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Male Revue Show Manager Takes Stand in Sean Combs Trial; White House Considering Suspending Habeas Corpus; Trump Signs Executive Order on Prescription Drug Prices. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired May 12, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: It is day one of the Sean Diddy Combs sex trafficking trial and jurors have already seen that graphic 2016 hotel assault surveillance video that showed Combs attacking his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And on the stand right now a man who testified that he used to manage a male review show and received money to have sex with Cassie Ventura.

Back with us is defense and trial attorney Misty Marris. And Misty this is going to be one of the most salacious high profile cases I think that we've ever seen. And already the prosecution is going there and being descriptive about the kind of behaviors that Combs used to partake in.

Of course the defense says that this is just part of a consensual lifestyle and that you can't blame somebody for their proclivities. I wonder how you see the prosecution taking that and making it into a case where they convinced the jury that this was more than just someone's personal proclivities.

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE AND TRIAL LAWYER: Yes and that's why we see so many of these witnesses coming right out the gate to your point with so much detail in the encounters that they had with Combs. So as of now we've just scratched the surface. These are the first few witnesses.

We know of the security -- former security guard, the first witness to testify. That video is going to be so central to this case. And now the the Daniel Phillip is on the stand who formerly owned a male review and had an encounter back in 2012. And that's what he's describing on the stand as of now. In Gramercy Park he was called and money was exchanged to engage in sexual activity with Cassie while Diddy was in the room watching. That's the scene that's being set on the stand.

Now what we'll hear from the defense is on cross-examination about whether or not this was a consensual encounter because that is the cornerstone of the defense argument. That the government does not belong in people's bedrooms and even if there are things that seem to be salacious or seem to be seedy that does not make them illegal. So what the prosecution is trying to do and they have to they have to

show that this is on a grander scale. There's a lack of consent. Individuals are forced into this activity and what they're doing is really setting that stage to understand what is the scheme? What is the force? What is the coercion?

And that's why we see these witnesses right out the gate before their most important witness, Cassie Ventura, takes the stand.

KEILAR: And specifically highlighting that he received money from Cassie Ventura. Which will be an interesting uh fact for I think the prosecution maybe to reckon with. We'll see as the defense is trying to say that she was consenting in this. We do expect to hear from her at some point.

I do want to note this says -- our latest update from our correspondents there in the courtroom that Daniel Phillip testified he thought he was just going to this hotel to do a little strip tease. He thought it was a bachelorette party -- he previously said.

[15:35:00]

But when he arrived at the hotel around midnight Cassie Ventura was the only one in the doorway. I do wonder Misty what you think is going to be the linchpin?

We know there's the video, obviously and that's so impactful for a jury to see. What is the linchpin or is there one for the prosecution as they are saying, no, this is just not -- this isn't consensual. This is a coercion knowing that we expect another woman to testify to something similar.

MARRIS: Yes so the prosecution is looking to show that this is a criminal enterprise. Basically criminal activity at the behest of Combs over the past 20 years. Because remember that's part of the case is a RICO case.

Meaning there's a criminal enterprise and individuals are part of a conspiracy committing crimes in furtherance of the criminal enterprise. Which in this case is Combs' sexual gratification. So what we're seeing is building up this narrative by the prosecution that Combs has money, power, control. He used blackmail. He uses violence in order to get people to comply.

And the prosecutor's challenge is to show that this is a widespread scheme as opposed to like we're hearing with this witness. What the defense says is consensual uh conduct between adults engaging in sexual activity that some may find to be strange but isn't illegal.

So what's really going to matter for the prosecution and I thought this was interesting in opening statements. We know about the Cassie video right? This is the video everyone's seen. But there's a lot more video. Remember there's 120 devices that were seized.

Allegedly according to what we saw in pre-trial motions we're going to see video -- at least the jurors are -- of some of these freak offs. Now the defense said there's contemporaneous text messages that tend to show there was consent. The jury is going to see that with their own eyes.

So to me seeing those videos and the prosecution providing context for what's going on is going to be critical to say that these were not consensual and there was forced fraud or coercion involved. And right now we're really setting the stage. And my understanding is Daniel Phillip, pre-trial, he is depicted in some of the videos and that and that's why you see him on the stand as the second witness. So we'll see when that comes out in the testimony.

KEILAR: All right, yes, we'll be looking for that. Misty Marris, thank you so much and we'll be right back with more news.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: As Trump administration officials announced that they are weighing looking into the potential suspension of habeas corpus, some legal scholars are alarmed, including one Georgetown law professor who called the idea legally nuts.

KEILAR: Habeas corpus is the legal principle that lets people who believe they are unlawfully detained or imprisoned challenge it in court and petition for release. Several sources tell CNN the president himself is involved in these discussions to suspend habeas corpus.

We have CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid with us now. Paula, talk to us a little bit about what is being considered here and how much latitude the Trump administration has.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It's not clear that they actually can do this. Legal scholars agree that especially over the past several decades, the courts have been clear that only Congress can suspend habeas. But that didn't stop Stephen Miller from saying this on the White House North Lawn last week.

Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF FOR POLICY: Well, the Constitution is clear. And that, of course, is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of an invasion. So it's an option we're actively looking at.

Look, a lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: OK, so Stephen left out a few key parts of what the Constitution said and the fact that the founders were really focused on trying to limit any suspension of habeas, truly the most egregious example. So wartime invasion, it has been suspended. But we're talking about the Civil War, World War II.

And here, Miller is trying to argue, as they have before, that what's happening with immigration in this country is an invasion. But that is not going to cut it here. They're not going to be able to cut the courts out of the process and not give people the opportunity to appear before a judge.

Now, the goal here, though, the long term goal appears to really be to try to undercut the power of the judiciary. We've seen this long simmering tension between the executive and the judiciary branch. And there's this sort of veiled threat that he keeps lifting, which is he's saying, look, if the courts don't do what we think they should do, this will be what we will have to pursue.

SANCHEZ: Paula, as you all know, officials in the Trump administration often float ideas that don't wind up coming to fruition, nuking hurricanes, et cetera.

REID: I forgot about that.

SANCHEZ: How realistic is this one?

REID: Look, in terms of implementation, it would be very difficult. How serious are they? Well, our colleague reporting that President Trump has been involved in these discussions, Stephen Miller out on the driveway at the White House, putting this into the mainstream conversation.

But I think another thing we have to watch really closely is what happens at the Supreme Court later this week. Because one of their biggest frustrations is the idea that a lower court judge can block one of Trump's policies for the whole country. And that's the Supreme Court appears to be taking up later this week.

So we have to see what happens there.

[15:45:00]

But look, the Supreme Court, other federal judges have already weighed in and said, if you are being deported, even if you're not a U.S. citizen, you do have the right to process. So even if they are serious about this idea, it's not clear that they're seriously going to be able to do this.

KEILAR: All right, Paul Reid, thank you so much for that.

And this just in, newly freed Israeli American hostage Edan Alexander has just arrived at a hospital in Tel Aviv just a few hours after being released by Hamas.

SANCHEZ: We also got in this brand new video of the moment that Alexander was reunited with his family. He was held for more than 580 days. Let's watch and listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(VIDEO OF EDAN ALEXANDER REUNITING WITH HIS FAMILY)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: President Trump says compared to other countries Americans are paying too much for prescription drugs and he's taking executive action to try to change that. He's asking companies to lower prices voluntarily and if they refuse the president will consider various policy mechanisms to bring them down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some prescription drug and pharmaceutical prices will be reduced almost immediately by 50 to 80 to 90 percent. Big Pharma will either abide by this principle voluntarily or will use the power of the federal government to ensure that we are paying the same price as other countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Look it's not clear how this would be implemented. A similar push was made during Trump's first term. It wound up getting rejected by a federal court.

CNN's Meg Tirrell is here to walk us through what this might mean for your wallet. It's a complicated thing to say the least -- Meg.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes it absolutely is. And a big part of the focus here they've been calling this most favored nations and that principle really means they want Americans to be paying no more than really peer economic nations for prescription medicines. And it's true that in other developed countries Americans pay about 2.78 times more on average for pharmaceuticals than about 33 other countries that a RAND report looked at. So we do pay a lot more for our medicines.

And as part of this the Trump administration administration says they want to get other countries to start paying more for prescription drugs so that Americans can start paying less. So that is one of the tenets here as part of this as well as within 30 days trying to reach sort of a threshold that they want pharmaceutical companies to get to in terms of most favored nation pricing seeing how the pharmaceutical companies respond and if they don't then implementing this policy more broadly and potentially punitively.

There are a number of other things that they're looking at here including potentially importing more drugs from other countries beyond Canada. And there are some issues with that in terms of the supply of the medicines in those countries themselves. They are not big fans of that idea.

And even export controls from the United States as a sort of form of making sure that the United States has control over the drugs that it's making here and has influence over maybe pricing around the rest of the world.

But guys there are a lot of questions about how this will be implemented and of course whether it happens immediately. Nobody really expects to happen.

KEILAR: What are you hearing in terms of reaction to the plan from industry and experts.

TIRRELL: Well there is a lot of fear about this policy in the pharmaceutical industry that it really would impose these really strict price controls on U.S. medicines. And what we are seeing today is relief from drug companies essentially and drug industry investors. You actually are seeing pharmaceutical stocks rise on this news.

The phrase more bark than bite is being thrown around a lot. People seem to perceive this as kind of vague really unclear about how it will be implemented. And there is some perception that legislation might be required. So involving Congress and it's really unclear how that would go guys.

So it's something that we'll have to keep watching very closely over the next few months. A lot of really interesting ideas put forward in terms of trying to even out what the rest of the world pays versus America. But really unclear how we get there.

KEILAR: All right, Meg Tirrell thank you for that.

And coming up the stock market surging after a surprising de- escalation in trade tensions between the U.S. and China. We'll have that next.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: And we're back with defense and trial attorney Misty Marris. She is tracking the latest on the Diddy trial for us.

What are seeing as we learn here that this head of a male revue who say he had been paid to have sex with Cassie in front of Sean Combs as few more times after the first occasion he described.

What is this driving home to the jury?

MARRIS: What were hearing now is the introduction of drugs into the equation. His observations of Cassie. It looked like she was on drugs -- molly or MDMA. Also, as predicted, the encounter was videoed either on a phone or by a camcorder. And here's the most important part. He said that his I.D. was asked for by Combs.

KEILAR: And you know, as were going to be hearing eventually from Cassie Ventura, I wonder it could come as early as today, although its getting late into the day. Thats what we had initially thought, perhaps as early as today. So maybe that will be tomorrow. What do you think she's going to be asked You know as we're going to be hearing eventually from Cassie Ventura. I wonder it could come as early as today although it's getting late into the day. That's what we had initially thought perhaps as early as today. So maybe that will be tomorrow.

What do you think she's going to be asked about as as this witness lays foundation here.

MARRIS: She's absolutely the key witness. She's not only going to be asked about her own encounters with Diddy but about others encounters as well. She's with him 10 years. So that's what we're going to hear from her.

SANCHEZ: Misty Marris great to get your perspective.

Thanks so much for joining us this afternoon. "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

END