Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial judge dismisses juror after five weeks of evidence – over ‘concerns about his candour’
A juror has been dismissed from the Sean “Diddy” Combs sex-trafficking trial after hearing five weeks of evidence.
Judge Arun Subramanian said he had “concerns” about the jury member’s “candour” and made the decision after it emerged the man – Juror 6 – had given inconsistent answers about where he lives.
This could indicate he potentially had an agenda, that he wanted to be on the panel hearing the Combs trial for a purpose, the judge said, and there was nothing the juror could say that would “put the genie back in the bottle”.
Diddy trial: Day 24 – as it happened
Combs hugged one of his lawyers as he arrived in the courtroom. Pic: Reuters/ Jane Rosenberg
Questions over whether the juror, a black male, resided in New York or across the Hudson River in the state of New Jersey first arose at the end of last week – but defence lawyers argued dismissing him would disrupt the diversity of the jury.
However, the judge rejected this argument ahead of the start of Monday’s court session, excusing the juror and replacing him with one of the alternates, a white male.
A review of the juror’s answers to questions about his residency during jury selection, along with his subsequent responses to similar questions, revealed “clear inconsistencies”, the judge said.
“Taking these all together, the record raised serious concerns as to the juror’s candour and whether he shaded answers to get on and stay on the jury,” Judge Subramanian said.
Leaving the juror on the panel could threaten the integrity of the judicial process, he added.
“The court should not, indeed cannot, let race factor into the decision of what happens. Here, the answer is clear. Juror number six is excused,” Judge Subramanian said.
Special agent and paralegal testify
Following the juror’s dismissal, the sixth week of the trial began – with testimony from a paralegal specialist and a special agent, who both gave evidence as summary witnesses.
This means they were not involved in the criminal investigation into Combs, but were tasked with reviewing some evidence, including charts, phone records and data. In court, the aim is to provide context to the testimony heard so far and how it relates to the charges against the hip-hop mogul.
During paralegal specialist Ananya Sankar’s testimony, the court heard about texts appearing to reference “freak offs” – sexual encounters with male escorts which former girlfriends Cassie Ventura and “Jane”, two of three alleged victims to give evidence during the trial, both say Combs forced them into.
Cassie was in an on-off relationship with Combs from 2007 to 2018, while Jane – a pseudonym – dated him on and off from the beginning of 2021 to his arrest in September 2024.
Cassie Ventura gave evidence against Combs during the first week of the trial in May. Pic: Reuters/ Jane Rosenberg
Chicken soup and $4,000 cash
In messages from March 2016, Combs’s then chief of staff Kristina Khorram appeared to ask an assistant to set a hotel room up, with items requested including Gatorade, water and chicken noodle soup. “He wants you to go right away now please,” a message said.
In another text, Khorram asked workers to fetch $4,000 in cash and to ensure a male escort was given access to the hotel room, the court heard.
The court also heard about messages sent around the time of the bombshell civil lawsuit filed against Combs by Cassie in November 2023 – which was settled within 24 hours for a then undisclosed sum, revealed to be $20m during the trial.
By this time, Combs was seeing Jane. According to an audio file of a conversation, Jane told Combs after finding out about Cassie’s lawsuit: “I don’t know what I’m feeling… this is so word for word, it is crazy and it just feels sick to my stomach.”
On 28 November 2023, about two weeks later, Jane told Combs she felt he exploited her with their “dark and humiliating lifestyle”.
The following month, the court heard Jane said in a message to Khorram: “He said he would expose me and send videos to my baby daddy… I am traumatised by my time with him.”
Diddy at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2023. Pic: Evan Agostini/ Invision/ AP
Jane said she would not normally involve Khorram in such matters, but told her she needed help as Combs was having one of his “evil-ass psychotic bipolar” episodes.
Jane told Khorram that she was heavily drugged in the tapes.
Although it was not clear exactly what she was referencing, a message sent to Combs by Khorram around the time of the lawsuit seemed to show some friction between the pair.
“If you cannot be honest with me this doesn’t work,” she told him, according to the messages. Combs “keeping things” to himself put them in the “situation we are all in right now”, she added.
Towards the end of the court day, videos entered into evidence under seal were played by the prosecution. This means the jury and lawyers could see and hear what was happening, but members of the public in court could not.
Read more:
Everything you need to know about the trial
The rise and fall of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
What we learned from Cassie’s testimony
Prosecutors have said they expect to conclude their case later this week. After this, Combs’s defence team will begin theirs.
Last week, Kanye West turned up at the court in Manhattan, New York, to support the rapper, spending about 40 minutes in the building watching proceedings on a monitor in an overflow room.
Combs’s mother, Janice Combs, and several of his children have also consistently shown up throughout the hearing.
Diddy denies charges of sex-trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy.
The trial continues.
America’s vaccine-sceptic health secretary has announced $500m (£375.8m) worth of cuts to their development in the country.
The US health department is cancelling contracts and pulling funding for jabs to fight viruses like COVID-19 and the flu, it was announced on Tuesday.
Robert F Kennedy Jr, known as RFK Jr, said 22 projects developing mRNA vaccines will be halted. It is the latest in a series of decisions to reduce US vaccine programmes.
Read more: Who is Donald Trump’s health chief?
The health secretary has fired the panel that makes vaccine recommendations, reduced recommendations for COVID-19 shots, and refused to endorse vaccines despite a worsening measles outbreak.
RFK Jr claims the US will now prioritise “safer, broader vaccine strategies, like whole-virus vaccines and novel platforms that don’t collapse when viruses mutate”.
Responding to the announcement of cuts, Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota expert on infectious diseases and pandemic preparations, said: “I don’t think I’ve seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business.”
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Is US politics fuelling a deadly measles outbreak?
Dr Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said RFK Jr’s move was short-sighted and that mRNA vaccines “certainly saved millions of lives”, including during the pandemic.
MRNA vaccines work by delivering a snippet of genetic code into the body that triggers an immune response, rather than introducing a real version of the virus.
According to the UK Health Security Agency, the “leading advantage of mRNA vaccines is that they can be designed and produced more quickly than traditional vaccines”.
Moderna, which was studying a combo mRNA shot that can tackle COVID and flu for the US health department, previously said it believed mRNA could speed up production of flu jabs compared with traditional vaccines.
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A COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic. File pic: PA
Scientists are also exploring how mRNA could be used in cancer immunotherapies and in other illnesses.
At the White House earlier this year, billionaire tech entrepreneur Larry Ellison praised mRNA for its potential to treat cancer.
RFK Jr touts ‘effective’ alternative
The health department said the abandoned mRNA projects signal a “shift in vaccine development priorities.”
“Let me be absolutely clear, HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them,” Mr Kennedy said in a statement.
Later, he said work is underway on an alternative – a “universal vaccine” that mimics “natural immunity”.
“It could be effective – we believe it’s going to be effective – against not only coronaviruses, but also flu,” he said.
The US House Oversight Committee has issued subpoenas for depositions with former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton relating to the sex trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
The Republican-controlled committee also subpoenaed the Justice Department for files relating to the paedophile financier, as well as eight former top law enforcement officials.
Donald Trump has denied prior knowledge of Epstein‘s crimes, claiming he ended their relationship a long time ago.
Mr Trump and Mr Epstein at a party together in 1992. Pic: NBC News
The US president has repeatedly tried to draw a line under the Justice Department’s decision not to release a full accounting of the investigation, but politicians from both major political parties, as well as many in Mr Trump’s political base, have refused to drop their interest in the Epstein files.
Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019 awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, and since then, conspiracy theories have swirled about what information investigators gathered on him and who else may have been involved in his crimes.
Republicans on the House Oversight Committee initiated the subpoenas for the Clintons last month, as well as demanding all communications between former president Joe Biden’s Democrat administration and the Justice Department about Epstein.
The committee previously issued a subpoena for an interview with Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who had been serving a prison sentence in Florida for luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. She was recently transferred to another facility in Texas.
Mr Clinton was among those acquainted with Epstein before the criminal investigation against him in Florida became public two decades ago. He has never been accused of wrongdoing by any of the women who say Epstein abused them.
Mr Clinton previously said, through a spokesperson, that while he travelled on Epstein’s jet, he never visited his homes and had no knowledge of his crimes.
Read more:
All we know about Trump and Epstein’s ‘friendship’
The subpoenas give the Justice Department until 19 August to hand over the requested records.
The committee is also asking the former officials to appear for depositions throughout August, September and October, concluding with Hillary Clinton on 9 October and Bill Clinton on 14 October.
Although several former presidents, including Mr Trump, have been issued congressional subpoenas, none has ever appeared before members under compulsion.
Last month, Mr Trump instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to release information presented to the grand jury that indicted Maxwell for helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.
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