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Combs' Ex-Girlfriend Testifies About Years of Alleged Abuse; NH Cuts Impacting Research into Infectious Diseases, Cancer; Staffing Shortage Delays Dozens More Flights at Newark International. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 13, 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]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Happening now, Sean Diddy Combs' ex- girlfriend has resumed testifying in his federal sex trafficking trial. Before breaking for lunch today, Cassie Ventura told the jury about the alleged physical abuse that she says she suffered at the hands of Combs. Ventura also describing the controlling nature that she says Combs had over her life and the, quote, job she felt compelled to do out of fear of what Combs might do next.

Many of the details so far are incredibly graphic and disturbing.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yes, let's discuss with Court TV anchor and former prosecutor Julie Grant, also jury consultant and attorney Alan Tuerkheimer. Thanks so much for being with us.

I just want to update our viewers because we have our reporters in the courtroom that are sending us these notes about what's happening and right now during this direct examination by the prosecution, Cassie Ventura is describing that if Sean Combs disapproved of something that she was doing or he gave her an order that she wouldn't follow, she says that his staff would take away her belongings.

She claims, quote, I would get my car taken away. I got kicked out of the house, my apartment. I had jewelry taken away. It was very random, depending how he felt.

I wonder, Julie, what you make of her testimony so far today.

JULIE GRANT, COURT TV ANCHOR AND FORMER PROSECUTOR: Boris and Brianna, good afternoon. I see power and control going on in this relationship. Cassie Ventura is painting a very vivid, very disturbing picture of power and control going on at the hands of Sean Diddy Combs. And those two things are key to domestic violence. Domestic violence is not about someone who can't manage their anger, someone who just can't manage the rage.

No, they use violence in a very calculated way to control their victim. And here Cassie is telling the jury about the consequences that she suffered if she didn't do what he wanted her to do. So seeing that she was feeling the terrible effects of that control and being in this relationship, it was one of isolation, fear of being beaten and fear of retaliation with her life, with her career.

She said that Diddy controlled everything.

KEILAR: And Alan, this is part of a broader -- there are many data points, I think is what I mean to say here. There was the male escort who testified yesterday that he heard Combs beating Cassie Ventura and he heard her apologizing.

When you look at that data point, the video that was shown to the jury yesterday in the hotel, this today, what Cassie Ventura is saying, does this paint a compelling series of vignettes?

ALAN TUERKHEIMER, JURY CONSULTANT AND ATTORNEY: It really does. The prosecution is doing an effective job with the emotion involved. And I don't think -- I almost don't think you can overdo it.

They are setting a picture of Mr. Combs as a monster. And the video speaks for itself. The witnesses are corroborating what their case narrative is. And that's how jurors embrace and go to information when they get back in the deliberation. They form a story in their minds. Impressions are formed pretty quickly.

And they're forming a story now of Sean Diddy Combs as a monster who, as we just talked about, controlled people when did these things, did transgressions, engage in these horrible acts. And it's a pretty strong start for the prosecution.

SANCHEZ: I wanted to ask you, Alan, given your experience as a jury consultant and sort of figuring out how certain people will receive different kinds of information, in a trial of this nature, almost like a soap opera, just explosive testimony, sometimes salacious testimony with graphic detail, the intimacies of these people's lives. I wonder how you think jurors receive all that if it becomes distracting at a certain point.

TUERKHEIMER: There is a little bit of desensitization that can go along with it. So if I was a prosecution, I would make sure that every, every, every question with every witness and with the videos and how they describe it, there's a point to it.

[13:35:00]

If it starts to get repetitive, then some of the jurors might think, oh, that's a plight to activate our emotions. So I think they really need to streamline it in a way.

But there is so much there and there is so much to this narrative that I think they're doing what what they have to do to convey that this is a monster that we're dealing with. And they're eventually going to have to connect it to the elements of the charges against him.

KEILAR: Julie is there a significance in this that Cassie Ventura has testified that Combs's staff would take away her belongings that she says sometimes Combs would personally take her, for instance, electronics from her. Other times he would have his security personnel do it. Is there any legal significance to that distinction? GRANT: Brianna, excellent question. Big time. This is why Cassie Ventura is so key to the case, because not only was she personally victimized, but also she is witnessing other people who were working for Diddy, acting as agents for him, doing things on his behalf.

That all goes to the charge of racketeering. The idea that he was using his power, his business enterprises. We know he had many businesses they refer to as the Combs Enterprise collectively in the federal indictment -- that he was having these people who worked for him in various capacities help him exert that power in control to force women like Cassie to engage in unwanted sexual behaviors, to be taking drugs, to be beaten, to be subjected to these freak-offs, these elaborate sexual experiences that were said to have lasted for days and then would mean recovery for days.

So, yes, Brianna, her testimony not only paints a very vivid picture of who Sean Diddy Combs is, but it paints the picture of the organization and how the people who worked for him might have had a hand in what's being alleged by the government.

SANCHEZ: And to that point, we're just getting word that the prosecution has brought up these two assistants showing the jury photos of these two assistants that were helping Combs during his relationship with Cassie Ventura. And she is testifying that one assistant in particular, Tony Fletcher, would often help her with her finances. So they're essentially painting this picture of how he dominated her life.

And I wonder, Julie, when you look at the picture of her life during her relationship with him, that video of the abuse, compared to where she is now, pregnant, on the stand with her husband in the courtroom after some disagreement over whether he should be allowed inside or not, knowing perhaps the jury that they also have two other children, what it shows about how she was able to move on from him and the kind of life that she was living while allegedly under his grasp.

GRANT: Oh, Boris, excellent points. It is a remarkably different life thank goodness that Cassie Ventura is leading now.

She is the face of surviving abuse. She really is. That's how people are going to see her now, as someone who was able to overcome such an enormous amount of abuse and trauma.

And don't think for a second that what she's doing right now at this very minute while we're talking isn't traumatic as well, recounting those awful details of what happened to her at such a young age. And the picture that I'm getting is the 19 year old Cassie was groomed. By her account, Diddy groomed her, got her to trust him, got her to be dependent upon him.

You just noted how members of his team were helping her with her finances. There were various facets to the abuse, financial, emotional, physical, all of that. And she got in on the terms that she was an artist and someone that he was going to help with her career.

And slowly that heat was turned up. Gradually, she started seeing the signs of abuse. But by the time she was being beaten, she was so far in it, she was scared to leave the relationship. And that is what we often see in domestic violence cases.

SANCHEZ: Julie and Alan, very much appreciate you following the news alongside us. Thanks so much for being with us.

TUERKHEIMER: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead $2.7 billion in federal funding slashed a new report highlighting the huge cuts made at the National Institutes of Health by the Trump administration. We have much more on the potential impacts when we come back.

[13:40:00]

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SANCHEZ: A report just released by Senate Democrats claims the Trump administration has launched a, quote, war on science. The report from Senator Bernie Sanders slams the administration's cuts in research funding and reductions in staffing.

KEILAR: And it details how in just the first three months of this year, millions of dollars in grants have been slashed on things from studying infectious disease, aging, reproductive health and much more. CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard was the first to report these findings and has more on this.

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JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: The main takeaway is that this report reveals in the first three months of this year, the Trump administration has cut an estimated $2.7 billion in funding for research under the National Institutes of Health. Some of those funding cuts involved research relating to infectious diseases, mental health, Alzheimer's disease, maternal health and cancer. For instance, the new report says federal funding for cancer research has been cut by 31 percent from January through March of this year, compared with the same timeframe last year.

[13:45:02]

It's important to note that this report it's being released just a day before Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will answer Senators questions in a hearing about the HHS budget. We expect some of these items in the report might be brought up in tomorrow's hearing and we actually did reach out to HHS asking about pauses and terminations in research funding. We were told in a statement that the department is prioritizing research that directly affects Americans with a focus on chronic disease.

Now this is all happening at a time when the Trump administration is restructuring HHS. It's also important to put in context that some of the funding pauses and terminations are also related to the Trump administration's DEI rules. So that's the situation that's happening right now when it comes to federal funding for scientific research. (END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much for the reporting on that.

Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. At least 10 people have gotten sick in a listeria outbreak linked to a single brand of ready-to-eat foods.

The FDA says the products made by the company Fresh and Ready Foods were shipped to California, Nevada, Arizona, and Washington State. They were sold at airports, hospitals, hotels, and corner stores. The company is voluntarily recalling several items.

KEILAR: Also the CEO of UnitedHealth Group is stepping down for what he calls personal reasons. Andrew Witty has been in his role for four years. He helped steer the company after the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year. UnitedHealth Group is the parent company of UnitedHealthcare and Witty is planning to stay on in a limited role as a senior advisor.

And a big win for MeToo advocates in Europe as French actor Gerard Depardieu is convicted of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021. He was given an 18 month suspended prison sentence and his name will be put on a list of sex offenders.

Depardieu has denied any wrongdoing, though he testified in court he didn't consider placing a hand on a person's buttocks sexual assault and he said that some women were too easily shocked. The 76-year-old former Oscar nominee is a towering figure in French cinema. He appeared in films like The Man in the Iron Mask and Life of Pi. His lawyer says they'll appeal the court's decision.

And still ahead, just a crisis that we are witnessing at the Newark airport which found itself with just three air traffic controllers handling flights last night. How Newark is coping with a staffing crisis that's causing delays for passengers.

[13:50:00]

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SANCHEZ: Listen, the last few weeks have just been headache after headache after headache at Newark Liberty International Airport, and there's more turmoil today. CNN has learned that there were only three air traffic controllers working at a given time last night.

KEILAR: For context, the FAA says the number of controllers can go as high as 14 during busy times. Flights were held on the ground for more than two hours overnight to allow the controllers to keep up. We have CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean here.

This staffing shortage, I mean, for context, I went to Cold Stone Creamery to get an ice cream cake for my kiddo yesterday, and there were three people working. How are there only three air traffic controllers? PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: I'm sure the FAA loves the comparison.

KEILAR: I just, you know, it seems like you would need more people to run an airport.

MUNTEAN: The FAA just put out this new statement essentially reiterating that it's scrambling to hire controllers to backfill at this short staff facility at the center of the saga, but really no commitment right now on when delays due to staffing shortages will end.

Late last night, the FAA confirmed to me that at times on Monday night there were only three controllers directing flights at Newark approach control, sometimes four, and that caused the FAA to implement an average two-hour delay for flights bound to Newark. They do that for your safety, but the FAA says three controllers, really not all that unusual, especially in Newark, because full staffing at Newark approach control during the busiest times of the day is 14 controllers, but the FAA says that has not happened in years because of the nationwide controller shortage.

That's the real catalyst for all of these issues. It's why the FAA moved Newark approach control, that facility last year from Long Island to Philadelphia, but that move introduced telecom problems, which is causing these repeat radio and radar failures.

Trump administration's really trying to speed up hiring now, and here is transportation secretary Sean Duffy, who underscored just yesterday that there is no quick fix when it comes to these staffing problems.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: We don't have the ability to just snap our fingers and move controllers around. It takes time to train up specifically on the airspace in which they control, which is why the staffing becomes an issue, and you got to see over the horizon on how you make sure you have enough in training to deal with any shortfalls that may come in the out year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: The FAA said yesterday it takes at least a year, maybe a year and a half to get newer controllers trained up. The agency says there are controllers in the hiring pipeline through next July, with 10 trainees getting on the job training at that Newark approach control facility.

This morning, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby at a company event insisted again that the airport is safe, and tomorrow airlines will meet with the Department of Transportation on the number of flights going in and out of the airport.

[13:55:00] The goal here is to get it to something that is a bit more manageable for these controllers, because more planes means more workload means them having to slow down these flights, what we've been seeing over and over again for the last two weeks.

SANCHEZ: Yes, pack your patience for real. I mean, it's kind of a headache. I'm surprised that it's taken so long to address this that it's gotten this bad.

MUNTEAN: Yes, and that's that's the big question here. How did this get so bad? And the FAA moved this facility last July. And the goal was to make it -- it's a they call it a hard to hire or hard to staff facility. And the goal was to make it easier for them to hire people, essentially moving the facility into a more enticing location. People didn't want to go far out on Long Island and Westbury where this was.

So that's just the real central problem here. People are the issue. We talk a lot about systems. We talk a lot about the infrastructure. We talk a lot about the aging and failing nature of these systems. But people are the big system now.

KEILAR: I was going to say things we learned today, an ice cream shop can be staffed at the same level as air traffic control. I did not have that on my bingo card. And how's rescheduling your Newark flight going?

I did it, Pete, mostly because I didn't want to hear you admonish me for not doing it.

MUNTEAN: Show it to you again, a live on the air.

KEILAR: It was not a problem.

MUNTEAN: Huge but true.

KEILAR: It was not a problem. And it was free, actually, to change. So thank you for your support, Pete.

MUNTEAN: I'm here for you.

SANCHEZ: Leftover ice cream cake for us.

KEILAR: There might be tomorrow.

SANCHEZ: She hooked us up with some flan earlier today.

KEILAR: Yes, breakfast flan.

SANCHEZ: We'll leave it at that. Pete Muntean, thank you so much.

We are tracking some really serious news out of the courtroom in Manhattan on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Sean Diddy Combs' ex-girlfriend takes the stand in his criminal sex trafficking trial. We're going to discuss her graphic testimony, what it could mean for prosecutors and defense attorneys in the coming days. Don't go anywhere.

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