{"id":4703,"date":"2025-03-14T16:35:31","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T16:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/cnn-denies-accusation-from-diddy-lawyers-that-it-altered-cassie-video\/"},"modified":"2025-03-14T16:35:31","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T16:35:31","slug":"cnn-denies-accusation-from-diddy-lawyers-that-it-altered-cassie-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/cnn-denies-accusation-from-diddy-lawyers-that-it-altered-cassie-video\/","title":{"rendered":"CNN Denies Accusation From Diddy Lawyers That It Altered Cassie Video"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tC<\/span>NN is denying accusations from Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs<\/strong>\u2019 attorneys that the network altered and then destroyed the infamous 2016 surveillance video of him assaulting his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn court filings Thursday, attorneys for the indicted hip-hop mogul leveled a bombshell accusation: that CNN \u201csubstantially altered\u201d the footage in \u201csignificant respects\u201d and then destroyed the original copy, even though they knew about the criminal investigation into Diddy.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut in a statement just hours later, CNN flatly rejected the claim: \u201cCNN never altered the video and did not destroy the original copy of the footage, which was retained by the source. CNN aired the story about the video several months before Combs was arrested.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThursday\u2019s dispute is significant because Diddy\u2019s attorneys will cite CNN\u2019s alleged mishandling as a reason for the footage to be excluded from the upcoming trial, potentially depriving prosecutors of a visceral piece of evidence to present to jurors. In the filing, Combs\u2019 team confirmed that they would make such arguments would be covered in a upcoming motion.<\/p>\n

\n\tCombs was indicted in September, charged with running a sprawling criminal operation aimed at satisfying his need for \u201csexual gratification.\u201d The case centers on elaborate \u201cfreak off\u201d parties in which Combs and others would allegedly ply victims with drugs and then coerce them into having sex, as well as on alleged acts of violence to keep victims silent.<\/p>\n

\n\tA trial is currently set to start on May 5. If convicted on all of the charges, Combs faces a potential life prison sentence.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Cassie video, which aired on CNN in May, showed Combs striking his then-girlfriend in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in 2016. The clip drew far more attention to the accusations against the star, and prompted an apology from Combs shortly after it aired.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy behavior on that video is inexcusable,\u201d Combs said at the time. \u201cI take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I\u2019m disgusted now. I went and I sought out professional help. I got into going to therapy, going to rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I\u2019m so sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the months leading up to trial, attorneys for the star have repeatedly targeted the tape in pre-trial motions, including previously claiming that federal authorities had improperly leaked it to the press to \u201ctaint the jury pool.\u201d Prosecutors sharply denied that charge, arguing that Combs was using such claims to in an effort to \u201csuppress a damning piece of evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Thursday\u2019s court filing, Diddy\u2019s lawyers said that subpoenas to CNN had proven that the video had been altered, including \u201ccovering the time stamp, \u201cchanging the video sequence\u201d and \u201cspeeding up the video to make it falsely appear that the actions in the video are taking place faster than they are.\u201d As a result of the changes, the clips \u201cdo not fairly and accurately depict the events in question.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the same filing, the Combs legal team also argued that CNN had \u201cpurchased the only known copy\u201d of the footage, uploaded into their systems, and then \u201cdestroyed the original footage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement to Billboard<\/em> on Friday, Cassie\u2019s attorney Douglas Wigdor<\/strong> criticized Diddy over the filings: \u201cIt is not surprising that Combs would make a disingenuous argument to exclude the disturbing video from being shown to the jury in the upcoming trial.\u00a0I am confident that the video fairly and accurately represents what happened, will be admitted into evidence, and that Combs will be held accountable for his depravity.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CNN is denying accusations from Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs\u2019 attorneys that the network altered and then destroyed the infamous 2016 surveillance video of him assaulting his former girlfriend Cassie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5097,5098,3780,5096,1242,296,7,1556],"class_list":["post-4703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-accusation","tag-altered","tag-cassie","tag-cnn","tag-denies","tag-diddy","tag-lawyers","tag-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}