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Prosecution Calls First Witness in Sean Combs Trial; Interview with Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman; Dems at Newark ICE Altercation Accuse Trump DOJ of Intimidation. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 12, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: So we have breaking news to CNN. We were anticipating that court would resume with the first witnesses being called in the case of Sean Diddy Combs on his racketeering and sex trafficking case in New York City and we understand that court has just gone back into session with witnesses for the prosecution beginning with a security guard. I just want to point out on the, that the left is that the right. Hard to tell from there.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: That's their left.

SANCHEZ: Their left. Our right.

KEILAR: Our right.

SANCHEZ: Yes, you can follow along more trial coverage at CNN.com.

We're going to be getting updates there from our reporters in the courtroom as the trial continues. We should note that there are 12 jurors and six alternates that are going to be hearing the case against Sean Combs. You see the jury there has just re-entered the room.

This is a trial that's expected to last roughly eight weeks and one that is high-profile and salacious to say the least.

KEILAR: It certainly is and the defense acknowledging that even as they are urging the jury not to judge their client for it. This is a mostly male panel. There are eight men and four women on this jury.

There are also alternate jurors, almost mostly male consisting of four men, also mostly male consisting of four men and two women. Back with us now is Julie Grant, Court TV anchor and former prosecutor to talk more about this.

So the jury coming back into the room here, this is going to be after the opening statements, this is it. They're going to start to get an impression of what may have happened and how they're going to judge Sean Combs for it or not, Julie.

JULIE GRANT, COURT TV ANCHOR: Brianna, you're exactly right. It all comes down to this. Now this is the evidence. So opening statements are not evidence. While they're really helpful and they can make or break a case, in my opinion, when I teach trial advocacy we always teach it, there is research that jurors will start to form opinions with the opening statements. Why?

We all know why the first impression, right? First impressions mean everything. So they're technically not evidence but they give everyone the expected story that they'll see from both sides and so now with that framework in mind the jury is going to hear from the witnesses.

So evidence will come in all sorts of forms. The video form, as we were talking about just moments ago with the beating video of Cassie, is going to be a huge piece of physical evidence and then eyewitness testimony, this first witness that you noted Boris, a security guard, presumably an eyewitness to something here.

[13:35:00]

So the jurors will have all of these various pieces of the puzzle to take with them throughout the progression of the case to decide whether what happened was coercive and criminal or if it was between capable and consenting adults.

Boris and Brianna, you know that is the big question this jury is tasked with and a very weighty decision it will be.

SANCHEZ: And we've learned from our reporters in the courtroom that that first government witness is Officer Israel Flores with the Los Angeles Police Department. I do wonder what you make of the jury makeup. Did anything stand out to you during the selection process going into today?

GRANT: Boris, great question. The thing that's standing out to me is how many men are on this jury. So we have eight men as you both noted on the panel and then four men in the alternates.

So you know we've got largely a male jury here outnumbered so we just have, you know, four women on the panel plus two alternates you know so six women, you know, as opposed to the other men. That's interesting, an interesting choice by both sides. I will say this, having been a prosecutor, women are often harder on other women when it comes to sex assault cases.

Sounds kind of hard to believe but ask any trial attorney who's seasoned in criminal practice they may tell you that in their experience they've seen women being a little bit harder in judging other women. So I could see why the federal government might be amenable to having more of a male jury and from the defense side I can certainly see it because they have a male client on trial. They may be thinking that women may be not the best ideal jurors considering that we're talking about all female victims in this indictment.

Boris and Brianna, although we don't know the names of all of the victims listed we do know that they are all women as far as we can tell from the research and what we've been able to see. We know that one of them is named of course that is Cassie Ventura and she's expected to be one of the first witnesses called. We understand the government may call one or two witnesses and then it should be Cassie for a large part of this week.

KEILAR: All right we are going to stay on top of this Julie if you could stand by with us. We just learned the assistant U.S. Attorney Kristi Slavic is questioning Flores for the government so we're going to see what comes of that.

SANCHEZ: Still to come also on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, a reporter at the Vatican speaks with Pope Leo the 14th as he begins his historic role leading the Catholic Church.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Some Democratic lawmakers are accusing the Trump administration of intimidation after a Homeland Security official said they could be arrested for an altercation Friday in Newark, New Jersey. It happened as protesters gathered outside a newly opened ICE detention center, which local officials claim doesn't have the permits to operate. It ended with the arrest of Newark's Democratic mayor on a federal trespassing charge.

A Homeland Security official told CNN that video shows some of the lawmakers, in their words, body-slamming DHS officers. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: You say a video of members of Congress body-slamming ICE officials?

TRICIA MCLAUGHIN, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS, HOMELAND SECURITY: That's correct, sir. It's disgusting.

BLACKWELL: OK, and so if you have that video, are you suggesting that members of Congress will be arrested who were there yesterday?

MCLAUGHIN This is an ongoing investigation, and that is definitely on the table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Video of Congresswoman LaMonica McIver in the red blazer there shows her pushing through officers, but speaking to CNN, she denied having body-slammed anyone.

My next guest was also on the scene. You can see Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman in this clip from New Jersey Spotlight News. She's in the center of a crush of officers and others outside the facility. After this video was taken, the members of Congress were given a tour of the facility as was planned. Congresswoman Watson Coleman joins us now live from New Jersey. Congresswoman, thanks so much for being with us.

So DHS is suggesting there may be more arrests coming, so I want to get a better sense of what set all of this off, because the way DHS is describing it, you and two other members of Congress were part of a group of protesters that tried to storm this facility.

As a member of Congress, you do have special privileges. I hear you laughing. You do have special privileges as a member of Congress to get access to these kinds of facilities. I wonder if others were also trying to enter at the same time as that bus was going in. Is that what you think sparked this?

REP. BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN (D-NJ): First of all, I don't know what bus they're talking about. I didn't see a bus. Secondly, no one tried to get onto that property but the three of us, and we explained to the ICE officers or the employees, whoever they were, who we were and what authority we had to come and do an oversight visit.

SANCHEZ: And I wonder ultimately what came of that request. You're saying that they basically stonewalled you. They held you out there for as long as possible without letting you in. Did they give you an indication as to why?

WATSON COLEMAN: They would not respond to us at all. I mean, they were actually mute. The guys that were there on the gate, they didn't know anything. They were at the lowest end of the employment rung.

[13:45:00]

We tried to get them to get ICE officials or some officials to come and talk to us to let us in. They opened the gate. I walked in. They said, you're trespassing. I said, no, I'm reminding you, I'm a federal official. I'm a member of Congress. I'm here with two members of Congress to do this tour.

Some ICE officials or some officials, I don't know who they belong to, did come and greet us and took us to a holding room where people come to wait to be addressed.

And we kept asking for officials so that we could conduct our tour, explaining to them again and again and again under what authority we were here. They just kept delaying us until finally some higher level members of the ICE administration came down from the Newark office and came onto the Delaney property. And we thought that that was going to signal the beginning of our tour, but it did not.

SANCHEZ: So ultimately, what would you say they were trying to accomplish by forcing you out and having this situation where we're watching unfold on replay at this Delaney facility?

WATSON COLEMAN: Well, they were never trying to force the three members of Congress out. They had apparently invited the mayor in to talk. And when we got to where the mayor was and the other officials were, the official said to him, you are trespassing.

We need you to leave the property. He promptly, quietly, without any resistance, with all the dignity of the mayor of the greatest city, the biggest city in the state of New Jersey, left the property and went behind the fence where there were protesters. And we were heading back to the receiving room, the holding room, thinking that now we're going to begin our tour.

And we overhear them on the phones, ICE officials on the phones, and then we hear, we're arresting the mayor. To which we said, for what? He's not on the property. And they wouldn't respond to us. And they opened the gates and they sort of pursued the mayor with a number of officers who were masked and had guns. And so instinctively, the three members of Congress went to shield the mayor because we knew that what was happening was not legal.

SANCHEZ: Congresswoman, have you heard from DHS since this incident took place? Are you anticipating further legal action that you might be arrested?

WATSON COLEMAN: If I'm arrested, it is an amazing absurdity because we did nothing illegal. We did nothing wrong. Am I concerned?

Of course, because this is an administration that doesn't really care about the rule of law, the Constitution, and it has been abusing its power since day one. I have not had any contact with DHS. I have heard that they have had spokespeople on who've said that there's a possibility of arresting us, but I've not heard anything further.

But I will tell you that we were lawfully conducting the work that we have been elected to do. We had the authority to do that tour. And after all of the chaos and the arresting of the mayor, we went and did the tour with ICE officials and the officials of the owner of the building, who all happens to be one of the biggest donors to Donald Trump.

So we did the tour. We saw that the elevators really weren't working. We saw that the place was relatively OK. It had some dirty areas because they're just hiring people and they're waiting for ICE to OK the people to be hired even at the lowest levels. And as demonstrated with the incompetence of ICE in this situation with us, the facility is probably experiencing the same level of incompetence in ICE getting the employees that they need there.

SANCHEZ: Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, we have to leave the conversation there. Very much appreciate you joining us.

WATSON COLEMAN: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Stay with NEWS CENTRAL. We'll be right back.

[13:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Turning back to the breaking news and the criminal trial of Sean Diddy Combs in New York. The first witness has now been called an LAPD officer.

KEILAR: That's right. In 2016, he was working as security at the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City. And moments ago, he told the court he was working there when he received a woman in distress call about a woman on the sixth floor, it says there. He testified that he received that call around 11 a.m., saying there was a woman in distress on the sixth floor, that he saw Combs.

With us now -- back with us now, Julie Grant, Court TV anchor and former prosecutor. So, Julie, explain what's happening here, because this is going to speak to what we all saw in the video, right?

GRANT: Yes, Brianna and Boris, you are exactly right. This is huge here, because the woman in distress, we're going to find out, is Cassie Ventura, Diddy's protege, his partner for many years. And arguably the biggest witness against him in this federal sex trafficking trial.

[13:55:00]

So the security guard is key for a couple of reasons. One, because the government can start to lay the foundation for that all-important video that CNN exclusively obtained and published. Thank goodness for all of us to get to see. Also, this is key with this witness, because he's making the identification of Diddy.

From what I'm reading from the tremendous reporting that your CNN colleagues are doing in the courtroom, that he just identified Diddy as who he saw when he responded to this woman in distress call. That's key, because at every prosecution, prosecutors have to always prove three things. Date, identity, and venue.

So here, by him pointing out Sean Diddy Combs as the person he saw on that date back in March of 2016 at the Intercontinental Hotel, he's established the identity of the defendant for the government. So a big, big witness, even though it may not quite seem so -- Brianna and Boris.

SANCHEZ: And Julia, it's important to know that this is what the prosecution is starting with, in part because, as you said, that video of the altercation, the beating that Sean Combs had on Cassie Ventura plays such an integral role in this case.

GRANT: It really does, Boris. It really does, for several reasons. So it brings the case to life, right?

We know this is happening in federal court where, unfortunately, the rules as they stand today don't allow for cameras to broadcast trials. That could, of course, change, and we at Court TV certainly hope that it does. But this witness is so key because he brings to life what we're about to see on the video. He sets the stage, so to speak.

So he's helpful for the jury in the storytelling that he's doing that day, the call he got, how he rushed to aid this woman who was in distress, not knowing that it was going to be two very famous people that he would encounter. But he also lays the groundwork for the foundation legally to get that video in evidence.

And Boris and Brianna, we know that the judge has already made a ruling. It's coming in.

SANCHEZ: Yes, and we're just getting an update from our reporters in the courtroom that the security guard, Flores, says that he recalls seeing Combs sitting in a towel and socks with a devilish stare, quite a detail there.

Julie Grant, thanks for following this alongside us. We're obviously closely following this trial, CNN, with reporters in the courtroom who will bring us the latest details as they happen. You see those three blinking dots? That means that there's an update coming.

And there's more after a quick break.

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