May 30, 2025 - Day 13 of testimony in the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial

Our live coverage of the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial has ended for the day. Read about today’s developments in the posts below.

We will be back with more live coverage Monday morning.

Prosecutors continued with their direct examination of Sean "Diddy" Combs' former assistant Mia on Friday, in this courtroom sketch.

A former assistant to Sean “Diddy” Combs and friend to Cassie Ventura continued testifying this afternoon. “Mia,” who is testifying under a pseudonym, is expected to take the stand again on Monday.

Here’s how Friday wrapped up:

Social media posts: The jury was shown more photos Mia posted on social media for Combs’ birthday. Defense attorney Brian Steel asked Mia how she could post about the music mogul’s birthday without recognizing the significance as the time he allegedly sexually assaulted her for the first time. Mia testified that she was expected to post for Combs’ birthday while she was working for him.

Remember: Yesterday, Mia said the first time Combs sexually assaulted her was a few months into her employment when they were at the Plaza hotel in New York City for his 40th birthday party.

“Eager to survive:” Steel challenged Mia on why she worked for Combs so long and did things for him like make a scrapbook for his 45th birthday and birthday video even though she’s said she endured physical, sexual and emotional abuse for years.

Mia said her therapist or a psychology textbook would explain it better but said “in an abusive relationship there’s a cycle of violence” and that she is a people pleaser who just wants to make others happy.

“I was young and manipulated and eager to survive,” she testified. “I’m unraveling a lot of this now in therapy. Nobody was there to say these things that were happening were wrong. There was nobody around us that ever even flinched at his behavior. I was always in trouble and I was always just trying to find a way not to be in trouble.”

Maintained honesty: Mia said she hasn’t “lied to anyone at all” about the alleged sexual assault she endured by Combs after Steel suggested three times during his cross examination that she made up the allegations.

“Mr. Combs never had unwanted nonconsensual forcible sexual contact with you, Isn’t that true?,” Steel asked.

“What I said in this courtroom is true. I have not lied to anyone at all,” Mia replied.

Leaving Combs’ film company: Mia said she was loving working in film and TV when she was informed in 2016 that Revolt Film was shutting down. She said leaving felt like “the worst thing in the world” and told Steel that her time at the company was the only life she knew.

“I didn’t want to leave the company that I built where I was actually started to see my dreams come to fruition,” she said.

After Mia, the former assistant to Sean “Diddy” Combs who is testifying under a pseudonym, wraps her testimony next week, the prosecutors this afternoon listed the next four witnesses they expect to take the stand in the sex-trafficking trial of the music mogul.

Correction: An earlier version of this post gave the wrong affiliation for one of the witnesses the prosecution expects to take the stand next week.

While the jury is done for the day, defense attorneys and prosecutors are still in the courtroom discussing evidentiary issues.

The jury has been dismissed for the day.

Mia, the former assistant to Sean “Diddy” Combs who is testifying under a pseudonym, is expected to return for more cross examination Monday morning.

Mia said she was loving working in film and TV when she was informed in 2016 that Revolt Film was shutting down.

“I didn’t want to leave the company that I built where I was actually started to see my dreams come to fruition,” said the former assistant to Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Defense attorney Brian Steel had asked to explain about why she wasn’t happy to be free of her employment.

Mia testified it was the only life she knew, described her time working for Combs as “dog years” that felt even longer than the eight years she worked for him.

Steel suggested leaving the company was a good thing for her because “you’re away from your abuser.”

“No because at the time, I didn’t realize that. In hindsight, (it was) fantastic, but at the time, the worst thing in the world,” Mia said.

The jury saw messages Mia sent to Kristina Khorram, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ chief of staff, in December 2016.

She testified the messages were following her meeting with another executive who informed her Revolt Films would be shutting down. She wrote to Khorram saying, “My life is over.”

The two exchanged a couple messages before Mia stopped responding. Khorram sent several messages asking Mia to answer her phone. Mia later responded apologizing and saying she’d call Khorram soon.

Khorram said she wanted to make sure Mia was okay.

“I’m not but I’m alive and I love you,” Mia responded, according to the messages.

Khorram sent Mia a message calling her a “superstar” and complimenting her.

Mia responded that she was “so heartbroken I can’t breathe.”

Brian Steel, Sean "Diddy" Combs' defense lawyer, questions witness "Mia" as she testifies on Friday.

Defense attorney Brian Steel asked Mia about the birthday video that Judge Arun Subramanian precluded earlier this afternoon from being admitted as evidence.

Asked if she remembered making a birthday video for Sean “Diddy” Combs, Mia said that one year she compiled a video of “shoutouts” from many important people in his life including herself. She said she probably told Combs she loved him in the video, but doesn’t remember.

Mia testified couldn’t remember how many people participated.

She reached out to a list of people Combs always wanted at his parties and his family to ask if they wanted to send a shoutout and got many videos back, Mia said.

Steel suggested Mia made the video in 2013 but she said she couldn’t remember the year.

To create the birthday scrapbook, Mia said she reached out to people at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ companies who handled archives and asked them for copies of articles mentioning the music mogul.

She then printed out the articles, highlighted Combs’ name and put them in chronological order in the scrapbook to mark his 45th birthday in 2014.

Defense attorney Brian Steel suggested three times during his cross examination of Mia, the former assistant of Sean “Diddy” Combs, that she made up the sexual assault allegations against the music mogul.

“Mr. Combs never had unwanted nonconsensual forcible sexual contact with you, Isn’t that true?,” Steel asked.

Context: The assistant, who worked under Combs from 2009 until 2017, previously testified that he sexually assaulted her a few months into her employment and on multiple occasions throughout the years.

Mia — a former assistant to Sean “Diddy” Combs who said she was physically and sexually abused by the rapper — said there was a difference between her “logic brain” and her “trauma brain.”

“Why did you need someone else saying that it was wrong of Mr. Combs to make you feel like he would kill you?” defense attorney Brian Steel asked her.

Mia responded that she has a “logic brain” and a “trauma brain” — and the “trauma brain” often wins.

“I just wanted to do my best and make everybody happy all the time. So I tend to take a lot more than normal people. I don’t know how to explain that. I don’t know if I should apologize for that. I forgive people all the time for things,” she said.

Mia testifies on Friday, in this courtroom sketch.

Defense attorney Brian Steel challenges Mia on why she worked for Sean “Diddy” Combs so long and did things for him like make a scrapbook for his birthday even though she’s said she endured physical, sexual and emotional abuse for years.

Mia testified that her therapist or a psychology textbook would explain it better but said “in an abusive relationship there’s a cycle of violence.”

Mia testified that she made the scrapbook for Sean “Diddy” Combs after a conversation where he told her, “I used to look at the world the way you did” and implied there was nothing left now that he had done everything.

She said it was hard to get a birthday present for somebody who has a lot of money, and she thought the book would make him happy.

Mia, a former assistant for Sean “Diddy” Combs, is now reviewing a scrapbook she made for him.

Looking at it, she said, “I remember this, it was so nice of me.”

Mia gave the scrapbook to Combs for his 45th birthday in 2014. She wrote “Happy 45th Birthday, Puff Daddy” in large red letters, followed by a page-long handwritten note.

“Puff, sometimes life goes by at catastrophic speeds where you never get to live in and enjoy the ‘now,’” Mia wrote in the note.

She wrote she hoped that he’d be able to sit back and take in how much he’s accomplished, saying she put together a book of magazine articles from 1991-1999 to “stir up nostalgic feelings of when you started and how you felt.”

The jury showed more photos Mia posted on social media for Sean “Diddy” Combs’ birthday.

Defense attorney Brian Steel asked Mia how she could post about his birthday without recognizing the significance as the time he allegedly sexually assaulted her for the first time.

Steel keeps going through photo collages Mia posted annually on her Instagram wishing Combs a happy birthday.

After she explained each photo, Steel asked Mia why she’d post such loving words about Combs if he traumatized her for years.

Mia explained that she was expected to post for Combs’ birthday while she was working for him.

This post was updated with more details on Steel’s cross-examination of Mia about the photos.

Mia is back on the stand and the jury is back in the courtroom.

Defense attorney Brian Steel is continuing his cross-examination of “Mia,” a former employee of Sean “Diddy” Combs who is testifying under a pseudonym.

Judge Arun Subramanian has precluded the jury after watching the happy birthday video.

He said the relevance and probative value of the video is minimal and also said it’s precluded because of the defense’s failure to turn it over sooner to the government.

He said defense attorney Brian Steel can still ask Mia about the video.

The judge is back on the bench but the jury isn’t back yet.

The defense is arguing to show the jury a video that Mia recorded and sent to Sean “Diddy” Combs wishing him a happy birthday in 2013.

The defense didn’t give notice to the court or the government until the lunch break. Judge Arum Subramanian is leaning toward precluding the video because it’s cumulative and noticed too late.

Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said Mia’s demeanor on the stand is an act and the defense wants to show the video of an upbeat Mia talking to Combs to help prove that assertion to the jury.

The judge is giving the defense five minutes to get its story straight as to why this video is just coming up now.

“Mia,” Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former assistant and friend to Cassie Ventura, continued testifying under a pseudonym after a short morning break. Here’s what happened:

Under cross examination, Mia testified that she posted positive social media posts –– some of which the jury saw –– of and about Combs in part because social media was about showing how great your life was even if it wasn’t true. Combs’ fans followed her and she didn’t want her family to know what she was actually going through behind the scenes, Mia testified.

No “external sounding board:” Mia said she was in fear any time Combs was unhappy because his happiness equated to her safety. Mia testified that she had friends outside of her job, but she didn’t get to see them or speak to them. “I did not have an external sounding board,” she said. When it was suggested that she could have reached out to them if she wanted to, she disagreed, saying, “No, there was absolutely no time, and I had to get permission to leave or do things,” adding she “had to beg” to go to her grandmother’s funeral.

The jury has been dismissed for a lunch break.

When court reconvenes at 1:15 p.m. ET, Mia will continue testifying on cross-examination.