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Defense Cross-Examines Cassie Ventura's Friend and Stylist; Trump Media Raising $2.5 Billion to Buy Bitcoin; Tech CEO Says AI Could Spike Unemployment Rate to 20 Percent. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired May 28, 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: Happening now, jurors in Sean Diddy Combs' racketeering and sex trafficking trial are listening to what so far has been a rather contentious cross-examination of Combs' former stylist Deonte Nash. Combs' defense is questioning him as they now try to push back against several explosive claims that he made today.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Nash testified that he heard Combs threatened Cassie Ventura multiple times including threats to release sex tapes and hurt her music career. He also said that he witnessed Combs assault Ventura and then recalled times that he says Ventura told him she didn't want to go to a so-called freak-off with Combs. Those, of course, are the drug-fueled sexual encounters that Combs is accused of orchestrating and even filming.

Joining us now is Dave Aronberg. He's a former state attorney in Palm Beach County, Florida. Dave, thanks so much for being with us.

So it's interesting that Nash started off this cross-examination by actually correcting the defense attorney when he was asked about his relationship with Miss Ventura. He corrected that to Mrs. Fine, referring to Cassie's now married name. I wonder how typically jurors respond to that sort of back-and-forth.

DAVE ARONBERG, FORMER STATE ATTORNEY, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA: Well, it humanizes them all and she is Ms. Fine. She just had her baby and it reminds the jurors that she's married in a loving relationship and she's not just a stereotype of someone who this is what the defendant wants her to be viewed as, some sort of sexual object who really should not have the value of her being, where in reality she's a loving wife, she's a mother, she just had another baby and that helps get sympathy from the jury.

KEILAR: How important was Nash's testimony today, specifically what stood out to you?

ARONBERG: Well, I thought it helped when it came to proving forced fraud and coercion. Remember, this whole case revolves around consent. That's the defense here.

See, the facts are pretty much accepted by both sides. The difference is the defendant is saying that Cassie and the others consented to all this. And Cassie's response is, I consented because I was scared and I also told you no.

So to the extent that I did consent, it was because you forced me to it. I didn't have any other choice or you drugged me. So that's why this testimony today from Nash was so important because this witness saw Cassie get abused.

[15:35:00]

This witness was also the victim of abuse from Diddy. And so that's why it's really important. If you can show a lack of consent, if you can show forced fraud and coercion, that's the linchpin of this case.

SANCHEZ: The defense also started their questions with Nash asking if he was considering pursuing civil litigation against Combs. Does that effectively paint him as self interested?

ARONBERG: Well, that is a typical line of cross examination for the defense that these folks are just money grubbers. They know that Diddy's worth a lot of money and they're motivated by the almighty dollar. Well, both things can be true at the same time.

You can file a civil lawsuit and you can be a victim of a crime. I mean, Cassie, for example, filed a massive civil lawsuit against Diddy. Diddy settled it within 24 hours and now she is the key witness, the one who connects all the dots in this criminal case.

So yes, the jurors may say, OK, there was a financial motive, but does that mean that this person is lying? Both things can be true at the same time. They can be motivated, at least in part by money, and they can be telling the truth.

KEILAR: And after Nash's testimony, probably tomorrow, the prosecution intends to call a woman called Mia, who is one of Combs' former assistants and also an alleged victim to the stand. She was brought up today during Nash's testimony. We also know victim number three is not going to be testifying.

How important is this testimony of Mia's and any corroborating testimony about it? Just to just to make the point of this being something broad, is the testimony about Cassie Ventura and the circumstances surrounding her enough as you see it, Dave, or does it have to be bigger and extend to other victims?

ARONBERG: It's enough to establish human trafficking, so you don't even need other victims. Cassie's testimony was so powerful that I think they've got him on human trafficking.

But then there's the racketeering charge. That's where you need more. You need more than Cassie's testimony. You need real corroboration to show that this was some ongoing criminal enterprise that benefited the top dog here, Diddy. Yes, we're all either compelled into doing this, or we were victimized by it. I mean, even some smaller details like the lie detector test with some person named, like Pauly Walnuts or whatever they called him. I mean, that shows that this is not your typical Bad Boy Records. This is something that was a lot more nefarious, a criminal enterprise to benefit Diddy. And that's why all these witnesses are so important.

It's beyond human trafficking. It's beyond prostitution. It's something more sinister.

If you wonder whether you can prove human trafficking and Rico at the same time against a rap star, just ask R. Kelly, who sits in prison today.

SANCHEZ: Pauly Walnuts getting a shout out on CNN NEWS CENTRAL. Dave Aronberg appreciate the point of view. Thanks for joining us.

ARONBERG: Thank you for having me.

SANCHEZ: Still to come. Donald Trump and his administration have given a significant boost of Bitcoin. So does this mean it's time for you to consider buying cryptocurrency? Or did you already miss the gold rush?

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Vice President J. D. Vance is touting the importance of Bitcoin. He was speaking at a conference in Las Vegas and the vice president cast the Trump administration is a champion of the cryptocurrency industry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: And I'm here today to say loud and clear with President Trump. Crypto finally has a champion and an ally in the White House.

In our administration, we understand the full potential of the digital assets industry, not just as an investment, not just as a flashy technology, but as a symbol and driver of personal liberty for all our citizens. And we are dedicated to seeing that promise fulfilled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The vice president's speech comes as Trump Media, the group which owns Truth Social announced plans to raise $2.5 billion to buy Bitcoin, which has recently seen a surge. It even hit a record high last week.

For more, let's turn to someone who follows the ups and downs of cryptocurrency closely. Paul La Monica is with us. He's a senior markets and analysis writer for Barron's. That was difficult for me to say. I'm not really sure why.

But Paul, if you're a casual investor, is Bitcoin or cryptocurrency something you should be looking at for your portfolio?

PAUL R. LA MONICA, SENIOR WRITER, BARRON'S: I think that it is something to look at, but very, very cautiously and also similar to gold, another asset that is highly speculative and also very expensive. Do it within a reasonable expectation that you don't want it to be a gigantic portion of your portfolio. I mean, there are professional companies out there who say maybe 1 to 2 percent of your assets tops to protect yourself from the volatility.

That way you can gain from the expected price increases, but not lose out when Bitcoin inevitably falls, which it probably will again at some point. It's a very volatile asset still in its infancy.

KEILAR: So that's the thing. You have to have a certain kind of constitution, right? So how do you do that? How would you be thinking about that, of how long you have to hold on to this or even just grapple with the idea that you may not, you know, you may end up with the short end of the stick on this.

[15:45:32]

LA MONICA: Yes, I think that what investors probably should be thinking about doing is if they're interested in Bitcoin, there are now luckily many ETFs, which are very easy to buy and sell like a stock on your Robinhood or Coinbase brokerage account that are from big institutions like BlackRock's iShares and Fidelity.

And those are probably easier and safer ways to buy Bitcoin than trying to have the actual cryptocurrency in a digital wallet that you then have to worry about, you know, what is the password for it? Could it potentially get hacked? Those are issues that I think for average investors, if you probably have a brokerage account, if you do, you can just easily buy one of these funds in the same way that you would be buying Apple stock or an S&P 500 fund.

SANCHEZ: I'm curious about the future of cryptocurrency generally, Paul, because I've heard critics describe it as a solution without a real problem. If the idea is that you would have a decentralized currency, then, you know, it's likely that it would be used for rampant fraud, for criminal activity. And then if you want to regulate it, then that takes away the idea that it's decentralized.

So beyond speculation, what is really the future of cryptocurrency in terms of its value, in terms of what it provides holders of it?

LA MONICA: Yes, it's a fantastic question. I think there are a lot of people that are still skeptical of the utility from, say, a commercial standpoint. Are you really ever going to go on Amazon and buy something in Bitcoin or go to the grocery store and check out with a digital wallet and pay in crypto?

Probably not if you're an average consumer. But again, Bitcoin is something that a lot of investors are viewing as an asset like gold that might be less subject to the whims of countries that can print more money if they need to do so for whatever reason, and that can spark inflation. But again, there's another good thing about cryptocurrencies, and this is actually something being championed by the Trump administration. They are trying to push for more, quote unquote, stable coins, which are cryptocurrencies backed by assets like the U.S. dollar, like gold, so that in theory you have a digital currency that isn't going to go up and down as wildly as Bitcoin prices do.

SANCHEZ: You just heard it from Paul, if you're skeptical of Bitcoin or of cryptocurrencies, just go ahead and give it to me and Brianna and we'll take care of it. Paul La Monica, great to get your expertise. Thanks for joining us.

LA MONICA: Remember the password of that wallet.

SANCHEZ: Yes, don't wind up looking for it in a landfill somewhere. Thanks, Paul.

Still to come, a blunt warning on AI. The CEO of one of the biggest artificial intelligence companies says it's time to stop sugarcoating the truth about AI because it will mean bloodshed for American jobs. We'll explain next.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: A new day, a new warning about artificial intelligence. And this time it's coming from one of the world's most powerful AI creators. Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, believes AI could wipe out half of all entry level white collar jobs in the next one to five years.

He's telling Axios of one striking scenario where, quote, cancer is cured. The economy grows at 10 percent a year. The budget is balanced and 20 percent of people don't have jobs.

CNN business writer Clare Duffy is with us on this story. Clare, do we have any sense of why he's giving this warning now?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, Brianna, this is really interesting because we've heard these kinds of warnings from economists and academics, but it is really striking to hear it coming from one of the leaders in this industry. Anthropic is in the same league as OpenAI and Google and Meta. And Dario Amodei said that he's making this warning now because he thinks that policymakers and business leaders are not prepared for the economic upheaval that this technology is going to cause.

In addition to that warning that AI could eliminate half of all entry level white collar jobs. He's also predicting that it could cause 10 to 20 percent unemployment in the next one to five years. And just to put that into perspective, that could mean unemployment going up by five X in the next one to five years. Really significant.

He told Axios, we as the producers of this technology have a duty and an obligation to be honest about what is coming.

But I also think it's worth noting that the big AI labs right now are in competition, not just to have the best technology, the most powerful technology, but also to be the most trusted to responsibly manage this technology transition.

And so I think these tech, these comments help Dario Amodei do a bit of both of those things.

KEILAR: And let's talk about another big topic in the tech world. Texas has a new law that's requiring Apple and Google to verify the age of all users before they can download an app. What exactly is this going to mean for app stores and for users?

DUFFY: Yes, so this is going to require the app store operators, namely, as you said, Apple and Google, to verify the ages of all of their users. And it's going to require them to get parental consent before minors can download apps or make purchases from apps. This, of course, all designed to make it so that apps and online experiences are safer for young people.

But the app store operators are raising concerns that this could also create privacy issues. It's going to require everybody to hand over personally identifying information to verify their age, whether or not they're a minor and whether or not they want to access an app where that's really relevant. You could be downloading a weather app and you still have to verify your age.

The other thing that's really interesting about this bill is that it requires the app stores to confirm that the parent that is allowing a child to download or not download an app actually has custody of that child.

[15:55:03]

So, again, a lot of personal information that people could start having to hand over to these big tech companies.

KEILAR: Yes, really interesting. Clare Duffy, thank you so much for that.

And still to come, chaos in the cabin when a pair of pigeons try to catch a flight. We'll show you the video next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Some passengers on a Delta jet causing quite a flap when the flight was delayed by not one, but two pigeons on the plane.

All right, ladies, it's a pigeon, not the zombie apocalypse. Nonetheless, that was the second pigeon on the Sunday flight from Minneapolis to Madison, Wisconsin.

The first feathered stowaway was caught by a baggage handler as the pilot alerted people to a quote, wildlife situation.

SANCHEZ: The second one appeared after the plane left the gate in the air. So pilots had to ask air traffic control for permission to come back. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL: You guys need any assistance or are you all good?

PILOT: There's a pigeon in the airplane and it won't go away. That's a first for me. Wow.

[16:00:02]

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL: Where is it on the airplane that it won't move? Is it inside the plane?

Oh my goodness, that is insane. Apparently a pigeon inside the plane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Another baggage handler caught the second pigeon. The flight did arrive about an hour late. Our affiliate WCCO reports that one woman on board said she needed a drink afterward. The short flight, however, had no beverage service.

KEILAR: What a bummer. I mean, come on, though. That's pretty funny.

What, someone left the door open for too long?

SANCHEZ: I don't know.

KEILAR: It must have been.

SANCHEZ: Some of those snacks, those biscotti crackers.

KEILAR: Delicious.

SANCHEZ: Where's Pete Muntean to break it down for us? Pete, where are you at?

"THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

END