Sean “Diddy” Combs’ legal team is scrambling to keep a key piece of evidence out of his upcoming federal trial, arguing that the explosive hotel surveillance footage showing him allegedly assaulting ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura is manipulated and unreliable.
In a motion filed Friday, Combs’ lawyers asked the court to exclude the now-infamous video first released by CNN on May 17, 2024. The footage, which shows Ventura, now 38, being attacked by Combs, 55, in a hallway of the InterContinental Hotel, has become a focal point in the ongoing federal sex trafficking and racketeering case against the music mogul.
“There is no longer any dispute that the CNN footage from March 5, 2016, at the InterContinental Hotel… is wholly inaccurate, having been altered, manipulated, sped-up, and edited to be out of sequence,” the legal filing reads, according to People.
Combs’ team also claims the original, unedited footage was destroyed, rendering the presented version unreliable. “Accordingly, all the footage from CNN is inaccurate and inadmissible,” the motion states. “As for the two items of footage filmed by an iPhone 6, those pieces of footage are inaccurate and inadmissible as well.”
The defense argues that the government cannot prove the authenticity of the videos, which they believe undermines their use in court. “Relevant evidence must be authenticated before it can be admitted,” the motion continues. “The government has not proffered any competent evidence through which it could authenticate these videos.”
CNN swiftly denied any wrongdoing in response to the accusations. “CNN never altered the video and did not destroy the original copy of the footage, which was retained by the source,” the network stated. “CNN aired the story about the video several months before Combs was arrested.”
The high-profile federal trial is scheduled to begin on May 5. In addition to the criminal charges, Combs is also facing multiple civil lawsuits, with both women and men accusing him of sexual assault and other misconduct.
As the courtroom battle heats up, the controversial video’s fate could significantly impact the direction of the case—and determine whether one of the most damning pieces of visual evidence ever makes it before a jury.
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