Cassie Ventura cross-examination begins

Everybody's talking about the Sean Diddy Combs sex trafficking and racketeering trial

And the prosecution's star witness and Diddy's ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, back on the witness stand for cross-examination this morning

This, of course, after a second day of emotional testimony yesterday, caused the defense to say they're changing their strategy going into today

Fox 5's Lisa Evers has been in the courtroom for much of the testimony. Joins us this morning. First of all, before we get going, Lisa, exactly

What is the process to get inside the courtroom that you're lined up outside the courthouse today for

Roe and Kurt, I can tell you that there has never been a more disorganized system for dealing with the media

There's international media here all over the world, many different countries. Many of the major American stations have multiple teams of crews and also reporters and production assistants

And then there was a process. The marshals have everything under control. The Marshalls Police Division, which handles the security inside, they have everything under control

But they weren't deciding who was getting in, who was not getting in. There was no specific credential for this particular trial as there was, for example, in the R. Kelly case in the Eastern District in Brooklyn

So they're trying their best. But clearly, there was not the type of plan that we're used to seeing at criminal court where they give you a token if you're allowed to go in

And then you can give that token to another person of your crew. So it's been a real challenge

I've been up at 4 30 every morning this week. My production assistant, Brendan, Mio, everybody's

been, the desk, everybody's been trying to use every contact that we have so that we can get in

their courtroom But I have to tell you yesterday it was something I never seen before Okay so hopefully you get in smoothly today What was it about yesterday that made you say I never seen this before Well you have on one side you know you have

one side, you have Cassie Ventura's husband. Her mother was there. Her mother, who apparently

was urging her to write a book as she was learning of this ordeal that her daughter had been going

through for more than a decade. Her brother was there. There were other supporters there

Her attorney, Douglas Wigdor, who was the one that filed that initial civil suit that ended up getting $20 million for Cassie and that settlement in November of 2023

He was there with her. So she had a whole row. And then on the other side, Sean Combs' mother was there

His three oldest sons were there. The three girls who walked out on Tuesday because of the graphic testimony from the male escort, male sex worker, they were not there in court

But when Cassie walked in, every eye in the courtroom turned to her, except for Diddy

He was looking straight ahead like a statue. She walks down the center aisle like a queen

She's about eight and a half months pregnant, which is what we, is the guesstimate, the best guesstimate

but very visibly pregnant, stunningly gorgeous, in three or four-inch stilettos with a long coat

and just holding her head up high, not looking at anybody, taking the witness stand

and just really controlling the situation in terms of how she wanted to present herself

But I have to tell you, from what we could see, we could see Combs from like a 20 or

30 degree angle. He was looking at her the whole time, not moving, not making any real movements that

we could see because we looking at his back But it was extremely tense and of course that tension got ratcheted up by the end of the day when we heard even more shocking revelations which a lot of people did not expect to see coming

OK, so the jury saw some pictures of the freak off and also they saw the video of Sean Diddy Combs attacking Cassie

How do you think the defense is going to handle that? Because apparently there's rumor now they're changing strategy

Well, it'll be interesting, Ro, to see how they are changing strategy or what strategy they could possibly give

And also, too, let's point out yesterday that video again, a clip from the hotel beating

And the defense has been, from the very beginning, two things. They said this is a consensual sexual relationship, a toxic one, admittedly, one where there was substance abuse on both sides

And that was one of the revelations that Cassie detailed yesterday. She said she turned to opiates after these freak-offs, hundreds of freak-offs, about one a week

lasting anywhere from one to four days, where they were high on ecstasy, they were high on coke

It was just this marathon of drugs, no eating, you know, very little food that was available

and that she needed the opiates in order to calm down, in order to, as she put it

numb herself and disassociate herself from this horror that she was going through

But, Ro, you're asking about the defense, and the defense has said, okay, this is domestic abuse

Mr. Combs apologized on it, on his Instagram that was taken down for this acknowledge the beating

acknowledge that it was him. But the fact of the matter is, it's more than domestic abuse

And sitting in court every day which has been a phenomenal experience in terms of seeing the process and also seeing the actual evidence because as you guys know at the end of the day this is going to come down to not what we read two months ago

not what somebody said on a blog, not what photos surfaced by X, Y or Z celebrity, but what is presented in court

The prosecution has been methodical, almost with surgical precision, in presenting the stepping stones that they need, according to the defense attorneys that I've talked to

who do these Rico sex trafficking cases here in federal court. The defense has been methodical in putting the elements they need

They need to show force. They need to show that she was coerced. That was very clear with, Roe, you mentioned the pictures of the beating

She showed pictures of where she was beaten. The gash in her head when she said he shoved her into a bedpost in a hotel room after a freak-off

because he didn't like the way he was going. His own defense attorney, Mark Agnofilo, said, yes, Mr. Combs has a high temper and it would get out of control when he would get really angry

But they're building these elements. They need the interstate trafficking and prostitution

The prosecutor the day before yesterday on the first day of the stamp and also a couple of times yesterday asked her these these male sex workers

Were they flown in? Oh, yes. This one came from L.A. This one came from here

So it'll be interesting to see what the defense is going to come up with, because not only now do they just have the abuse and the sexual abuse and this physical abuse and these assaults and the trafficking

But they have all these elements for this very serious crime, these very serious crimes that could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life if he's found guilty

It's going to be explosive today, Lisa. Thank you for being our eyes and ears in the courtroom

We appreciate it