle the lawsuit?" "No, I am not." As a result of your testimony here today, Miss Rashard, are you expecting any compensation? I'm expecting justice. Are you expecting any compensation, Miss Rashard, for your testimony?

No, no further questions, your honor. At this point, like is it half a day of Monday already or it's like super brief? It's pretty brief. The whole direct was pretty brief. Now, I will say there were a lot of objections during Don's testimony that even she when West Morland, Nicole West Morland from the defense objects to yet another question, Don is just like, "Okay." Like she doesn't even it's so many objections that she's like, "Okay, okay, okay." Mid-sentence she's talking object. Okay. You know that feeling when someone shows up for you just when you need it the most? Yeah, we all need that. That is what Uber is all about. It's not just a ride or dinner at your door. It is how Uber helps you show up for the moments that matter. Because showing up can turn a tough day around or it can make a good one even better. like running late, breakup ice cream, ex texting intervention, cram session snacks, job

firing commisserations, birthday surprise squad, concert buddy duty, granny's birthday, or just or just taco Tuesday. Recently, my family and I have been playing pickle ball, and we were able to Uber Eats not only snacks and hydration, but also sunscreen, hats, and this super random but totally useful ball grabber that helps you reach all the balls that get stuck under the bushes. Uber is not just there for food and snacks, but grocery and more. So, whatever it is, big or small, Uber is on the way so you can be on your way to what matters most to you. Uber on our way. So, with that, it is time for the cross- examination. Nicole West Morland wasn't even supposed to be the one doing the cross- examination. Mark Agnifila was the one, but he told the judge Monday morning, "I checked with the government on Saturday to see if the government would be okay with the fact that Miss West Morland would be doing

the cross of the current witness rather than myself, and they said they were fine with that." So, I don't know what changed over the weekend that made Nicole West Morland take the cross. But Nicole West Morland, she worked with Brian Steel on the Young Thug case. She's an attorney from Atlanta. She's very petite. She was one of the last attorneys to be added to the defense team. She wasn't even here for I think like the first few days of jury selection or at least like the beginning portions. That's right. Yeah. Because I believe she was still either in Georgia or working on another case. She finally makes it to New York City. And since the trial kicked off, she really has not been that particularly active in the courtroom. I'm sure they're all working crazy after, you know, behind the scenes, but you don't really hear her talk. Even amongst attorneys, it's not like she's this booming voice that's

just constantly socializing. And I mean, we haven't really taken that many notes even on her demeanor, just that she wears really nice Christian Louis Vuitton. She has a Chanel bag and she looks good every day. She just kind of flies under the radar until she takes that podium on Monday for the cross-examination of Don Rashard. Now, I'm going to try to include clips of Nicole West Morland during other trials where it has been televised. I don't know if it's maybe the echo in the courtroom. She's got this incredibly low octave velvety rich voice and I can't even do it for you. Good morning, Miss Rashard. My name is Nicole West Morland.

I represent Mr. Combmes. Okay. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm doing pretty good. Okay. So, you do not know when this video, the social media post, you do not know when it was created. Correct. I do not. All right. This woman, she sounds incredibly authoritative. The best way that I can describe her aura when she's on that lectern is she sounds like a southern professor, a cutthroat professor that you admire because she knows what she's talking about. She's probably the best professor in her field, but she's very intense. She doesn't like to play around. She holds herself and all of her students to very high standards. And when she finally does crack a joke with you or give you a compliment on anything, you're going home kicking your feet the entire weekend. You feel special. That is the best way to describe West Morland. This is the very first thing that she's been doing, at least public facing, of course, in this

trial. I'm sure she's working really hard behind the scenes, but she doesn't seem nervous at all. Some of the other attorneys during their first cross, they seemed a little bit nervous. Even like Brian Steel before his second cross that we're going to get into in another video. He's like in and out of the courtroom. It seems like he's going to the restroom. He seems like really like got a lot of pentup energy, but not West Morland. She's got her hip popped up against the podium. Her body is naturally angled towards the jurors. She looks like she lives on this podium. I need to ask you a few questions. Okay.

Now, before filing a lawsuit against Mr. Combmes, you're aware that your attorney sent a demand letter on your behalf, correct? I'm not aware of what my attorney sent. I'm sorry. Without telling me any conversations between you and your lawyers, you hired civil lawyers. Correct. I have civil lawyers. And you understand that the civil lawyers that you hired are litigating on your behalf. Correct. Can you give that in a term that I can understand? You hired lawyers to do a job on your behalf. Yes. Thank you. And you do not know who posted it. Correct. You cannot say that for say who posted. Okay. And in fact, you do not know who filmed the video. Correct. I do not. You do not.

All right. And you do not know what approximate time that you saw the post. Correct. Miss Rashard. Now, after filing a formal lawsuit against Mr. Combmes, you had an interview with the government. Do you remember that? What are you referring to? Like just a conversation with Can you give me more? I'm sorry. You've had the opportunity to sit down and speak with federal prosecutors, the government. Correct. Correct. And you sat down and you spoke with them numerous times, right? a few times. You sat down with them eight times. Does that sound right? One thing I will say is West Morland does not look at her notes like much during this cross. She's very prepared. To give you the idea of the exact feeling I had during this cross was, first of all, the jurors, they're all looking at Wes Morland when she talks. A lot of them don't even glance at Don Rashards in the beginning when she's responding. later

they'll like be bouncing back and forth like they're at the US Opens, but in the beginning when she's just going through like these little yes and no questions, some of them don't even look at Don Rashards for her response. Wes Morland has complete control over this courtroom. You asked Mr. Nichols for his name. I did. He provided it to you. He did. He gave you his real name. He did. It's fair to say he was cooperative. He was okay. She's come prepared and she did not come to play or just wing it. I don't recall the number. I'm sorry.

Would several be fair? A few times. Would you agree with me that over the few times that you sat down and spoke with the government that your allegations, the one that you've testified to today, have changed over time? No. I think they've been as best as I can recall. You think they've been consistent? As best as I can recall. First, I want to speak with you about your testimony on Friday about the egg in the kitchen incident. Do you remember explaining a situation like that to the jury? Yes, ma'am. So, already Don Rashard is going into her yes, ma'am responses, which it does like I don't know if it's just interesting. It feels like Nicole West Morland is completely in control of this conversation. So, he attempted to hit her on the head and then you testified Miss Ventura dropped down into a fetal position. She covered herself. Yes. And that's your testimony.

Yeah. This isn't the first time testifying on Friday and today is not the first time you spoke about this egg alleged incident, right? Spoke in my civil case and right now. And you've also spoken about it to the prosecutors. We've spoken. Yes. Let's start with the civil part. Are you aware in the letter sent on your behalf to Mr. Combmes that the egg incident that you allegedly saw that is described? Are you aware of that? Side note, even Nicole West Morland's reference to the incident as the egg incident does not seem to be unintentional. Even the judge on Friday called it the incident with the skillet.

Later he said, "I will call it the skillet incident, but Nicole West Morland consistently calls it the alleged egg incident." That's crazy. Wow. She is prepared. Yeah, it it's so interesting because it's so subtle, but it's likely very impactful over time. these types of changes in the wording and rebranding in real time if you will. Are you aware in the letter sent on your behalf to Mr. Combmes that the egg incident that you allegedly saw that it's described? Are you aware of that? No, I'm not aware. I'd like to show it to you to see if it would refresh your memory. Okay. Even the way she says that is just very interesting. like she's able to build trust really quickly because a lot of the times the records that she's showing Don Rashard, we're not privy to. The press, we don't see them. They're not admitted into evidence, but the way Nicole West Morland is saying it, I'm like, I feel like I trust whatever's on that

document. Like, you're telling me that's on that document. It probably is on that document because of her the way she presents herself. And I wonder if it's the same impact for the jurors. And I'm not saying this as like a way to side with one party or the other. I think everyone should be innocent until they are proven guilty. And that burden is on the government. But I will say her presence in that courtroom was very trustworthy. It was very authoritative. That he may have been in that car. Correct. You don't know. I asked you that earlier.

Correct. Okay. She's so confident, so firm, so natural. It just feels like if she told me the sky is pink, maybe I'm naive. Maybe I would be a victim of a cult one day. I would be like, "The sky is pink." Miss Rashard, could you please read that to yourself? And once you're finished, please look up at me. And she sounds like a professor. Like, just please look up at me. Don is just following her complete lead. She looks up. Are you done? Yes, ma'am. Did you ever make the statement that you heard a pan hit the wall? You didn't see it? I don't recall. Does looking at the document refresh your memory? I don't recall that though writing that. Are you aware that that was said on your behalf?

Objection, your honor. Sustained. Interestingly, in this moment, instead of just asking a new question, Wes Morland goes to rephrase it and even guides the jury on where to go now. So, I think this was cuz I was looking into how to handle a really good cross-examination because I'm not an attorney. I don't have any legal experience and I was getting confused because certain cross-examinations or even direct testimonies. I'm like, why are the attorneys asking such convoluted questions? They keep bringing us everywhere. And I feel like if I'm confused, probably the jurors are also confused because we're just normal people with no legal background. And they were saying that a lot of the times framing questions, giving timeline is very specific and very important because you don't want the jurors to feel like, wait, what topic are we on now? Nicole West Morland is very good. Let's go back. You hired civil attorneys,

correct? Correct. And you are aware that civil lawyers reached out to lawyers in reference to Mr. Combmes. You're aware of that, right? I'm not aware of that. I'm sorry. You're aware that you that they filed a lawsuit on your behalf. Correct. And you understand what a civil suit is. Correct. Correct. That's when you're suing someone. Correct. And you're asking for money. Correct. You understand that? I'm asking for compensation for the work that I had. Compensation. Money. Whatever term you'd like to use, that's what you're asking for, right? Correct. At that moment, if I'm not mistaken, I did see one of the jurors smirk. I don't know if that smirk is in reference to perhaps West Morland is grilling Dawn and it comes off a little mean. Or could it be that Yeah, I mean, compensation is money. I don't know.

Meanwhile, Combmes is looking up at West Morland. He looks very impressed. Not confused or agitated like he did in some of the other crosses. He looks very impressed. Miss Rashard, let me ask you this. You sat down with the federal government on October 31st, 2024, didn't you? I don't remember the date. I'm sorry. May I show you something to help refresh your memory, please? Yes. Thank you. Now that you had the chance to look at the document, does that help refresh your memory that you met with the government on October 31st, 2024? It doesn't help me because I don't know what the document like I've never seen that document before. Do you have any reason to disagree with me that you met with the government? I was saying I didn't see this document. No worries. No worries. I want to get to the substance of it. When you met with the government, didn't you tell them that Mr. Combmes actually hit Miss Ventura with a frying

pan? I said he attempted to hit her with a frying pan. I didn't ask you that. Did you actually tell the government, not that he attempted to hit her, that he did hit her? Yes. Wait, so are you saying that based on the document that they've reviewed, Don told the government that he did hit her? He did hit her. Yes. And she's like honing in on that point. Hey, you say that he hit her on that date. Yeah. Okay. And now Friday testimony, you're saying he tried to hit her. Like he didn't hit her. It didn't look like it fully hit her. Right. You told the government that that he hit her. Yes.

And do you agree with me that there's a major difference between attempting to hit someone with a frying pan and actually hitting them? You agree with that? Yes. And you understand that when you were sitting down with the federal prosecutors that it was very important for you to tell the truth. Yes. And at some point the jurors are like watching this back and forth again that this is like the US Opens. In the beginning it's just Nicole West Morland. They're only looking at West Morland. And now it's like their heads were making me dizzy.

And you understand that it was important for you to be as accurate as possible to the best of my ability. Yes. And you know that you need to tell the ladies and gentlemen of this jury the truth. Absolutely. And you would agree with me that there is a difference between hitting someone with a frying pan and throwing a frying pan. Correct. Correct. But you gave two different stories, didn't you? I did the best that I could recall. How about you gave another interview? Would you have reason to disagree with me that your next interview was on March 18th, 2025? I wouldn't disagree with you. That sounds right. And in that interview, isn't it true that you told the federal prosecutors that Mr. Combmes actually threw eggs at Miss Ventura? No, I don't recall that. You don't recall that? And that after throwing eggs at Miss Ventura that he actually set the pan back down. Do you remember saying that? I don't recall

that. Let me show you something to help refresh your memory. Okay, please read that to yourself and then look up at me when you're done. Are you done? I am. Does it refresh your memory that you actually told the prosecutors that Mr. Combmes didn't hit her with the pan at all? I don't recall saying that. I'm sorry. You don't recall saying that? Uh-huh. And we discussed that when you had these interviews that there was a noteaker, right? Yes. You agree that throwing eggs and then setting the pan down is different than hitting someone with a pan, right? I do. And you agree that hitting someone with a pan is very different from attempting to hit someone with a pan, right?

Correct. And you agree that hearing a pan thrown against the wall is different than all three of the other ways, right? Correct. Miss Rashard, let me ask you, would you agree with me that it's been hard for you to keep your story the same in reference to this egg incident? Objection. Overruled. No, I I wouldn't agree with that. You would agree that you told multiple different stories, though. No, I would agree that I told it to the best of my recollection and it was as close as I could give it. To the best of your recollection. You have four different recollections on what may have happened that day. No, I don't. Let's talk about the day after. Now, you testified on Friday and you furthered that testimony today and you explained to us that Mr.

Combmes called you to the studio the next day, right? He did. And that you went to the studio, Mr. Combmes locked the door and he told you this was love and passion thing. Right. Correct. And then he told you, "You better not say anything." And excuse me, you he told you and Miss Harper, right? Miss Harper was there. And he told both of you, you better not say anything because where I'm from, people go missing. Correct. And that's what you told the ladies and the gentlemen of the jury in this court, that's what you said. Correct. And that's the truth.

That's the truth. Now, testifying Friday and today, that's not the first time that you've had the opportunity to explain the alleged incident, right? Correct. Because you sat down with the prosecutors on numerous occasions, right? Correct. October 31st, 2024. We're going back to what you don't argue with me is the first interview. So, she's not saying like don't argue with me. She's like saying you didn't argue that this was the first interview. Like, you're you verified it's the first interview. That's Wow. The framing of even that statement is so interesting.

Yeah, she's so sharp on her feet and I would lose I would like watch every word that I say because even if I phrase it differently, it will be used against me somehow, you know? So, it's like she her logic is really logicying. I felt like if I were up there, I wouldn't be able to breathe. M I could see myself just yes ma'am yes ma'am and then just trying to get out because it was so now isn't it true that at that interview during that interview you explained to the prosecutors that Mr. Combmes told you this was nothing but a love argument right no one was hurt correct and you did not tell the prosecutors that Mr.

Holmes told you where I'm from, people go missing. Can I see what you're saying? Because absolutely. So she's like, "Can I see the document of the notes from the government meeting?" And she's like, "Absolutely. Thank you. Please read to yourself and look up at me when you're done." That whole line, please. Thank you. You're done. Mhm. Does that refresh your memory that you did not tell the federal prosecutors that Mr. Combmes told you people go missing? I always state what I've stated. So if not, it's not my recollection that wasn't stated, but that was what happened. Let's go to your interview on March 18th, 2025.

That's your next interview. And isn't it true in that interview, you stated that Mr. Combmes said this was a love thing. No one was hurt, right? And you did not say anything about Mr. Combmes telling you people go missing. Is there what was the question? You didn't tell prosecutors that on March 18th, 2025. Isn't that true? No, that's not true. I don't recall not saying that. I'm going to show you a document to refresh your memory. I'll ask you one question. You didn't tell the prosecutors on March 18th, 2025, your second interview with Mr. that Mr. Combmes told you people go missing. I tell my story as I remember it. I think I tell my story as I remember it. Those are not the best words to be used. Regardless of how one feels about Don Rashard and about this whole testimony, I think that was generally not the best response. I felt like a lot of people kind of winced in the courtroom because those are words

that could be so easily twisted. I tell my story as I remember it. Just the word choice was not optimal. But later, Don further clarifies, I spoke as best as I could as I remember it. It was a long time ago. I'm doing my best to understand these questions as best as I can. Let me ask you this. When you were in that room with the federal prosecutors, Mr. Combmes was not there, right? No. None of his lawyers were there. I wasn't there. And you felt safe in the room with federal prosecutors. Yes, ma'am. And you know it was important to tell the truth. Yes. Right.

And you would agree that you alleging Mr. Combmes threatened you was something that you would want to tell the United States federal government. Right. Yes, ma'am. And although that's what you're saying here in trial, you would agree with me that even in your second interview, you didn't mention that. I again I mentioned it. Whether or not I don't know what the notes were taken. I don't know. I can't know what the notes are going to be taken. Sorry. You did another interview on April 17th, 2025. Okay. Do you have a reason to disagree with that date? No. During that interview, you and the United States government, you guys spoke about this incident that you're alleging. You spoke about it again. Do you agree with that?

I would have to see the docu. No worries. Could you please pull up 3574-012, page two, first paragraph? Please look up at me when you're done. I'm done. We're on our third interview. Mr. Combmes was not there. No, he was not. I wasn't there. No. None of his lawyers were there. No, ma'am. You felt safe in this interview. Yes, ma'am. You didn't tell the federal prosecutors that Mr. Combmes told you people go missing. I told them exactly what my recollection of that event was. So, your recollection that day was that Mr. Combmes didn't threaten you by telling you that people go missing. He threatened me and said people go missing. I understand that's what you're testifying here. I'm asking you. You didn't tell the government that on April 17th, 2025, your third interview. Correct. I'm telling you, I told them what I remembered. So, you just didn't remember the threat. No, I remembered everything I'm telling you

now. Miss Rashard, isn't it true that the first time that you mentioned and alleged that Mr. Combmes told you people go missing was a week ago on May 10th, 2025? No, ma'am. Would you like me to show you the rest of your interviews to refresh your recollection? I know what I said, ma'am. Now, you said that when Mr. Combmes told you people go missing, you took that to be a death threat. Yes, ma'am. That's what you're telling us, right? Yes, ma'am. A death threat that you didn't recall on seven different occasions. Objection. That's sustained. Let's move on. Miss Rashard, you testified to some other incidents that you allegedly witnessed. Now, you told us about a restaurant, right? And that Miss Ventura and Mr. Combmes were arguing and that he punched her. He hit her. Yes, ma'am.

Please tell us who was at this restaurant. Harve, Pierre, Capricorn, Clark, Mia, and myself, Kina, our bodyguards, which were Bonds and Drock and Cassie. Side note, this was covered in the direct. In the direct, and this is the part where I was like, wait, now I need to see those government notes because I'm confused. This is the part where I was like, wait, maybe I'm mistaken. I'm mistaken because I kept looking through the direct and I'm like, I don't understand the point being made in the cross. Now in the direct, the prosecutor asks Dawn about this exact incident perhaps not even an hour prior to West Morland asking her, "Miss Rashard, directing your attention right to the following year in 2010, did there come a time where you were in a restaurant in West Hollywood, California, and Mr. Combmes and Miss Ventura got into an altercation?" Yes.

What happened at that restaurant? Mr. Combmes punched Cassie in the stomach. Can you please describe what you observed leading up to that incident? We were having a private conversation and we were all sitting eating at the tables together when I saw we I mean some bad boy uh some from our label and even some celebrities were in the room and they were secretly arguing and he punched her in the stomach. Sean Combmes punched Cassie in the stomach. She immediately bent over and then he was like he told her to leave because I could see him point out and she went out and left the room. Who if any of Mr.

Combmes's employees were present? Harve, Pierre Capricorn Clark Mia Drock Bonds, myself, and Kina Harper. What, if anything, did Harve Pierre or the other employees present do to intervene after the incident? They didn't. No one intervened. We didn't. So, now back in the cross- examination, West Morland is asking Dawn about it. Now, you've spoken about that incident before, and you remember being asked who was all there, right? Mhm. Do you recall alleging several celebrities were actually there? Yes. So when the government asked you who was all there and I asked you who was all there right now you didn't mention any of the celebrities right please recall those celebrities now Usher was there Jimmy Ivine was there Neo came through there were a lot of few others I don't recall those people but those were the ones I remember talking to those are the ones you remember talking to any reason why you left those

individuals out when I asked you the question I just I thought you were recalling what I mentioned here asking me to give you the names of the people I mentioned any reason you left these individuals out when the government asked you the question? She just asked me who was there and if those individuals were there, why didn't you say their name? I'm not sure. So, this part I didn't quite grasp. It felt like in the direct she did mention that a few other celebrities were there. She did tell the government that Oh, she say boom boom boom boom boom and then a few others.

Yeah, like a few celebrities were there. Okay. But she didn't mention them by name and the government did not ask her to elaborate. I also don't think that if I were done, I probably wouldn't want to bring a bunch of celebrities names in because anytime a celebrity name is dropped in this trial, it seems like there's hairline news a spawns of Tik Toks and conspiracies. And so I get it. Like I don't think maybe she's trying to do them a favor of not mentioning their names unless she absolutely has to and is going to commit perjury. So I just this part I didn't really understand.

Yeah. But for West Morland, this is another opportunity for her to discredit her. Right. Yeah. West Morland moves on to her next point where she asks Don Rashard of all the times she saw a gun near or on Shawn Combmes, which she states that it was never mentioned to prosecutors during the eight interviews she's had with them. And out of eight interviews, you didn't tell the prosecution, "Hey, I saw a gun. It was at the studio at Daddy's house." That's the studio name. You didn't tell them that. I answered what was asked of me.

They didn't ask you any detail. That wasn't asked at the time. Well, when you say at the time, I'm talking about eight times. It wasn't asked. I'm sorry. Okay. Thank you for that. I feel like Combmes is getting a lot of confidence from this cross- examination. So, this actually takes place Monday. Tuesday he comes in. He's like in the best mood of his life. Really? How that we've seen so far. Just like lots of um more interactions with the jury. He seems very upbeat. He seems like he's got like a pep in his step. And I feel like maybe a lot of it is coming from this. Even during Nicole West Morland's cross, he is more frequently looking over at Nicole West Morland and probably the jurors sitting right behind her. One point he even passes a note to Mark Agnif. Mark Agniflo reads the postit, looks back at Shawn Combmes, and just smiles and nods.

It feels like it's not an actual note. It feels like, "Hell yeah." And then he's like, "Hell yeah." Like that's the feeling I got. I mean, it could be not. It could be something else like I'm hungry. And he's smiling and I don't know, but it just felt like that. Wow. You never saw Mr. Combmes do cocaine, right? Objection. That's sustained. I'm asking, have you ever seen Mr. Combmes do cocaine? Yes, you have. Okay. Was there a time that you told the government in interviews that you've never seen Mr. Combmes do cocaine? I don't recall that. Let me help refresh your memory. Can you please pull up doc 3574006?

Wow. Can you take us to page seven? This is for the parties. First bullet point. Can you highlight that, Miss Rashard? Can you please Does she recall these pages like instantly or does she have to look for it and then call it out? She looks down to read it, but she's not like flipping through her pages. So, a lot of the other cross-examinations and to be fair to Esteeo, her cross-examination of Cassie Ventura was 2 days long, but a lot of it was like going through and then it was like, wait, what are we moving on to right now? Like, I don't even know what this question is in reference to. Like I don't know what timeline you're asking this of Cassie, but with Nicole West Morland, I mean, she's like just glancing down looking for the numbers.

That's it. Did that refresh her memory? It did. So, I'll ask you again. Isn't it true that you told the government that you've never seen Mr. Combmes do cook? At the time, I hadn't recalled. No, I'm sorry. At the time that you did the interview on October 31st, you hadn't recalled that. No, I hadn't. But the government asked you about Mr. Combmes's drug usage, right? They did. And you didn't say to the government, "Hey, I don't know." No, I didn't say that. You told the government, "Mr. Combmes, I've never never seen him do cocaine." That's what you said. Yes. And you would agree with me that your testimony has changed on that. It has. I mean, you would agree with me at this point that your testimonyy's changed on quite a few things. I think I'm As time progresses, I get better with knowing it because it was so long ago. So, you would agree with me that as time progresses, your story changes? Yes. And isn't it true

that you've never actually seen OneTop sell drugs? Okay, so OneTop is the drug dealer that would allegedly drop by the studio to sell drugs. And it's inferred that he's called OneTop because he's a one-stop shop. He even sells Plan B and like Advil along with co. So there's that. A whole CVS and an alleyway on one person. And isn't it true that you've never seen OneTop actually sell drugs? No. I've seen OneTop sell drugs. Who did you see give OneStop money? That varied. It could be an assistant or it could be Puff giving the assistant money to pay for it. You said could be. I'm not asking you to speculate. That's not allowed here. I'm asking you to answer the question if you know. Yeah, I've seen him give money, an assistant give money to OneTop and he would give drugs.

Can you please pull up document 3574015 page 2? This is just for the parties. Isn't it true that you had an interview with the government, right? And you discussed one stop. Mhm. They asked you questions. They meaning the government and whether you had witnessed OneTop selling drugs. Isn't it true that you told the government that you never saw anyone give payment to OneTop? Yes. You didn't know who paid for the drugs. Correct. Right. So when you testified today in front of the ladies and gentlemen of the jury that you saw OneTop sell drugs, that you saw Mr.

Combmes pay him for drugs, that was a lie. No. So you agree with me that what you're testifying to today is different than what you told the government in that interview? Correct. Another story change. Not a story change, but yes, different. Miss Rashard, I don't know the exact count, but at this point, you would agree with me that we we have several story changes. Objection sustained. Let's talk about your testimony in reference to how threatened you felt by Mr. Combmes. You were scared. Yes. Very. So, Miss Rashard, you separated in 2011, meaning you went on as a solo artist, right?

Correct. And you were no longer around with or around Mr. Combmes, right? And I mean, you being pretty scared and so fearful in fear of your life after 2011, you were away from him, right? Correct. And I'm sure you being pretty fearful and scared of him that once you were able to get away from him, you definitely wouldn't want to come back, right? Correct. But you would agree with me that you actually asked Mr. Combmes to come back, didn't you? No, not to come back. No. They pull up a text message thread just for the party, so we don't get to see it. Isn't it true that Mr. Combmes didn't just reach out to you, you reached out to him. Correct.

So, you weren't just responding in kind, you were initiating conversation. Don tries to bring up the fact that yes, she did reach out to Shawn Combmes multiple times after she left in 2011, but it was mainly because she was either trying to get in contact with somebody else or she mentions that Kina Harper was going through some things and maybe they wanted to get Diddy Dirty Money back together. So she was doing it more so for Kina Harper versus like I want to spend time with this guy. Like that's kind of what it's it is implied during the testimony. Wes Morland brings up Don's solo career and how when she was part of both Danny Kane and Diddy Dirty Money, they're getting platinum for songs. And since she's gone solo, you've released over 100 songs. Correct.

And you would agree with me that the songs that you've released haven't reached the levels of success as Dirty Money and Danny King. I mean, no offense, but you agree with that, right? Correct. And do you agree with me that you actually asked Mr. Combmes to sign you as a solo artist before I left? So there's this whole debate and back and forth about why would you if you were so scared for your life, if he had threatened you and said people go missing back where I'm from, then why would you even want to work with him?

And it's it just is like a continuation of this back and forth. And there's a lot of parts in the cross-examination where it just feels like a lot of power play. That's what it feels like. For example, West Morland would say, "Music is your dream." Yes. And you've been trying to succeed at it for a long time. I did succeed at it in the past now. Like it just like in the moment, I know when I say it, it doesn't seem like a ooh, it doesn't seem like a power play, but I think in that moment, there was a level of tension.

It was a level of like there was so much tension in that courtroom during the cross-examination. I think this was probably the most brutal. That's the word that I hear most people say in the hallways. It was just brutal to watch. It was brutal to hear, to witness. In one line of questioning, West Morland asks Don, "You once yourself had fame, right?" It just everything seems like there is an emphasis on Don Rashard only doing well in her musical career when she was associated with Shawn Combmes. And there's really just it just was a lot. By this point in the cross, most of the jurors aren't even taking notes.

They're not even looking at Don Rashard, but at Nicole West Morland. At one point, there is a brief sidebar and I'm watching the jurors. Two of them from our perception. They look at each other. Their eyes are wide and they're like nodding kind of. It gave the damn it. It could have been something else, but it looked like that to me. Even after the sidebar, Combmes, he's not even paying attention. He's just pouring himself a water. It feels like he believes West Morland has it down pat already and there's nothing more. Once he's done pouring his water, he's pivoting his entire body towards the jurors and West Morland continues her line of questioning about the lawsuit and that after Don Rashard read Cassie Ventura's lawsuit, she then filed her own lawsuit.

So Nicole West Morland is trying to make it seem like a money grab, like a cash grab. And shortly after Miss Ventura filed suit, you filed suit yourself, right? And it is your want to get a lot of money from Mr. Combmes. Correct? No. So, you're not filing a lawsuit to get money? I'm filing a lawsuit to get compensated for the work that I've put forth. And you would agree with me that your definition of compensation is money. Yes. Correct. I have no further questions. There is this incredibly long sidebar where Don Rashards looks incredibly uncomfortable. I mean, it the whole thing, everybody's looking uncomfortable. And during this sidebar, okay, so right behind the defendant is a sketch artist on that first pew. And then the second pew is a family friend because the family that's usually reserved for the family family, but they're not there. So like a lot of the family friends have been sitting in that

pew and he's like looking at the sketch artist trying to do a thumbs up. A court officer was passing by and so the family friend is peering trying to look over the sketch artist's shoulder at the sketch. The court officer is walking by. So clearly they see the sketch and the family friend looks up at the court officer and does like a thumbs up towards the sketch as in is the sketch good. And it's just so interesting that the family friend puts emphasis on the sketch. Uh Christian Combmes, one of the sons also had a moment with a sketch artist that we noted in beginning of the trial. And so I just wrote in my notes, does defendant get pissy about sketches?

Because some of these sketches have not been favorable to the defendant. So it's just interesting to see. And what did the officer do? The court officer did a thumbs up and then so my researcher and I, we fully pivoted our bodies to try and take a look at the sketch. It was not a thumbs up sketch. So I'm not Yeah, I think the court officer was just trying to keep everything peaceful. But it it's very interesting this strong level of intrigue coming from the defendant's side about these sketches. This has been very fascinating for the redirect after the cross-examination.

and the prosecutor goes back up. And I will say it's the prosecutor, they're not going to be aggressive in any of these because right now it's the government's case and chief. All of these people are either government witnesses or they're subpoenaed by the government. I do believe when it's the defense case and chief, the prosecutors are going to be a lot more aggressive grilling a lot of the witnesses when they are in the cross-examination spot. So naturally, the prosecutor is just trying to rehabilitate the testimony and the witness's credibility. So during the redirect, she's asking clarifying questions of why did you now decide to talk about it? Like what's going why did you try not to think about all of the events? Because that's why Don is like, "Yeah, I'm trying to remember all of these things, but it happened so long ago and for so long I just tried to suppress the memory of these." and she

says, "Because it was a hard time. It was a bad time for me and a bad environment for me." Can you describe the process for the jury of trying to recall these events that you've tried to forget for so long? They don't all come back immediately. I have to go back to memories that I don't want to. And it takes time to remember things that have happened during that time that you try to forget. Miss Rashard, without speaking about your personal condition, what if any memories have you been trying to suppress? the environment was volatile and it was very hard to work and so I tried to erase those things from my mind. She said that every day it does get easier but one thing to note is during the redirect they mentioned that every single time in every meeting with the government Don Rashard has detailed interactions between Shawn Combmes and Cassie and they were violent and it was Cassie being attacked and beaten that

has always been consistent. Now, there is a quick sidebar that's held before West Morland does her recross where she asks the judge and we don't hear this in court. We only see this on the transcripts after. So, we like come home for the day and then we can see what was happening during the sidebar. So, West Morland is asking I'm asking this out of abundance of caution. You might not have an objection. We talked about it yesterday, but you asked her about the financial contention of the lawsuit. I'm going to ask her if she's aware of the $22 million demand. So this is what they were referencing earlier in the cross of like this is the letter that your lawyer sent in demand. Mhm. To which the prosecutors don't like this. She's already testified that she doesn't know there's a $22 million amount that is included, but I don't think that you've laid the foundation that she would have any reason to have knowledge of that

amount even though she said she never looked at that document. Wes Morland continues to argue, I don't think she needs to look at the document to have knowledge. I think she authorized them to file suit on her behalf. I want to ask if she's aware. If she's not, she could say no. Agnif makes a further comment. Your honor, can I add one thing? I think the number is so large. It's just it goes to her credibility when she says she doesn't know that a lawyer asked for $22 million on her behalf is different than she doesn't know that a lawyer asked for $100,000 on her behalf. One strains credibility. I think the judge though fully disagrees, saying that's not true. I mean, if she doesn't know what demands have been made, she doesn't know. You can ask questions if you think that someone in her position would know what the number is. Then there are a number of questions you can ask to try and establish that

she does or does not know. So you can do that and let's take it from there and see if you get to a point where the witness says that she's been following and receives the updates from her lawyers and all the other stuff and then you can take it from there and you can raise your objection there. So during the reacross, West Morland starts with the point Don Rashard's requested regardless of if it's for a friend or not that she wanted to get the band back together and she's just pointing out that means you're going to be spending a lot of time with Shawn Combmes even though he threatened your life and you were deathly afraid of him. Like you still want to spend time with him and then she moves on to the lawsuit and then you went and hired your own lawyers, right? Yes. And you filed your lawsuit. Yes. And you were hoping to be nicely compensated for that. Correct.

for justice and justice for you would be money. It would be to be made whole and also be paid for the time that I was with Puff with Sean Combmes, which means money. Yes. No further questions. Was dismissed? No, you're not. H no further questions. And with that, the judge looks at Don Rashard. Thank you very much, Miss Rashard. The government may call its next witness. Wow. How long does did the whole thing last? Like a full day, half a day. I would say not even half a day. Oh wow. But it was intense. It was very intense.

It was probably the most intense cross-examination. I did hear a lot of people. Okay. So the press line and the public line are outside of the courthouse near each other. And I was listening to members of the public. I don't know why I'm always easedropping. Okay. But I was listening to them and they were talking about they were anticipating that Don Rashard is going to be testifying. And one of them who the exact verbiage I believe they used was along the lines of and they're going to come at Don Rashard. And he was saying, you know, she's not pregnant like Cassie is. She didn't have this romantic relationship with Shawn Combmes like Cassie did. And she is a darker skin black woman. Like they're going to come at her with everything they've got.

Wait, who said this? A this was a black man that was in the public line. And so I thought that was very interesting insight that I maybe would not have come to that conclusion before the testimony. And I don't know why I just kept thinking about it during the entirety of the testimony. And then I don't know if I was thinking too much into it because you know it's very easy to start going into conspiracies when you're sitting in that courtroom for eight hours because there's so much going on and then your mind starts running. But I was thinking about that and then I was thinking about it is interesting that Mark Agnif was originally supposed to do the cross and then he didn't. So, I thought maybe that had something, but it was very interesting that that was pointed out. I don't think that was insight that I would have had going in, but it did make sense once I was in there to some degree. So, I guess the question is,

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Shopify.com/rotten. I did talk to Don Rashard's attorney. Um I talked I spoke with her very briefly. She was actually sitting in front of us in the courtroom, but I was on a Zoom call with her just asking her about cuz I think I think it's just very interesting to see the human aspect of testifying. I mean, even when she went up there, she pointed at Sean Cones. It's it's a lot because Don Rashard is a musical performer, so she is comfortable in front of a lot of people, but this is not her field. And what she said was that a lot of witnesses that do end up testifying sometimes the feeling that they might walk away with is like I wish I could have clarified something or like I wish like I feel a little bit misunderstood.

And that's just kind of what happens when you get cross-examined as a witness. I think a lot of people feel like uh I didn't really get to say what I wanted to say or I my words got taken out of context. I got I didn't get to explain, you know, I mean, the cases I have representing victims of sexual assault, um, my team and I, we spend a lot of time reaching out and trying to get people to be witnesses, to come in and testify. And I would say 99% of people don't want to do it. They want to stay as far away as possible from the courtroom. They're terrified. They have every excuse in the world. They say yes and then they don't show up, right? It's just very very difficult. So those who do show up, we have to understand how hard it is and how brave it is and um you know they're there now. I mean Don is just one of them. So it must have been incredibly frustrating for Don Rashard after that type of cross where

it like the speed of that cross was also crazy. like I don't think I would have been able to even think before answering. Mhm. And it's like it there's some sort of expectation when the speed ramps up to keep up with the speed. So I I can see how that was very daunting. And then as they were walking out of the courthouse, Don Rashard and her attorney Lisa Bloom, they were getting harassed outside the courthouse. It's a bit of a circus. Um there's some very disturbed people out there screaming and yelling at witnesses.

Unfortunately, just as they're walking from the courthouse to the car and then there's kind of the more normal journalists. Yeah. How big is Diddy's now man? Going too far. Get my ass beat for 10 million. I want to get my ass beat for 10 million. Is it a freedom of speech? have freedom of speech. Let's get down to the issues that Yeah, I mean I I imagine it was a very difficult experience, but there are lots of mixed net comments with one reading, Don Rashard was complicit. She watched Combmes violently abused Cassie and a former assistant, but she continued working with him anyway and for what? I can't name a single Don Rashard song.

But another one reads, "She was terrified to tell what he did because she didn't want to go missing. What do you not get about that? There are points during the day where Shan Combmes looks like he's about to fall asleep, which I do write in my notes, how much caffeine does he get? One would hope that he does not have access to other drugs and stimulants in prison or jail, but coffee-wise, how much does he get? I'm looking at the MDC commissary list because I know that the inmates only get coffee on the weekends with their breakfast. But on the commissary list, it lists Colombian coffee. You can only purchase three at a time. And then there's another one that says decaffeinated coffee. But then I go on Reddit and a lot of people report that the coffee in these jails that they sell at the commissary have barely any caffeine. They don't want the inmates to be awake. They don't want them to be

stimulated. And so I see him. He looks like to me and to my researchers, he looks like he's kind of falling asleep at certain parts. Now, for this next witness, at least in the beginning, Shawn Combmes appears to be very invested because it is Cassy's former best friend of 17 years, Carrie Morgan. She was also Carrie Morgan was the one that was at Cassie's house when the Intercontinental Hotel incident happened. So, when Cassie went home, Carrie Morgan was there. When Carrie Morgan walks in, Combmes does stare and follow her with his eyes, which is intriguing because if you remember from Cassy's testimony, there was a text message admitted into evidence where Cassie says, "It always goes back to, well, maybe Carrie would have been the better one to go after since I've witnessed more than once you realizing that she is way better fitting for you than I am."

Yeah, weird. Perhaps he was showing displaying interest at some point invested in Carrie Morgan. But when those court doors open, she walks in. He's watching her walk all the way to the witness stand. Prosecutor Foster walks up to the podium. They exchange good mornings, and she's clarifying statements. So, they were best friends from 2001 to 2018, and now they don't speak. Their friendship ended in 2018, which is the same year that technically Cassie and Shawn Combmes also broke up for good. What if anything happened to you in 2018? her boyfriend assaulted me.

So Carrie explains that her friendship with Cassie ended because Shawn Combmes assaulted her. Carrie Morgan. Now Carrie explains that she was also subpoenaed to testify. She doesn't want to be here. She doesn't want to testify. Like I wrote that in my notes. She literally does not want to be here. What did she say? Just every response is like she just does not look this is the last place she wants to be. She flew in likely from LA with her best friend who was sitting in front of us and she just doesn't want to be here. I've moved on with my life and away from all these people and their problems. So Carrie met Cassie at a photo shoot. Carrie was 16.

Cassie's 15. They hit it off. They end up living together in New York City at one point doing the back to school circuit. That's how she describes it. So they would do the Target ads. J Penney ads like back to school where they got the backpack with the little notebooks. Oh, they would do that circuit every single year. And she does mention later that Cassie was doing really well as a model. She was making, this is before the Me and You song came out. She was making like some years a million dollars a year. Cassie starts dating Shawn Combmes. She describes Cassie as I mean very confident, worked really hard, very successful as a model and then she starts dating Combmes and the three of them start hanging out more. Prior to it, they didn't really drink or do drugs, but with I guess the lifestyle, they start drinking a little bit more.

Maybe it's age, maybe it's the lifestyle, maybe it's Shawn Combmes. They do drugs with Shawn. And when you first got to know him, what did you think of him? I thought he was very nice, extremely generous, also sort of intimidating and a strong presence. And as you got to know him more, how did those views change? Um, you see that he had mood swings. Sometimes he would get aggressive or he would just be upset instead of always having fun. What would he do when he was aggressive or upset? What would he do? Sometimes he would just yell at Cassie or you could feel like he was mad. Carrie's explaining that after they start dating, Cassie lost her confidence big time. She lost her spark. She was not like the same Cassie. Carrie says even her body, she was always very slumped, kind of just bad posture. She just became like this and she's hunching over showing the jury and the jury, a lot of them are heads

down like taking notes on all of this. The key points that Carrie Morgan testifies during her direct testimony is when Combmes can't get in contact with Cassie, sometimes he would call Carrie. Some days he'd call Carrie 50 times. Some days he'd call her a few times. It really depends. Sometimes he'd send over an employee or have an employee call Carrie. 50 times is actually scary. Yeah. 50 times is like I expect she say 50 times. Yeah. That's actually scary. Like alarming. Alarming. She said 50 times in a row. Yeah. That's Wow. She did notice over the years that Cassie was building a frustration because she's constantly working on this music, but she's getting frustrated that it never gets put out. What types of things did you see him do to her? Hit her, pull her hair. I've seen him kick her, push her.

She said on one of those occasions, there was a bodyguard around. And she told the bodyguard, "Do something?" Because they can both clearly see that Cassie is getting pushed and kicked. And Ruben, the bodyguard, she claims he's not doing anything. And that particular assault on Cassie, got so bad, the bodyguard, Ruben, does nothing. It gets to the point where Cassie and Carrie end up escaping out of the house away from Shawn Combmes, hiding on the steps of a neighbor's house, like laying flat on the stairs because their house was on an incline so that they couldn't be seen.

And they said that they were laying face down on the concrete stairs for 20 to 30 minutes while they could hear combs and the bodyguards just driving back and forth looking for them. Carrie says, "I didn't know what to do, so um I just wanted to stay there until everyone calmed down." Another event, Carrie says happened while they were on vacation. She just hears screaming. Can you talk through the chain of events? What if anything happened before the screams happened? Cassie had gone to the bathroom and then after a few minutes, Sean said she's taking too long. So, he left me and I was just in the bar by myself. And then a few minutes later, I heard her screaming. And how would you describe her scream? Like guttural. Like terrifying. What did you do? So, I heard her screaming. I went to the hallway.

The hallway was extremely long. And they were coming out of the master bedroom and he was dragging her by the hair on the floor. And how far did you see him drag her by the hair? I saw probably saw like 10 ft. And then I ran back to get my purse so that we had credit cards and a phone and stuff. And when I came back um they were outside so I didn't actually see him drag her all the way down the hall. Carrie says that she ran and got her bag just in case they needed to run away and she wanted to have money and a phone. I saw him push her on the ground and she hit her head on the brick.

And how did you see Miss Ventura react after she hit her head on the brick? She didn't move. She fell on her side, so she was like in a loose fetal position, I would say. Were her eyes closed or open? Closed. Carrie says she thinks that Cassie knocked out because she didn't move for like 20 or 30 seconds. Sean and I were yelling at each other. And while we were arguing, she got up and ran into like a wooded area barefoot. What did you do? Um, I jumped into a golf cart that was There was two golf carts in the driveway in the circle driveway. I got in one, Sean went in the other one. We went different ways looking for her. Carrie ends up finding her. She came running out of the woods.

She got in my car. I turned the lights off. We drove. I don't remember. We parked the golf cart, but we ended up hiding in a ditch again. They could hear Shawn and his friend looking trying to find them. So, they're hiding in what feels like ours in this ditch. And Cassie is crouched down with what she describes as a really big bump on her forehead. During this testimony, it's interesting how much Combmes's body language resembles someone from the press. Like he will [ __ ] his head to the left, listen with his hand over his notepad, and then once he hears something that he thinks is of interest, he'll start jotting it down. Like that's one thing all of us, the RM researchers are writing down is like sometimes he genuinely looks like a member of the press found a way to sneak up there. The way he like takes notes, the way he [ __ ] his head to listen to certain testimonies and then starts jotting down

notes. which I know is that doesn't mean anything, but it's it's just I'm trying to paint the picture, I guess. Yeah, cuz even the way that the other attorneys jot notes, I wouldn't necessarily say they look like a member of the press jotting down notes. Sometimes they look more serious, sometimes they look a lot more casual. During those times you saw violence, did you ever see fighting back? Um, eventually. Yeah. Can you describe what you saw from her? I don't remember, but I know she started fighting back. So throughout this trial, prior to this, we just had the Intercontinental Hotel footage, right?

Then during the trial, we find out that there was a male escort in the hotel room during the day that this all happened. This was during a freakoff. Then we find out that when she gets home, when Cassie gets home from the Intercontinental Hotel, Carrie Morgan is there. Mhm. So she walks in through the apartment door, quote, she had her hoodie completely covering her face and she kind of like slumped down. She dropped her bags and she didn't say anything. She was just standing there. When she pulled her hoodie back, she had a black eye. Then 30 minutes later, Shawn Combmes comes to the door. And they know this because he starts hitting the door with a hammer trying to bust it open. How did you know this, Mr.

Combmes? He was yelling. I could hear him. There was a peepphole that we could see through. She even says that she sees the actual hammer that he's trying to burst through the door with. Meanwhile, Cassie is just fully numb. That's how Carrie describes her after the Intercontinental Hotel incident. She was just sitting on the couch. She wasn't doing anything. She wasn't I was freaking out and she was just like she didn't care if he came in and killed her. She was just like wow. I think other parts of Car's testimony that some jurors looked locked in. Um other jurors they looked kind of bored like they were falling asleep but at this part it felt like all of them were taking notes.

Carrie doesn't really remember who but somebody called the police and the only thing is they asked Cassie for her ID and she wouldn't give it to them. She wouldn't tell them her name and eventually they left. She says the whole relationship was very toxic. I wanted her to do what she wanted to do, but sometimes I would tell her that she could leave. Cassie would tell Carrie, "No, I can't because my job, my car, my apartment, he controls everything. She would lose her entire livelihood." Not only that, Carrie mentions that she was the only friend really in Cassie's life at the time. All of her other friends were all employees of Shawn Combmes. And the thing that she noticed is every time Cassie talks to them, she's more adamant than before that she's going to stick it out, if you will. She didn't want to leave after spending time with associates of Mr.

Combmes. She would see some people that you could tell that they were convincing her that it's okay. But the incident that ruins their nearly two decade friendship is Carrie and Cassie are in Cassy's house in the Hollywood Hills. They're listening to music. This is in 2018. Cassie is using the restroom when Shawn just comes into the house. Carrie says, "I guess he had a key and she didn't know." So, she was in the bathroom. She saw him come in and she locked herself in the bathroom and I was in the living room and he came up behind me and choked me. And then when I got away, he boomeranged a wooden hanger on my head. What? How did he choke you? I'm not sure, but I had finger marks on my neck. So, what type of hanger did he hit you with? A wooden coat hanger. In what part of your body did the hanger hit you with behind my right ear? Without telling me Mr. Combmes's specific words, what did he express concerns about when

he hit you with? Who Cassie was cheating on him with at the time? Did you know what he was talking about? I had no idea. Carrie is trying to flee the apartment. She ends up seeing Combmes's old assistant, Ryan, and she's telling him he's going crazy, like he's lost it. Ryan doesn't really do anything, just kind of shrugs. Carrie walks away concussed from the wooden hanger. She's dizzy, throwing up. up. She has to go to urgent care. And this is the point where she's just over it. She gets an attorney. She plans on filing a lawsuit, but she doesn't. Instead, she meets up with Cassie at a pizza place in West Hollywood. Cassie offers her $30,000 to sign an NDA and not file a lawsuit. What did Cassie say when she told you about the money? She told me that she thought I was milking it, that I was overexaggerating, and da da da. But she signs the NDA without even really reading it. There's no lawyers present.

She gets the 30,000. This is the last time she's ever spoken to Cassie. This is where the friendship completely ends. She hasn't spoken to Comb since the wooden hanger projectile was flung at her head. Now, one very interesting thing to note is that during Carrie Morgan's entire direct, I keep writing in my notes, she like does not want to be here. And I think even the way she answers, yes, she's answering the questions, but she's not I don't think she even wants to be. I don't think she should be, but she there she's just very this is what happened. I'm ready to leave. Like that's the tone that everything was. But when Mark Agnifil takes the cross- examination for the defense, the best way our team could describe it collectively is he is incredible at disarming the witness.

He's so good at building trust and rapport. Not even just with the witness, but with the jurors, too. He will make strategic jokes. At least in hindsight, they feel strategic. You grew up in Buffalo, you said. Yes. Came to New York for the vastly improved weather. And all the New Yorker jurors are laughing because it's been so cold and windy and like the weather has been honestly heinous going to the courthouse. All the jurors are smiling and they can clearly relate. He also hates using the microphone. Agnif I've noticed. And I've always wondered if he is literally just an old teddy bear dad or if this is strategic because it comes off more approachable and just like oh clueless me. Where's the microphone?

Margno is so good at disarming Carrie. She starts opening up. She's way more receptive to his questions. She seems way more engaged than she was during her direct. During her direct, Yeah. she answered just enough to show, hey, I answered your questions during the cross. She's giving out more information. Really? Yeah. And another side note is West Morland and Agnif are great at addressing the members of the jury. The prosecutors, I feel like they do say things like, "Could you explain to the jurors? Could you explain to the jury?" But they kind of act like the jurors don't exist. Is the vibe. Mhm.

I'm sure if I pour through the transcripts all over again, just specifically searching for the parts that they address the jury, I will find it. But it's done in a way that feels so minimal or non-existent. But Mark, even though for the witness, he acknowledges Carrie Morgan was subpoenaed. You don't want to be here. Like he tells her that he's going to do his best so that she can get out of here. With the jury, he's always like, "Wait, I'm confused." Also, maybe the jurors are confused. So, could you explain it for us? like it's very like he doesn't say those exact words, but he doesn't make it seem like invisible force field. They're just watching like the press in the public.

She he knows exactly what he's here to do, which is convince the jurors. Yeah. Even Nicole West Morland is like, you know, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, could you explain to the ladies and gentlemen of the jury? So, it feels very like a three-way conversation almost instead of like, I'm invisible and you're just acting like I'm not here type of feeling. Carrie mentions in the cross- examination that Cassie was probably jealous of Kim Porter. She was jealous because she could never go to the New Year's Eve parties. Also, a bunch of celebrities get name dropped in the cross-examination. In one giant group picture, Kiki Palmer is in the picture, so her name comes up. But again, there's no sinister context, just she happens to be in this massive group picture with like a dozen other people.

Mark is trying to prove that Combmes had helped set Cassie up with other artists for collaborations that were much larger than her, aka trying to help her career. He casually just throws out in the middle of the cross. I think you said Lil Wayne. Carrie Morgan is like, I didn't say that. You didn't? No. Sorry. Do you know if that's true that she worked with Lil Wayne? Yeah. Not that I can't. That's fine. That's fine. Do you remember any other artists that Miss Ventura did work with? And at that moment, I was like, I feel like he did that on purpose because nobody heard Lil Wayne unless he's maybe he's looking at um the meeting notes from Carrie Morgan and the government, but then he would have pulled it up. I don't know. It was just so bizarre. No, I can see it. I can see him just like like Yeah. Eminem like just throwing names out there to Wow.

Wow. Wow. That's fine. That's fine. Do you remember any other artists that Miss Ventura did work with? Yeah. French Montana. Fabulous. Too short. I'm sure I'm missing a bunch, but she did a mixtape that had a features on every song. But probably the biggest part of the cross was that Carrie Morgan says when the hanger incident happens, Sean Combmes was wondering who Cassie was cheating with. And she said, "I have no idea who she was cheating with at that time." But it turns out she was cheating on him with somebody. Yes. Okay. And at that time, at that moment, you didn't know who it was. I had no idea she was cheating on him. So, it's kind of unclear whether or not Cassie was cheating or not. Not that it would in any way absolve anyone the guilt of giving a friend a concussion, but it's unclear. It just in the cross it made it seem like perhaps perhaps she was cheating, which I don't know. It just it

did kind of feel like a aha moment when she said that. Wait, so wasn't Diddy always had multiple girlfriends? Like I guess the the picture that the defense are trying to paint is it was like a two-way toxic relationship. Oh, okay. Now, the cross ends and the redirect. The main focus of the prosecutor is that Combmes was violent. And he was not just violent when he was jealous and accused Cassie of cheating. Like the defense is trying to make it appear, but he was violent for all things. They asked Carrie why Combmes was attacking Cassie during the vacation and she said that she was taking too long in the bathroom.

One very interesting moment, Mark Agnif tells Carrie Morgan that she has to speak or say yes or no into the mic rather than shake her head because the court reporter is only taking down a spoken word. Do me a favor. If you don't say yes, he will hit me. Talking about the court reporter that's sitting right in front of her. I just thought it was an interesting choice of words. I don't know if it's strategic, could be, could be not. Even when he asks about the NDA signing and the $30,000 exchanged at the pizza place for the wooden coat hanger incident, Mark asks if there were any lawyers present and he comments cuz she says no. He comments which is probably why the exchange got done. Withdrawn withdrawn. So he's like making fun attorneys and making fun at the situation of like come on guys, you can't be doing these things without attorneys. Everyone was giggling. The press were giggling. The public was

giggling. The jurors were giggling. It was very interesting. And at the start of the case, which feels like three years ago, but this was basically like a week ago, right? Michael B. Jordan was all over the news because he was listed on the people and places list for jury selection. It was said that Cassie and Michael B. Jordan dated briefly, which was confirmed by Cassie and now by Carrie Morgan. Carrie admits that Combmes was jealous of Michael B. Jordan. Because while Cassie was in South Africa to shoot a movie, she was not dating Shawn Combmes. She was in the midst of talking to Michael B. Jordan.

Now, in terms of the relationship, Carrie said she didn't really ever meet him or know anything about him, but she just knew that Shawn Combmes was jealous of him. Now, this is where it gets strange. We go from Michael B. Jordan because he's brought up in this testimony. And then I go home, I go online after court, and everyone's like, "Steve Harvey." And I'm like, "What's happening?" Everyone on the internet are making quote Steve Harvey and the Diddler jokes. That's not me making the joke. That's the internet making that joke. the public timeline of what we kind of know and we've briefly went over this in our four-part series. There were sources in 2018 that stated and suggested rather that Lorie Harvey and Justin Combmes Combmes's second son with Misa Hilton were dating. The next year in 2019, Lorie Harvey was linked romantically with Shawn Combmes, Justin Combmes's dad. They were photographic in

Italy with Steve Harvey and Marjorie Harvey, Steve's wife. Their relationship seems a little bit more confirmed but unconfirmed. like they seemed like there's pictures of her kind of with her arm around him. It seems like they had some sort of close friendship or relationship. Lorie Harvey has come out to categorically deny the allegations, stating that she never dated son and father. So, it seems like perhaps maybe she only dated Shawn Combmes and not Justin Combmes. But the next year in 2020, she starts dating Michael B.

Jordan in a very public relationship that is confirmed by both of them. That's how people connect all of this. Now, some people are stating that Shawn Combmes dated Lorie Harvey to get revenge on Michael B. Jordan for dating Cassie, but the timeline doesn't add up because Lorie Harvey started dating Michael B. Jordan after she was pictured with Shan Combmes. Others say that the vacation to Italy between Combmes and Lorie was not for Combmes and Lorie. It was for Combmes and Steam Harvey because they were secretly dating, which I tried to find some actual substance to that.

It's just a bunch of internet rumors so far as well as a lot of AI generated content. However, Steve Harvey does make what I think a normal person would consider, rightfully consider an alarming amount of baby oil jokes. With one segment on his show, someone asks him for tips. This cute little middle-aged lady asks, "My husband and I watch the show." He often takes your advice and well, recently I was in the room laying down. He came in there and he squirted cold baby oil on my back. It was very cold. It was ice cold. And whatever mood I was in, I wasn't in it anymore. And neither was he. So, Steve, you give good romantic tips. Can you share some techniques? Steve says, "Player came in here with that cold ass baby oil." Listen to me. I talk about baby oil all the time because it's a specialty. You got to be a baby oil professional. You need to microwave this baby oil before you come in there. Now,

most people don't have a microwave in their bedroom. I've installed one because I need hot baby oil at handy. Now, you don't want to put no microwave in your bedroom. Here's a couple of lowbudget ways to accomplish it. Run a sink full of hot water and just lay the bottle of baby oil in there for about 15 minutes. Turn it. Let it heat up like that. Oh my god. Don't ever, ever not include baby oil in your love life. You are missing one of the greatest inventions. Baby oil ain't really for babies. It's for your damn baby. In another episode, he's going over someone's vacation packing list where he says he's reading it. Three bottles of baby oil. Whoa. Whoa. My all-time favorite. Got to have that baby oil, baby. My alltime favorite, baby. Three bottles of baby oil. Wait, when was this? Is this before the whole diddy baby oil thing? Oh, this is before the the baby oil diddy situation came up.

Yeah. Oh, okay. So, he's just been like a baby oil lover. I see. Which a lot of people are. A lot of people use it. It's not unheard of. It's pretty common from what I can see for intimate situations, but I guess you don't really hear Yeah. Not like 50 bottles like Yeah. and you don't really hear people like talk about it on TV with such enthusiasm of like greatest invention. In another segment, he's giving advice to a pastor and his wife who have been married for 32 years. I'm just going to keep it real with you.

Y'all have been having bowling night and pizza night. And like that, just throw baby oil in there, pastor. It ain't nothing simple about throwing some baby oil in there. I'm telling you, baby oil, it just goes with everything. You can get baby oil on pizza. I done got it on pizza. Before you taste it, you can't even hardly taste it. I had baby oil all around my mouth before. I don't even know what's on there. I'm just a baby oil type of night. It's just baby oil. Praise the Lord. Baby oil. Praise the Lord. Baby oil.

Yeah. So, that's why Steve's Harvey's Instagram comments are now filled with baby oil comments and memes, but there doesn't seem to be an actual direct link. But back to the cross-examination with Carrie Morgan. Mark Agnif moves to admit defense exhibit 1620, which is a text message from Carrie Morgan to Shawn Combmes and is a poem, which the prosecutors object. But Mark argues the reason that the poem can be admitted into evidence is quote, "I've never known a poem offered for its truth." He's basically saying, "No one's going to think that this poem is definitive truth. So that's why it should be admitted. It is admitted." And the poem reads condensed, "Deep at the center of my being, there's an infinite well of love. I now allow this love to flow to the surface. It fills my heart, my consciousness. The more love I use and give, the more I have to give. The supply is endless. It's like a self-love

poem. And Mark is just pointing out that Carrie sent it to Shawn. So, he's telling the jurors that Shawn and Cassie had friends all around them from both sides that wanted them to work out. unrelated to the case. Well, semi, but there's this really sad moment where Mark asks, "For 17 years, you guys were best friends, and you haven't spoken to her since." No. I'm trying to understand this at the sake of being Captain Obvious. It's May 2025. You have not spoken to Cassie in what, almost 7 years. Yes. In that period of time, she left Shawn Comb 6 and 1/2 years ago. The reason I stopped speaking to her was because she was not supportive of me after that incident. It all comes back to what you said on Direct. Tell me if I'm right where she said that you were overreacting about that wooden hanger.

Yes. And that ended the 17-year-old friendships. From what I understand, I draw my line of physical abuse. She also has not reached out to me. I don't know why she doesn't reach out to me. So, I'm sure she doesn't have the same phone number anymore also. And there's this other part where she's asked about if a text message was sent around Cassie's birthday, and she's like, "Yes." And she lists Cassie's birthday. like she still remembers Cassie's birthday to this day. It's just kind of sad. It feels very strange. It's like a very weird feeling.

And then when she walks off the stand, she goes to the friend that she came with that's sitting right in front of us. As she's walking down the aisle, she just smiles happily at her friend and says, "Let's go." And they just walk out the courtroom together. And that is the testimony of Don Rashard, Carrie Morgan, and the new lawsuit filed against Shawn Combmes. Coming next, we're going to be going through Kid Cuy's testimony. I've been trying to save that one because Capricorn Clark is testifying and she's heavily involved with the Kid Cuddy situation of the blowing up of the car, the breaking into the house. So, I thought it might be cleaner cut to combine those as well as potential witness tampering. New hiring of attorneys that has been happening. Also, where is Gina has been a question that has been more or less spoken out in court by attorneys. So that's going to be a whole different I mean I'm trying

to move some of these testimonies around because the government they call witnesses based on schedules and then sometimes it's like there will be an HSI agent that's testifying and then all of a sudden it's someone that's a friend and it just feels it would just be like and then and then and then it doesn't like it's not coherently coming together. So I'm trying to group them in a way where it's like here's what the government is trying to prove. These are the witnesses. These are the crosses. So, all of that will be coming up as well as the eye drops that have drugs in them. That's a whole thing. So, stay tuned and I will see you in the next one.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "New Diddy Lawsuit Has Image of “Tootsie Roll” & The TRUTH Behind Dawn Richard’s Brutal Testimony"?

Dawn Richard (Guest), Carrie Morgan (Guest), Shawn Combmes (Guest).

What is "New Diddy Lawsuit Has Image of “Tootsie Roll” & The TRUTH Behind Dawn Richard’s Brutal Testimony" about?

The ongoing Diddy lawsuit has revealed intriguing courtroom dynamics, including secretive note exchanges among the Combs family and mysterious interactions with fans that raise questions about their support for Sean Combs. Additionally, the dramatic testimony from Dawn Richard sheds light on the complexities of the case, driving interest and speculation about the proceedings.

What is mentioned in this Rotten Mango episode?

19 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Shan Diddy Combmes, Don Rashard, Cassie Ventura, Rotten Mango, Jane Doe's lawsuit, Bad Boy Records. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "New Diddy Lawsuit Has Image of “Tootsie Roll” & The TRUTH Behind Dawn Richard’s Brutal Testimony"?

The episode runs 1 h 58 min; the transcript is about 23,291 words in 166 timestamped sections.

More from Rotten Mango

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.