May 19, 2025 - Day 6 of testimony in the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial

The defense’s cross-examination of Kerry Morgan has ended.

In a brief redirect, Assistant US Attorney Meredith Foster asked Morgan to reiterate her accounts of the two times she says she clearly remembers seeing Sean “Diddy” Combs assault Cassie Ventura.

When asked, Morgan said the couple wasn’t arguing about jealousy on either occasion.

Prior to assaulting Ventura in Jamaica, Combs yelled at Ventura for taking too long in the bathroom, Morgan alleged.

After the short redirect, Morgan left the stand.

The next witness will be David James, a former assistant to Combs. James will be the seventh witness to testify in the trial.

Kerry Morgan testified that when Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulted her in 2018, he was asking who Cassie Ventura was cheating on him with.

Morgan said that she later learned Ventura was cheating on him, but at the moment she didn’t know that.

Kerry Morgan, Cassie Ventura’s former best friend, confirmed that she believed Sean “Diddy” Combs and Ventura loved each other.

Morgan said there were times when she thought they should try to work things out.

Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo asked Kerry Morgan to further explain why she broke off her friendship with Cassie Ventura in 2018 after 17 years.

This question came after Morgan, earlier Monday, testified she was no longer Ventura’s friend because, she alleges, Combs assaulted Morgan in Ventura’s apartment in 2018.

Answering Agnifilo’s question, Morgan said: “The reason I stopped speaking with her is because she was not supportive of me after that incident.”

Morgan again recounted her fallout with Ventura after the alleged 2018 assault. Agnifilo suggested that Ventura paid Morgan in a meeting after the alleged incident, but Morgan maintained that her understanding was that the money came from Combs.

“She offered me money to sign a (non-disclosure agreement), and that was essentially … to close the case on this” and ensure Morgan didn’t file a lawsuit or say something publicly, Morgan testified.

Ventura hasn’t reached out to her since the fallout in 2018, Morgan said.

Context: Morgan earlier today testified that a month after the alleged 2018 assault, she met with Ventura, and Ventura told her she would be receiving $30,000 from Combs. Morgan signed a non-disclosure agreement that day, she said. Morgan testified that she received the money.

Kerry Morgan testified that police came to Cassie Ventura’s apartment after the March 2016 incident at the InterContinental hotel because of the banging on the door.

She said at the time, Ventura had a black eye and was wearing a hoodie.

Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo asked if the police said anything that would lead her to believe they saw the injury.

“Yes, they asked what happened,” Morgan said, adding that Ventura didn’t say anything in response.

Morgan said she didn’t remember if she told police about Sean “Diddy” Combs’ hammering on the door.

Another woman, Gina, had a yearslong relationship with Sean “Diddy” Combs that overlapped with his relationship with Cassie Ventura, and that “was a big problem” for Ventura, Kerry Morgan testified.

“He was having a full-on relationship with this (person) and Cassie found out about it, and she wouldn’t go away – he wouldn’t leave her. So it just went on for a really long time,” Morgan said.

Morgan initially referred to this person as a “little girl,” but when asked to clarify, Morgan said Gina was an adult. Still, she remembered her to be much younger than Morgan and Ventura, Morgan said.

Context: Ventura testified last week that she learned Combs was spending time with Gina in April 2014.

“I was really upset,” Ventura testified. She said Combs denied the relationship to an extent, but added that she and Combs argued multiple times about him getting back together with Gina.

Kerry Morgan testified Sean “Diddy” Combs was jealous when Cassie Ventura started talking to actor Michael B. Jordan.

“They were not together, and he was jealous about it,” Morgan said. “And I think she was trying to leave him.”

Morgan said she visited Ventura while she was shooting a movie in South Africa around that time and one of Combs’ assistants was also there during her trip.

“She was pretty close with Cassie, close enough that she came with her to South Africa to help her out,” Morgan said.

The assistant, who was referred to as “Mia,” had a lot of energy and the stamina to keep up with the demands of the job. She was with Ventura when Combs sent her to Mexico for drug treatment, Morgan testified.

Context: Last week, Ventura testified “Mia” and other assistants witnessed Combs physically abusing her.

Kerry Morgan arrives at court on Monday.

Kerry Morgan testified that she would see Sean “Diddy” Combs and Cassie Ventura often.

“If we were in the same town, we’d probably be hanging out,” she said.

Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo asked her to give a ballpark of how many times they saw each other in 2008. Morgan said probably a couple times a month, but added that she had a boyfriend at that time, so she was probably seeing them less frequently than usual.

Agnifilo then asked Morgan if Ventura was jealous of Kim Porter, the mother of several of Combs’ children. Morgan acknowledged it was an ongoing issue. When asked to be more specific, Morgan recalled, “She was jealous because she could never go to the New Years Eve parties.”

Assistant US Attorney Meredith Foster questions Kerry Morgan on Monday.

The jury is back from the lunch break. The prosecution has said it has no further questions for Kerry Morgan, so the defense’s cross-examination has begun.

Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo is cross-examining Morgan, who has said she was Cassie Ventura’s best friend for years until 2018 – when, Morgan alleges, Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulted Morgan in Ventura’s apartment.

As Dawn Richard, a former Danity Kane band member, testified about an incident in 2009 where she said she saw Sean “Diddy” Combs attack Cassie Ventura with a skillet, Misty Marris, a defense attorney, told CNN’s Boris Sanchez, “she did what prosecutors needed her to do.”

By detailing a threat Diddy allegedly made toward Richard following the skillet incident, Marris, who was in the court room, said the testimony is “critical to the prosecution’s argument because this is all about control, and that speaks to that idea of blackmail, of cover-up, of keeping people in line” — a theme that has been persistent throughout opening statements and Ventura’s testimony.

During cross-examination, Richard was questioned about why this threat was never mentioned in prior interviews with prosecutors.

That detail, coupled with her pending civil suit seeking financial damages, allowed the defense to “box her in,” Marris said, and show that she may have other motives for what she shared on the stand.

“The goal is to impeach the credibility and one way to do that is to talk about how somebody might be remembering something differently today than back when it actually happened,” Marris explained.

And that’s what the defense will argue, she said, “that this story has been molded.”

Kerry Morgan, on the other hand, “came off as very, very credible” during her testimony, Marris said, as Ventura’s former friend detailed two incidents where she testified that she witnessed Combs be violent.

“This all speaks to that idea of control and coercion, and her testimony thus far has been really, really compelling, and she’s coming off as a pretty great witness for the prosecution, corroborating Cassie Ventura’s story.”