Diddy and his legal team are trying their best to argue for his innocence in his federal trial alleging sex trafficking and more. Much of this shows up in the cross-examination of witnesses, which defense attorney Brian Steel took over on Friday (May 30).
The anonymous alleged victim on the stand that day was Sean Combs' former assistant, whom the court is referring to as "Mia." The day before, she accused the Bad Boy mogul of alleged sexual assault, abuse, and other crimes. Steel, who became famous for defending Young Thug in the YSL RICO trial, questioned the veracity of her story.
Per Complex, his main strategy this time around involved a series of positive Instagram posts the former assistant made about her former employer. These included multiple birthday posts for Combs, thanking him for "being the good kind of crazy," "one of [her] greatest friends," and for "letting [her] give birth to [her] dreams."
Also, Brian Steel brought up other posts from Diddy's former assistant and alleged victim from three separate years. These relate to the two's time at the Burning Man festival, at which Mia alleged he forced her to take ketamine. As such, Steel wanted to focus on that festival as well.
In addition, he brought up how her allegation that Diddy sexually assaulted her at his 40th birthday party means that his birthday is an anniversary of that alleged incident. "On the fifth anniversary of the [alleged] sexual abuse, you're saying, 'You continue to inspire me every day,'" he said of the assistant's 2014 birthday post on Instagram.
"I didn't celebrate it as an anniversary," Mia responded. "It was his birthday to me. [...] Instagram was a place to show how great your life was, even if it wasn't true. All these postings were the good moments."
Who Is Mia In The Diddy Trial?
"It's called psychological abuse," she replied to Brian Steel's skepticism concerning her positive messages and continued employment from 2009 to 2017. "Nobody was there to say that these things that were happening were wrong. Nobody flinched at his behavior."
The former assistant also said she shouldn't have needed outside validation to know the alleged abuse was wrong. She also brought up Cassie Ventura, pointing out how Diddy's alleged abuse of them felt impossible to escape from. Mia said Ventura was like a sister to her.
"[Between] my logic brain and my trauma brain, my trauma brain wins all the time," she alleged. "I wanted to make everybody happy all the time... I would make excuses to myself."
Then, Brian Steel reportedly claimed that alleged abuses did not occur as often as Mia alleged, and asked if any alleged sexual encounters with Diddy were actually unwelcome. "What if you're not a victim? Then what?" he inquired.
She stood by all her allegations on the stand. Steel also presented a scrapbook Mia made for Combs' 45th birthday despite his alleged abuse. Also, there were texts from when his team ended her employment. "In hindsight, [leaving] was fantastic. At the time, the worst thing ever," the former assistant alleged.
