# Sean 'Diddy' Combs accuses CNN of altering, destroying video of rapper assaulting ex Cassie Ventura

## Fox News

Published March 14, 2025 12:24pm EDT

### In Court

Sean 'Diddy' Combs' defense accused CNN of altering and destroying a video showing the rapper physically assaulting his ex-girlfriend.

Hotel surveillance footage, released by the outlet last May, showed Combs and  engaged in a physical altercation. While the footage has been provided to Combs' defense in his federal sex trafficking trial, the "I'll Be Missing You" rapper now claims it has been "substantially altered."

"The defense has confirmed, through a forensic video analysis of the CNN footage that the government provided to this Court and of the footage provided by CNN in response to the defense subpoena, that all CNN video footage was substantially altered in significant respects," Combs' legal team wrote in a letter filed in court Thursday and obtained by Fox News Digital. "This includes covering the time stamp and then changing the video sequence. It also includes speeding up the video to make it falsely appear that the actions in the video are taking place faster than they are. As a result, the CNN videos do not fairly and accurately depict the events in question."

"Finally, the defense has confirmed that CNN purchased the only known copy of the Hotel’s surveillance footage, uploaded that footage into a free editing software, altered the video; and then destroyed the original footage even though it knew about and repeatedly reported about the federal investigation."





CASSIE'S LAWYER CRITICIZES DIDDY'S ‘DISINGENUOUS' APOLOGY VIDEO AS STARS REACT TO HOTEL ASSAULT STATEMENT

Diddy's legal team told Fox News Digital: "Our written and oral communications with CNN’s counsel was clear – they destroyed the original video file they received from their source."

Diddy's homes were raided in connection with a human trafficking investigation in March 2024. The video of Combs with Cassie, which featured a physical altercation that occurred in 2016, was published in May 2024. The musician had accused Combs of physical and sexual abuse in November 2023 through a civil lawsuit that she withdrew one day later.



Sean "Diddy" Combs' Los Angeles home was raided by Homeland Security officials in March 2024.

Combs was later arrested and charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and transportation to engage in prostitution in September 2024.

The rapper was arrested at a hotel in New York, a source confirmed to Fox News Digital at the time. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.





Sean "Diddy" Combs was arrested and charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and more in September 2024.

Combs and his employees would "intimidate, threaten, and lure female victims into Comb's orbit, often under the pretense of a romantic relationship. Combs allegedly then used force, threats of force, and coercion, to cause victims to engage in extended sex acts with male commercial sex workers that Combs referred to as, among other things, 'Freak Offs.'"



Cassie Ventura accused Diddy of sexual assault and physical abuse in a lawsuit, which was settled one day later.

Combs is currently behind bars as he awaits trial. Judge Arun Subramanian scheduled the rapper's trial to begin on May 5. The prosecution expects the government's case to take six weeks to lay out, while Diddy's legal team now estimates needing two weeks to argue the rapper's defense.







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